What Is Gestalt Therapy?

Gestalt therapy offers us a very useful therapeutic approach for those aspects that leave aside the more clinical field, and bring us closer to dimensions such as awareness, self-realization or personal development … We are facing a holistic perspective of psychology itself that integrates fields as wide as affective, social, sensory and even spiritual.

Likewise, it should be noted that we are entering an interesting framework that integrates what is known as humanistic therapies. Thus, Gestalt therapy, has influences such as psychoanalysis, oriental philosophy, psychodrama, existential philosophy, existential perspectives …

On the other hand, and like the rest of the humanist therapies, his way of doing psychotherapy does not focus on the disease, but rather on generating health from the potential that the person possesses. Authors such as the psychiatrist Fritzs Perls, the psychologist Laura Perls and sociologist Paul Goodman were the main creators of this psychotherapeutic typology

With the passage of time Gestalt therapy was divided into two streams: that created by Laura Perls; focused on a more theoretical process, and the one created by Fritzs Perls, focused on an experiential process of one’s own personal development.

In the latest trend, the figure of the psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo, a clear successor to Fritz Perls, stands out at the moment. Dedicated to further developing Gestalt therapy, it is today a world reference. Likewise, it also stands as a pioneer in addition to transpersonal psychology, which integrates psychotherapy and spirituality.

Basic precepts of Gestalt therapy

When Fritz Perls laid the foundations for Gestalt therapy, it was based on a very basic principle. It is one where to conceive the human being as a complete entity consisting of a body, a mind and a soul. We are according to this framework, those people who could achieve balance and well-being if we worked more to integrate that unit. There where to promote self-awareness, awareness, responsibility with oneself …

On the other hand, if we ask ourselves now about the effectiveness of Gestalt therapy, some aspects should be noted. As a 2012 study carried out in the UK National Health System reveals , this psychotherapeutic approach is effective in treating processes such as anxiety, fears, personal crises, anxiety or self-esteem problems.

However, if we refer to more serious disorders, addictions and even eating disorders, Gestalt therapy is not effective  (or at least as much as other types of more common psychotherapies in the clinical field) . Its usefulness, as we have pointed out at the beginning, is very valuable in the field of personal growth.

Let us therefore see on what bases it is based and what defines it.

The here and now

Gestalt therapy places great emphasis on the here and now, in the present moment. Understanding that everything that happens is in the now, since the past no longer exists and the future is not yet. The here (spatial) and the now (temporal) are basic concepts from Eastern philosophy.

For Gestalt therapy it means maturation and growth, so that the individual takes charge of himself through self-support.

The acceptation

You also have a preference for attention and acceptance of experience. Attending to experience has a deep relationship with the present moment. Acceptance of the experience can only take place by becoming aware of what is being experienced.

If there is fear, anger, joy or rejection, first of all the important thing is to realize it ( another key concept in Gestalt therapy ), so that there can be acceptance of living what is happening at that precise moment.

When this does not happen, something is being repressed, and if that emotion or feeling gets stuck, it causes great discomfort ; becoming manifest in a psychosomatic way (affectation of the body caused by a psychic process).

The responsability

Responsibility in Gestalt therapy is basic. It is constantly sought that the person who is in a process of personal development, first takes responsibility for what he does and what he feels, for what he lives through his experience. In such a way that you do not blame others or the environment for what happens at all times.

Once the individual is able to take responsibility for himself, becoming aware, he is able to change and take control of his life.  It does so spontaneously, enhancing all the resources it has, to face its circumstances.

The dialogue

In Gestalt therapy the relationship between the therapist and the client is essential for success.  It is an experience where two growing identities interact, but where the professional, yes, must be skilled enough to help the other person through dialogue to discover themselves, to shape that desired, fulfilled and healthy “I”.

 How does Gestalt Therapy work?

This type of therapy does not focus so much on the past and when it does it is to talk about how it affects us today, what makes us feel and think now, in the present moment.

Gestalt methodology is phenomenological, that is, it focuses on the way in which we experience events and things that happen to us, rather than on the event itself.

In addition, the therapeutic process favors awareness, which consists of realizing what is happening to us and how we experience things. Pay attention to how we feel, what we think, and what we do.

In this way, another principle is passed, which is responsibility. The idea is that when we become aware of how we experience and understand things, how we act and think, we can take responsibility for the decisions we make and for making changes.

Gestalt psychotherapy by Claudio Naranjo

These are the essential precepts of Gestalt psychotherapy, proposed by Claudio Naranjo:

• Live now, that is, worry about the present more than the past or the future.
• Live here, that is, relate more to what is present than to what is absent.
• Stop imagining: experience the real.
• Give up unnecessary thoughts; rather feel and observe.
• He prefers to express rather than manipulate, explain, justify or judge.
• Surrender to displeasure and pain as well as pleasure; do not restrict your awareness.
• Do not accept any other should or would have more than your own
• Take full responsibility for your actions, feelings, and thoughts.
• Accept to be who you are.

In these precepts is the essence of Gestalt therapy, generating a broad and deep process towards personal development. Gestalt therapists conceive of their patient as the person who has a repertoire of potentialities, enough so that he can overcome any adversity, and also enough so that he can explore his own happiness.

Criticism of Gestalt therapy

Gestalt therapy is widely criticized in the most scientific fields of psychology. Well, it is a therapy that, on the one hand, does not have a clear or concrete definition.

In addition, it is a therapy strongly influenced by other psychological currents such as psychoanalysis, psychodrama, oriental philosophy, existential philosophy, among others, which lack scientific evidence.

At present, the investigations that do find efficacy of Gestalt therapy are few and the quality of them is often questioned.

However, the fact that it does not have scientific evidence does not mean that it does not provide benefits to patients. That is, although its effectiveness cannot be scientifically proven, it is not a secret that for many patients the experience has turned out to be positive and beneficial.

Consulted bibliography:

Peñarrubia, F. (1998). Gestalt Therapy: The fertile void way . Editorial Alliance.