Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt therapy is a humanistic therapy technique that focuses on gaining an awareness of emotions and behaviors in the present rather than in the past. The therapist does not interpret experiences for the patient. Instead, the therapist and patient work together to help the patient understand themselves. This type of therapy focuses on experiencing the present situation rather than talking about what occurred in the past. Patients are encouraged to become aware of immediate needs, meet them, and let them recede into the background. The well-adjusted person is seen as someone who has a constant flow of needs and is able to satisfy those needs.

             
                "Learning is the discovery that something is possible."

                                              Fritz Perls 

Frederick S. ("Fritz") Perls (1893-1970) the founder of Gestalt Therapy. He was born in Germany to a poor Jewish family. Growing up was a difficult task for Fritz which in turn gave his parents much grief. Failing a grade or two and being expelled from school did not stop Fritz from coming back later and earning his high school degree, college degree, and medical degree in psychiatry. He then joined the German Army serving as a medic in World War 1, experiencing the trauma of gassed soldiers that had brain malfunctions. This interest Fritz that he continued to work with brain injured soldiers even after the war. He came to believe that objects as a whole differs from perceiving the sum of its parts. During this time he met his wife, Laura and married.

               
                 "Improve your awareness in the smallest things!" (Cleveland workshop, Leibig notes)


Laura Posner Perls (1905-1990) was born in Germany to a wealthy family who provided Laura with dance and music. These two skills would carry into her therapy in her later practices. Well educated and from a well to do background she had a strong base to start with. She met her husband in 1926 while studying Gestalt therapy. Together they set the foundations for this type of therapy. Later they would have two children. Their marriage was strained due to Fritz abandoning his family and moving to further his name and beliefs of Gestalt therapy. She on the other hand stayed and continued to help develop the Gestalt movement in the states. 


Key Concepts

• View of Human nature: Everyone needs to stand on their own two feet and experience life's problems as they come.
• Laws and Principles: These Principles are set to explain how we group images together.
• The Now: How a client recognizes the present and learns to not emphasize on the past or future. Live in the now.  
• Unfinished Business: When a client has unresolved feelings or business that is exposed and comes to a spot light that is hindering the client to live in the now and not in the past.
• Contact a client is a must in order for the client to grow and live in the now.
• Energy and resistance to energy is how energy is used in a clients life and how the client may develop walls as a defensive mechanism

 Four Principles of Gestalt

Holism, Field theory, Figure-formation, and Organismic self-regulation

Holism meaning "whole" This is where Fritz experienced seeing the soldier as one and not as separate parts when researching the mental functioning. 

Field Theory is when an organism is seen in its environment and is constantly changing within its environment. Everything in that environment is related and intertwined.

Figure-Formation relies on how a client views and experiences things at that time and at that moment.  The client has a focal point that dominates their needs at that given time.

Organismic self-regulation is where the client feels that their balance is disrupted and there is a need to fix the problem. This is where the client takes action.


Goals and Techniques

Gestalt Therapy aims at helping the client to experience the now and changes of their lives. They help the client to gain awareness of their surroundings, so they can make better choices for themselves and not what others want for them. From this therapy clients can retain a feeling of wholesome.

Techniques used in therapy are experimental attitudes, personal engagements, role play, exercises, but most of work is performed by the client. The therapist's job is to be knowledgeable of themselves and the client, as well as, provide a therapeutic atmosphere so productive work by the client can be done.

 





To have some fun with Gestalt imagery check out this site

 http://faculty.uca.edu/lglenn/gestaltimages.htm







Links and References

 http://www.gestalt.org/laura.htm

 http://faculty.uca.edu/lglenn/gestaltimages.htm

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