How did gestalt-therapy come about? <\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nRemember Freud? When he invented his psychoanalysis, he had a lot of students. And at some point, his students, as often happens, began to argue with him and come up with their own alternative visions. This is how humanistic therapy appeared. It says that not everything boils down to the sexual instinct. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nFrederick (Fritz) Perls, along with his wife Laura, created gestalt therapy. They were Jews and they lived in Germany. In 1933, soon after Hitler came to power, they fled to the Netherlands, and a year later they came to South Africa. During WWII, Frederick joined the South African army, where he worked as a psychiatrist. In the process of work and observation, he came to the conclusion that our main instinct is food. He began to identify and represent mental processes through the concept of the food instinct. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consider a being that somehow interacts with the environment: it consumes something and releases something. When the processes of consumption and excretion are well established, the creature is well-adapted, it feels harmonious. It has enough resources not to be poisoned by what it has absorbed, and in general, it is able to exist well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perls formulated his thoughts and showed them to Freud at a conference in 1936. Freud wouldn\u2019t even listen to him. Feeling offended by his mentor, Perls started developing his own theory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other words, this approach was created as if in spite of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1946, Frederick and Laura Perls moved to the US. They lived in Manhattan, where they created the first Gestalt Institute. They conducted a lot of workshops, training, and experiments, and sometimes this looked quite exotic. From that point on, gestalt-therapy started spreading all around the world. Gradually, many therapists accepted this method and started learning it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though the Perls started with individual therapy, eventually they concluded that group therapy is more effective, and started practicing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- With what kind of problems should you come to gestalt-therapy? <\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
I think, first of all, with the problems of choice. When it is hard to tell where to go next. What do I want from my relationships? What do I want from myself? From my life? From people? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gestalt therapy is great for developing the skill of making choices. How to choose, want prevents you from choosing, what choice to make, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, gestalt-therapy is used in clinical situations. But in this case, the therapist should also have training as a clinical psychologist. Clinical cases require a lot of knowledge and depth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- How a visit to a gestalt-therapist is structured? <\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Let me tell you about my therapeutic sessions. If it is the first visit, then we get acquainted. I tell them about myself and about my work methods. We discuss the contract, the confidentiality, the safety, the Stop Rule, ethics, the cancellation policy, and how the therapy ends. We also talk about the nuances, related to our personal interaction, such as negative and positive projections, which can hinder or help our work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ask the person about their problem. I learn a little bit about them, who they are, and what they want. It is very important for me to ask the person what they want, what is their question so that we could formulate the task, the specification. The better the specification, the clearer the result. When the person sets for themselves some realistic task for the near future, they are able to create a plan, to set achievable goals, and they can evaluate their progress towards the desired outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then we start the therapy \u2013 this may go differently with different people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes, the person tells me that they need to talk, and they need me to listen. They say: \u201cPlease hear me out, and in the end tell me what you think about this.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another option is when the person says: \u201cI want to investigate why I act this way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet another option is when they say, \u201cI need to make a choice between this and that.\u201d Or they may say, \u201cI want to understand how I should behave myself on the next date.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Depending on the client\u2019s question, I use different approaches. I see what works best: maybe it is a conversation, or investigation, or perhaps some activity, such as drawing, moving, \u201chot seat\u201d, mock dialogs, etc. Everything that can help them with their question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the session, I ask the client how they feel. Did they get something from the session? How do they feel? Were they able to get from the session something they needed? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes, I give homework. For example, to observe yourself, to keep a journal of bodily sensations, etc. The task of every therapist is to help the person to be mindful. The more mindful they are about their experiences, the better they can manage their life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the biggest pros of gestalt-therapy?
1. <\/strong>Gestalt-therapy is based on integration. It can encompass all the good practices from other therapies. It is very flexible, changing, and dynamic. It is easy to adapt it to new developments. Gestalt-therapy is evolving along with the paradigms and values of the people. It is adaptable to our environment.
2. <\/strong>To me, gestalt-therapy seems very interesting. It has many different directions, many experiments. Everything that you want, that you like, you can find it within gestalt-therapy. You can create and develop your own methods. For example, we created a practice called \u201cFuneral of the Dream\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n3. We offered this practice to our clients. They had to select roles for themselves. Someone was burying their dream, someone was wailing, someone was personnel at the cemetery, we even had an ambulance. Altogether, we were burying the dream \u2013 it was a very interesting experience for everyone involved. Obviously, we had to think about safety too. You can try many different things, many experiments, you can always make new discoveries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sofia, in your opinion, what is lacking in this approach? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nBecause gestalt-therapy is always mixing things, sometimes I want more structure. Perhaps, I would want one book that would tell me, like a Bible, this is this and that is that. I would want a more structured approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to choose a gestalt-therapist? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThere is this joke: <\/p>\n\n\n\n