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A Gestalt Therapy Perspective on Psychopathy: Bearing the Unbearable

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The Complexity of Psychopathy

Part of the book series: Dangerous Behavior in Clinical and Forensic Psychology ((DBCFP))

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Abstract

The topic of psychopathy opens up many roads of inquiry—diagnostic, psychopathological, therapeutic, clinical, forensic, existential, ethical—which together outline an extremely complex landscape. The intention of this chapter is not to reduce that complexity, but rather to contribute, if possible, to highlighting it, and perhaps even to add to it. The fulcrum of this work lies in the search for a clinical dimension of meaning for psychopathic experience through a Gestalt Therapy perspective, building in particular on a fundamental construct of the approach, which is field theory. It is essential to bear firmly in mind that the search for meaning does not mean searching for justification. It means searching for a ground, from which a phenomenon emerges, and for movement, for the intentional direction the phenomenon tends to move towards. In this approach, trying to understand cannot be avoided, and it means grasping subjective experience, how it emerges, and the meaning it has. Our hope is that this exploration can give rise to potentially useful insights for clinical work.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is worth noting that developments in psychoanalysis in recent times have moved in much the same direction (Lackmann, 2001; Eagle, 2010).

  2. 2.

    The DSM 5 (APA, 2013) introduced some new diagnostic categories, including compulsive shopping disorder; compulsive sex disorder; and psychotic risk disorder. The DSM looks at them as individual disorders, but if we consider our contemporary social field, we may ask: are individuals suffering from compulsive shopping disorder or is there a field suffering from consumerism? Are individuals suffering from compulsive sex disorder or is there a field suffering from a lack of ties and stability in relationships? Are individuals suffering from psychotic risk disorder or is there a field suffering from a lack of boundaries and ground? (Francesetti, 2013).

  3. 3.

    Reification, from the Latin res, or thing + facere, namely to make: ‘make into an object.’

  4. 4.

    The justifications for the attack on Nagasaki are still debated.

  5. 5.

    I refer readers to past works published for a more in-depth discussion: Francesetti, 2015, 2019a, 2019b; Francesetti and Griffero, 2019).

  6. 6.

    The paradigm here is phenomenological (Wiesing, 2014), in line with studies of perception in Gestalt psychology (Francesetti, 2016), neuroscientific research on the self by Damasio (2010), and the philosophical approach of pathic aesthetics (Griffero, 2017; Böhme, 2017).

  7. 7.

    The executioner.

  8. 8.

    For a discussion of clinical practice based on field theory, see Francesetti, 2019b; Francesetti and Roubal, 2020; Roubal and Francesetti, in press.

  9. 9.

    This is a case brought for supervision and constantly followed. Here I relate it as the first-person narration of the therapist.

  10. 10.

    The term theodicy, coined by Leibniz, refers to a branch of theology. Its etymological meaning derives from the Greek théos (god) and díke (justice). In other words, it treats in the “doctrine of the justice of God”. Leibniz uses the term theodicy to refer to the doctrine of the justification of God for the evil present in creation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IPsiG – International Institute for Gestalt Therapy and Psychopathology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy

    Gianni Francesetti

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  1. Gianni Francesetti
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  1. Hampden–Sydney College, Farmville, VA, USA

    Jennifer E. Vitale

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Francesetti, G. (2022). A Gestalt Therapy Perspective on Psychopathy: Bearing the Unbearable. In: Vitale, J.E. (eds) The Complexity of Psychopathy. Dangerous Behavior in Clinical and Forensic Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83156-1_17

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