Gestalt Counselling in Action (Counselling in Action series)

`Petruska Clarkson does a very good job of fleshing out the bare bones of theory with well chosen case material, Zen anecdotes and flashes of down-to-earth humour. I found particularly useful and convincing her ability to weave together the stage of counselling and of the Gestalt model with discussion of the interruptive patterns typical of each stage, and examples of the kind of techniques that Gestalt counsellors might use, as appropriate, to deal with these patterns. A handy update on Gestalt in the `80's that shows it to be a mature and sophisticated approach to personality that has lost little of its inventiveness, iconoclasm and authenticity in the process of growing up. The book has an excellent reference section on Gestalt and this helps make it a very useful source book as well as a good general guide' - Self & Society

`This is one of the best books in this excellent series. It gives an up-to-date and sophisticated view of the Gestalt approach to counselling and shows how Gestalt is far more than a `two-chair' method... this is an excellent introduction to the Gestalt method and could be used on any course which requires people to be aware of such approaches' - British Journal of Medical Psychology

`will be welcomed, particularly by those who have jumped into experiencing Gestalt therapy for themselves but wonder what theory lies behind it. For them, the classic Gestalt `aha' may be at hand. It will all begin to make sense. The principles of Gestalt therapy are indeed quite distinct from other schools of therapy... Because Gestalt grew up as a rejection of what was seen as psychoanalytic over-intellectualizing, there has been a dearth of clear statements about Gestalt philosophy and technique. Clarkson fills this gap admirably, with an emphasis on the central features of Gestalt Therapy: awareness and contact... I hope that this book will allow Gestalt principles, rather than techniques, to move into the foreground. No longer will therapists proclaim themselves Gestaltists because their clients also talk to cushions' - Clinical Psychology Europe

`Petruska Clarkson has given us a unique introduction to Gestalt counselling. There is an ease in the way she sets Gestalt counselling within the context of contemporary psychotherapeutic thinking and navigates among the divergent perspectives of various Gestalt colleagues. Hers is a mature Gestalt therapy, ripened in long years of responsible clinical experience and freed of offensive exaggerations and superficialities which sometimes have occurred in the Gestalt literature. It is an informed Gestalt counselling: self-confident, modest, quiet. It seems to communicate trust and the deepest appreciation of the value of the human soul. It is also an accessible Gestalt therapy, easy to understand, yet profound in its simplicity. It is human and kind. No mean accomplishment for an introductory text...

The reader lives through the very cycle of Gestalt formation which Clarkson is describing. The structure of the process of reading the book is the same as the structure of the process of counselling. Such care in structuring the book, as well as attention to content and implicitly communicated values and perspectives, is characteristic of the work. The reader looking for a clear and comprehensive introduction to Gestalt counselling need look no further. This work can be recommended wholeheartedly' - British Gestalt Journal