Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt

Gestalt Therapy focuses on the whole of an individual's experience; their thoughts, feelings and actions, and concentrates on the 'here and now' - what is happening from one moment to the next. Roughly translated from German, Gestalt means 'whole' and was developed in the 1940's by Fritz Perls. The main goal of this approach is for the individual to become more self-aware, taking into account their mind, body and soul.

A therapist will constantly promote the client's awareness of themselves and often uses experiments that are created by the therapist and client. These experiments can be anything from creating patterns with objects and writing to role-playing. Promoting self-awareness is the main objective of gestalt therapy but other areas such as improving the ability to support ones emotional feelings are also important. Gestalt therapy is influenced by psychoanalytic theory and therapists will concentrate on 'here and now' experiences to remove obstacles created by past experiences.