What Does Gestalt Therapy Consist Of?

Gestalt therapy  is part of humanist therapies, with  influences from psychoanalysis and oriental philosophy.

Like the rest of humanistic therapy, his way of doing psychotherapy does not focus on illness, but rather on “generating” good health from the potentialities that the person possesses.

Authors such as the psychiatrist  Fritzs Perls, the psychologist Laura Perls  and the sociologist  Paul Goodman  were the main creators of the humanistic psychotherapy that is Gestalt therapy.

With the passage of the years,  Gestalt therapy has been divided into two currents:  that created by Laura Perls, centered on a more theoretical process, and that created by Fritzs Perls,  focused on a process of experiences within the framework of development. staff.

In this last current, we can speak of the figure of the psychiatrist  Claudio Naranjo, admitted successor of Fritz Perls. He devoted himself to developing Gestalt therapy more widely, and he has become a world reference.

A pioneer of  trans-personal psychology, he integrated spirituality into psychology.

The basic principles of Gestalt therapy

–  Here and now : Gestalt therapy emphasizes the “Here and Now”, in other words on the present moment. Since everything that happens takes place in the present moment, the past no longer exists and the future does not yet exist.

The “here” (spatial) and the “now” (temporary) are basic concepts coming from Eastern philosophy.

For Gestalt therapy, it also means maturity and fulfillment, so that the individual is in charge of himself, thanks to self-support.

– The attention and acceptance of the experience: Making the case of the experience has a deep connection with the present moment. Acceptance of the experience can only take place by realizing what one is going through.

However, for Gestalt therapy it means  looking after yourself, identifying the emotions and feelings that occur in a given situation, so that there is no  leakage regarding what we live. 

If there is fear, anger, joy, or rejection, it is first of all important  to realize this  ( another key concept in Gestalt therapy), so that the acceptance of experiencing what ‘it is happening at this precise moment, may exist.

When we repress something, the emotion is blocked and produces a great discomfort, which generates psychosomatic problems (affection of the body due to a psychic process).

–   Responsibility  : Responsibility in Gestalt therapy is basic. We try to ensure that the person is constantly in a process of personal development.
She must take responsibility for what she does, what she feels and what she lives through her experience.

In this way,  she does not make others or those around her feel guilty about what is happening every moment. 

Once the individual is able to take responsibility, by becoming aware of his actions, he is also able to change and take control of his life in a spontaneous way.

He can stimulate all the resources at his disposal to face the circumstances.

“To be responsible is to be present. And to be truly present is to be aware. Likewise, being aware is a condition incompatible with the illusion of irresponsibility through which we avoid living our lives ”. 

Claudio Naranjo

Here are some essential principles of Gestalt psychotherapy:

1.- Live now, that is to say, worry about the present, more than the future or the past.

2.- Live here, that is to say, have more links with the present rather than the absent.

3.- Stop imagining: experience the real.

4.- Let go of unnecessary thoughts, feel and observe.

5.- Prefer expression to manipulation, explanation, justification or judgment.

6.- Accept inconvenience and pain as pleasure, do not restrict your view of things.

7.- Don’t think that others have more than you.

8.- Take full responsibility for your actions, your feelings and your thoughts.

9.- Accept to be as you are.

In these principles we find the essence of Gestalt therapy, which generates a broad and deep process up to personal development.

Gestalt therapists  conceive of their patient as the person who has a repertoire of sufficient potentialities to be able to overcome any adversity, and to be able to explore their own happiness. 

See your patient as a capable and complete individual, who can do difficult things without you doing them for them, who can face pain without it affecting them too much, who can take wrong paths and learn on their own errors. Respect its capacity for resilience, respect its capacity for self-management of discomfort, respect its healthy and adaptive part, its resources, its way of providing support and its human potential.
(Fritz Perls 1974)