Gestalt Therapy Characteristics of Gestalt Therapy u Developed

Gestalt Therapy

Characteristics of Gestalt Therapy u Developed in the 1940 s by Frederick “Fritz” Perls and colleagues as a revision in psychoanalysis u Founded in the European philosophical climate that influenced humanistic, experiential, and existential therapies u Based on principles of holism and field or systems thinking, including the works of Kurt Goldstein (1939) and Kurt Lewin (1938), as well as Jan Smuts (1926/1996), Prime Minister of South Africa u Evolved as the first “integrative psychotherapy”

Fritz Perls u Fritz Perls received in 1924 his M. D. from Franfurt -am-Main; Laura Perls completed the D. Sc. u They were influenced by phenomenology and existentialism, gestalt psychology and field theory u Fritz Perls was trained as a psychoanalyst. He was analyzed by Wilhelm Reich, M. D. , who emphasized body awareness in psychoanalysis u Laura Perls studied with Martin Buber, acquiring the existential emphases upon immediate experience and relationship

Fritz Perls u Fritz and Laura Perls traveled from German to Holland South Africa to escape the Nazi movement u They left South Africa when aparteid policies were initiated u They came to the United States and worked with Paul Goodman and others u Perls’ first publication in 1942 was Ego, Hunger and Aggression; Gestalt Therapy was published in 1951 and led to the founding of training institutes in New York, Cleveland other cities

Fritz Perls u Upon publication of Ego, Hunger and Aggression; Gestalt Therapy, Maria Bonaparte, orthodox Freudian said, “If you don’t believe in the libido theory any more, you had better hand in your resignation” (to the orthodox group) u Served in the South African Army 1944 -1946; Admired the prime minister, Jan Smuts who emphasized the concept of ecology: “Organism-asa-whole-embedded-in-environment. This becomes the Unit (of analysis)”

Fritz Perls u Gestalt Therapy (1950 -1951) rejected by academic gestalt psychologists, but increasingly popular among psychotherapists and philosophers u Perls distanced himself from the existentialists in 1962: “Existence: a rose is a rose. The experienced phenomenon as the ultimate Gestalt!! Not religion-oriented like Buber, Tillich and Marcel; not language-oriented like Heidegger; not communist-oriented like Sartre; not psychoanalytically oriented like Binswinger”

Fritz Perls u Joined Esalen Institute in 1964; Esalen is home to the “third Force” or third wave in psychotherapy (after psychoanalysis and behavior therapy) u Perls performed with Joan Baez at the Big Sur Folk Festival "One Hand Clapping. " Esalen Institute - 1967 u Last workshop, February 1970 in Lexington, Massachustetts

Basic Concepts u Organismic self-regulation u Contact or conscious awareness u Boundary disturbance u Active experimentation u Creative adjustment u Gestalt

Clients in Gestalt Therapy u Adults u Children u Musicians, artists and creative persons u Couples and families u Groups

Process of Gestalt Therapy u Establishing Contact n Genuineness and self-disclosure of therapist n Here-and-now orientation u Cultivating Awareness n Focus on body and somatic sensations n Active exploration or experimentation u Resolving Conflicts n Enactment (e. g. , “empty chair”) n Imagery techniques and body work

Views on Psychopathology u Rejection of most systems of diagnosis u Radical ecological or field perspective in which there is no meaningful way to consider a person apart from the relational environment u Organismic self-regulation implies that people are self-regulating and motivated to solve their own problems; healthy functioning allows a person to be whole and to shift back and forth as needed between figure and ground

Views on Psychopathology u Persons connect with others to form meaningful relationships and separate from unhealthy others to promote homeostasis or balance u Psychopathology results from boundary disturbance u When coming together is blocked, the person is stuck in isolation, an unhealthy condition u When withdrawal is blocked, there is the boundary disturbance of confluence in which individual identity is lost

Views on Psychopathology u When a person tries to avoid one’s own experience and a phenomenon is attributed to another person, projection occurs u When a person fails to include or recognize the contributions of another person, focusing only on the self, then retroflection occurs u In creative adjustment, people respond naturally to the demands of their situations and form meaningful gestalts in the process u Impoverished environments and neurotic selfregulation disrupt personality functioning

Views on Psychopathology u In neurotic self-regulation, aspects of one’s ground (e. g. , unbearable loneliness) must be kept out of awareness, resulting in hardened polarities in life u Resistance emerges as a person suppresses emotion and opposes the formation of a figure (e. g. , a thought, feeling, impulse or need) u There are splits or polarities within the self and between self and others u As a split persists, experiences trigger anxiety or awareness of the polarities and dichotomies

Views on Psychopathology u Anxiety can contribute to a process of change in which a new gestalt is formed u Yet, anxiety can also result in defenses of resistance and boundary disturbance such that customary sources of support are lost u When customary supports are not available and new supports have not been formed, the person experiences an impasse u An impasse can be experienced fully and creatively resolved or the person may return to patterns of old and maladaptive behavior

Some Thoughts on Confrontation u Gestalt therapy, especially as manifested in the person of Fritz Perls, always emphasized confrontation u Confrontation was intended to force new gestalts or figure-ground relationships u Recent developments in Gestalt therapy take into account the issue of shame formation; therefore, there is less emphasis upon confrontation and other active technique that exacerbate shame (i. e. , Lee & Wheeler, 1996)

References u Buber, M. (1923/1970). I and thou (w. Kaufmann, Trans. ). New York: Scribner. u Goldstein, K. (1939/1963). The organism. Boston, MA: Beacon. u Lee, R. , & Wheeler, G. (1996). The voice of shame: Silence and connection in psychotherapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. u Lewin, K. (1939). A dynamic theory of personality. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. u Perls, F. (1942/1992). Ego, Hunger and aggression. New York: The Gestalt Journal Press.

References u Perls, F. , Hefferline, R. , & Goodman, P. (1951/1994). Gestalt therapy: Excitement and growth in the human personality. New York: The Gestalt Journal Press. u Yontef, G. , & Jacobs, L. (2005). Gestalt therapy. In R. J. Corsini & D. Wedding (Eds. ), Current psychotherapies (7 th ed. ) (pp. 299 -336). Belmont, CA: Brooks. Cole.