Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt Therapy3

Introduction3

Essentials Concepts of the Theory3

Gestalt Theory3

Goals of Gestalt Therapy4

View of Humanity5

Free-will vs. Determinism5

Primarily Conscious or Unconscious6

Role of Therapist and Client6

The Therapeutic Process6

Theory and Supporting Outcome Research8

Review on Literature8

Meta-Analysis11

Applications and Exclusions11

Conclusion12

References14

Gestalt Therapy

Introduction

This research papers is based on “Review of literature on Gestalt Therapy”. Gestalt therapy is an experiential form of psychotherapy that underlines personal responsibility and that centers upon the experience of individuals in the present moment, the relationship between therapist and client, the social and environmental framework in which these things take place, and the self amendable adjustments people make as outcome of the overall situation. It undertakes and highlights personal responsibility. Basic essential concepts of theory are also discussed in detail in the context of view of humanity, free-will vs. determinism, primarily conscious or unconscious and role of therapist and client. The strategies and techniques of theory along with the uses of theory and supporting outcome research are also discussed in detail. A meta- analysis and comprehensive literature review on Gestalt therapy is used to summarize the research.

Essentials Concepts of the Theory

Gestalt Theory

Gestalt theory propose that a enduring flow of wishes and needs come into awareness, each of which can be considered as a Gestalt, a focus or figure which come forward of an undifferentiated surroundings of experience. Gestalt therapy theory was forged from different influences in the times and lives of the founders like physics, existential phenomenology, Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, systems and field theory (Mackewn, 1997).

The term Gestalt was brought by the philosopher Christian Von in 1890, to indicate experiences that involve the need of more than basic sensory capacities to understand. In 1912, the movement was give momentum in psychology by German theorists Max Wertheimer, Kohler and Koffka as a protest in opposition to the existing atomistic psychological thought. Gestalt psychologist proposed that the events occurring in the brain bear a structural correspondence to the psychological events. After World War II, Gestalt therapy developed by Frederick Perlis believed that inability of person to successfully incorporate the components of his personality into a strong whole may subsist at the origin of psychological disturbance (Gestalt, 2013). Gestalt therapy highlights more on process than content. It focuses more on what is happening rather than what is being discussed. It is a process of responsiveness by which perceiving, acting and feeling are implicit to be separated from interpreting, explaining and judging using old approaches. This differentiation between direct experience and secondary interpretation is developed in the procedure of therapy.

The main object of the Gestalt therapy is to help clients to learn of what they are doing psychologically and how they can alter it. By becoming alert of and changing their methods they develop self acceptance and the capability to experience without having interference from belongings of the past.

Goals of Gestalt Therapy

The objective of Gestalt therapy is to make possible the elimination of obstructions that lie between a person and the consumption of their complete potential. Gestalt therapy's attitude and techniques that make a room in which patient can make ...