LECTURE 7
Gestalt Therapy
Fritz Perls
(1893-1970)
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Main originator and developer of Gestalt therapy.
Born in Berlin, Germany, into a lower middle class
Jewish family.
He identified that himself as a source of trouble for his
parents.
Even he had been expelled from the school because
of the difficulties with the authorities, his brilliant was
never squashed and he returned-not only to complete
the high school but to earn his medical degree (MD)
with a specialization in psychiatry.
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Later, he worked with German Army and served as a
medic in World War I.
His experiences with soldiers who were gassed on
the front lines led his interest in mental functioning,
which led him to Gestalt psychology.
After war, Perls worked with Kurt Goldstein in
Frankfurt . It was through this association that he
came to see the importance of viewing humans as a
whole rather than as a sum of discretely functioning
parts.
Introduction
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Gestalt Therapy is an existential,
phenomenological and process-based approach
created on the premise that individual must be
understood in the context of their ongoing
relationship with the environment.
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Initial goal- clients to gain awareness of what they
are experiencing and how they are doing it.
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Through this awareness, change automatically
occurs.
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This approach is phenomenological because
it focuses on the client’s perceptions of reality
and existential because it is grounded in the
notion that people are always in the process
of becoming, remaking and rediscovering
themselves.
In a nutshell, this approach focuses on the
here and now, the what and how, and the
I/Thou of relating.
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In contrast to Perls’s way of working, contemporary
Gestalt therapy stresses dialogue and relationship
between client and therapist, sometimes called
relational Gestalt therapy.
Perls stressed a holistic approach to personality.
Self acceptance, knowledge of the environment,
responsibility for choices, and the ability to make
contact with their field (a dynamic system of
interrelationships) and the people in it are important
awareness processes and goals, all of which are
based on a here-and-now experiencing that is always
changing.
Key concepts
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According to Fritz Perls :
Clients have to grow up, stand on their own two feet
and “deal with their life problems themselves”.
Perl’s style of doing therapy involved 2 personal
agendas:
Moving client from environment support to selfsupport
Reintegrating the disowned parts of one’s
personality.
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Therapy aims not at analysis or introspection but at
awareness and contact with the environment.
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The environment consist of both the external (other
people) and internal (part of the self) of the worlds.
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The process of “reowning” parts of oneself that have
been disowned and the unification process proceed
step by step until clients become strong enough to
carry on with their own personal growth.
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By becoming aware, clients become able to make
informed choices and thus to live a more meaningful
existence.
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Basic assumption of Gestalt therapy – individual
have the capacity to self-regulate when they are
aware of what is happening in and around them.
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According to the paradoxical theory of
change, we change when we become aware of
what we are as opposed to trying to become
what we are not.
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It is good to have clients to “be” what they have
to be rather than become what they “should be”.
Principles of Gestalt Therapy Theory
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Holism
Field theory
The figure-formation process
Organismic self-regulation
Holism
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Gestalt is a German word meaning a whole or
completion or a form that cannot be separated
into parts without losing its essence.
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Gestalt therapists are interested in the whole
person, they place no superior values on
particular aspect of the individual.
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Gestalt practice attends to a client’s thoughts,
feelings, behaviors, body, memories and
dreams.
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Emphasis may be on a figure (those aspects of the
individual’s experience that are most important at any
moment) or the ground (those aspects of the client’s
presentation that are often out of his or her awareness)
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Cues to this background (physical gestures, tone of
voice,other nonverbal content).
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This often referred to by Gestalt therapists as
“attending to the obvious,” while paying attention to
how the parts fit together, how the individual makes
contact with the environment and integration.
Field Theory
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Field theory-grounded on the principle that
the organism must be seen in its environment,
or in its context, as part of the constantly field.
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Gestalt therapy rests on the principle that
everything is relational, interrelated, and in
process.
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Gestalt therapists pay attention to and explore
what is occurring at the boundary between the
person and the environment.
The Figure-Formation Process
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Describes how the individual organizes
experience from moment to moment.
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The figure-formation process tracks how
some aspects of the environmental field
emerges from the background and becomes
the focal point of the individual’s attention and
interest.
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The dominant needs of an individual at the
given moment influence this process.
Organismic Self-Regulation
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A process by which equilibrium is “disturbed” by the
emergence of a need, a sensation, or an interest.
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Organisms will do their best to regulate themselves,
given their own capabilities and the resources of their
environment.
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What emerges in therapeutic work is associated with
what is of interest to or what the client needs to be
able to regain a sense of equilibrium.
The Now
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Our “power is in the present”
 Nothing exists except the “now”
 The past is gone and the future has not yet
arrived
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For many people the power of the present is lost
 They may focus on their past mistakes or
engage in endless resolutions and plans for
the future
Unfinished Business
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Feelings about the past are unexpressed
 These feelings are associated with distinct
memories and fantasies
 Feelings not fully experienced linger in the
background and interfere with effective
contact
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Result:
 Preoccupation, compulsive behavior,
wariness oppressive energy and selfdefeating behavior
Contact and Resistance to Contact
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Contact
 Interacting with nature and with other people
without losing one’s individuality
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Boundary Disturbances/ resistance to contact
 The defenses we develop to prevent us from
experiencing the present fully
Contact Boundary Phenomenon
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Five different kinds of contact boundary
disturbances:
 Introjection
 Projection
 Retroflection
 Deflection
 Confluence
A Focus of Language
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“It” talk
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“You” talk
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Questions
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Language that denies power
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Listening to clients’ metaphors
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Listening for language that uncovers a story
Therapeutic Techniques
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The experiment
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Exaggeration
exercise
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Internal dialogue
exercise
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Staying with the
feeling
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Making the rounds
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Dream work
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Rehearsal exercise
Reversal technique