• Fritz Perls is the founder of the method.
• Theoretical foundations of the Gestalt therapy method.
• Human nature.
• Hunger and aggression.
• Personal development.
• Nature psychological problems personality.

The founder of the Gestalt method - therapy is considered Fritz Salomon Perls (1893-1970).
His basic education was psychoanalysis and for a long time Perls practiced it. The beginning of the history of Gestalt therapy can be considered the appearance of the book Ego, Hunger and Aggression (1942), which presents a rather radical rethinking of the theory of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis.

Features of Gestalt Therapy.

Despite the fact that Fritz Perls himself believed that the theory was based on psychoanalysis, it is quite clear that his offspring was influenced by many different approaches to psychotherapy, as well as, philosophy of existentialism and ideas of currents - Zen Buddhism and Taoism. Thus, the author made an obvious emphasis on the flow of direct experiences of the individual ("here and now") - thoughts and feelings, and also declared personal responsibility man for the state of his own consciousness.

Distinctive features of the Gestalt method was the shift in emphasis in relation to the construction of the most important issues of psychotherapy from the question "why" to the questions "what" and "how".
This seemingly insignificant change had a huge impact on the course of the process itself, because in this perspective, the client's personal history faded into the background, and his actual experience in the present became the most important.
Based on this fact, it is not difficult to understand that this radically changed the whole approach to the work of a psychologist.

Despite the fact that Perls left quite a few works on the method, none of them contains any systematic presentation of the material, so that it could be called a textbook on Gestalt therapy. This seemingly strange fact, however, fits perfectly into the concept of the author, who has always believed that the only way to understand the method of Gestalt therapy is his practical experience in mastering it. That is why many of his works contain a large number of descriptions, namely methods and work directly with clients, but rarely, their theoretical justification.

One way or another, but after the death of Perls in 1970, his followers made an attempt to fill this gap by releasing a guide book called "Integrated Gestalt Therapy" (E. Polster, M. Polster, 1973).
It is on the basis of these data that the theoretical substantiation of the method is presented, which, no doubt, is necessary.

Theory of Gestalt therapy.

The central concept of the method is, in fact, the concept of figure-ground, which reflects the term "gestalt", which in German means "whole, integration, form, stereotype".
This concept was also the main one in Perls' understanding of another important part of his theory - the substantiation of an important chain of need-satisfaction, from which the idea of ​​self-actualization flowed, which gained great popularity in the 50-60s of the last century and became one of the foundations of the humanistic method of therapy.

The main rationale behind the idea of ​​F. Perls was his attitude to the individual as a single whole and the consistent rejection of the concepts of dualism of mental and material realities, thoughts and feelings, as well as human behavior. It is easy to see that the same approach underlies philosophy of holism.

Proceeding from such an attitude towards the individual, the natural consequence was the idea that people are by no means completely under the influence of external circumstances and the circumstances of their personal history, which means that they may well play a decisive role in their condition and behavior, that is, be fully responsible for life events and quality. From this followed the humanistic concept of actualization, proclaiming the freedom of choice, the use of personal potential and the will to change, which underlie the transformation of the individual.
The second important consequence was the already mentioned attitude towards what underlay the essence of the human personality, which was henceforth determined by the question of "how" and not "why".

Current page: 1 (the book has 15 pages in total)

Friedrich S. Perls

Gestalt approach. Witness Therapy

Foreword

The two books, The Gestalt Approach and Witness Therapy, can be seen as one. Fritz Perls kept their plan in mind and worked on both of them shortly before his death. It seems to me that he would like such a connection.

The Gestalt Approach will undoubtedly become one of the main books in the Gestalt literature. It seems to me that Fritz quite succeeded in carrying out the task he set for himself. "Any reasonable approach to psychology, not hiding behind professional jargon, must be understandable to an intelligent reader and must be based on the facts of human behavior." – Fritz wrote The Gestalt Approach because he was no longer satisfied with the previous two theoretical work. Both This, Hunger and Aggression (1947) and Gestalt Therapy (1950) are difficult to read and both are outdated.

Over the past two decades, Fritz has drawn much from various sources, especially Eastern religious teachings, meditation, psychedelic experiences, and body work. More importantly, for two decades he lived, loved, fought and practiced psychotherapy. In his uniqueness, Fritz did not limit himself to the roles of doctor, enemy, charismatic gadfly, lover, dirty old man, artist or writer. He did not age, in the sense that we think of aging in the West; the years perfected his ability to live in the present and his virtuosity in the arts he practiced.

Fritz wrote most of the Gestalt Approach in Esalen. He continued to work on the book in Cahuichen, where he moved in May 1969. Cowichen is a small forest town on a lake, fifty miles north of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Fritz wanted to create a Gestalt community here. I believe he did not predetermine the form it would take. He hoped for the emergence of a lifestyle conducive to increasing awareness, in which each would integrate previously alienated parts of his personality and take responsibility for his own state of consciousness. He wanted to create a center where therapists could live and study for several months.

I was in Cawichen for the last two months of Fritz's stay there. He said he had never been happier. Slowly, in step with what was happening, he taught, did therapy, played, loved and wrote.

Fritz became increasingly concerned that many therapists were imitating him. techniques, without really understanding his ideas as a whole. He wanted to combine his life philosophy, theory and practice of psychotherapy in a single form suitable for learning. He asked me to publish a book, Witness to Therapy, which would use fragments of the theory from the Gestalt Approach and texts of his therapy sessions and lectures in Cawichen, transcribed from filming. He gave me these materials when he left Cawichen in early December 1969. Fritz intended to return in the spring and finish this work. He died that winter. I asked Richard Bandler to edit these materials.

"Gestalt approach" can be read as standalone book, but it also serves as an introduction to the Witness Therapy texts. Richard Bandler has chosen predominantly those pieces of filming that are self-explanatory and are an introduction to Gestalt work. Several fragments are also included representing more complex and extended Gestalt sessions; other fragments of this kind will be included in subsequent volumes.

It is planned to release two more volumes similar in form to this one. Each of them will start didactic materials, predominantly from Fritz's lectures at Cauichen. These lectures are informal, sometimes they make a great emotional impression, demonstrating the influence of Eastern philosophy on Fritz. They will be followed by fragments of a more detailed Gestalt work, recorded on tape or filmed with a camera. Fritz loved these recordings and recommended intensive study of the films with transcripts in hand. The transcripts will be commented on by experienced Gestalt therapists who knew Fritz well.

