Gestalt and Resilience in the Argentine Adversity
By Marcela Miguens

First of all we must set our experience in a social context. In a very succinct synthesis we ought to say that Argentina is an attention-grabbing case of severe anomie. 

This process of structural disintegration and of rupture of the ties and social contracts that hold the society together has become stronger in the last 30 years. Beneath this accumulative process underlies a chronic cultural situation of selfish and anarchic individualism, which was statistically well-documented. In Latin America, Argentina showed one of the lowest levels of affiliation to informal social organizations. 

As predicted by the theories of sociologist Robert Merton, this situation of severe anomie has led ever-greater parts of the population to “anomic alibis”, who choose alternative ways to success. These new ways are different from the normal ones in any society, such as, work, saving, responsibility and foresight. Studies carried out in Argentina have shown a high statistical correlation between people who think that it is hard to be successful in Argentina and resorting to “anomic alibis”, which would confirm Merton’s theories. 

There are more people who are inclined to social and political violence or to its polar pair – evasion. This means isolating oneself from society and politics and fall into reveries, usually aroused by drugs and alcohol especially among young people. We can also mention the increase in the belief of a struck of luck and the proliferation of gambling, raffles, prizes and other devices to exploit people’s incredulity. In addition, we might cite the appearance of religious sects, especially coming from Brazil, which milk people out of their money and promise that by divine intervention their problems will be solved. Finally, the two anomic alibis that are growing exponentially. The first group involves criminal activities, from delinquent acts of politicians, bankers and financers to mugging, murdering, kidnapping and blackmailing. The other type of alibis includes modes of adaptation, which Merton calls “ritualistic” or “conformist”. These lead to burocracy and indifference tow
ards the tasks that people have to perform. Both in the private and public sector, jobs are performed indifferently in a general atmosphere of low morale.

Finally, we must also add the plundering the country has been subjected to by its own leaders, who have taken away money to fiscal havens. The gravity of the situation can be evidenced by the analysis of the estimates: Argentinians have 130,000 million dollars in banks abroad and 80,000 million dollars are believed to have been made illegally. The Gross National Product of Argentina is about 160,000 million dollars and its foreign debt is 106,000 million dollars. 

The social results of this situation in the Argentina society are appalling. 

Happily, the Argentine society is leaving aside its leaders and is beginning to get over this anomic situation from the ground. It is re-weaving the social fabric through spontaneous initiatives. 

This has led me to study resilience and the recovering of the personality within Gestalt.

The anguishing situation of our country is reflected day to day in the consulting room of Transpersonal Gestalt therapists. This has prompted a group of sociologists and psychologist friends to deepen the concept of resilience in the area of human development. The emphasis of these reflections lie in the importance of promoting human potential instead of highlighting the existing harm of each individual or that of a nation.

In social science we could define Resilience as the capacity of taking action when confronted by life’s difficulties; overcoming of hardships and being positively transformed by them.
(Mabel Munist, 1998)

Victor Frankl, the great psychiatrist who wrote “Man in its quest for sense”, was one of the first who after World War II began to research the reason people who underwent extreme traumatic situations like those in concentration camps or those who suffered child loss, were able to overcome those dreadful experiences while others fell into irreversible depressions or severe psychiatric conditions.

Also the pioneer study of Grinker and Spiegel (1945) researched people who suffered wars and evolved wisely.

Based on these studies, researchers have been able to identify the Protecting Factors or Pillars of the potentiality of Resilience. Resilience is a metaphor and a process, which can be learned.

Resilience, as a metaphor is a word that comes from physics: “resiliency”, regaining its original shape easily, elastic… It designates the ability of a body to resist a shock. The notion of the process allows the understanding of the resilient adaptation interacting with the environment. (Maybe, creative adjustment in gestalt terminology). We could speak about a process in relation with the interaction among protective factors or of resilient pillars of risks, those of which could be family risks, cognitive risks, socioeconomic risks, political risks, or armed-conflict risks.

There’s a relation between the concept of resilience and the learning of Gestalt.

The Gestalt therapy teaches us to build from adversity. It is permanently challenging us to imagine and put into practice constructive ways to process experiences. Fritz Perls, its creator, was champion in giving up determinist tendencies, and reductionistic ways of thinking, which only focus on the shortcomings (like deviations, anomalies, illnesses, and catastrophes). Instead, Gestalt saves the individual for new explorations, which broaden his or her horizons through “experimentation”, through “awareness”, and through contact, through dialogue, through the liking for risks and of learning to live without guaranties.

