Running head: TITLE

Experiential/Gestalt Therapy
Name
Academic Institution

Experiential/Gestalt Therapy

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Abstract

Gestalt Theory is a humanistic, process orientated therapeutic practice. Developed by

Fritz and Laura Perls, with help from Paul Goodman and Ralph Heferline, Gestalt theory rejected
classic Freudian models of therapy and analysis, especially how Freud, and the therapies
delivered from him, make the past highly deterministic.
Developed out of encounters with Wilhelm Reich and with Twentieth Century
Continental Philosophy, Gestalt theory focuses on the Whole, the Now or the Present, and
the power of perception. Gestalt theory says the human mind organizes the disparate elements of
sense perception, or of a person's memory of their past, into a field. In this process of making
a field, the mind creates patterns between the data to create a whole, a gestalt. The individual is
not aware how much of a part they play in creating these fields.
Gestalt therapy focuses on concepts like dialogue, process, and awareness to do the work
of therapy. Therapy is very experimental, and there is no preset plan for the therapy. The
relationship between therapist and patient is highlighted, and the patient is made to be aware of
their freedom and their responsibility for how they feel and percieve.
Several reasons why the author of this paper finds Gestalt therapy appealing are then
presented. Gestalt therapy is then applied to the case study of a young woman suffering from
body issues and from issues of self-worth relating to her parents.

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Experiential/Gestalt Therapy
History of the Theory

Gestalt Therapy was initially formulated by Fritz Perls and his wife Laura Perls in
the 1940's. Gestalt Therapy initially reacted to what the Perls saw as the over emphasis of the
patient's past in most other therapies. While the past is important, the Perls felt that therapy was
locking patients into a rigid determinism. Instead of addressing the patient's past, Gestalt therapy
would focus on the patient as he or she exists in the present moment.
Perls was a German born psychiatrist who was trained in classic, Freudian
psychoanalysis before he emigrated to the United States. In 1920's Fritz Perls moved to Vienna
where he spent 7 years undergoing psychoanalysis by Otto Fenichel, Wilhelm Reich, and Karen
Horney. The experience with the radical analysts Reich and Horney changed him. He began
reading widely in modern philosophy, including existentialism and phenomenology. Soon, Perls
found the courage to express his dissatisfaction with the Freudian model and develop his own
forms of analysis and therapy. Laura Perls was studying existential psychology in Germany, and
while she was working on her PhD., she met Fritz. They were married in 1926.
As the Nazi's rose to power in 1929, The Perls fled Germany, spending time in South
Africa before heading to America. It was at this time that they started to formulate Gestalt
therapy, drawing on radical analysis and philosophy. From Wilhelm Reich they drew on the
power of the present in determining character, but even more so from his ideas on the effect on
character that came from responding to the present environment. From Sartre and the
existentialists, Perls took the centrality of personal responsibility and freedom to making up the
human experience. He borrowed the focus on the present moment for existentialism and

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phenomenology, and lastly, from phenomenology he took the model of how human perception is
active in shaping the world the human experiences (Todorovic 2011).
According to Perls, when human perception is confronted with sense experience, the
human mind organizes that experience into patterns or whole fields against which it acts; thus it
made sense that when perceiving an individual's history, the elements of that history will be
crafted into a pattern by the individual in the present moment. Thus, the human subject has an
active role in creating the gestalt of their world and the gestalt of their history. Classic Freudian
analysis and the therapies developed from it focused too much on isolated elements of the
patients, and often acted as if the patient was powerless against the tyranny of the past. Perls
rejected this model, and felt that classic therapy was too theoretical. By focusing on actual
experience, including the experience of therapist and patient, Perls, and the young therapists the
husband and wife team attracted to them in America, felt the Gestalt model would prove
superior. Gestalt would champion the creative potential of the human individual in the present
moment.
Gestalt therapy was developed in the United States, and Perls became very influential in
the 1960's The most important book on Gestalt therapy was published in 1951. Called Gestalt
Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality, it was co-authored by Fritz and
Laura Perls, along with Paul Goodman and Ralph Heferline. Goodman and Heferling became
two of the leading practitioners of Gestalt therapy and helped to popularize it. Goodman
especially was responsible for teaching Gestalt therapy to non-academic audiences.

