Presenter: Michele Cannavò

Description:

Drawing on my 20 years of clinical experience as a psychiatrist, Gestalt therapist, and trainer, I propose a Gestalt approach to psychosomatic suffering. Focusing on the concept of context and situation, traditionally studied at the Istituto di Gestalt H.C.C. Italy, I offer a phenomenological, aesthetic, and field-oriented perspective on the therapeutic relationship and change in the psychosomatic field.

I will explore the relational and intersubjective significance of bodywork, where, in addition to the centrality of the relationship, its cornerstone from a Gestalt perspective is an integrated approach that includes biopsychosocial aspects. To define the relationship between body and environment, it will be useful to demonstrate the interactions between the nervous system, the immune system, organs, and the environment/other. The patient’s suffering will be believed, felt, experienced, and sometimes encouraged by the therapist, and only through this involvement and full presence will healing be possible.

I will also propose the concepts of safe place, appropriate distance, and trust as central aspects of the therapeutic intervention; the importance of co-regulation and reshaping presence to allow the patient to no longer perceive the anxiety arising from the other’s presence; and the trust in the field and situation that characterize the therapeutic encounter.

I will conclude the experience with a group experiment to better flesh out these concepts.

Biography:

Michele Cannavò is a psychiatrist and Gestalt psychotherapist, with a PhD in neurovegetative medicine. He trained with Margherita Spagnuolo, Gianni Francesetti, Piero Cavaleri, Carmen Vasquez Bandin, Ruella Frank, Jean-Marie Robine, and Carl Hodges at the Istituto di Gestalt H.C.C. Italy. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Catania, and the author of various publications in the fields of psychiatry, research, and psychotherapy (approximately 50), book chapters, and one book. He is also a past secretary of the European Association of Gestalt Therapy, and a teacher and supervisor at the H.C.C. Italy Gestalt Psychotherapy Institute, specializing in body processes, groups, neuroscience, psychopathology, and the use of imagery in therapy, for which he is the author of a method with practical clinical applications.