1st Edition

Heart of Development, V. 2 Adolescence

Edited By Mark McConville, Gordon Wheeler Copyright 2001
    320 Pages
    by Gestalt Press

    In these groundbreaking new collections, the reader will find an exciting, boad-ranging selection of work showing an array of applications of the Gestalt model to working with children, adolescents, and their families and worlds. From the theoretical to the hands-on, and from the clinical office or playroom to family settings, schools, institutions, and the community, these chapters take us on a rewarding tour of the vibrant, productive range of Gestalt work today, always focusing on the first two decades of life. With each new topic and setting, fresh and creative ideas and interventions are offered and described, for use by practitioners of every school and method.

    McConville, Preface. Part I: Toward a Theoretical Framework. McConville, Lewinian Field Theory, Development, and Psychotherapy. Plummer, Tukufu, Enlarging the Field: African-American Adolescents in a Gestalt Context. Ferguson, O'Neill, Late Adolescence: A Gestalt Model of Development, Crisis, and Brief Psychotherapy. Wheeler, The Self in the Eye of the Father: A Gestalt Perspective on Fathering the Male Adolescent. Blumenthal, A Field of Difference: A Gestalt Consideration of Learning Disabilities. Part II: Applications in the Field. Singer, Coming Out of the Shadows: Supporting the Development of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Adolescents. Blaney, Smythe, A Gestalt Approach to the Treatment of Adolescent Eating Disorders. Fodor, Collier, Assertiveness and Conflict Resolution: An Integrated Gestalt/Cognitive Behavioral Model for Working with Urban Adolescents. Lee, Shame and Support: Understanding an Adolescent's Family Field. Schrevel, Anorexia and Contact. McConville, Shame, Interiority and the Heart-Space of Skateboarding: A Clinical Tale. McConville, Kraus, & Wheeler, Sex, Lies and Audio Tape: A Conversation about Adolescence with Sonia Nevis.

    Biography

    Gordon Wheeler, Ph.D., and Mark McConville, Ph.D., both senior members of the teaching faculty of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, are widely known for their teaching, clinical work, and writings in the Gestalt model.  Mark McConville is author of Adolescence; Gordon Wheeler's books in the field include Gestalt Reconsidered and Beyond Individualism

    "Gestalt approaches to work with families, children and their worlds are among the most important new extensions of the Gestalt model over the past generation - and high on the list of the contributions we can make, as practitioners, to the problems of the world. In this rich collection, you will find the exciting depth and range of this work, in applications from individual and family therapy to groups, schools, and beyond. Therapists who work with all ages and all approaches will find much in these chapters to enrich and enliven their perspectives and energy for the work."

    - Sonia March Nevis, Co-Director, Center for the Study of Intimate Systems, Gestalt International Study Center

    "If you live or work with children, you will be enriched by reading these books."

    - Violet Oaklander, from the Preface