Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2005; 10: 46–7
The aim of this project is to examine who are the clients in gestalt therapy and to describe the clients’ experiences with the therapy, what they experience as effective/not effective and whether or not learning taking place in the therapeutic room can be transferred to the clients’ everyday contexts. The aim is also to describe the therapists’ practice profiles and to describe the experiences of cooperations/collaborations between therapists and medical doctors. Gestalt therapy is a therapeutic modality that is spread all over the world, and is one of the most widely used alternative psychotherapeutic treatments today. Gestalt therapy is not officially approved or integrated in the official treatment system in Norway and is included in WHO’s definition of alternative medicine. Every third adult Norwegian has used alternative treatment and psychological problems are one of the main problems reported.
Every approved gestalt therapist will be included in the study and the clients will be recruited through the therapists. Both surveys using questionnaires and case studies using qualitative interviews, documents and questionnaires will be used.
In addition to generating a knowledge of the clients and their health problems in the field of gestalt therapy, this project can give profound knowledge about gestalt therapy from the clients’, the therapists’ and the doctors’ viewpoints. The research results might generate a hypothesis and form a starting point for important research projects in mental health and alternative treatments.