Robert S. Spitzer, d.m., ch. editor of Science and Behavior Books

Introduction

Modern man lives on the low vital energy. Although in general he does not suffer too deeply, yet he knows just as little about true creative life. He turned into an anxious automaton. The world offers him many opportunities for a richer and happier life, but he wanders aimlessly, poorly understanding what he wants, and even worse - how to achieve it. He does not feel the excitement and ardor as he embarks on the adventure of life.

He seems to believe that the time of fun, pleasure and growth is childhood and adolescence, and is ready to reject life itself when he reaches "maturity". He makes a lot of movements, but the expression on his face betrays the absence of any real interest in what he is doing. He is either bored, keeping a stone face, or annoyed. He seems to have lost all his spontaneity, lost the ability to feel and express himself directly and creatively.

He talks well about his difficulties, but he does not cope well with them. He reduces his life to verbal and intellectual exercises, he drowns himself in a sea of ​​words. He replaces life itself with psychiatric and pseudo-psychiatric explanations. He spends a lot of time trying to reconstruct the past or determine the future. His activity is the performance of boring and tedious duties. At times he is not even aware of what he is currently doing.

These statements may seem sweeping, but the time has come when it needs to be said. In the last fifty years, man has become much more self-aware. We have learned an incredible amount about the physiological and psychological mechanisms by which we maintain our balance under the pressure of constantly changing living conditions. But at the same time, we have not learned to equally enjoy ourselves, use our knowledge to our advantage, expand and deepen our sense of life (aliveness) and growth.

Understanding human behavior for the sake of understanding itself is a pleasant experience. intellectual game, a pleasant (or painful) way to kill time, but it may not be useful for the daily activities of life. Apparently, much of the neurotic dissatisfaction with ourselves and our world is due to the fact that, having swallowed whole many terms and concepts of modern psychiatry and psychology, we did not chew them, did not taste them, did not try to use our verbal and intellectual knowledge as the strength it could be.

On the contrary, many use psychiatric notions as a rationalization, as a way of prolonging unsatisfactory behavior. We justify the present difficulties with past experience, we bathe in our misfortunes. We use our knowledge of the person as an excuse for socially destructive or self-destructive behavior. Growing out of the childhood "I can't deal with this", we begin to say "I can't deal with this because..." - because my mother rejected me as a child, because I can not deal with my Oedipus complex, because I too introverted etc.

Meanwhile, psychiatry and psychology were not intended to justify neurotic behavior that deprives a person of the opportunity to live to the maximum of his abilities. The purpose of these sciences is not simply to offer explanations for behavior; they should help us gain self-knowledge, satisfaction, and the ability to rely on ourselves (self-support).

Perhaps one of the reasons for this distortion of psychiatry is that too many classical theories are turned into petrified dogma by their proponents. In an attempt to fit the various forms and subtleties of human behavior into the Procrustean bed of favored theory, many psychiatric schools ignore those aspects of human life that stubbornly defy explanation in terms of outdated ideas. Instead of discarding or changing a theory that doesn't fit the facts, they try to remake the facts to fit the theory. It contributes neither to a deeper understanding nor to the resolution of human difficulties.

This book offers new approach to human behavior - in its actuality and its potentiality. It is written in the conviction that a person can live a fuller and richer life than most of us live, that a person has not even begun to reveal the potential of energy and enthusiasm that lies in him. The book seeks to bring together theory and its practical use to problems Everyday life and methods of psychotherapy. The theory itself is based on experience and observation; it has grown and changed over the years of practice and application, and it continues to evolve.

Part One: The Gestalt Approach

1. Foundations

Gestalt psychology

Any reasonable approach to psychology that does not hide behind professional jargon must be understandable to an intelligent interested reader and must be based on the facts of human behavior. If this is not the case, there is something fundamentally wrong with this approach. After all, psychology deals with the most interesting subject for man - with ourselves and with our neighbors.

Understanding psychology and ourselves must be consistent. Unable to understand ourselves, we cannot understand what we are doing, we cannot expect a solution to our problems, and we must give up hope of living a life that satisfies us. However, the understanding of "self" involves something more than the usual work of the mind. It also requires feelings and sensitivity.

The approach presented here is based on premises that are neither vague nor unfounded. On the contrary, it is mostly speculation. common sense easily confirmed by experience. In fact, they underlie much of modern psychology, although they are often phrased in complicated terms that, while maintaining a sense of self-importance in the author, confuse the reader rather than serve to clarify the essence of the matter. Unfortunately, psychologists tend to take them for granted and leave them in the background, while their theories move further and further away from the real and observable. But if we express these premises explicitly and simply, we will be able to use them as a measure of the soundness and usefulness of our ideas, which will enable us to undertake research with pleasure and profit.

We will introduce the first premise by means of an illustration. We have said that the approach proposed in this book is new in many respects. This does not mean that it has nothing to do with other theories of human behavior or with other applications of these theories to problems in everyday life or psychotherapeutic practice. Nor does it mean that our approach consists entirely of new and revolutionary elements. Much of its elements can be found in many other approaches to our subject. What is new here is not, in the main, the separate fragments of which a theory must consist; the uniqueness that gives us the right to claim the attention of the reader gives the approach the way they are used and organized.

This last sentence reveals the first basic premise of our approach, which is that facts, perceptions, behavior, or phenomena acquire their specificity and certain meaning by virtue of their specific organization.

These ideas were originally developed by a group of German psychologists working in the field of perception. They showed that a person does not perceive separate, unrelated elements, but organizes them in the process of perception into a meaningful whole. For example, a person who enters a room where there are other people perceives non-moving patches of color, and not even faces and bodies separately; he perceives the room and the people in it as a kind of unity, in which one of the elements, selected from many others, stands out, while the rest form the background. The choice of a certain element among others is determined by many factors, the totality of which can be combined under the general term interest. As long as a certain interest lasts, the whole appears meaningfully organized. Only if interest is completely absent does perception cease to be integral and the room breaks up into many unrelated objects.

Consider how this principle can operate in a simple situation. Let us assume that the room in question, - living room during a party. Most of the guests have already arrived, the rest are gradually gathering. A chronic alcoholic enters, thirsty for a drink. For him, other guests, as well as chairs, a sofa, paintings on the walls - all this is insignificant, this is the background. He heads towards the bar; of all the objects in the room, the bar is the figure for him.

