What is Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt is a German word meaning the whole and the sum of all the parts, and the symbolic configuration or pattern of elements, that make up the whole.

Gestalt therapy is a psycho therapeutic approach, which draws on the belief that people have a natural tendency towards health, but old patterns of behaviour and fixed ideas can create blocks interrupting the natural cycle of wellness, therefore effecting communication with others.

Gestalt therapy addresses what is happening in the moment, bringing into awareness an individual’s representation of the self, his/her responses and interactions with others. The belief is that to be fully present in the here and now creates within the client the potential for more excitement, energy, and the courage to live life directly. A Gestalt therapist looks at how the individual resists contact in the here and now, how they resist change, and certain behaviours or symptoms that the client regards as undesirable or unsatisfactory. The skilled Gestalt therapist makes effective and efficient interventions to bring the client into awareness of not only what is happening and what is being said but also body language and repressed feelings. Gestalt techniques often include acting out scenarios and dream recall.

Also, my accrediting body, The Gestalt Psychotherapy and Training Institute, describes Gestalt therapy as:

“... a practical and creative approach to therapy. It emphasises that people cannot be understood in isolation, but only as part of the environment in which they live. It underlines the importance of the connection between psychological events and the settings in which the events occur. In the famous phrase: "no man is an island": we all influence and are influenced by our surroundings all the time.

The approach focuses on the development of people's holistic awareness of themselves, their circumstances and how they function in those circumstances. This involves assisting people to get a fuller sense of the ways they feel, think and act in different situations and at different times, through awareness of their moment-to-moment activity in the therapeutic setting. This in turn helps them to increase their choices about how they live their lives and interact with other people.”