Conference Report on the Gestalt Therapy Symposium:
"Memento Mori! Remember that you are mortal!"
November 7th – 9th, 2008, Zurich, Switzerland
The joint symposium of the Swiss Association for Gestalt Therapy and Integrative Therapy (SVG), the Austrian Association for Gestalt Therapy (OEVG), the Special Department for Integrative Gestalt Therapy in the Austrian Association for Group Therapy and Group Dynamics (FS/IGT) as well as the German Association for Gestalt Therapy (DVG) focused on various questions from the perspective of mortality. This was the second joint conference organized by Gestalt associations in these three countries (www.d-a-ch-gestalttagungen.org). Besides affording German-speaking Gestalt therapists the opportunity to exchange ideas within their community, experts from other fields were invited to contribute their conceptual inputs to our ongoing theory formation.
When I first read about the main theme of this symposium, I thought to myself: Actually, at the age of 46, I am still too young for this subject. However, I was so tempted to attend a Gestalt therapy conference in Switzerland where I could meet Gestalt therapists that I decided to satisfy my curiosity and set off for Zurich. The symposium took place in the Paulus-Academy in Zurich, an ecumenically oriented catholic education center in a quiet, single-family home neighborhood of Zurich. There were numerous rooms available for the symposium, among them an auditorium and a large foyer on the lower level, which well represented the depth and underground aspects of the subject. Moreover, the Lower Church was available to those participants who were seeking tranquility. I would like to briefly report on several lectures that I attended, and which are presently available (in German) for purchase under www.auditorium-netzwerk.de
The opening lecture was held by the geriatrician Clemens Skrabal, beginning with the provocative question: “Being Old – Do I really want this?” and following up with an illumination of the area of conflict inherent in the familiar paradox that “everyone wants to grow old, but no one wants to be old” and finally offering helpful advice for “good ageing.” In a very personal and understanding manner, and applying Korzybski’s semantic concepts, the psychiatrist and Gestalt therapist Andreas Weichselbraun used the case description of his own mother to trace the biographically effective, psychosomatic field forces that finally led to a state of dementia.
The "grande dame" of German Gestalt therapy, Lotte Hartmann-Kottek, held a lecture entitled "Ageing, Dying, Loving – a Chance to be Re-enchanted in Contemplation of Death?" She approached this subject in a very moving, personal manner, supported by the playback of corresponding musical forms of expression or poems. The ability to permeate the emphasis on the foreground that lapses in old age and to grasp the now shining depths of the background of human existence allow the process of ageing and approaching death appear to be relative. In his lecture, the psychiatrist and Gestalt psychotherapist Kurt Schoeck presented a broad palette of gestalt therapeutic interventions for working with the ageing in nursing homes. In her lecture “Salomo Friedlaender on the Subject of Ageing and Dying”, Kathleen Hoell, a political scientist and Gestalt therapist, gave a fascinating view of Salomo Friedlaender’s philosophy of life and development. She concentrated on Friedlaender’s “Catechism of Magic,” and offered an abundance of theoretical concepts out of which awareness was most differentiated as a main control factor for development. The social psychiatrist and philosopher Klaus Doerner’s developed the question of how the dignity and autonomy of a dying person could be maintained until his or her final moment. His lecture bore the well-known title “Deadly Pity.” Doerner presented the audience with the possibilities of palliative medicine as well as recent developments in the hospice movement. A number of workshops and mini-lectures were also offered, exploring issues of partnership, love and sexuality from the point of view of ageing, or examining one’s own way of coming to terms with dying, finiteness and change, including gender specific considerations.
The wonderful dinner party on Saturday night in the restaurant of the ETH (Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule) allowed us to combine lust for life with a magnificent view over Zurich. In my opinion, the atmosphere during the entire symposium was characterized by a respectful and mindful liveliness. To me this expert conference enriched and deepened the awareness of my own finiteness, an awareness that makes every moment seem precious. This symposium showed me once again not only Gestalt therapy’s rich potential, but also pointed out which highly significant topics it has elaborated on for psychotherapeutic interventions. The therapeutic prerequisites for the comprehension of specific problems that Gestalt therapists possess - and which they were able to develop into innovative approaches and individual interventions – demonstrated the transformative power inherent in Gestalt therapy.
Dr. Wolfgang Wirth, Marktplatz 2, 87724 Ottobeuren, Germany, praxis.wirth@t-online.de
Translated from the German by Nancy Amendt-Lyon
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