Another guest enters; she is an artist and the landlady recently bought her painting. She is primarily interested in where and how this picture hangs; she chooses it among all other objects in the room. She, like an alcoholic, may be completely uninterested in the people in the room, she goes to her picture like a pigeon striving home.

And here is a young man who came to the party to meet his current girlfriend. He looks around the audience, looking for her, and when he finds her, she becomes a figure for him, and everything else is a background.

For a guest who moves from one group to another, from a sofa to a sofa, from a hostess to a box of cigarettes, the living room turns out to be completely different at different moments. When he participates in a conversation in a certain circle of guests, this circle and this conversation are a figure for him. When he, after standing, feels tired and wants to sit down, the free space on the sofa becomes a figure. As his interest changes, so does his perception of the room, the people and objects in it, and even himself. Figure and ground are reversed; they do not remain as constant as those of the young man who is chained to his beloved all evening.

But here comes a new guest. He, like many of us at parties, did not want to come here at all, and he has no real interests here. For him, the whole scene remains disorganized and meaningless until something happens to capture his attention and interest.

The school of psychology based on such observations is called Gestalt psychology. "Gestalt" - german word, for which it is difficult to find an exact English equivalent. Gestalt is a pattern, a configuration, a certain form of organization of individual parts, which creates integrity. The basic premise of Gestalt psychology is that human nature organized in patterns or wholes, and only in this way can it be perceived and understood.

homeostasis

Our next premise is that life and behavior are governed by a process that is scientifically called homeostasis, more simply adaptation or adaptation. Homeostasis is the process by which the body maintains its equilibrium and therefore healthy state under changing conditions. In other words, homeostasis is the process by which the body satisfies its needs. Since these needs are numerous and each threatens the balance of the organism, the homeostatic process continues uninterrupted. All life is characterized by this constant play of balance and disequilibrium in the body.

If the homeostatic process is disturbed to some extent, so that the organism remains in a state of disequilibrium for too long, it means that it is sick. If the process of homeostasis fails completely, the organism dies.

Here are a few examples to illustrate this. The functioning of the human body requires maintaining within certain limits the content of sugar in the blood. If the sugar content falls below the normal level, the corresponding glands secrete adrenaline, which causes the liver to convert glycogen stores into sugar; sugar enters the bloodstream, and the level of its content in the blood rises. All this happens purely physiologically, the body is not aware of it. But a drop in blood sugar has another effect: it is accompanied by a feeling of hunger. The body restores its balance by satisfying this need through food. Food is digested, a certain amount of it is converted into sugar, which is stored in the blood. Thus, as far as food is concerned, the homeostatic process requires awareness and certain voluntary actions on the part of the organism.

When sugar levels rise above normal, the pancreas secretes more insulin, which causes the liver to reduce the amount of sugar. The kidneys also help with this: sugar is excreted in the urine. This process, as previously described, is purely physiological. But the content of sugar in the blood can also be reduced in an arbitrary way, as a result of consciousness and appropriate action. Chronic difficulties in the homeostatic process, manifested in a constantly exaggerated amount of sugar in the blood, are called diabetes in medicine. The body of a diabetic cannot control its own process. However, the patient can exercise control by artificially increasing the amount of insulin, that is, taking it in the form of a pill, which lowers the sugar level to normal.

Let's take another example. The health of the body requires that the amount of water in the blood is also maintained within certain limits. If it falls below this level, sweating, salivation and urination decrease, and body tissues transfer some of the fluid they contain to the circulatory system. The body conserves water during such periods. This is the physiological side of the process. But when the amount of water in the blood becomes too low, the individual feels thirsty and takes whatever action is possible for him to maintain the necessary balance: he drinks some liquid. If the amount of water in the blood is too high, the opposite occurs, just as in the case of an increase in the amount of sugar.

It is easier to say about it this way: in terms of physiology, the loss of water in the blood is called dehydration; chemically this can be expressed as the loss of a certain number of H20 units; sensory it feels like thirst, the symptoms of which are dryness of the mouth and restlessness; psychologically it is experienced as a desire to drink.

Thus, we can call the homeostatic process the process of self-regulation, through which the organism interacts with its environment. Although the examples given contain the complex activities of the organism, they are the simplest and most elementary functions, serving the survival of the individual and, due to this, the species as a whole. The need to maintain the amount of sugar and water in the blood within certain limits is vital for every animal organism.

But there are other needs, not so critically related to issues of life and death, in which the process of homeostasis also operates. A person sees better with two eyes than with one. But if one eye is diseased or destroyed, the person can continue to live. And although now it is not a two-eyed, but a one-eyed organism, it soon learns to function effectively in this situation, satisfying its needs through appropriate adaptation.

The organism has needs for psychological contacts as well as for physiological ones; they are felt every time the psychological balance is disturbed, just as physiological needs are felt when the physiological balance is disturbed. Psychological needs are met through the psychological side of the homeostatic process.

However, it must be clearly understood that psychological processes cannot be separated from the physiological; each contains elements of the other. Needs that are primarily psychological in nature, and the homeostatic adaptive mechanisms by which they are satisfied, form part of the subject matter of psychology.

People have thousands of needs on a purely physiological level and thousands of needs on a social level. The more they seem to us essential for survival, the more we identify with them, the more intensely we direct our activities towards their satisfaction.

And here the static representations of the old psychological theories can interfere with correct understanding. Noticing certain general drives common to all living creatures, theorists postulated "instincts" as forces that direct life processes, and described neurosis as the suppression of these instincts. McDougall presented a list of fourteen instincts. Freud believed that the most fundamental and important are Eros (sex or life) and Thanatos (death). But if we consider all possible violations of the organic balance, we will find thousands of instincts of different intensity.

The theory of instincts has another weak side. It can be agreed that need acts as a coercive force in all living creatures, manifesting itself in two essential tendencies: the tendency of survival as an individual and species, and the tendency of development. These are fixed goals. But the ways in which they are satisfied differ in different situations, for different species, and for different individuals.

If the survival of a nation is threatened by war, citizens take up arms. If the survival of an individual is threatened low level blood sugar, he is looking for food. Scheherazade was threatened with death by the Sultan, and to avoid this prospect, she told him fairy tales for a thousand and one nights. Are we to assume that she had a "fairy-tale-telling" instinct?

The theory of instincts seems to confuse needs with their symptoms and with the means used to satisfy them, and out of this confusion arises the notion of repression of instinct.

