Abstract
The diagnostic process in psychotherapy using the aesthetic evaluation is described in this article. Unlike the classical diagnostic process, which presents a result of comparing clinicians´ observations with a diagnostic system (DSM, ICD, etc.), the aesthetic evaluation is a pre-reflexive, embodied, and preverbal process. A Gestalt Therapy theoretical frame is used to introduce a concept of the aesthetic diagnostic process. During this process, the clinicians use their own here-and-now presence, which takes part in the co-creation of the shared relational field during the therapeutic session. A specific procedure of the aesthetic evaluation is introduced. The clinical work with depressed clients is presented to illustrate this perspective.
Highlights
Gestalt therapists have often held caution towards psychopathology and diagnostics
Human suffering can be met by the therapist who resonates [4,5] with the client and this implies a transformation that is aesthetic
The depressive condition leaves the therapists teetering on the edge of a precipice, feeling a terrible weight pulling them down towards into the abyss, the vacuum, a state of solitude, fear, and extreme impotence where all sense of direction is lacking. This can lead to feelings of anger, which may result in self-depreciation (“I’m not up to working with this client”) or a loss of faith in one’s training and profession (“My chosen therapeutic approach doesn’t equip me to deal with this client” or “Psychotherapy’s no use at all with these clients: they just need medication!”)
Summary
Gestalt therapists have often held caution towards psychopathology and diagnostics. It has not been an easy relationship for epistemological, historical, and political reasons [1,2]. The intention of developing Gestalt psychopathology is not to label the clients, rather to understand their suffering from an experiential and relational theoretical point of view. Such an understanding provides therapists with a specific support and guidelines for experiential and relational work. Human suffering can be met by the therapist who resonates [4,5] with the client and this implies a transformation that is aesthetic. The suffering emerges in the therapeutic session as a phenomenon co-created by the client and the therapist and it can be transformed in the process of contact [8]. The clinical work with depressed clients will be presented to illustrate this perspective
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