Two risks and a third way: what research for Gestalt therapy?

Abstract

Abstract: In this article the author explains the possible future for Gestalt therapy in view of the evolution of the regulatory context and the appearance of the contextual model resulting from the evolution of research in psychotherapy. This future oscillates between marginalisation or even outright disappearance and dissolution into a vast, integrative, outcome-based current. The author argues that both the values inspiring the Gestalt therapeutic posture and the mode of intervention based on the therapist’s affective resonance are worth defending and even disseminating more widely than today. He then draws the outlines of a Gestalt research that allows Gestalt therapy to be legitimised by being recognised as offering evidence-based treatments and to continue to develop as an original and innovative modality. Keywords: psychotherapy research, Gestalt therapy research, evidence-based, contextual model, effectiveness, EAGT, EAP.