Gestalt Therapy
A humanistic approach to become yourself.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
This is how I understand gestalt therapy and it is very simplified and not at all complete. It is meant to help you get an idea about gestalt therapy in general.
Essence
3 Pillars of Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt therapy is a holistic approach that can benefit anyone interested in personal growth and self-exploration, which is not solely focused on people struggling with mental illness. It is there to help you overcome your challenges, as well as enhance your well-being, access your creativity, authenticity and resilience to lead a richer and more fulfilling life.
Awareness
Increase internal experiences (thoughts, emotions, sensations) and of the immediate, present moment.
Gain insight into your patterns, beliefs and behaviors to make more authentic choices.
Contact
Learn about your ways to establish, maintain or avoid contact.
Develop more authentic and satisfying contact experiences with others and the world around you.
Experiment
Explore new ways of being, thinking and relating in a safe and supportive environment.
Discover more effective ways of coping, problem-solving and relating to others.
The mind does not stop at the body’s edge, but stretches out through it, through other people, through other beings, and through time. We are ultimately connected to all that is.
Jeanne Achterberg
Theory
4 Goals of Gestalt Therapy
“Gestalt” has it’s origin in the German language and translates to “shape”, “form” or “pattern” in English. In gestalt therapy we work with an open or unfinished gestalt that is currently present in your awareness – your current “topic”. This is what we call your “foreground”.
The therapist then helps you to increase your awareness and get in touch with your limitations and experience the “contact at the boundary”.
These limitations or “undigested things” are e. g. belief systems from our parents or the culture we grew up, things we just swallowed without really chewing and digesting them. They might have helped us to survive as children. Let me give you an example: In your childhood you were not allowed to show anger because you were punished for it. But now in your work life, people walk over you and you have trouble stepping up for yourself, because anger obviously was not allowed and dangerous in the past.
Gestalt therapy now helps you to identify these limitations and stretch them to unlock a new unknown potential to improve our lives in this moment. The “open gestalt” you worked on can then become your background, which means it will be less prominent or less disturbing, and make space for other topics to arise and come into the foreground.
Awareness
Increase and expand awareness.
Support expression of emotions.
Contact
Experience and expand ability to get in contact.
Responsibility
Strengthen responsibility and assumption of responsibility.
Limitations
Realize, accept or change limitations.
Practice
Experiencing Gestalt Therapy
We always start right where you are with your open topic that is in your foreground which could be e. g. a repeated, unresolved dispute with your partner.
I am curious and closely, openly listen to you tell your story. I mirror what I hear and understand, opening the chance of a new perspective about your topic. I might also tell you what I feel, e. g. if something makes me sad or angry, to create awareness and help you identify your blind spots and boundaries.
I look out for bodily signs as well, because our bodies often tell stories we try to ignore but might be the key to move on. It could be a smile while you are telling something sad or increased movements with your shoulders or hands, whatever I can see online at least. Clearly body work is easier in real life.
And we might also get to experiment e. g. exaggerating your body movements, identifying with things or people from a dream or giving important people a seat and address them directly with your open topic.
These are just a few examples to give you a feeling of how I work and of course there is much more depending on the situation, because you are unique, your “open gestalt” is unique and the contact between us as well.