Instincts (if they exist) cannot be suppressed, they are beyond our awareness (awareness) and thus beyond the reach of voluntary action. We, for example, cannot "repress" the need for survival; but we can, and do, intervene in its symptoms and signs. This is done by interrupting the current process, by preventing oneself from performing the action that corresponds to the need.

But what happens if several needs (or, if you like, instincts) arise at the same time? A healthy body seems to operate on the principle of a hierarchy of values. Since he is unable to adequately do more than one thing at a time, he turns to the dominant need for survival before any other. It operates on a “first things first” basis.

Once in Africa, I observed a group of deer grazing within a hundred yards of sleeping lions. When one of the lions woke up and roared with hunger, the deer instantly rushed off. Imagine for a moment yourself in the skin of a deer, suppose that you are racing for your life. After a while, you will start to choke, and then you will have to slow down your run or even stop until you rest; at this point, the need to breathe is more important, more essential than running, just as earlier the need to run was more important than the need to eat.

Formulating this principle in terms of Gestalt psychology, we can say that at every moment the dominant need of the organism comes to the fore as a figure, and the rest, at least temporarily, recede into the background. The figure is the need that most urgently demands satisfaction; it may be, as in our example, the need to preserve one's own life; in less acute situations, it may be a physiological or psychological need.

A mother, for example, needs her child to be satisfied and happy; the child's discomfort creates discomfort for the mother. A mother of a small child may sleep peacefully to the sound of street noise or thunderstorms, but will wake up immediately if her child cries in the next room.

In order for a person to satisfy his need, thereby completing the gestalt, and move on to other matters, he must be aware of his needs and be able to handle himself and his environment, because even purely physiological needs can only be satisfied in the interaction of the organism and the environment.

Gestalt therapy is a method practical psychology aimed at understanding and analyzing by patients everything that is unspoken, suppressed and incomplete in life, in order to get rid of problems and harmonize the personality.

The Gestalt approach is based on its own theoretical theses, postulates of psychoanalysis, elements of psychodrama and bioenergetics.

The founder of this direction is a German scientist - Fritz Perls, he used the theory of psychoanalysis for its development, which he constantly supplemented with his own conclusions. The holistic approach (the unity of soul and body, feelings and emotions) in Gestalt therapy appeared thanks to the work of psychologists Wertheimer, Koehler, Kurt Goldstein. The development of bodily sensations was positioned by the researcher Reich, and introduced elements of psychodrama Jacob Moreno.

After passing Gestalt therapy, a person begins to see, feel and understand his own personality not as a set of individual traits character, qualities, desires, prohibitions and abilities, but as a whole as a single organism that he can control. In the process of treatment, the therapist helps the patient to “extract” “painful” memories, images, thoughts, feelings from the subconscious and “work” on them.

As a result, it should be gestalt(internal image of the problem and barriers to the expression of emotions). His step-by-step analysis allows people to build harmonious relationships with themselves, loved ones and the world around them in such a way as to receive pleasure and positive emotions.

Changing the habitual perception of oneself, one's behavior, the revival of sincerity and the ability to rejoice, rethinking actions and relationships - this is what Gestalt therapy is in simple terms.

In their consultations or group trainings, Gestalt therapists teach patients:

• always rely on your desires and needs, taking into account reality and circumstances;
• do not suppress your feelings and do not accumulate negativity;
• express themselves in communication, creativity, activity.

The main provisions of the Gestalt approach are:

• developing an attentive attitude and a quick response to any own emotions;
• enrichment, increase and preservation of internal energy;
• emancipation of the manifestation of bodily reactions;
• the desire for authenticity (building harmonious relationships with your body).

The cycle of action in such therapy

Gestalt therapy is most effective for women(due to their emotionality), for men, such prolonged attention and careful analysis of feelings may seem like an exaggeration, they are usually guided by the arguments of reason and easily ignore their desires and needs for the sake of achievements and success.

In addition, in society, an overly emotional man is considered weak, so it is not easy for many representatives of the stronger sex to talk about their problems even when meeting with a psychotherapist.

Basic Methods and Techniques

The Gestalt approach uses:

• work with feelings;
• exercises to express one's state with body movements;
• analysis of dreams and memories;
• work with fictional characters (playing out situations and feelings).

The therapy process is considered effective:

• if it lasts no more than 2 years;
• shows patients the strengths of their personality;
• contributes to a positive perception of oneself in the world.

Stages of Gestalt therapy:

• search for problems, obvious and “disguised” negativity among clients, weaknesses of their personality;
• analysis and “letting go” of the detected obstacles;
• building trust in one's own sphere of feelings and learning to freely express emotions (taking into account social norms and rules).

The main role in any Gestalt methods is given to emotions, the movements of the mind are considered secondary, they are taken into account if they do not suppress the sphere of feelings.

Basic 5 Emotions in Gestalt Therapy

Task gestalt therapist to help the patient see how he "impedes" the satisfaction of his needs, what psychological blocks he exposes and together find acceptable ways to satisfy them.

Task client- reflection (comprehension and expression) of one's feelings and related actions.
The main strategy of Gestalt therapy is the development of the desire for self-acceptance (personality change techniques are practically not used in it).

Therapists of the Gestalt approach in their work operate with special terms:

1. Interprojection. Substitution of real needs of people imposed (by society, traditions, significant people).

2. Confluence (lack of boundaries between the external environment and the body). The fusion of feelings and actions in order to obtain maximum satisfaction from life.

3. Retroflection. "Freezing" in the subconscious of their needs and desires.

4. Cycle-contact. The process of forming an image of an obstacle in the mind of the client, expressing feelings about the problem, destroying the gestalt.

5. Precontact. The stage of formation of a gestalt with a predominance of sensations of its background (on the basis of bodily sensations, an image of the dominant feeling arises).

6. Contacting. Free expression of feelings and overcoming emotional "clamps".

7. Final contact. Identification of oneself with the Gestalt image, awareness of the unity of feelings and actions.

8. Egotism. Self-interruption of the Gestalt therapy chain. Avoiding the awareness of the need, preventing the transition to the final contact and getting stuck in contacting.

9. Postcontact. The dissolution of the Gestalt figure in the background. Obtaining and consolidating the experience of emotional and bodily expression of feelings.

Thus, the whole process of traditional Gestalt therapy is the formation of figure and background in the minds of patients and the gradual reflection of their inner work on psychological problems.