Experiential/Gestalt Therapy

Basic Assumptions of Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt as a conceptual frame means that a whole is comprised of parts, and all those
parts are necessary to achieve the whole(Palmer 2011 pg 1). The term Gestalt was selected
because it can be translated as unified whole, which highlights the Perl's commitment to
dealing with the whole person in the present, as opposed to attempting to intervene in the
person's past. The past and present were to be seen as a whole, with the focus on what could
be done to help the patient now. Gestalt therapy is a humanistic practice of psychotherapy. A
central premise of Gestalt therapy is to deal with the patient as a whole human being. This
means first that the therapy is to deal with the past and present of the patient as a whole process,
and not see the past as overly deterministic of what happens to the patient (Luccio 2011). This
focus on the present, living condition of the patient encourages self reliance and responsibility on
the part of the patient, as they cannot blame all their problems on some hidden trauma in their
past.
Other 'wholes' the therapy engages include the client-patient relationship, and the
environmental context in which the individual is experiencing the present. The patients feelings
and emotions and how they relate to all of the above must also be included. All these elements to
be made into a pattern by the patient, in a process described as field theory. Field theory means
that the clients life is regarded as an entire field, and events and relationships are parts of the
field...The field consists of a foreground and background, and the elements in those parts indicate
their importance or noteworthiness in the clients life(Palmer 2011 pg. 1).
Another key concept of Gestalt therapy is increased and enriched awareness, which by
itself is seen as curative. The central idea is that individuals are already striving to improve and
self actualize, and that if they are more aware of themselves, they can continue to grow and

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change (Palmer 2011 pg 1). Again, the centrality of the idea of the now or the present can
be seen in every Gestalt concept.
In addition, the role of dialogue is stressed by Gestalt therapy. This refers not only to the
classic idea of the talking cure, the dialogue of analyst and patient, but also to making the
patient aware that they are in dialogue with the past, with their environment, and with
themselves. The patient in Gestalt therapy must constantly vocalize what they are thinking and
feeling. They must vocalize their body, their emotions, and their inner dialogue (Yoneff 1993).
Dialogue is combined with process, the notion that everything is in process, everything is
moving, and most of all, everything is changing. Awareness of dialogue and process is the key to
the patient claiming control over their life, their feelings, and their perceptions of the world.

Examples
Gestalt Theory involves cultivating self-awarness by paying attention to your
body(Flanagan and Flanagan 2012 pg 190). This doesn't simply mean the physical health of
the body, but how the body reacts, how the body feels, discussions about the patient's past and
problems. When the patient discusses an incident from the past, he or she is asked how their
body feels that incident in the present. Is there tension, anxiety, or a feeling of the stomach
dropping out? These bodily feelings help define the whole meaning of an experience in the
present.
Flanagan and Flanagan summarize one of the original Gestalt therapy practices. The
patient was given the following instructions: Try for a few minutes to make up sentences stating
what you are at this moment aware of. Begin each sentence with the words now, or at this
moment(Flanagan and Flanagan 2012 pg 193). The purpose of the experiment is to focus

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attention on what is actual and now, for too often our attention is divided and we're numb to life
our we experience anxiety or apprehension...but true contact with the environment and with your
self is different from an anxiety state(Flanagan and Flanagan 2012).
When patients are asked to describe the fields that they create, several things happen.
First, what the patient sees and feels is considered a more fruitful area for intervention,
highlighting the 'whole' process of therapy the patient and therapist are engaged in. Second, the
patent comes to see that everything in the field is dynamic; everything in a field is constantly
changing. Third, the patient becomes aware of the part they play in creating the field, and in the
process of therapy. Thus, the patient becomes aware of their role, and their responsibility for the
outcomes of the therapy and the experience of the present (Guberman 2015). Gestalt therapy
believes this is an incredibly empowering awareness for the patient.
Gestalt therapy is an active process in which goals and purposes of discussions and
exercises are clearly known by both patient and therapist. As Corsini and Yoniff summize, the
Gestalt system is truly integrative and included affective, sensory, cognitive, interpersonal, and
behavioral components. In Gestalt therapy therapists and patients are encourages to be creative
in doing the awareness work. There are no prescribed or proscribed techniques in gestalt
therapy (Corsini and Yoniff 2008, pg 328-329).

Overall Impression of Gestalt Therapy

I believe that Gestalt therapy makes good intuitive sense, and this is a therapy I would be
willing to both use and undergo. The main reason I find Gestalt Therapy so appealing is that it
asks the patient to take responsibility. The patient must take responsibility for themselves and
their feelings, but also for their emotional perception of their past, and how they let their past