It is very clear at present, especially in our country, that we cannot ignore the shortcomings, the negative, the illness, the flaws, the hunger, the poverty, the catastrophes. These exist more than ever. But they cannot blind our look as therapists, and hence, consider people and nations in their most diminishing aspects. Before someone who does drugs to diminish his or her pain, I could choose to see this person as a drug addict or as someone with the capability of recovery. Before someone who comes to the consulting room with complaints of his or her constant attempts and failures, I could choose to see this person as a “loser” or someone who has not seen the wide range of resources available to him or her, and who has not explored or developed them yet. The same thing happens before a nation confronted with adversity. I could see a country that is doomed or I could see an opportunity for people to generate changes and to transform themselves for the better when they find
a profound sense to their suffering and to their lives.

The seven Factors or Pillars of Resilience

In the evidence that not all people succumb before adversity and on the contrary there are those who overcome situations and arise strengthened, several authors have researched the concept of Resilience and they have pointed out 7 factors or pillars that protect human beings beyond the negative effects of adversity.

These pillars are:

1) Self-esteem
2) The moral, ethical and spiritual commitment
3) The ability of taking action with independence and personal initiative
4) Creativity
5) The ability to relate positively to others
6) The ability of introspection
7) Sense of humor 

Let’s review them:

1) Self-esteem

Among the studies of Resilience and Self-esteem, it is interesting to point out the work of Doctor Werner, (Resilience and Development, NY 1999) He did a follow up on children from birth to the age of 40 in the Island of Kauai. A sample of 700 children born in poverty, who underwent hardships and were brought up in dysfunctional families immersed in fights, alcoholism, absent parents, and mental illnesses. Werner observed that those who turned out resilient were the ones who had at least a person, a family member or not, who had accepted them as they were unconditionally. Independently from their personality, physical aspect or intelligence.

These children were raised with a high level of self-esteem knowing they could count on someone unconditionally and with the acknowledgement that their efforts were fostered and taken into account.

Werner asserts that all the studies conducted throughout the world on children who suffered hardships but had high self-esteem show that they had at least the influence of a loving relationship and tight bonds with a significant adult.

I feel that this role of unconditional support and acceptance coincides with the situation of a Gestalt therapist-patient relationship. It is to rescue, regardless of age, of a human history. To accompany his or her personal narrative and its resignification, to foster the I-You dialogue, to create intimacy when giving love and to commit oneself to the learning, all let the therapist and patient transform the pain into an opportunity of growth and service to the community. 

The resilience capability and the fact that it appears or not depend basically on the interaction of a person with its human environment.

2) The moral, ethical and spiritual commitment.

Suarez and Ojeda (1997) define Morality as the attitude of extending the personal desire of well-being to all mankind. Basically, it consists of the commitment of community values and this commitment is similar to the fundamentals of our Transpersonal Gestalt, which sees the road to growth and personal development as “being with others” instead of “being separate”. Religious faith and the sense of a “mission” in humanitarian causes are pillar factors of Resilience.

3) The ability of taking action with independence and personal initiative.

Suarez and Ojeda (1997) et al define this pillar as the capability of keeping emotional and physical distance without falling into isolation. It is a delicate balance, which can be learnt. Selma Ciornai gives a very moving example about Joseph Zinker, one of the greatest Gestalt Masters. Zinker suffered the experience of concentration camps first-hand. He told that one of the ways to preserve himself from the horrors of concentration was to look at colors and shapes and concentrate on them. He also narrated how throughout a bombing, while hiding with his mother in a shelter and while a desperate woman wanted to kill herself and while another was screaming crazily, he fixed his eyes on the flowery pattern of his mother’s skirt. He focused on colors and shapes and since then, the aesthetic, the good shapes and colors have become for him a sense of salvation and belief in life.

4) Creativity

Creativity is the ability to create order, harmony, beauty and purpose from chaos and disorder. Creativity is potentially within each human being. The human mind can reflect upon itself, and can generate new concepts, hypotheses, and estimations of a given situation, make better combinations with the environment and circumstances. For the Gestalt therapy it is a need, the art of expressing feelings and emotions in different ways. It generates the Gestalt Experiments and Games that promote this pillar.

