In a message dated 11/1/99 9:30:26 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< I'm presently working toward a Masters Degree in Rehabilitation
 Counseling--with the intention of specializing in helping people who suffer
 from Substance Abuse. >>

Dear Hank,
    Some  of the excellent Gestalt therapy resources have already been
mentioned, especially Michael Clemmens' Getting Beyond Sobriety: Clinical
Approaches to Long-Term Recovery, 1997, Jossey-Bass Publishers and Arnie
Coven who has published quite a few articles on Gestalt Therapy in
Rehabilitation Counseling journals. Arnie is a personal friend and former
colleague/associate of mine who currently resides near Detroit, MI and is a
professor at Wayne State University. If you care to contact him directly, his
Email address is  [log in to unmask]
    Other written resources I suggest are: "The Alcoholic: A Gestalt View" by
C. Jesse Carlock, Kathy O'Halleran Glaus & Cynthia Shaw, Chapter 8 (48 fine
pages) in Edwin Nevis' book: Gestalt Therapy: Perspectives and Applications,
1993, NY: Gardner Press; Angela Browne-Miller's small paperback, Gestalting
Addiction: The Addiction-Focused Group Psychotherapy of Dr. Richard Louis
Miller, 1993, Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publ.; and the unpublished doctoral
dissertation of Kennethe Roche, The Character and process of Recovery from
Alcoholism and the Influence of Psychological Variables from Gestalt Therapy
Homeostasis Theory, 1986, Ph.D. Dissertation, KENT STATE UNIVERSITY, Kent,
Ohio. The latter is a dissertation I directed and as a graduate student your
university library should be able to borrow it on interlibrary loan.

 << Anyway, I'm merely learning and honing my Gestalt therapy skills; you are
 actually DOING it on a daily basis.  Therefore, in the interest of separating
 "fact from theory," >>

    Hank, I'm not sure how your questions and the data you hope to obtain
from our answers will, in deed, seperate "fact from theory." I have been a
Gestalt therapist for over 30 years and I couldn't "do" it without Gestalt
theory being integral to the entire counseling  relationship and therapeutic
process. Having directed 101 doctoral dissertations at Kent State University,
over 40 of which focused on various aspects of Gestalt therapy (including
several that have empirically validated the Gestalt theoretical constructs of
contact boundary processes), it is clear to me that theory and technique (or
interventions, experiments, etc.) can not be seperated from our theory. This
is like attempting for form a figure without ground.

<>

    Hank, I have used all of these Gestalt interventions as integral to
individual and/or group therapy (some are only doable in group) and find it
impossible to rank them on any criteria I can think of with regard to their
utility with treating alcoholics. If you are going to focus your research in
this direction, my recommendation is that you describe what you understand
each technique to mean, how it is linked to Gestalt theory, how it may be
employed in group, individual, and marriage & family therapy context, and
what is it about it that might make it useful to consider as an intervention
for  a recovering alcoholic or co-dependents. In addition to the "pros," you
might also look at some of the "cons." For more specific research on use of
the empty chair, I would suggest you contact Bea Mackay, who wrote her
dissertation on this topic at University of British Columbia and is currently
writing a book on Gestalt 2-Chair work. He Email address is
[log in to unmask] Another resource is Ed Lynch at Southern Connecticut
University who has a special course in their Marriage and Family Therapy
graduate program in which he connects Gestalt Therapy and Alcoholism in
couples and family therapy. He teaches a series of courses, practica, etc.,
all of which seem to have a Gestalt therapy base. You can obtain information
about Ed and his graduate curriculm at
http://www.scsu.ctstateu.edu/catalogue/grad/MFT.html. I believe his Email
address is [log in to unmask]

 <<2.  How do YOU define the Gestalt "I/Thou" client/counselor relationship?>>

    In the simplest terms, I use the hyphen, " - ", between "I - Thou" as the
clearest form of expression to define this term/relationship.  Just reading
your question, in which you place a slash between "I/Thou" and
client/counselor, upsets my Existential-Gestalt equilibrium. I have long
remembered the quotation, "The healing is in the hyphen!" that I first heard
in a workshop with Maurice Freedman, author of The Healing Dialogue in
Psychotherapy, and often reiterated by Richard Hycner, author of Between
Person and Person: Toward a Dialogical Psychotherapy, and in his book written
with Lynne Jacobs, The Healing Relationship in Gestalt Therapy. Another good
reference is Wm. Heard's book, The Healing Between. While all of these are
suggested readings if you care to learn some beautiful stuff about this
subject, I would suggest you first read Sylvia Crocker's new book, A
Well-Lived Life: Essays in Gestalt Therapy, 1999, Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic
Press.

 << 3.  Do YOU think the 12 step program works within the context of Gestalt
Therapy? >>

Yes!
However, I like better the way that Phil Brownell expressed this, "I'd put it
another way.  You can work a 12-step program, and you can utilize Gestalt
therapy to better understand what you're experiencing along the way."
A couple of faculty at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland have done
considerable training in this area.  They conducted a day-long workshop on
Gestalt and Alcoholism a few years ago. At that time Carol DeSanto is the one
who  I remember being most clearly associated with the program. GIC can be
accessed on internet by Email:      [log in to unmask]
or their Website:                       www.gestaltcleveland.org

I hope this information is helpful in your pursuit of knowledge about Gestalt
therapy. Good luck on you research and writing.
Sincerely, Ansel Woldt, Ed.D., Emeritus Professor, Kent State University