This study has explored the construct of aesthetic relational knowledge (ARK) as the intuitive experience of the therapist that emerges from the phenomenological field created in a meeting between therapist and client. A scale to measure this construct has been built and validated. The concept of ARK has been examined in literature and a questionnaire has been developed, composed of 58 items. A sample of 94 Italian Gestalt psychotherapists (Mage = 40.19, SD = 8.15) has completed an online protocol containing the Basic Empathy Scale, the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, and a series of questions created ad hoc for the assessment of resonance. Two exploratory two- and three-latent-factor analyses were conducted to identify the variables that best explain ARK. The results have shown that ARK is described by three factors: empathy, resonance, and bodily awareness. They show the best saturation values and the best comparison with the theoretical reference model. Cronbach’s alpha is .844. The ARK can be defined as a three-dimensional construct that supports the positive use of counter-transferential feelings in terms of aesthetic knowledge of the phenomenological field of the therapeutic situation. The ARK can be measured by the Aesthetic Relational Knowledge Scale, suitable for training purposes, supervision, and research.

Building on the social experiences that have formed the backdrop to the pandemic, some of the relational dimensions that have come to the forefront today are described. The need for a new set of values in humanistic psychology is addressed, from support for individual potential to building a sense of "being-with" the other, embracing a more relational perspective. The author proposes looking to the paradigm of reciprocity, applied through an aesthetic approach and inspired by gestalt hermeneutics (phenomenological and field oriented), and presents aesthetic relational knowledge (Spagnuolo Lobb, 2018a) as a means of working through the suffering of the client in a contextualized way, considering the resonance of the therapist as part of the experiential field of the client. This new humanistic value can be realized by focusing on the "dance" of reciprocity between the therapist and the client (a model under research that considers mutual perceptions and reactions to the perceptions of the other, supported by the vitality that each one places in being-with the other). In this way, therapeutic change can include both figure and ground experiences. A consequence of this new value is a turn in the ethical position of the psychotherapist: from a narcissistic effort to be a "good therapist" to an aesthetic attitude that doesn't deny limits and puts the presence of the other in the foreground. An important consequence for therapists is to take care of themselves so that they are able to deal with the trauma of the pandemic, which is also strengthened through constant dialogue with the professional community.

This report provides a framework of the special section titled "Dialogues on Psychotherapy at the Time of Coronavirus." Twelve prominent Gestalt psychotherapists and trainers from different parts of the world were invited to discuss their pandemic experience by the Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy-Postgraduate School of Psychotherapy recognized by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. The webinar, organized on May 15-16, 2020, hosted 850 participants from all over the world, who were able to reflect on how to improve their skills as psychotherapists in this time of global trauma, and to transform this momentous event into an opportunity for growth. New humanistic values emerged from their dialogue: a shift from supporting the development of personal power to the new value of being-with and recognizing the other. This discussion revealed how Gestalt psychotherapy, with its perspective on the self as a process that takes place at the contact boundary with the environment, and its relational soul that looks at the cocreation between therapist and client, can contribute significantly to this turning point. The presenters have reported in this section their personal, clinical and theoretical reflections offered during the webinar. Their aim can be expressed with the question "How can we recount to our children what we are living with a sense of beauty and courage, so that they can move forward in their own lives, relying on a safe and meaningful foundation?"Editor's Note. This is an introduction to the special section "Dialogues on Psychotherapy at the Time of Coronavirus." Please see the Table of Contents here: https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/hum/48/4.-SDCThis article aims to introduce a series of reports collected in a special section of The Humanistic Psychologist dedicated to a Gestalt psychotherapy perspective on the pandemic. These reflections were presented during the international webinar Dialogues on Psychotherapy at the Time of

Psychotherapy is one of the evidence-based clinical interventions for the treatment of depression in older adults with dementia. Randomized Controlled Trials are often the first methodological choice to gain evidence, yet they are not applicable to a wide range of humanistic psychotherapies. Amongst all, the efficacy of the Gestalt therapy (GT) is under-investigated. The purpose of this paper is to present a research protocol aiming to assess the effects of a GT-based intervention on people with dementia (PWD) and the indirect influence on their family carers. The study implements the Single-Case Experimental Design with Time-Series Analysis that will be carried out in Italy and Mexico. Ten people in each country, who received a diagnosis of dementia and present depressive symptoms, will be recruited. Eight or more GT sessions will be provided whose fidelity will be assessed by the GT Fidelity Scale. Quantitative outcome measures are foreseen for monitoring participants’ depression, anxiety, quality of life, carers’ burden, and the caregiving dyad mutuality, at baseline and follow-up. The advantages and limitations of the research design are considered. If GT will result effective in the treatment of depression in PWD, it could enrich the range of evidence-based interventions provided by healthcare services.

En partant d’une reformulation du concept d’awareness, nécessaire à l’évolution post-moderne de la socio-culture actuelle, l’auteur explore comment cette nouvelle perspective se manifeste dans certains aspects fondamentaux de la pratique de la psychothérapie. Ce sont, en particulier, les principes philosophiques et anthropologiques qui guident la perspective thérapeutique d’un Gestalt-thérapeute ainsi que le propos, l’objet et le soutien spécifiques du soin. L’article se termine avec un exemple clinique de coconstruction de la frontière-contact entre thérapeute et client ;ce cas met en relief l’importance de l’awareness tant chez le client que chez le thérapeute pour susciter cette présence mutuelle qui caractérise spécifiquement la gestalt-thérapie.