Taking a Look at Gestalt Therapy

The Gestalt approach to therapy emerged during the 1950’s and was developed by Frederick Perls (1893-1970). The aim of Gestalt therapy is to increase awareness, so that the client comes to resolution of unfinished business and the integration of the thinking, feeling and sensing processes. In Gestalt therapy the emphasis is placed on the present experience, the perception of the individual as a whole and the direct awareness of emotions and action. Gestalt therapists believe that the emotional problems and frustrations that are experienced by individuals are attributed to the lack of recognition and understanding of their own feelings. In addition to this Gestaltist believe that many individuals lose

Gestalt therapy is a therapeutic approach in psychology that helped foster the humanistic theories of the 1950s and 1960s and that was, in turn, influenced by them. In Gestalt philosophy, the patient is seen as having better insight into himself or herself than the therapist does. Thus, the therapist guides the person on a self-directed path to awareness and refrains from interpreting the patient’s behaviors. Awareness comprises recognition of one’s responsibility for choices, self-knowledge, and ability to solve problems.

Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy that relates to the process of human perception and works on a basic concept of the Gestalt approach «The whole is different from the sum of its parts.» This approach in Gestalt psychotherapy describes the process of perception in addition to the psychic equipment in general. The Gestalt approach originated from research that was initiated by psychologists specializing in human perception which demonstrated that humans do not recognize objects as separate elements and instead organize the objects into significant totalities via the process of perception. The concept of Gestalt psychotherapy was then formally developed by Fritz Perlsduring the 1950s, a well known psychiatrist and

Gestalt Therapy is a humanistic therapy technique established by Laura and Fritz Perls in the 1940-1950’s. This therapy focuses on acquiring awareness of emotions and behaviours that exists in the here and now rather than delving into the past. Instead of the therapist interpreting experiences for the client, the therapist works with the client to develop an understanding of the world through the client’s eyes, thereby helping the client to gain a deeper understanding of him/herself. Clients are encouraged to recognise their current needs, address them and then let these needs fade into the background. The well-adjusted person is seen as someone who recognises their ongoing flow of needs and has the ability satisfy those needs (Falex, 2008).

Fritz Perls demonstrates his Gestalt therapy style in Three Approaches to Psychotherapy: A Film Series (1975). Though this film has made a significant impact in the field of psychological education, many simply remember Fritz Perls as a brash and cocky showman. This is unfortunate as he has left very meaningful contributions to the field of

Psychology explores human behavior and the human mental process figuring ways to improve the thinking and attitude of an individual’s existence. Sometimes, different techniques are used and tried to properly resolve the problem within the multitude of possible behavioral issues. Moreover, Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, developed many theories, psychodynamic therapy, for clinically treating people with mental health problems through their unconscious mind; Then, Sigmund Freud’s theories or therapy, rather, diverged into other types of therapies such as Biological Psychology or Cognitive Psychology. No doubt, there are various perspectives, both strong and weak, in the field of Psychology using different techniques on different

Gestalt therapy, which was founded by Fritz and Laura Perls in the 1940s, teaches the therapists and their clients the phenomenological awareness method, where feeling, perceiving and acting are differentiated from interpreting and rearranging the pre-existing attitudes. Gestalt therapists and clients’ dialogue, thus communicating their phenomenological perspectives, and their differences in perceptions form the basis and focus of experimentation and continued dialogue. The desired outcome of the therapy process is for the client to become aware of their actions, how they are acting, and the ways they can change their actions and learn to accept and appreciate themselves. Here, the emphasis is mainly on the process rather

Corsini, R. J., Wedding, D. (2014). Gestalt Therapy. Current Psychotherapies. Roubal, J. (2012).

Comer (2014), p.39-40. Sigmund Freud’s taught the instincts id, ego, and superego are the responsible forces behind an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Conflicts and unresolved feelings of trauma are the basis of therapy. “Therapists will utilize different techniques to help their clients, including free association, dream interpretation, resistance, understanding, and transference.” Comer, (2014), p.45.

. . and denying responsibility for their own choices” (Moreira, et all, 2011, p. 177). Perls points out how Gloria projects as being phony, and analyzes her non-verbal communication, making her extremely uncomfortable and defensive with him. Okun and Kantrowitz (2014) explain her thoughts of being afraid but yet smiling as an inconsistency “between the organism and its environment” that “create conflict – that is, avoidance of contact and denying negating covering up a present experience rather than accepting it, and emphasizing what is not present rather than what is present” (134). This orgasmic balance that Gestalt therapy aims to achieve is obtained by promoting strong feelings which produce the energy to experience the “I and thou of the here and now” (Perls, 1965). My observation was that this balance was achieved when Gloria realized that she was not experiencing fear of Perls, but was angry with him for now fulfilling her need to be respected and comforted by him. Her defense levels appear to drop when she realized that he really isn’t superior to her, and he is no different than her in the fact that she could accept him as a child like herself that could be comforted like a baby. Thus her

For what it’s worth, this has been my first time ever really delving into and learning about the Gestalt Theory of Counseling. From my understanding, I view Gestalt therapy as focusing on and being self-aware of the here and now, but also being able to bring up past events (or as the text refers to it “baggage”) and projecting them into the present moment. It feels like instead of just talking about past experiences that still bother us, or that are “unfinished”, we are attempting to resolve them. Along with that, I can say that this theory resonated well with me, and aligned with my view of human development, because I feel that you cannot just talk about past experiences you have to resolve them to be able to move forward. And bringing that

Additionally, the Gestalts therapy with Perls, the purpose was to observed for unwanted behaviors and thoughts of the client and challenges those behaviors to bring the client into the here and now moment or how Perls called “awareness=present-time=reality.” Some on the similarity was the identifications of negative

Gestalt theory has been a successful theory for many years and continues its way to improvement. Your Gestalt theory, any type of illusion not just movement, has been very successful in a way that individuals see things a certain way rather than a whole. Your five principles of gestalt theory such as similarity,

A common technique associated with gestalt therapy is the experiment. Unlike exercises that are preplanned, experiments naturally come up from the dialogue between the therapist and client. The timing of experiments in gestalt therapy depend on the moment and what is being discussed. Before starting a therapeutic experiment, it is best to make sure the client trusts the therapist and has adopted a curious mindset needed for growth. The best place to try out a new behavior is a safe environment like a therapy session. A prevalent experiment in gestalt therapy is the empty chair technique. In this experiment, the therapist will pull up a chair and have the client imagine a person is sitting there. This person is typically someone in which clients

One model of group therapy is Psychoanalytic group therapy. Psychoanalysis is a model popularized by Sigmund Freud and is the first wave of psychotherapy, representing a system of personality development and psychotherapy. Freudian theories view the human nature as deterministic. According to Corey (2013), Freud held a deterministic view of humans on issues of freewill versus determinism, and that everything we do is predetermined by the life and death instincts.