And here is what it is in simple words:

• awareness of one's emotions at rest;
• analysis of feelings and desires when a stimulus occurs;
• formation of a holistic image (gestalt) of a provocative factor and a reaction to it;
• emotional response to it;
• catharsis (stress relief and satisfaction);
• return to harmony

Exercises

Individual or group sessions with a Gestalt therapist allow
step by step to “uncover” emotional “slags” in the subconscious of clients, bring them to awareness problem situation, to teach how to express yourself according to inner impulses and live in harmony with your body.

At the beginning of therapy, exercises aimed at focusing feelings and their reflection are used, then techniques for releasing negative emotions are used. The doctor carries out the general management of the process of gestalt formation, he draws the attention of patients to problematic points, encouraging the awareness of the need to freely express their emotions.

Exercise examples:

1. "Hot chair". The client sits in the center of the group (at trainings, participants usually sit in a circle) and he is invited to talk about what worries him. After a dialogue with the patient in the “hot chair”, the trainer asks to express the feelings and sensations of other participants. All of them must be in the center of the circle.

2. Awareness. Here, patients talk about their feelings and thoughts in the present moment.

3. Strengthening bodily manifestations during classes. The therapist asks to exaggerate any non-verbal gestures of the training participants, for example, turn the tapping of the fingers into a “drum” roll.

4. Shuttle movement. Forcing the background to the figure. If the client reports loneliness, the therapist tries to “color” the background as negatively as possible, i.e. focuses on bodily manifestations (trembling, clenching hands or feet, etc.).

5. "Empty chair." In this exercise, on a chair in the center, patients are engaged in a dialogue not with real person, but with the imaginary, the dead, or with oneself.

6. Making circles. All members of the group speak to each other in a circle.

Introduction

The theoretical discoveries of Gestalt psychology were applied to the practice of psychotherapy by Fritz (Frederick Solomon) Perls (1893-1970). In the 40s of the XX century. Frederick Perls, a well-known psychoanalyst among the professionals of his time, thought about creating his own system of psychotherapy. At that time, he was not satisfied with many provisions of contemporary psychoanalysis, in particular, the predominantly intellectual nature of processing the patient's problems, orientation to the past, and the patient's passive position in the process of psychoanalytic treatment. The result of his joint reflections with colleagues, which included his wife Laura Perls, Isidor Frome, Paul Goodman, was the book Gestalt Therapy, published in 1951. The first part of this book, which is a practical guide to self-exploration, was repeatedly published on Russian language under the title "Workshop on Gestalt Therapy". To explain human behavior, Perls and his colleagues used ideas from Gestalt psychology, such as the concept of figure-ground dynamics, the concept of the integrity of the human body, and that the body and its environment are a single field. Perls also used some philosophical ideas - the ideas of phenomenology, a philosophical trend that arose at the beginning of the 20th century. and insisting on the need to explore things as they are presented in the mind, and the ideas of existentialism about the freedom and responsibility of man, the existential meeting I - You.

Fundamentals of Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy developed within Gestalt psychology by Frederick Perls. Gestalt therapy is a direction of psychotherapy that aims to expand a person’s awareness and through this a better understanding and acceptance of himself by a person, achieving greater intrapersonal integrity, greater fullness and meaningfulness of life, improving contact with the outside worlds, including with people around. Gestalt psychology influenced the formation of the idea of ​​the body as a single whole, indivisible into separate parts (for example, independently existing organs or independently existing soul and body).

In general, the theory of Gestalt therapy is based on the following provisions:

Man is an integral sociobiopsychological being. Any division of it into its component parts, such as mind and body, is artificial;

a person and his environment are a single gestalt, a structural whole, which is called the field organism - environment. The environment influences the organism, and the organism transforms its environment. Applied to psychology interpersonal relationships this means that, on the one hand, we are influenced by the behavior of the people around us, on the other hand, if we change our behavior, then those around us must change;

human behavior according to theories of gestalt therapy, obeys the principle of formation and destruction of gestalts. A healthy body functions on the basis of self-regulation. An urgent need arises and begins to attract the dominant attention of the organism - the figure emerges from the background. Next, the body searches in the external environment for an object that is able to satisfy this dominant need, for example, food when hungry. Rapprochement and adequate interaction with the object (chewing and swallowing food in this example) leads to the satisfaction of the need - the gestalt is completed and destroyed;

contact is the basic concept of Gestalt therapy. An organism cannot exist in an airless space, just as in a space devoid of water, plants and living beings. A human being cannot develop in an environment devoid of other people. All basic needs can only be met in contact with the environment. The place where the organism meets its environment is called the boundary of contact in Gestalt therapy. The extent to which a person is able to satisfy his needs depends on how flexible he can regulate the contact boundary. Gestalt therapy describes typical violations of the contact boundary, which make interaction with the environment, including interpersonal, ineffective;

awareness - awareness of what is happening inside the body and in its environment. Awareness is not identical to intellectual knowledge about oneself and the world around. It includes the experience of perceiving both the stimuli of the external world and internal processes body - sensations, emotions, as well as mental activity - ideas, images, memories and anticipations, that is, covers many levels. Awareness, with the exception of its mental layer, is also possessed by animals. However, in the civilized world, people have hypertrophied thinking to the detriment of emotions and perception of the outside world. It is awareness, as opposed to rational knowledge, gives real information about the needs of the body and the environment. The main goal of practicing Gestalt therapy is to expand awareness. Great amount human problems is due to the fact that the true awareness of reality is replaced by intellectual and often false ideas about it, for example, about what can be expected from people, how they treat me, what I should want and what I should do. Such false ideas obscure reality and make it difficult to meet the needs of the body - the process of formation and destruction of the gestalt is violated. Gestalt therapy proceeds from the fact that if people achieve a clear awareness of the internal and external reality, then they are able to solve all their problems on their own. Therefore, therapy does not aim to change behavior, behavior changes itself as awareness grows;

here and now - the principle that means that the actual for the organism always occurs in the present, whether it be perceptions, feelings, actions, thoughts, fantasies about the past or the future, they are all in the present moment. The use of this principle makes it possible to intensify the process of awareness;

responsibility - the ability to respond to what is happening and choose their reactions. The real responsibility is connected with awareness. The more a person is aware of reality, the more he is able to be responsible for his life - for his desires, actions, in the words of Perls, to rely on himself;

The goals of psychological assistance. The main goal is to help a person realize his full potential. This main goal is divided into auxiliary ones: ensuring the full-fledged work of actual self-awareness; shifting the locus of control inward, encouraging independence and self-sufficiency; detection of psychological blocks that impede growth, and their elimination.

