SIPG Recounts: The History of Italian Gestalt Psychotherapy. Anna Fabbrini and the Alia Center

Journal title QUADERNI DI GESTALT
Author/s Anna Fabbrini, Monica Pinciroli
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/1
Language Italian Pages 19 P. 85-103 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/qg2025-1oa20092
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

View article Download Open Access article

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 aim of this article is to retrace a part of the history of Gestalt therapy in Italy, through the author’s eyes and in her own words: an “embodied” account that, starting from her own experiences and developments, helps us to understand the roots of the Gestalt approach in Italy and guide us to navigate our present. The essay provides a vast selection of texts and authors that have been key for the professional and personal development of the author and that could become a useful tool for the new generations of psychotherapists too. It is an opportunity to nurture our own ground and to foster our own humanity. The author takes us on a trip down memory lane through her encounters, her mentors’ words, her formative experiences through her clinical and supervision work, her collaborations and her partnerships. Gestalt psychotherapy in Italy places itself as a distinct approach thanks to tireless reasearch, an open conversation with other approaches, the establishment of a federation of institutes and of an association of individuals, and an environment where mutual recognition is available and where common criteria can be established while respecting differences. What emerges is a gaze that is always oriented toward caring (including the therapist), the ethics of relationship, curiosity and respect for differences without ever forgetting context, affiliations, the spirit of the times and the social climate. This essay has the ability to convey hope that psychotherapy can lead to the humanization of these troubled times and can provide a chance to become aware and acknowledge complexity.

Keywords: ; History of Gestalt; training; professional growth; psychotherapy

  1. Basaglia F. (1968). L’istituzione negata. Torino: Einaudi.
  2. Basaglia F. (1974). La maggioranza deviante. Torino: Einaudi.
  3. Bateson G. (1976). Verso un’ecologia della mente. Milano: Adelphi.
  4. Bateson G. (1984). Mente e natura. Milano: Adelphi.
  5. Bion W.R. (1981). Il cambiamento catastrofico. Torino: Loescher.
  6. Bion W.R. (1983). Apprendere dall’esperienza. Roma: Armando.
  7. Capra F. (1984). Il punto di svolta. Milano: Feltrinelli.
  8. Capra F. (1989). Il Tao della fisica. Milano: Adelphi.
  9. Cooper D. (1977). La morte della famiglia. Torino: Einaudi.
  10. Fabbrini A. (2021). “Cosa può la psicologia. Psicoterapia: un dialogo permanente con Alberto Melucci. Al presente della memoria” Convegno internazionale “Il futuro è adesso. Dialogando oggi con Alberto Melucci”. Milano 25 settembre 2021.
  11. Foucault M. (1969). Nascita della clinica. Il ruolo della medicina nella costituzione delle scienze umane. Torino: Einaudi.
  12. Foucault M. (1977). Microfisica del potere. Torino: Einaudi.
  13. Foucault M. (1997). Malattia mentale e psicologia. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  14. Goffman E. (1968). Asylums. Le istituzioni totali: i meccanismi dell’esclusione e della violenza. Torino: Einaudi.
  15. Goffman E. (1969). La vita quotidiana come rappresentazione. Bologna: il Mulino.
  16. Goffman E. (1983). Stigma. L’identità negata. Milano: Giuffré.
  17. Laing R.D. (1968). La politica dell’esperienza. Milano: Feltrinelli.
  18. Laing R.D. (1969). L’io diviso. Torino: Einaudi.
  19. Laing R.D. (1997). L’io e gli altri. Psicopatologia dei processi interattivi. Milano: BUR.
  20. Maturana H., Varela F. (1987). L’albero della conoscenza. Milano: Garzanti.
  21. Watts A.W. (1976). La via dello zen. Milano: Feltrinelli.

Anna Fabbrini, Monica Pinciroli, La SIPG racconta: la storia della psicoterapia della Gestalt Italiana. Anna Fabbrini e il Centro Alia in "QUADERNI DI GESTALT" 1/2025, pp 85-103, DOI: 10.3280/qg2025-1oa20092