Gestalt therapy respects parents' perceptions of their children and does not attempt to train parents to become therapists for their children. To examine the impact of Gestalt group psychotherapy on parents' perceptions of children identified as problematic, an experimental group of 10 parents participated in 10 2-hour Gestalt sessions. A group of eight parents served as the self-selected control group. The Little Parental Valuing Styles Scale was used to evaluate parent attitudes and behaviors before and after the treatment sessions. No significant differences between treatment and control groups were obtained on pre-tests. Parents who participated in Gestalt therapy were significantly less rejecting, over-protective, over-indulgent, and extrinsically valuing and significantly more intrinsically accepting of their children when pretest-posttest scores were evaluated. No similar changes were observed for control parents. The results upheld the finding that identification of children as problematic was symptomatic of families experiencing problems with finances, work, or support systems. (JAC)