From roundabout to seesaw: Gestalt therapists working with partners of people who suffer with addiction - David Darvasi

Abstract: As a practising Gestalt counsellor, I noticed that I had an increasing number of clients who are not misusing substances themselves but are partners of people who do. I was struck by how little dialogue there is around this generally in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. The main support available to partners of people with addictions is support groups, but there is little understanding or consensus on how they may be understood and best supported in the counselling room. A UK-based research group contrasted six different perspectives on understanding the dynamic between partner and substance-misusing other, which were co-dependency, psychodynamic, systems, stress-coping, feminist, and community (Velleman, Copello and Maslin, 1998). Looking at this from a Gestalt therapy theory perspective has generally remained unexplored. This small-scale research paper is a result of dialogues I had with three Gestalt therapists who have had experience supporting a partner of a person who suffers with addiction. An overarching image emerged out of these conversations which I will use to describe the process these Gestalt therapists have gone through with their clients, in the hope of initiating dialogue around this, in and outside of the Gestalt community.

Keywords: co-dependency, affected family members (AFMs), addiction, Gestalt therapy, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), confluence, creative indifference.

Measuring Gestalt therapy: a critique of the Gestalt Therapy Fidelity Scale - Dominic Hosemans

Abstract: The GTFS is a 21-item measure developed by Fogarty et al. (2015, 2016, 2019) in order to measure therapist behaviours representative of Gestalt therapy (GT). The scale itself was developed as a step towards achieving evidence-based practice. It is essential that the scale can demonstrate its scientific robustness and hold up against thorough critique. The current paper offers a comprehensive critique of the scale, from the use of a fidelity scale in GT, to the scale’s initial development as well as the structure and utility of the scale. Herein a number of problems are identified and discussed, undermining the scale’s validity and reliability. For instance, theoretical inconsistency can be identified between the fidelity scale and the philosophical underpinning of GT coupled with a lack of rigour in the scientific process leading to the general nature of items. Although some validity analyses show promise for the scale, these have been performed in the absence of determining the soundness of the scale’s internal structure. Such a critique has great importance, considering the GTFS has the potential to influence future Gestalt research, therapy and supervision. Recommendations are made in order to proceed with the aim of establishing GT as an evidence-based practice.

Keywords: Gestalt Therapy Fidelity Scale (GTFS), critique, scale development, evidence-based practice.