Introduction


This issue of Gestalt! provides some insight into the nature of an online, text-based community. That community is known as "Gstalt-L," and it is comprised of about 200 Gestalt practitioners and interested persons from around the world. It's members include established Gestalt writers and trainers as well as beginning students. It is a place where virtual contact takes place and where people can discuss theory and practice, as well share their very own lives with one another.

On September 11, 2001, Gstalt-L became one of the victims of the terrorist attack on New York City; the routing equipment that supports the technology at St. Johns University, where Gstalt-L is archived, ran under the World Trade Center, and it was disrupted when the twin towers tumbled down. The was the first major interruption to the developing community of Gstalt-L since it began in August of 1996.

[ Last updated, 11/24/03 ]

Gestalt!
ISSN 1091-1766 

Volume 5 ; Number 2
Early Fall, 2001


Published by
Gestalt GlobalCorporation
Indexes for Gestalt!


Introduction | Working Corner |
Review of Literature: Responses to "Empirical and Hermeneutic Approaches to Phenomenological Research in Psychology, A Comparison," | Check-In: An Early On-Line Round of Subscribers | Field and Boundary | Projection and Self Psychology | Impasse | Contemporary Gestalt Therapy: an Epilogue | Announcements: Conference News | Letters to the Editor in Response to Gestalt!'s look at GATLA's Summer Residential Training Program
(Vol.5; No.1), by Sylvia Crocker - by Todd Burley in Response to Crocker - by Sylvia Crocker in
response to Todd Burley



Gstalt-L, An email discussion group devoted to Gestalt therapy and the community of its practitioners (www.g-gej.org/gstalt-l). Gstalt-J, An email discussion group devoted to research on Gestalt therapy, theory and practice (www.g-gej.org/gstalt-j). Supported by the Gestalt Research Consortium (GRC) (www.g-gej.org/grc). Gestalt Bookmarks, a place to begin researching the field of contemporary Gestalt therapy on the world wide web
(www.g-gej.org/gestaltbookmarks).

Photos and Graphics
by
Philip Brownell

Gstalt-L was originally conceived to be a discussion group directly related to the ejournal, Gestalt!, which was first set up as part of the virtual network of professional level discussion groups and online, networked communities organized by Bob Zenhausern (now retired) through his relationship as psychology faculty at St. Johns University. His vistion and work created one of the largest, if not THE largest networks of such listserv discussion groups in the world at that time. As part of all that, Gstalt-L was conceived to be the place where people could discuss what they found in the ejournal, and Gstalt-L's sister list, Gstalt-J, was to be the text-only version of the journal (no graphics and sent out unformatted, through email).

As the actual list got going, however, no one knew much about the world wide web, and most Gestalt practitioners could only tolerate technology to the level of using email. They were not interested in much else, and their interest in, and confidence about web-based Gestalt literature was very low. More and more people, however, enjoyed meeting online from around the world, and their participation transcended geography, associational ties, historical Gestalt animosities and political loyalties. Eventually, Gstalt-L also absorbed the previously vigorous AAGT email discussion list.

Gstalt-L has long since left behind the original vision of discussing contents of Gestalt! and become someing independent; its sister list, Gstalt-J has become devoted to issues surrounding research into Gestalt therapy, a more focused concern related to the Gestalt Research Consortium (http://www.g-g.org/grc).

In this issue of Gesalt! readers will find one long response, from Rebert Feldhaus, Ph.D., which was especially interesting and could stand on its own. This was, however, part of an ongoing dialogue that transcended several months, and which came out of the discussion of ciritical perspectives on Gestalt therapy by a couple of very outspoken "opponents" (Amos Gunsberg and Jeffrey Schaler).

The reader will also find an online "round" in which various subscribers at the time shared something of themselves and came more forward in the circle of those interacting. It provides some appreciation of the kind of contact and the various backgrounds that brought people together in Gstalt-L to begin with.

In "Field and Boundary" several people discuss field theory, and this discussion became quite lengthy. It is actually a topic that has gained discussion at various times over the years on the list; so, some of those discussions have been edited together to formulate this presentation.

The impasse is a "stuck point" in the process of therapy that many find challenging and very interesting. In "Impasse" three Gestalt practitioners briefly outline some of the philosophical and practical issues related to this pivotal point in the process of therapy.

In the "Epilogue: Contemporary Gestalt Therapy" various subscribers offered their sense of new elements in Gestalt therapy, and they offered a variety of reading resources that might help readers pursue an interest in more of a contemporary understanding of its theory and practice.

In addition to these samplings from the discussions at Gstalt-L a new kind of feature is debuting in Gestalt! with this issue. This will be a periodic sampling of literature from the broader field of psychology and psychotherapy, by means of a summary review and critique from a Gestalt perspective. To begin, Arie Cohen and Victor Daniels review "Empirical and hermeneutic approaches to phenomenological research in psychology," an article on phenomenological research which first appeared this year in Psychological Methods, a journal published by the American Psychological Association.

Victor Daniels also offers another in his series of "Working Corners," where some of the issues of practice are described in the form of experiential interventions practitioners have found useful.

Last, under announcements, current information on the next international conference of Gestalt therapists, sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT), is provided. Contact and followup data are included for all those interested.

We hope the reader finds something of interest and of use in this issue. We invite letters of response to comment on various contents of the journal, and those may be addressed to Philip Brownell, Sr. Editor (pbrownell@g-g.org).