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FrancoAngeli Journals

Storie e identità/History and identity a cura di Luca Pino

No. 1 (2025)

SIPG Recounts: The History of Italian Gestalt Psychotherapy. Anna Fabbrini and the Alia Center

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/qg2025-1oa20092
Submitted
maggio 10, 2025
Published
2025-07-23

Abstract

The aim of this article is to retrace a part of the history of Gestalt therapy in Italy, through the author’s eyes and in her own words: an “embodied” account that, starting from her own experiences and developments, helps us to understand the roots of the Gestalt approach in Italy and guide us to navigate our present.

The essay provides a vast selection of texts and authors that have been key for the professional and personal development of the author and that could become a useful tool for the new generations of psychotherapists too. It is an opportunity to nurture our own ground and to foster our own humanity.

The author takes us on a trip down memory lane through her encounters, her mentors’ words, her formative experiences through her clinical and supervision work, her collaborations and her partnerships.

Gestalt psychotherapy in Italy places itself as a distinct approach thanks to tireless reasearch, an open conversation with other approaches, the establishment of a federation of institutes and of an association of individuals, and an environment where mutual recognition is available and where common criteria can be established while respecting differences. What emerges is a gaze that is always oriented toward caring (including the therapist), the ethics of relationship, curiosity and respect for differences without ever forgetting context, affiliations, the spirit of the times and the social climate. This essay has the ability to convey hope that psychotherapy can lead to the humanization of these troubled times and can provide a chance to become aware and acknowledge complexity.

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