Gerhard Stemberger (born June 29, 1947 in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) is a sociologist and Gestalt psychologist in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria, and one of the main representatives of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy. After a career in sociological and psychological

working time Working time or laboring time is the period of time that a person spends at paid Wage labour, labor. Unpaid work, Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week. Many countri ...

research, Stemberger turned to

clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...

and

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

. He has published extensively in the fields of clinical applications of Gestalt psychology, key concepts of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy,

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

in psychotherapy, and history of

Gestalt theory Gestalt may refer to: Psychology * Gestalt psychology, a school of psychology * Gestalt therapy, a form of psychotherapy Arts and media * ''Gestalt'' (album), a 2012 album by the Spill Canvas * ''Gestalt'' (manga), a manga series by Yun Kōga * ...

. He is co-editor (executive editor 2000-2012) of the international multidisciplinary journal "Gestalt Theory" (

de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

) and of the journal "Phänomenal - Zeitschrift für Gestalttheoretische Psychotherapie" (Krammer). He is faculty member of the ''Austrian Association for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy'' (ÖAGP). 1999-2007 he was president of the international ''Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications'' (GTA). 1992-2011 he served as an expert member of the Psychotherapy Advisory Council of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Health. Stemberger is living in Vienna (Austria) and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(Germany). Stemberger has edited and published five important Gestalt psychological anthologies: The first appeared in 2002 and contains classical and contemporary Gestalt psychological contributions to

psychopathology Psychopathology is the study of mental illness. It includes the signs and symptoms of all mental disorders. The field includes Abnormal psychology, abnormal cognition, maladaptive behavior, and experiences which differ according to social norms ...

("Psychische Störungen im Ich-Welt-Verhältnis"). The second, published in 2017, is a collection of works of the Italian Gestalt psychologist Giuseppe Galli ("Der Mensch als Mit-Mensch"). The third appeared in 2018, a collection of works of the German Gestalt psychologist,

sports psychologist Sport psychology is defined as the study of the psychological basis, processes, and effects of sport. One definition of sport sees it as "any physical activity for the purposes of competition, recreation, education or health". Sport psychology i ...

and

lucid dreams In the psychology subfield of oneirology, a lucid dream is a type of dream wherein the dreamer realizes that they are dreaming during their dream. The capacity to have lucid dreams is a trainable cognitive skill. During a lucid dream, the dreamer ...

researcher

Paul Tholey Paul Tholey (14 March 1937 – 7 December 1998) was a German Gestalt Psychology, Gestalt psychologist, and a professor of psychology and sports science at the Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Frankfurt and the Technical University of ...

("Gestalttheorie von Sport, Klartraum und Bewusstsein"). The fourth, co-edited with Marianne Soff (Karlsruhe, Germany), was published in 2022: it is the revised and expanded third edition of Gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Metzger's fundamental work "Schöpferische Freiheit - Gestalttheorie des Lebendigen" (Creative Freedom - Gestalt theory of the living). The fifth, finally, is the anthology "Essentials of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy", published in 2022, offering for the first time in English an insight into the guiding ideas of this integrative psychotherapy method, authored by psychotherapists from Austria, Germany, Italy, and the United States. In 2024 Stemberger published a further anthology, "Grundkonzepte der Gestalttheoretischen Psychotherapie"se
''Grundkonzepte der Gestalttheoretischen Psychotherapie''
Wien: Krammer 2024. (Basic Concepts of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy), a comprehensive presentation of the practice and theory of this Gestalt psychological approach to psychotherapy, with contributions from authors from Austria, Germany and Italy.

References

External links

G. Stemberger (ed., 2022): Essentials of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy
ISBN 9783756209064
''Grundkonzepte der Gestalttheoretischen Psychotherapie''
Wien: Krammer 2024, ISBN 978 3 901811 82 1
M. Soff & G. Stemberger (eds., 2022): Wolfgang Metzger, Schöpferische Freiheit - Gestalttheorie des Lebendigen
ISBN 978 3 901811 80 7
G. Stemberger: Psychotherapy: The Power and Challenge of Consistency

G. Stemberger: Ego and Self in Gestalt Theory

G. Stemberger (2008): Diagnostics in Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy

G. Stemberger (2019): Some Remarks on the Field Concept in Gestalt Psychology

Stemberger page on GTA website, including bibliography

Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications (GTA)

Open access journal ''Gestalt Theory'' at de Gruyter / sciendo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stemberger, Gerhard 1947 births Living people Austrian psychologists Gestalt psychologists psychotherapists Writers from Innsbruck University of Vienna alumni