The position of a psychologist. In Gestalt therapy and counseling, a psychologist is seen as a "catalyst", "assistant" and co-creator, integrated into a single whole, into the "Gestalt" (German Gestalt - form, image) of the client's personality. The psychologist tries to avoid directly interfering with the client's personal feelings - rather, he tries to facilitate the expression of these feelings. His role is the role of an active, lively, creative, empathetic, changeable, like life itself, ally in search of the client's own "I". Purpose - activation of the client's internal personal reserves, the release of which leads to personal growth.

Client position. In Gestalt therapy, clients are assigned an active role, which includes the right to their own interpretations, positions and, most importantly, to awareness of “patterns”, patterns of their behavior and life. It is assumed that the client must switch from rationalization to experiencing, and the verbalization of feelings is not as important as the desire of the client and his willingness to accept the process of actual experiencing, in which he will actually experience feelings and speak on their behalf, and not just report about them.

An indication for Gestalt therapy is the demand on the part of the client in psychotherapy, his readiness to change something in his life and (or) in his condition, his ability to take personal responsibility for his existence in this world. The ability to critically evaluate one's behavior is essential.

Gestalt therapy is contraindicated for persons with somatic diseases at the stage of obvious organic changes in internal organs. Conducting frustrating therapy will cause an aggravation of the organic process. Such individuals are shown non-frustrating forms of therapy. An experienced Gestalt therapist can afford such work by controlling the degree of frustration. But it is better not to risk the client's health.

Gestalt therapy is ineffective in individuals with severe personality changes in the form of rigidity, obsession, reasoning, amorphous thinking, with the presence of active psychopathological products, with severe intellectual deficiency.

Disadvantages of Gestalt Therapy. F. Perls, the founder of the direction, initially posed the problem of survival healthy personality in an unhealthy society. Therefore, the entire diverse technique of Gestalt therapy is aimed at providing psychological support for the individual, at freeing a person from the burden of past and future problems and returning his “I” to the rich and changing world of personal “now” being. Associated with this are both advantages and obvious limitations of the concept. The most popular direction of criticism is the underestimation of the cognitive aspects of personality by Gestalt therapy, the one-sided orientation to momentary experiences.

The next vulnerable point is the tendency of representatives of the concept to avoid explanations and leave the client alone with their experiences, as well as the fact that Gestalt therapy's adherence to various techniques opens the way to the abuse of the technical side of things to the detriment of in-depth psychological work.

Psychotechniques in Gestalt Therapy. Psychotechnics, which in this direction are also referred to as "games" and "experiments", are given great importance in Geshtalt therapy. Moreover, Gestalt therapy has become famous in large part due to these "games", "tricks" and similar descriptions of psychotechnics in the mainstream press. Consider the most famous of them.

"Experimental Dialogue", "Dissociated Dialogue". This psychotechnique, also known as the "empty chair", is designed to work out the client's internal conflicts. The technique is based on the use of psychodrama that occurs between two polar positions of the client, for example, the position of the victim and the aggressor. The dialogue is carried out by the client himself, who in turn reproduces the remarks on behalf of one, then another psychological position. A widespread technique is the use of two game positions: “big dog” and “puppy”. The technique has a pronounced energy potential, enhances the client's motivation for more adequate behavior.

“Walking in a circle” is also the most famous psychotechnics, according to which the client, at the request of the facilitator (the technique is used in group work), bypasses all the participants in turn and either tells them something or performs some actions with them. Members of the group can then respond. The technique is used to activate group members, to encourage them to take risks of new behavior and freedom of expression. Often the participant is offered the beginning of a statement and asked to complete it, for example: “Please go to everyone in the group and complete the following statement: I feel uncomfortable because…”

Technique "on the contrary" ("changeling") - the essence of the technique is that the client plays a behavior opposite to that which he does not like. For example, a shy person began to behave provocatively, a sugary-polite one became rude, one who always agreed would take a position of incessant refusal, and so on. The technique is aimed at the client's acceptance of himself in a new behavior for him and at integrating new experience structures into the "I".

"Experimental exaggeration" - the technique is aimed at developing the processes of self-awareness by hyperbolizing bodily, vocal and other movements - this usually intensifies feelings attached to a particular behavior (repeat a phrase louder and louder, make a gesture more expressively, etc.). Of particular importance is the situation when the client seeks to suppress any experiences. The use of technology leads to the development of internal communication.

"I'm responsible for this. » - using this technique, the psychologist can ask the client to express this or that feeling or express a judgment with the obligatory addition: "... and I am responsible for this."

"Psychodrama" is widely used in Gestalt therapy, including to clarify interpersonal relationships and to work out dreams, which, unlike the psychodynamic approach, are not interpreted, but dramatized.

The main concepts of Gestalt therapy include: figure and background, awareness and focus on the present, polarities, protective functions and maturity.

The relationship between figure and ground. In the process of self-regulation, a healthy person from the entire abundance of information chooses the one that is most important and significant for him at the moment. This is a figure. The rest of the information is temporarily relegated to the background. This is the background. Often the figure and background are interchanged.

As a figure (gestalt) there can be a desire, feeling or thought, which at the moment prevails over all other desires, feelings and thoughts. As soon as the need is satisfied, the gestalt ends, loses its significance and recedes into the background, giving way to a new gestalt. This rhythm of formation and completion of gestalts is the natural rhythm of the organism, through which it maintains its dynamic balance, or homeostasis.

Sometimes a need cannot be met. In such a case, the gestalt remains incomplete, and therefore cannot be reacted to and cannot give way to another. Such an unresolved need becomes, according to Perls, the cause of many unfinished problems and can lead to neurosis.

The task of the Gestalt therapist is to help the patient recognize his need, make it clearer (form a gestalt) and, ultimately, neutralize (complete) it.

Awareness and focus on the present. The main condition necessary in order to form and complete a gestalt is the ability of a person to be aware of himself and his dominant need at the moment. Awareness and focus on the need is an important principle in Gestalt therapy, called here and now.

The point of Gestalt therapy is not to explore the past in search of masked traumas (as Freud did), but to help the patient focus on awareness of the present.

Protective mechanisms. Defense mechanisms are maneuvers and ways of thinking and behaving that the brain resorts to in order to get rid of painful emotional material. Some analogy to the concept of defense mechanisms in Gestalt therapy is the interruption of contact with the environment.

