The Gestalt Therapy Intervention

Gestalt Therapy Intervention

Gestalt Therapy was founded by Frederick (Fritz) Perls and his wife, Laura Perls, back in the 1940s while living in Germany. Fritz was a psychoanalyst who was heavily influenced by psychology and philosophy. Laure Perls had a degree in psychology and a significant amount of the existential and phenomenological influences of Gestalt Therapy methods came from her knowledge. These particular studies helped to create the Gestalt Therapy framework and the underlying principles of the intervention approach. Gestalt Therapy became established in New York City as a work shop institute in the 1950s (Diedrich, 2002).

Although it is also known to be a form of psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy is a field theoretical approach

This is accomplished by three levels of involvement. The first level is working. Working in Gestalt Therapy refers to engaging in exercises or experiments that are encouraged by the therapist. Working will generally reveal something about the existence of the client. The second level is sharing. Sharing occurs after the exercise or experiments has revealed awareness of the client’s problem. The therapist encourages the client to face or contact the problem in the here and now. The third level is exploring. Exploring may occur when the client is unable or unwilling to talk about a problem but is willing to engage with the therapist in dialog. Exploring is typically a stage where the therapist identifies the client’s specific behaviors in the moment and has the client exaggerate the behaviors by working to reveal the underlying feeling that exposes the problem. The goal of Gestalt Therapy is to create sufficient awareness that empowers the client to become the solution to their own problem by identifying how they are affecting themselves and the environment around them as a result of past problems or trauma (Harman, 1974; Ikehara,

It should be noted that Gestalt Therapy techniques may not be suited for all types of clients or even therapists. Therapist should exhibit special caution when using Gestalt Therapy techniques on clients who are psychotic, suicidal or who are severely mentally ill and lack the ability to self-regulate their impulses. Therapists that are uncomfortable with clients that have emotional outbursts should avoid practicing Gestalt Therapy techniques (Harman,