New Perspectives in Therapeutic Work During the War: The Traumatized Field

Journal title QUADERNI DI GESTALT
Author/s Olga Movchan, Elisabetta Conte, Marilena Senatore
Publishing Year 2022 Issue 2022/2 Language Italian
Pages 11 P. 53-63 File size 164 KB
DOI 10.3280/GEST2022-002004
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The author describes how her experience as a psychotherapist changed during the Rus-sian-Ukrainian War. Having been born and raised in Russia and having, like many Russian therapists, friendly and professional ties with Ukrainian colleagues, she experienced signifi-cant personal repercussions. When a patient enters the therapist’s study, he/she brings with him/her his own traumatic experience, and some aspects inevitably resonate with the thera-pist’s traumatic experience. The situation becomes even more difficult for the therapist if the traumatic event is global, shared by therapist and patient, for example in situations such as war, political or natural disasters. This is what happened after February 24, 2022. In the article, the author shares her view on the change she has experienced in the thera-peutic setting since the beginning of the war: for example, the power of transgenerational reac-tions, a different level of self-narration of the therapist, the violation of borders and the inter-weaving of contexts. It is very important that the therapist is aware of his/her own traumatiza-tion and that he understands his own limitations. If the attempt to avoid re-traumatization leads to the repression of part of his personality and, consequently, to a decrease in his presence in contact with the patient, this feeds the traumatic fields, strengthening the disconnection. The author points out that some working methods have also changed. In some cases, the usual models and therapeutic values are inapplicable, if not dangerous. The idea of being fully aware of one’s own experiences, for example, or the process of unfreezing , or going through one’s own feelings, are all unenforceable things, particularly when working with volunteers who are in direct contact with refugees. Freezing is their natural adaptive response. At the same time, the retroflexion of feelings cannot leave no trace, and therefore it is important to find a balance between maintaining vitality and adaptive retroflexion of feelings, supporting and naming the experiences. It is important to draw on your own resources, rely on the sup-port of colleagues, turn to supervisors and intervision groups. In order to be with each other, it is necessary to maintain balance and continue to find the resources to work in a traumatic field.

Keywords: Traumatic field, Gestalt therapy during the war, therapist’s re-traumatization, transgenerational trauma, supervision.

  1. Frank R. (2022). The Bodily Roots of Experience in Psychotherapy. London, UK: Routledge.
  2. Macaluso M.A. (2015). La spontaneità dell’incontro terapeutico come fattore chiave di cambiamento. Quaderni di Gestalt, XXVIII, 2: 75-88. DOI: 10.3280/GEST2015-00200
  3. Orange D. (2018). Il custode del mio altro Risorse per una svolta etica in psicoterapia. Quaderni di Gestalt, XXXI, 2: 23-38. DOI: 10.3280/GEST2018-00200
  4. Porges S.W. (2017). The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal theory. The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (trad. it.: La guida alla teoria polivagale. Il potere trasformativo della sensazione di sicurezza. Roma: Giovanni Fioriti Editore, 2018).
  5. Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2017). From Losses of Ego Functions to the Dance Steps Between Psychotherapist and Client. Phenomenology and Aesthetics of Contact in the Psychotherapeutic Field. British Gestalt Journal, 26, 1: 28-37.
  6. Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2020). The Relational Turn of Gestalt Therapy Clinical Practice: From the “Empty Chair” to the “Dance of Reciprocity” in the Field. International Journal of Psychotherapy, 24, 3: 17-31.
  7. Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2021). Essere psicoterapeuta della Gestalt al tempo del Coronavirus: percepire lo sfondo esperienziale e “danzare” con reciprocità. Quaderni di Gestalt, XXXIV, 1: 33-50. DOI: 10.3280/GEST2021-00100
  8. Spagnuolo Lobb M., Cavaleri P.A. (a cura di) (2021). Psicopatologia della situazione. La psicoterapia della Gestalt nei campi clinici delle relazioni umane. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  9. Taylor M. (2014). Trauma Therapy and Clinical Practice. Neuroscience, Gestalt and the Body. Maidenhead UK: McGraw-Hill Education (trad. it.: Psicoterapia del trauma e pratica clinica. Corpo, Neuroscienze e Gestalt. Milano: FrancoAngeli, 2016).
  10. Taylor M. (2021). Il trauma collettivo e il campo relazionale. Quaderni di Gestalt, XXXIV, 2021,1: 73-82. DOI: 10.3280/GEST2021-00100
  11. Wollants G. (2021). Psicoterapia della Gestalt: terapia della situazione. Milano: FrancoAngeli (ed. or. Gestalt Therapy. Therapy of the Situation. London, UK: Sage Publications Ltd, 2012).

Olga Movchan, Elisabetta Conte, Marilena Senatore, Nuove prospettive del lavoro terapeutico in tempo di guerra: il campo traumatizzato in "QUADERNI DI GESTALT" 2/2022, pp 53-63, DOI: 10.3280/GEST2022-002004