Experiential/Gestalt Therapy

control their present. I also agree with asking the patient to take responsibility for not just their
relationship to the world, but the part they play in constructing that world. Far too often people
forget that they are adding so much subjective feeling to the pattern their brain is making out of
sense experience.
Another reason Gestalt therapy appeals to me is because it is an inherently creative
therapy. The therapist has a lot of room for creativity in designing the work to do with each
patient, and they can craft work to match the client's individual needs. However, Gestalt therapy
also asks the patient to be creative. In a sense, the patient is made to realize they are an artists
and their life is their work of art, their masterpiece. I am strongly drawn to how Gestalt theory
rejects and strict determinism and makes human life a free process full of possibilities.
A potential weakness of Gestalt therapy is its commitment to experimental work. Not
every new approach is going to provide insight or help the patient. It is possible that some
untested experiments may actually harm the patient or slow down the process of therapy. Even if
nothing overtly negative happens, the failure of a number of new experiences fail could leave the
patient feeling like therapy is a 'joke' or that 'we're making it up as we go along. This could
cause the patient to disengage from the therapeutic project.

Application: Case Study

For the case study, I selected C, Audree Chenlee. One reason why I think Gestalt
Therapy could be very effective in treating this patient is because the root of this patient's
problems revolve around her perceptions. These perceptions include: her self perception, her
perception of all the girls, her perception of what a boy desires a woman's body to be like, her
perception of what is critical, and the social perception of what constitutes beauty. Another

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reason I selected Gestalt therapy was the language the patient used when she said she did not
see it as a problem, and that she needed to look just right. Overall, an awareness of how her
unconscious perception is coloring her actions, and increasing her feelings of personal power
will help the patient overcome her troubles.
A reason the patient is feeling powerless, and thus feel more pressure to conform to social
views of a woman's body could stem from her relationship with her parents, especially in regards
to her choice of career. She is afraid that if she peruses her personal career preferences, the out
come will not be prestigious enough for her parents. Her family enacts traditional gender roles
and sees the role of woman to cater to the man's wants and desires. This can also be a cause of
her allowing social pressure to push her towards weight loss. Likewise, this could be the cause
of why she is allowing the desire of an imaginary boyfriend regarding weight to determine how
she feels about her body.
Overall, the issues facing the subject express themselves in problems of language and
perception. She needs to be made to realize that an actual real boy may not want what she is
imagining a boy will want. She needs to become aware that a boy will be attracted to her for
who she is and not for her conforming to a fictional body type. Hand in hand with this is the
need to overcome her fear of how her parents will perceive her if she does not go into medicine.
An awareness that she is taking a passive role in her dialogues with society about her
body image, and with her parents about her job, will help her to reclaim responsibility for her life
and her happiness. Instead of needing the other to like her for her to like herself, she needs to
realize that relationships with others are active dialogues, and that a part of a relationship is self
expression, not self-censorship.

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The technique of body awareness will greatly help the patient in her therapy. I am
willing to bet she is unaware of how she feels about her body, or about her weight loss, because
she has always let the perception of others, of her parents and of friends, control how she felt.
She also needs to be made aware of the responsibility she has for how she feels. She is choosing,
even if she doesn't realize it yet, to let how she imagines others feel determine how she feels.
She is choosing to let her parents negative perceptions determine how she feels about her
academic work and her career choices. Again, she needs to be made aware she is the final judge
of how she feels and how she looks, and she has the power to choose to perceive her feelings in a
positive manner, just as she has the power to choose to be a decorator instead of a doctor. The
patient must learn, she is the artist who will make her and her life a thing of inherent beauty,
based on self expression, not the perception of others.

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References

Corsini, Raymond. And Wedding, Danny. Current Psychotherapies. New York: Thompson,
Brooks, Cole, 2008.
Fagan, Joen. And Shepard, Irma. Gestalt Now: Theory, Techniques, Applications. Oxford:
Science and Behavior Boos, 1970.
Flanagan, John and Flanagan, Rita. Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and
Practice. Honoken: Wiley and Sons, 2012.
Forti, Bruno. What are the Limits of Gestalt Theory?. Gestalt Theory. Vol 37, No. 2
(2015):161-188
Guberman, Shelia. On Gestalt Theory Principles. Gestalt Theory. Vol 37, No. 1 (2015):25-44.
Luccio, Riccardo. The Legacy of Gestalt PsychologyHumana Mente. No. 17( July 2011):
i-viii.
Palmer, K. A. (2011). "Gestalt Therapy in Psychological Practice."Student Pulse,3(11).
Retrieved 11/20/2015 from http://www.studentpulse.com/a?id=595
Todorovic, Dejan. What is the Origin of Gestalt Principles?. Humana Mente. No. 17( July
2011):1-20.
Woldt, A. & Toman, S. (Eds.) (2005).Gestalt therapy: History, Theory, and Practice. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005.
Yontef, Gary. Awareness, Dialogue, and Process. Gouldsboro: The Gestalt Journal Press, 1993.