Influences forming Gestalt therapy

Notable examples

Gestalt therapy had a variety of psychological and philosophical influences, and in addition was a response to the social forces of its day. It is a therapeutic approach that is holistic (mind/body/culture) present-centered, and related to existential therapy in its emphasis on personal responsibility for action, and on the valuing of the I-thou relationship in therapy. (In fact, its creators considered calling Gestalt therapy existential-phenomenological therapy.) "The I and thou in the Here and Now," was one Gestalt therapist's semi-humorous mantra.

Both Perls were students and admirers of the neurologist Kurt Goldstein. Gestalt therapy was based on Goldstein's understanding called "Organismic theory". Goldstein viewed a person in a situation in terms of a holistic and unified experience. He encouraged a big picture perspective, taking in to account the context of a person's experience. The word Gestalt means whole, or contextual. Goldstein taught the Perls that self actualization could only be achieved by self transcendence, that is, viewing the self as part of a greater whole. Laura Perls, in an interview denotes the "Organismic theory" as the base of Gestalt therapy.

There were additional influences from existentialism, particularly the I-thou relationship as it applies to therapy, and the notion of personal choice and responsibility.

The late 1950s-1960s movement toward personal growth and the human potential movement fed into and was itself influenced by Gestalt therapy.

Gestalt therapy somehow became a "coherent Gestalt", which is the Gestalt psychologists' term for a perceptual unit that holds together and forms a unified form.

Psychoanalysis

Gestalt therapy was influenced by psychoanalysis. It was part of a continuum moving from the early work of Freud, to the later Freudian ego analysis, to Wilhelm Reich and his notion of character armor, where they gave attention to nonverbal behavior (This was consonant with Laura Perls' background in dance and movement therapy). To this was added the insights of academic Gestalt psychology about perception, Gestalt formation and the tendency of organisms to complete the incomplete Gestalt, to form "wholes" in experience.

Central to Fritz and Laura Perls' modifications of psychoanalysis was the concept of "dental or oral aggression". In Ego, Hunger and Aggression (1944), Fritz Perl's first book, to which Laura Perls contributed[1], the Perls suggested that when the infant develops teeth, he/she has the capacity to chew, to break apart food, and by analogy experience, to taste, accept, reject, assimilate. This was opposed to Freud's notion that only introjection takes place in early experience. Thus the Perls made "assimilation", as opposed to "introjection", a focal theme in their work, and the prime means by which growth occurs in therapy.

In contrast to the psychoanalytic stance in which the "patient" introjects the (presumably more healthy) attitudes/interpretations of the analyst, in Gestalt therapy the client must "taste" his/her experience, and either accept or reject, but not introject, or "swallow whole". Hence, the emphasis is on avoiding interpretation and encouraging discovery. This is the key point in the divergance of GT from traditional psychoanalysis - growth occurs through gradual assimilation of experience in a natural way, rather than by accepting the interpretations of the analyst; thus, the therapist should not interpret, but lead the client to discover for him or herself.

The Gestalt therapist contrives experiments that lead the client to greater awareness and fuller experience of his/her possibilities. Experiments can be focussed on undoing projections or retroflections. They can work to help the client with closure of unfinished Gestalts ("unfinished business" such as unexpressed emotions towards somebody in the client's life). There are many kinds of experiments that might be therapeutic. But the essence of the work is that it is experiential rather than interpretive, and in this way distinguishes itself from the psychoanalytic.

Principal influences: A summary list

Otto Rank's invention of "here-and-now" therapy and Rank's post-Freudian book Art and Artist (1932), both of which strongly influenced Paul Goodman.

Wilhelm Reich's psychoanalytic developments, especially the concept of character armor and its focus on the body.

Jacob Moreno's Psychodrama, principally the development of enactment techniques for the resolution of psychological conflicts

Kurt Goldstein's holistic theory of the organism, based on Gestalt theory.

Martin Buber's philosophy of relationship and dialogue ("I - Thou")

Kurt Lewin's field theory as applied to the social sciences and group dynamics

European phenomenology of Franz Brentano, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty

The existentialism of Kierkegaard over that of Sartre, rejecting nihilism

Carl Jung's psychology, particularly the polarities concept

Some elements from Zen Buddhism

Differention between thing and concept from Zen and the works of Alfred Korzybski

American pragmatism of William James, George Herbert Mead, and John Dewey

Source: Wikipedia