Essay On Gestalt Therapy

History of Gestalt
Gestalt Therapy is an existential, phenomenological and process based approach that encompasses choice, awareness, and responsibility of an individual. It is lively and encourages self understanding of an individual‘s action. An important goal of Gestalt therapy is for clients to increase their awareness of the present moment. According to Corey (2013), Gestalt therapy focuses on the here and now, the and how and the I/ thou of relating (p.212). The main founder and contributor of Gestalt therapy was Frederick S. Perls however, his wife Laura Perls also made significant contributions to the development and maintenance of Gestalt therapy (p.211). Frederick Perls was born in Berlin, Germany into a lower middle class Jewish

Though the events and moments in a client’s past are important, it is the adaptation to those events and moments that take preference in Gestalt therapy. Corey (2013), states there are four principles of Gestalt therapy: Holism, Field Theory and Figure Formation Process and Organismic self-regulation.
Holism includes every aspect of an individual’s life interacting together as a whole. Gestalt therapist attends to patterns in the client’s life such as the client’s thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body language, memories, and dreams. In addition, they pay special attention to how an individual interact with others and their environment. Therapists are able to gain a deeper understanding of how all the pieces of an individual work together. Corey (2013), states “Gestalt therapists refer to this as attending to the obvious.”
Field Theory focuses on how an individual function in their environment. According to Corey (2013), “field theory asserts that an organism must be seen in its environment, or in its context, as a part of a constant changing field (p.214).” Gestalt therapists observe and explore the relationship between the individual and the environment. “Gestalt therapy rest on the principle that everything is relational, in flux, interrelated, and in process” (Corey, 2013,

According to Corey (2013), Gestalt methods can be used very effectively with culturally diverse populations if the techniques and interventions are used in a suitable manner. Tonnesvang et al., (2010) reports that Gestalt therapy outperformed cognitive therapy in treating people who were diagnosed with depression. Furthermore, the gestalt technique of the empty chair and cognitive desensitization seemed to work equally well with individuals with different phobias