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The 6 Key Concepts of Gestalt Therapy
This article explores the key concepts of Gestalt therapy as defined by practitioners of the Gestalt school, and how to integrate them in therapy.
The word 'Gestalt' means 'the complete whole', which is a simplistic, essential way of beginning to understand the Gestalt school of therapy and what it offers. Gestalt Therapy evolved from the Psychodynamic School, but it is fundamentally Humanistic and Person Centred in its approach.
A note on pronunciation before we dive in: 'gesh-talt.'
An Overview of Gestalt
The Gestalt School evolved under the leadership of Fritz Perls, Laura Perls, and Paul Goodman. Their philosophy represented the times they lived in during the 1930s, where there were radical changes in the social, political and philosophical milieus, and the true birthing of psychology as a science and treatment modality.
Wholeness refers to the whole sum of a person's experiences — what is figural, what is in the background, and all the experiences therein. The formulation is to understand a person as a whole entity, of the body and the mind, as well as emotion and thoughts, with emphasis on how these are experienced by the person.
Gestalt Therapy does not polarize and pick one concept or theme as central to the person, based on their storytelling, nor does it probe into parts of the past that do not emerge in the client's narrative; it works precisely to avoid typecasting a situation and instead explores a spectrum of thoughts and feelings.
In simpler terms, it's a therapy of working with the grey zones — staying with the person's experience rather than swinging to either end. This also means that, as an orientation, Gestalt is not about siding with one aspect of the client, but helping them to explore their own polarity to find for themselves where they want to be.
"The whole is more than the total of its parts, which means that, if we analyse the characteristics of its parts separately, we will not be able to comprehend the characteristics of the whole."– Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020)
Critical Perspectives of Gestalt
"I do my thing and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations. And you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I. If by chance, we find each other, it is beautiful. If not, it can't be helped."– Fritz Perls
Gestalt approaches can range from absolute purist to integrative. The former is far more aggressive, and that type of therapeutic intervention may not be for everyone. Working integratively using a Gestalt lens, however, has several benefits, as it allows for more flexibility — or rather, tuning with the tempo that the client is comfortable with.
The greatest strength of Gestalt Therapy is perhaps its fundamental devotion to wholeness, and hence nothing is hidden — this allows for the maximum exploration with the minimum attention given to readiness. The energetic interaction can propel the client to another plane, which longer therapeutic exploration would do in a more 'cyclical' manner.
The Key Concepts of Gestalt Therapy
1. The Therapeutic Relationship
"As a therapist, I am a companion. I try to help people tune into their own wisdom."– Virginia Satir
The Dialogical Relationship is key to Gestalt; this is the relationship of dialogue between the counsellor and the client. How the therapist and client perceive their relationship in the therapy room is vitally important to the Gestalt process.
The honest transparency and humane experience of the 'Gestalist', and what develops from the interaction between them and the client, paves the way for true insight development and awareness. Once the client has this awareness, they are more independent and autonomous, as well as more coherently whole in their experience of how they want to use it to change the things they want in their life.
The outstanding feature for a Gestalt practitioner is to develop active curiosity, a spirit of inquiry, and full engagement. Indeed, the practitioner is an "artistic participant" in the creative process of therapy (Corey, 2009).
2. Holism and the Integrated Self
Gestalt Therapy is rooted in holistically understanding the individual; firstly, at the level of unification of the mind, of thought, of emotion, and of action, and secondly, of that of the individual and the environment. Gestalt is a humanistic psychology that does not follow any reductionism in terms of isolating the individual's experiences from their environment, or of the duality of body and mind.
"The whole is more than the sum of its parts."– Aristotle
Individuals will tend to disown or disavow parts of themselves that do not fit in with the comfortable or likeable image, and this leads to projecting the same onto others. A Gestalt Therapy session is without dualism or polarity, so the focus remains with bringing all the parts of the individual into their experience in the session.
3. Gestalt Techniques and Processes
"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better."– Ralph Waldo Emerson
The therapeutic processes involved in the Gestalt approach are unique techniques that belong to the process of dialogue and experimentation. The questions in a session will often be oriented towards asking the client how they are feeling 'now', in the moment and, as an extension, where they may feel something in the body.
The creative freedom that the therapist has during this process is vital, as they would typically access a range of resources that include verbal and non-verbal methods — using parts of the body; exercises that may require the client to close their eyes, move, dance, and get up from their chair.
For example, the empty chair technique helps to articulate emotions that are difficult to express to the actual figures in that individual's life, but the dramatic reinterpretation actively in the therapy room allows for some movement in the domain of internal conflict.
4. Phenomenology and the 'Here and Now'
Phenomenology, as defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first person's point of view; it is hence entirely personal and refers to the here and now of the person's experience, as they see it.
"Be here now."– Ram Dass
"When I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."– Carl Rogers
The Paradoxical Theory of Change, by Arnold Beisser, states that 'change occurs when one becomes what they are, not when they try to become what they are not.' The therapist in Gestalt Therapy is not a change agent, and their role is only to explore and encourage the client to authentically remain who and what they are.
Gestalt Therapy's approach to change allows the client to be who they are without trying to change, and the belief is that in doing so, they become the change they want to be from within.
5. The Cycle of Experience and Awareness
Gestalt Therapy is firmly rooted in the individual's experience being 'live', and part of an ongoing experience of becoming; the theory of the cycle of experience and awareness elucidates this clearly in the arrival of a new stimulus that brings excitement to the organism (the person), and this is the start of the process of the germination of a new idea which the individual follows through till either completion, or exits this 'cycle' midway, hence creating frustration and disappointment.
According to Perls (1969), individuals should dialogue with the two opposing parts of themselves, and in the exploration of this polarity, integration can emerge, and this then leads to clarity.
6. The Creative Freedom of Therapy
The creative freedom that the therapist may experience as part of the therapy process contributes greatly to the experience they are able to bring to the client. The therapeutic relationship itself forms the bedrock for processing difficult and conflicted parts of the self, and unfinished business and unprocessed emotions, all while maintaining synchrony between the mental and physical.
Gestalt is concerned with problem solving and creative decision-making. The end point of the awareness generated by this clarity is the call for action for actual changes made by the person in their life. Change is not sought from others but made by and for the self.
How to Get Started with Gestalt Therapy
The fundamental concept of Gestalt Therapy is that individuals do possess within themselves all the resources and elements for their growth, and to break free from patterns that make them unhappy and conflicted; further, that this growth can be sustained in relationships and environments that allow for the individual to be authentic. There is therefore the capacity for freedom and possibility in this approach.
My personal approach focuses on helping clients raise their own awareness and build a personalised toolbox for themselves with insight and authenticity so that they can refer to it as and when their need arises. Please see the Gestalt therapy page for more information.