What is Gestalt Therapy?
Gestalt therapy was developed in the 1940s by Mr. Fritz Perls and his (then) wife Laura Perls as an alternative to more traditional psychoanalysis. Gestalt Therapy focuses on the whole person, and it provides a more thorough approach to understanding our awareness, overall growth, personality, and capacity for positive improvements.
One important aspect of the here and now philosophy is that it normalizes and encourages us to understand that failing is a natural part of being human. To anybody who is stuck at a particular point in life, Gestalt Therapy looks to see where we are at this very moment.
A key goal in gestalt therapy is learning how to accept and embrace personal responsibility. In blaming others, we lose our sense of control and become victims of our circumstances. Gestalt therapy helps us to gain a greater sense of control and learn how to better regulate our emotions and interactions with the world.
Gestalt Therapy involves a partnership-type approach with our therapist. They are actively engaged with providing tasks, creating awareness, and an intentional involvement in the session.
Tasks may include: visualizing the ideal environment; getting involved with nature and journaling about that experience; taking responsibility for our lives and creating a perspective of control. Awareness could be such things as the foods we’re eating, our triggers, our relationships and the feelings associated with them.