Merging is a defense mechanism fixed in those who cannot stand differences, trying to moderate the unpleasant experiences of the new and alien. At the same time, there is no difference between the I and the non-I, the differences between the figure and the ground, there is no emerging figure of one's own need. One of the problems with merging is the unreliability of the basis of the relationship. Two people cannot think and feel the same way. A merger, on the other hand, is a kind of game in which partners bound by the same chain have concluded an agreement not to argue. The very fact of a tacit agreement can be discovered after the fact, if one of the participants violates the established rules, and the second is perplexed, one is indignant, and the other feels guilty. But a person can ignore differences for the sake of important goal. Such a step differs from merging as a break in contact, as it is a self-selected step.

In introjection, a person passively accepts what the environment offers. He makes little effort to determine his needs and desires. In accordance with Perls' food metaphor, he "swallowed" all the values ​​​​of his parents, school and environment and expects that everything will be as it was later in life. When the world or the situation around him begins to change, he uses his energy not to change the situation, but to maintain the introjected values.

The next protective mechanism or type of interruption of contact, interruption of excitation directed to the environment, is projection. Its definition is close to the same defense mechanism that is described in psychoanalysis.

A person does not recognize his own feelings and actions, but attributes them to others. As a result, there is a difference between what he knows about himself and his actual feelings and actions. Thus, the suspicion that someone does not love him, in most cases, can be based on the rejection of the fact that he himself treats other people this way.

However, projection does not always contradict contact. Projection is also a normal human reaction by which a person learns about the world. After all, his assumptions about the “other” may not be unfounded, and his activities are largely based on planning and anticipating situations. This mechanism becomes pathological when fixation occurs and awareness is lost.

Retroflection is doing to oneself what a person originally did, tried or wanted to do to other people or with other people. The energy of his arousal ceases to be directed outward, to where he manipulates people and objects. Instead, he exposes himself, and his personality is divided into acting and affected.

Outbursts, vehemence, screams or fights of children are consistently eradicated by parents. The introjection "I shouldn't be angry with them" directs the impulse towards itself and creates a retroflexive defense, turning the anger on the individual himself and turning it into guilt.

A useful function of retroflection is to contain destructive impulses, a time limit corresponding to the content of the situation. However, if retroflection becomes a feature of character, a stupor arises due to the opposite aspirations of a person. Then the natural delay in spontaneous behavior, temporary and reasonable, is fixed in the refusal to act. Liberation from retroflection consists in the search for some other, applicable to life, real behavior directed towards the environment.

Deflection is a way to relieve contact stress. This is ranting and joking, avoiding a direct look at the interlocutor, remarks that are not to the point, banalities and general phrases, a minimum of emotions instead of lively reactions. Human behavior does not reach the goal, it is sluggish and inefficient. His relationships with people do not bring what he most expects. Sometimes this behavior is helpful because there are situations that cause too much heat to be avoided (the language of diplomacy).

Polarity. Different parts of the personality act in different directions. They "divide the territory" and "settle" on different parts of the body. You can, for example, watch how one hand holds the other, or how different muscles fight when a person wants to burst into tears and holds back crying, beats his chest, tries to leave, but remains in place. As with other neurotic mechanisms, polarity is not always pathological. It manifests itself in the usual situation, when a person restrains any impulses, but at the same time acts flexibly and arbitrarily. Automatism and unconsciousness are the criteria for the neurotic nature of this mechanism.

Maturity. Perls defines maturity, or mental health, as the ability to move from environmental reliance and environmental regulation to self-reliance and self-regulation. In order to reach maturity, an individual must overcome his desire to receive support from the outside world and find any sources of support in himself. The main condition for both self-reliance and self-regulation is a state of balance. The condition for achieving this balance is awareness of the hierarchy of needs.

If the individual has not reached maturity, then he, instead of trying to satisfy his own needs and take responsibility for his failures, is more inclined to manipulate his environment.

The main procedures of Gestalt therapy include:

expansion of awareness;

integration of opposites;

increased attention to feelings;

work with dreams (fantasy);

taking responsibility for oneself;

overcoming resistance.

Authentic personality. An authentic person knows the differences between his feelings and thoughts, fantasies, does not attribute his ideas to reality, does not require her to meet her expectations. To take responsibility is, first of all, to be responsible for your inner world, to understand your feelings and needs and act in accordance with them, to trust your intuition.

Contact and contact resistance. In Gestalt therapy, kotact is necessary for change and growth. When we come into contact with the environment, change is inevitable.

Good contact means interacting with nature and other people without losing your individuality. After experiencing contact, it is typical to retreat in order to integrate what has been learned. Gestaltists train the client to become more aware of their body, sensations and themselves in relation to the environment.

Gestalt therapists also focus on resistance to contact. From a Gestalt perspective, resistance refers to the defense mechanisms we develop that prevent us from experiencing the present in the most complete and real way. The avoidance of awareness and the resulting rigidity of perception and behavior is a major obstacle to psychological development. Those who interrupt their own development cannot clearly see their own needs, and also cannot make a precise distinction and establish a proper balance between themselves and the rest of the world.

Introjection. When a person introjects, he passively absorbs what the environment offers. Little time is spent clarifying what he wants or needs. One of the consequences of introjection is that a person loses the ability to distinguish what he really feels. An example of introjections can be parental teachings that are learned by a child without a critical understanding of their value.

One of the tasks of the therapist is to work out these introjects, to allow learning what is useful and can be assimilated, and what should be discarded. Any experience that enhances the sense of "I" is an important step towards liberation from introjections.

Projection is the opposite of introjections. In projection, we alienate certain aspects of ourselves by attributing them to the environment.

When we project, we have problems distinguishing between the outer and inner worlds. By seeing in others the very qualities we refuse to recognize in ourselves, we avoid taking responsibility for our own feelings and the person we are. When a projective person can imagine that he has certain qualities that he was not aware of in the past, but only noticed in others, this will expand his repressed sense of identity.

Retroflection is when we do to ourselves what we would like to do to someone else. This means that the energy that needs to be directed to transform the environment in order to meet needs, we direct inward. These unsatisfied needs (incomplete gestalts) are often aggressive feelings.

Retroflection decisively interrupts the contact, forces the subject to act, denying the other. It manifests itself in muscle clamps, stiffness. If a child stops crying at the request of his strict parents, he should not make this “sacrifice” for the rest of his life.

