Figure and ground experiences of the self: integrating develop. and psychopath. in clinical practice

Workshop with Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb, PhD

Figure and ground experiences of the self: integrating development and psychopathology in clinical
practice

This workshop offers a practical tool for staying present in the co-created contacting of a therapy session while at the same time considering developmental and psychopathological concepts. The aim of the Gestalt intervention is to grasp the spontaneity present in therapeutic contact. Developmental aspects of a person are part of the ground experience in any given situation of a therapy session. The sensed or aesthetic qualities of this experience are considered as shaping different “sufferings of the between”. These past experiences organize contacting into polyphonic developmental domains, a concept this workshop will explore and present in detail. These domains are a given of the situation from which the ground experience is co-created. Domains of contact can be experienced with greater or lesser anxiety. This quality of the ground experience is the basis for co-created figure of therapeutic contact. The workshop will consist of a demonstration session followed by group discussion. Written material will also be provided to be assimilated after the workshop.

Learning Objectives:
 identify clear connection between the quality of the ground experience and the relational suffering
 describe the anxiety by which the developmental domains are experienced by the client.

Bio: Ph. D. Director of the Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy (Siracuse, Palermo, Milan): recognized by the It. Minister for the Univ. Train. Programs in G. Psychopathology. International Trainer and Supervisor, Full Member of the NYIGT, President of the Italian Federation of Recognized Gestalt Training Institutes (FISIG), Past-President and first Honorary M. of the EAGT, Founder and Honorary President of the Italian Association for Gestalt Psychotherapy, Past President
of the Italian Federation of Psychotherapy Methods. Editor of the Italian Journal Quaderni di Gestalt (since 1985), Director of the It. GT Book Series (by F. Angeli Publ.) and Co-Dir. of the English Series. Her most recent book, The Nowfor-Next in Psychotherapy. Gestalt Therapy Recounted in Post Modern Society (2013) is available in 6 languages.