Gestalt Therapy

OVERVIEW Gestalt therapy was founded by Frederick “Fritz” Perls and collaborators Laura Perls and Paul Goodman. They synthesized various cultural and intellectual trends of the 1940s and 1950s into a new gestalt, one that provided a sophisticated clinical and theoretical alternative to the two other main theories of their day: behaviorism and classical psychoanalysis. Gestalt therapy began as a revision of psychoanalysis (F. Perls, 1942/1992) and quickly developed as a wholly independent, integrated system (F. Perls, Hefferline, & Goodman, 1951/1994). Since gestalt therapy is an experiential and humanistic approach, it works with patients’ awareness and awareness skills rather than using the classic psychoanalytic reliance on the analyst’s interpretation of the unconscious. Also, in gestalt therapy the therapist is actively and personally engaged with the patient, rather than fostering transference by remaining in the analytic role of neutrality. In gestalt therapy theory, a process-based postmodern field theory replaced the mechanistic, simplistic, Newtonian system of classical psychoanalysis. The gestalt therapist uses active methods that develop not only patients’ awareness but also their repertoires of awareness and behavioral tools. The active methods and active personal engagement of gestalt therapy are used to increase the awareness, freedom, and self-direction of the patient, rather than to direct patients toward preset goals as in behavior therapy and encounter groups. The gestalt therapy system is truly integrative and includes affective, sensory, cognitive, interpersonal, and behavioral components. In gestalt therapy, therapists and patients are encouraged to be creative in doing the awareness work. There are no prescribed or proscribed techniques in gestalt therapy.