EDITORIAL

Marianne Fry

We regret to announce - for those readers who have not already heard the news - that Marianne Fry, a beloved and renowned Gestalt teacher in England and Germany, died in January 1998 aged 76. Two appreciations of her life and work follow this editorial. Among many people and organisations who will miss her are those who produce this journal.

Marianne was an active, wise, intelligent Editorial Consultant from the very beginning of the British Gestalt Journal. She was an avid reader of each issue, a critic to listen to, and an occasional contributor herself. It is sad that her teachings have not circulated more widely among the greater Gestalt community. Her interview for the BGJ - the first one we published, in 1993 (Vo1.2 No.2) - assumes a greater importance. It seemed appropriate to ask Judith Hemming, who interviewed her on that occasion, also to write the obituary. Following this, Jerry and Willi Kogan - two close friends and colleagues in Germany - describe her 'other life'.

Judith, Pat Levitsky, and myself who (with Ray Edwards at the beginning) were the chief shapers of the BGJ, were also three of Marianne Fry's closest friends. Each of us had separate friendships with her. Marianne obviously heard a lot about the Journal, its trials and creative life. In this capacity she was able to provide quiet support behind the scenes, and she did. She continued to be an encouraging presence right up to her death. In the context of the life of the Journal, as in many others, she is irreplaceable.

Volume 7, No 1

The present issue continues in the best tradition of the British Gestalt Journal. It breaks fresh ground, engages a variety of topics, and because the writers write well, it makes ‘good contact' with readers (or so we hope and believe).

The contributions are clustered. We have a Special Focus on gay and lesbian issues - with three papers (by Daniel Rosenblatt, Glenys Jacques, and Allan Singer), covering a wide (but still small) selection of topics within what is obviously a large field of human exploration, therapeutically and personally. We are glad to be bringing into greater prominence issues to do with the gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities. There has been a dearth of Gestalt writing about these concerns.

In this issue, there is also another cluster of papers. For the first time, we are exploring a specialist clinical topic by inviting three practitioners to comment on their thinking, regarding a particular client group. In this instance, the client group is smokers, who wish to give up. Ray Edwards, Judy Graham, and Ella Risi have contributed their ideas, and some of their practical experience. We invited Michael Clemmens to comment on the three contributions. To our knowledge, there has been no previous Gestalt writing about this form of addiction. The format used here for this clinical discussion-on-paper is one which we shall use again. There is a great need in the Gestalt community to share practical experiences, and to link theory and practice more assiduously.

An emphasis on case-work is taken up in the book review by Gill Caradoc-Davies. She writes in some detail about the first ever published book of Gestalt case studies, produced by Bud Feder and Ruth Ronall in 1996. The other book review this time, by Caro Kelly, is of a book by Philip Lichtenburg, relating to understanding bigotry and undoing of prejudice in everyday situations. This, of course, also relates back to the homosexuality theme, and is a book deserving of wider attention.

We are also a ‘theory forum’ - a place where different outlooks can be explored. Lolita Sapriel returns to the themes of intersubjectivity, self-psychology, and Gestalt, in a seminal paper. There is also a letter from Peter Philippson, relating to differences in fundamental models regularly employed by practitioners.

The Journal’s Independence 

When the Journal began, our publishers were the Gestalt Psychotherapy Training Institute in the United Kingdom (GPTI). Later the BGJ was separately published by GPTI Publications Ltd., (a subsidiary company of GPTl Ltd.). From January 1998, the publishing company became fully independent of GPTI, legally and financially, and now trades as Gestalt Publications Ltd.

Although legally connected to GPTI - until this year - we have in practice been on our own from the start. We insisted on editorial independence, and this was respected. We also have supported ourselves financially and, apart from some start-up funds from the Artemis Trust, have not received any subsidy or major donation, from GPTI or anyone else.

It is an appropriate moment in the life of the BGJ to honour the important relationship with GPTI in the formative years. We particularly thank our 'Editorial Consultants (from GPTI)’ who now join our Board of Editorial Advisers.

Although published for the Gestalt community as a whole, the BGJ, for many, has had a decidedly GPTI flavour. It is for this reason, in part, that we have become independent institutionally. It is important that we are seen to be independent - open to different views of Gestalt therapy, its derivatives and developments. This is a central value which we hold dearly.

Malcolm Parlett 

Letter to the Editor:

‘Five Layers’ versus ‘Interruptions to Contact’ - Peter Philippson 

Book Reviews:

Encountering Bigotry - Befriending Projecting Persons in Everyday Life by Philip Lichtenburg - Caro Kelly 

A Living Legacy of Fritz and Laura Perls: Contemporary Case Studies, edited by Bud Feder and Ruth Ronall - Gill Caradoc-Davies