The main problem of a normal existence is to learn to restrain yourself in a timely manner only in accordance with the situation, and not to replicate this behavior. An indicator of retroflection is the use of reflexive pronouns and particles in speech, for example: “I have to force myself to do this”, “I am ashamed of myself”. Retroflection is manifested in breath holding, fist clenching, lip biting, psychosomatic illnesses, self-destructive behavior.

In order to get rid of retroflection, a person needs to realize again how he sits, how he behaves in front of people, etc. If he knows what is going on inside him, his energy is ready to be transformed into real action.

Thus, when a person says "I underestimate myself," then this is a reflection; "I'm underestimated" is an example of a projection; "I'm worthless" is an introjection.

Merging. If identification is a type of behavior of a healthy person, then fusion is a neurotic mechanism for avoiding contact. Merging occurs when an individual cannot differentiate himself and others, cannot determine where his "I" ends and where the "I" of another person begins. Merging is easy to identify by the predominant use of the pronoun "we" instead of "I" when describing one's own behavior.

Merging makes impossible the healthy rhythm of contact and withdrawal, since both contact and withdrawal imply the "other." Merging makes it impossible to accept the differences between people, because in merging a person cannot accept the feeling of a boundary, cannot differentiate himself and others.

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2. The main provisions of the theory of F. Perls

The theoretical discoveries of Gestalt psychology were first applied to the practice of psychotherapy by Fritz (Frederick Solomon) Perls (1893-1970) in the 40s of the twentieth century..

Gestalt therapy appeared as a kind of antipode to psychoanalysis. When developing the ideological base of Gestalt therapy, Perls tried to synthesize some postulates of existential philosophy (existential impasse, emptiness, death, etc.), as well as Reich's body-oriented psychotherapy. This connection found its expression in Perls's views on the absence of a gulf between the mental and physiological activity of the organism.

Gradually, Perls came to understand man as part of a wide field of life, including both the organism and its environment. Perls rejected the idea of ​​separating body and mind, separating object and subject, and, further, separating man and environment. From this, he draws a conclusion, very important for his time, that there is no gap between the mental and physical activity of a person.

The development of this point of view allowed him to create an original concept of human mental health, which is based on his ability to flexibly, creatively contact the environment, and interrupt contact with it when necessary, because. the rhythm of contacting and avoiding contact is determined by the shifting relevance of the individual's needs. Perlet used the law of figure and ground as a model for changing needs. The dominant need appears as a figure against the background of everything that is in the mind. After its satisfaction (completion of the gestalt), it goes into the background, and a new urgent need takes its place as a figure.

One of the tasks of Gestalt therapy is to use the law of unity and struggle of opposites to help the patient isolate the figure from the background, complete the gestalt and return it to the background environment again.

Perls relied on two basic laws of Gestalt psychology: the whole dominates the parts, and the individual elements combine into a whole. In 1940-1950 he made an attempt to apply the main provisions of Gestalt psychology. to the study of the dynamics of personality changes, reformulated some of the principles of Gestalt psychology in relation to psychotherapy, creating a new effective psychotherapeutic direction - Gestalt therapy.

The result of his reflections was the book "Gestalt Therapy", published in 1951. The first part of this book, which is a practical guide to self-study, was repeatedly published in Russian under the title "Workshop on Gestalt Therapy".

The point of Gestalt therapy is not to explore the past in search of disguised traumas (as Freud believed), but to help the patient focus on awareness (awareness) of the present.

Such key concepts of Perls' Gestalt therapy as the organism as a whole, here and now, how more important than why, form the basis and stages of awareness. Perls introduced and developed the concept of the continuum of awareness. Maintaining a continuum (continuity) of awareness seems very simple at first glance. You need to gradually, from second to second, realize what exactly, what event is currently being experienced. In fact, it is very difficult: extraneous thoughts, associations appear ... and the continuum is interrupted.

Perls also talked about internal opposites, which do not just exist, but are in a state of constant contradiction, struggle with each other. According to Perls, these opposites are not unacceptable, and, on the contrary, help to form and complete the gestalt. Being fully aware of the opposite poles of our Self, our aspirations and desires, we begin to become more deeply aware of ourselves. The opposite sides of our Self in Gestalt therapy are called Attacker and Defender.

Healthy people who can clearly form a gestalt and draw a line between their own Self and the environment respond adequately to emerging difficulties.

When a neurosis occurs, the defense mechanisms are distorted and impede the growth of the personality. Among the reactions that impede the growth of personality, Perls identifies four main ones: the fusion reaction, retroflection, introjection and projection.

In the fusion reaction, the individual cannot differentiate himself from others, he is not able to clearly determine where his self ends and the self of another person begins. In such people, the boundary of their own I is so blurred that they hardly distinguish their own feelings, thoughts and desires from others. Merging makes impossible the self-regulating rhythm of contact and withdrawal, which in turn makes it impossible to form a gestalt. At its core, the fusion reaction is a neurotic mechanism for avoiding contact.

Retroflection means "turning back on yourself" (Perls, 1973). With retroflection, the boundary between the individual and the environment shifts towards the individual. If an attempt to satisfy his need meets resistance, then the retroflexing individual, instead of directing the energy of the struggle to change the environment, directs it to himself. A retroflexing individual develops an attitude towards himself as a foreign object. There is a separation of I as a subject and I as an object. By separating himself in this way, the retroflexing person becomes both the subject and the object of his actions. All the efforts of such a person are aimed not at fighting external difficulties, but at self-condemnation, self-flagellation, at best, at correcting their own emotions and behavior.

Introjection is the tendency to appropriate the beliefs, ways of thinking, and actions of other people without criticizing or trying to make them your own. As a result, the boundary between the Self and the environment is transferred, moved inside the Self. The individual is so busy assimilating other people's beliefs that he fails to form his own personality.

Projection is the opposite of introjection. The boundary between one's own Self and the environment shifts towards the environment. Projection is the tendency to transfer one's own mistakes and responsibility for what happens inside the Self onto others, onto environment. Such a person thinks the world cold and indifferent to him, that it is he, this world, who is to blame for his disorder, lack of initiative, and failures.

Perls believed that every act is a gestalt, and it is more important to realize how this act is done, and not why it is done.

Thus, F. Perls laid the foundation for modern Gestalt therapy. Fritz Perls developed the Gestalt therapy method primarily for the treatment of neuroses and other painful disorders, but even during his lifetime, Gestalt therapy went beyond purely medical practice. Gestalt therapy is universal psychological method which is applicable to a wide range of human problems.

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