There is no human soul that can withstand the temptation of power.
Plato’s “Dialogues. The Apologia of Socrates.”
Man is doomed to freedom.
Jean-Paul Sartre
Panelists:
- Olga Kadysheva, psychologist, crisis psychologist, Gestalt therapist, leading trainer of NAGTU “Ukrainian Gestalt Institute”. Ukraine – France
- Mikhail Slutskin, psychologist, accredited Gestalt therapist and supervisor of NAGTU “Ukrainian Gestalt Institute”, leading supervisory and therapeutic groups. Ukraine – Germany
- Mikhail Baytalsky, philosopher, PhD, Gestalt therapist of HIGiP (Kharkov Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama). Ukraine – USA
A limited number of guests will be able to participate in the panel discussion.
Discussion space “Free Will, Power, Temptation by Power!”.
We invite us to reflect together on these and other questions regarding power in the context of the therapeutic relationship:
- Power and free will as one focus of attention in therapy and in relationships in general
- Field and volitional behavior (Kurt Lewin), field and volitional interventions, fatalism
- Strategies of power
- Appropriate, necessary, excessive and insufficient power
- The legitimate power of the therapist: setting, boundaries, expertise/language, ethics
- Power as a defense mechanism
- Sphere of power: procedural power, ethical power, total power/ownership
- The temptations of the therapist, the role of the ideal parent, teacher, guru, healer, lover, ideal man, priest, guardian angel, God, sex symbol, etc.
- The phenomenology of power, how we understand being the subject or object of power
- The phenomenology of free will: the application of power from a holistic congruent experience of the self
- Power in the Karpman triangle.
When: September 15, 2025 p.
Meeting duration: 3.5 hours, from 18:00 to 21:30 (Kyiv time).
Plan of the event:
Introduction: 5 minutes.
Speakers’ dialog: 1 hour.
Question on the topic: 15 minutes.
Break: 15 minutes.
Discussion in working groups: 55 minutes.
Questions and exchange of opinions in a common group: 1 hour.
Что такое Диалоги Онлайн?
Dialogues Online is a space for collaborative reflection on what matters most in the face of the ongoing crisis. Dialogues Online is a continuation of the “Dialogues in Toulouse” held in May 2023 as part of a school for Gestalt therapists for intercultural exchanges of experience.
For whom:
▪️ For practicing psychologists with a Gestalt approach and other areas of psychology and psychotherapy.
▪️ For students in relevant programs.
▪️ For anyone interested in psychology and philosophy.
▪️ For those seeking themselves and their place in a changing world, for those who are curious, sensitive, changing themselves, open to new experiences and resources.
For: Education in psychology, philosophy and anthropology; developing a culture of dialog.
How: by creating a collegial interdisciplinary field for reflection in dialog and polylogue.