5) The ability to relate positively to others

This pillar is defined as the ability to establish intimate bonds with other people. It is the ability to communicate the need for affection and to balance it with the attitude of giving oneself to others. It means learning to give, to ask and to receive.

Authors like Alicia Cuestas (Psychological fundaments of the concept of resilience, 2000) who researched on resilience think that the capability of relating to others is a consequence of the vital need of a human being who, needs affection to keep another pillar of resilience: self-esteem.

Sometimes the narcissism makes things difficult for shortage or excess, when low self-esteem drives someone to think that they don’t deserve other people’s attention and when they confirm their fears with their attitude. To excess, when someone overestimates themselves defensively in order to hide important deficiencies and causes a detachment disguised as arrogance, omnipotence, or self-sufficiency.

When self-esteem is adequate, the person not only develops a great ability to relate to others but also enables him to have initiative in the relationship and to achieve wholeness. 

6) The ability of introspection

It is considered the art of wondering and asking one’s questions honestly. It means asking oneself, recognizing “what there is and what it is” in the depth. It is also putting self-esteem on the line. If what I find is negative to my ego because my “I” is victim of a demolishing criticism or because it is too demanding due to perfectionism, I will not be able to have an honest answer without hurting my self-esteem. To develop the ability of introspection is undoubtedly linked to a solid self-esteem, which in turn is developed with significant others (parents, friends, peers, therapists).

7) Sense of humor

Humor shows how a the perception of a situation can be reconfigured to produce a change in somebody’s affections and behavior. It is linked to another pillar: Creativity. It is like a leap from a lateral path, which abandons the logical sequence with a liberating effect that allows another view. Through humor, a person can achieve the adjustment of feelings and attitudes and overcome accumulated tension. 

Victor Frankl tells that humor was one of the tools to fight for life in the extermination camps. With his barrack-mates, he suggested inventing stories. They dreamed about the day after the liberation, about the gaffes they would make in social gatherings after having become accustomed to “the lifestyle on the camp”. For example, they would probably find themselves asking the hostess to give them soup “from the bottom of the pot”. In the bottom of the pots, the watery soup, which was the only meal of the day at the concentration camp, might contain some solid morsels. 

The Resilience Metaphor

The Resilience Metaphor allows expanding the therapeutic approaches and turning them into psychosocial approaches. It also allows gaining humbleness by looking for alliances with solidarity networks where everyone can learn. We can help to build from adversity, implying that we professionals are the first ones that have to think and imagine new ways of processing the experiences we have to live through. (Ravazolla, Family Resilience, 2001)

Going back to our proposal: Gestalt and Resilience in the Argentine Adversity, I want to quote some paragraphs from an article by Miguel Espeche (Bachelor in Psychology) which appeared in La Nación newspaper in May 2002 and which reflects our viewpoint:

“Today all idealizations and monetary utopias are dead. However, people remain. Despite the appearances, not everyone is sinking psychologically together with their frozen bank accounts, impoverished salaries, or the violent changes in our lives brought about by the violent economy we live in. 

In fact, and we take this as a healthy sign, the repairing action of the solidarity tasks on which Argentina can count today is enormous. In addition, people are exercising responsible citizenship, healthy self-criticism, and producing mental and community resources that are relieving the pain and frustration which would have been unbearable in solitude. In times of trouble the psychological and spiritual health is generated, it is not bought.

In this respect, we can nowadays see what is happening with bartering, with alliances of neighborhood aid, with the stirring resignification of politics, which aims at the enactment of the law, and with the countless situations of complaint and hopelessness but also of creativity, solidarity and courage which are coming forth. We might then say that as Argentinians we are attaining greater mental health in spite of the difficulties and pain of the present.”

I think that if Fritz Perls could see us know, he would say:

“What nice melting!” He used to say this to people who were weeping and in great pain and could hence become “profoundly aware”, once they touched reality. 

And our “own awareness” as a country implies the need to initiate the taking charge of our own mistakes through our suffering. Elaborate a reflexive mourning to try to figure out what happened to us. Mourning for our dead in fraternal wars. Mourning for the insane fight of everyone against everyone. Mourning for the flawed transition from militarism to a verbal democracy where the government in office becomes a thieves’ haven. As we became more fragmented, it was harder to build a democratic consensus among free and equals and “the being with other” instead of to each his own. 

Today we have the chance to choose: We will be resilient or we will perish as a Nation.