Gestalt Therapy Holistic Approach to Therapy

Before we begin this in-depth article, if you prefer to listen to a summary podcast of it,
you can do so here.

Gestalt therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach aimed at helping individuals become aware of their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in the present moment.

It encourages people to explore their subjective experience and discover how they connect with themselves and others.

The creator of this method is an interesting figure who followed different traditions. Fritz Perls, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, believed that awareness of a problem in its entirety leads to its resolution through a clearer understanding of what is real and what is not in a given situation. In essence, Perls explains "Gestalt" as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

One of the key methods in Gestalt therapy is "experiential therapy," which encourages individuals to explore their feelings and experiences through practical exercises and/or group activities. For example, Gestalt therapists may ask clients to stand in the middle of a group and focus on their breathing, exploring the actual experience they are having in the present moment, or visualize a stressful situation to help identify the emotions and thoughts associated with it.

Another method used in Gestalt therapy is "confrontation therapy," where the therapist guides clients in exploring behaviors or beliefs that may be causing problems in their lives. For instance, a therapist might help a client explore why they avoid conflict with others, bringing more awareness to the situation.

Gestalt therapy can be practiced in individual or group sessions, where group members support each other in exploring their experiences and feelings. Gestalt therapy groups may focus on themes such as communication, conflict resolution, and solving personal or professional problems.

By following Frédéric's training, you will learn how to use Gestalt therapy in these various contexts.

In summary, Gestalt therapy is a powerful approach that fits perfectly into holistic support, as it helps release many emotional blockages and increases awareness of aspects that are usually unconscious.

If you think Gestalt therapy could be an additional tool for your own well-being or in your coaching practice, you can discover how Frédéric incorporates this technique into his holistic approach.
Many concrete videos in his training will show real-life examples where Gestalt therapy is used to resolve various situations.

If you would like to learn more about the type of training you can take to become:

Life Coach and/or Holistic Therapist (as well as Consultant, NLP Practitioner, and many other ways to practice these professions...):

Click here to know more about a training including Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt therapy, sometimes simply called Gestalt, is both a set of concepts and a series of practices aimed at personal, psychosocial, and organizational change.

This therapeutic approach focuses on the constant interaction between the human being and their environment. It is interested in how this interaction takes shape and seeks to bring movement when this form becomes fixed and repetitive. Indeed, the German term "Gestalt" translates as "form," in the sense of "taking shape," "organizing," or "building."

The set of concepts is organized around the notion of contact seen as a process. The person as an organism is in contact with the environment, and no organism can survive without interaction with its surroundings. Gestalt therapy theory models this process based on a phenomenological and pragmatic philosophy.

This view of interactions and the integration of concepts are updated in a set of practices for supporting individuals, groups, and organizations. The emphasis is on subjective experience and taking into account what is happening in the present situation.

Gestalt therapy draws from several sources:

• Psychoanalysis, which Fritz Perls practiced before distancing himself from it. It is also inspired by Sandor Ferenczi (1873-1933) through his active technique, Otto Rank (1884-1939), who focused on the present rather than the past, Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), who emphasized the body and the influence of society, and Karen Horney (1885-1952), who was attuned to cultural dimensions.

• Gestalt Psychology or Form Psychology, which originated in Germany in the early 20th century and brought together researchers at the crossroads of philosophy and psychology. Philosopher Franz Brentano (1838-1917) was a precursor, paving the way for the phenomenology of perception. Building on concrete experiences, his student Christian Von Ehrenfels (1859-1932) established a foundational law of his theory: "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." This principle is the basis of the holistic approach of Gestalt therapy. Continuing this tradition, Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), who emigrated to the United States, expanded this principle to group dynamics and conceptualized the field perspective, which strongly influences Gestalt therapy.

• Humanistic Psychology, an influential movement in the United States from the 1950s that offered a third way between behaviorism and classical psychoanalysis. This movement, championed by Gordon Allport (1897-1957), Carl Rogers (1902-1987), Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), Jacob Moreno (1889-1974), and others, centered its investigation on three main elements (Santarpia, 2016, p. 2):

  1. Self-awareness in its natural ability for self-regulation and development,

  2. Emotional experience and the creative ability to make sense of experiences in their full complexity, including irrational forces (the negative),

  3. Spirituality and altered states of consciousness.

Additionally, this movement addresses themes such as values, freedom, human responsibility, the narration of direct sensory experience, and the search for positivity and aesthetic beauty in life and art.

Gestalt therapy, in its interest in subjective experience, draws from major philosophical currents that marked the beginning of the 20th century:

• American Pragmatism, a philosophy more focused on the effects of phenomena than their causes, with an interest in social and educational dimensions. William James (1842-1910), George Mead (1863-1931), and John Dewey (1859-1952) are the most commonly cited authors.

• Phenomenology, a philosophical movement born in Germany at the turn of the 20th century in Husserl's Logical Investigations. This method of reflection invites suspension (epoché) of any judgment of reality to welcome the appearance of phenomena as they present themselves to consciousness and describe their meaning. Major figures developed concepts of consciousness (Brentano 1838-1917, Husserl's professor), intentionality (Husserl 1859-1938), the question of being and Dasein (Heidegger 1889-1976), and corporeality (Merleau-Ponty 1908-1961).

• Existentialism, which raises questions about the ontological status of humans and the meaning of existence: faced with inescapable facts such as finitude, solitude, and incompleteness, what degree of responsibility and freedom does the individual have? Philosophers such as Sartre (1905-1980) and Buber (1878-1965) contributed to these ideas. In this field, psychoanalyst Binswanger (1881-1966) created Dasein-analysis, translated into French as Existential Analysis.

• Eastern Wisdom Traditions influenced Perls and his collaborators, who drew from Zen and Taoism a posture of letting go and being present in the here and now.

Fritz Perls
Fritz Perls, born on July 8, 1893, in Berlin and died on March 14, 1970, in Chicago, was a German psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He invented the concept of Gestalt therapy, which he developed from 1942 in collaboration with his wife, Laura Posner Perls, and Paul Goodman.

A psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Perls began his career in 1926 at an institute where he treated soldiers with brain injuries. He was influenced by Hans-Jürgen Walter and the Gestaltist movement. In 1933, he emigrated to the Netherlands. The following year, he decided to live in South Africa, where he began developing Gestalt therapy. In 1946, he emigrated to the United States. Shortly after arriving, he and his wife Laura founded the Institute of Gestalt Therapy in New York. Until his death, Perls continued to deepen his theory.

Click here to know more about a training including Gestalt Therapy