Gestalt therapy is an interactive and holistic form of psychotherapy that
focuses on the total person, recognizing the unity of the mind, body and
emotions. An integrated body of theory and practice having its roots in
psychoanalysis, it originated in the 1940’s when Drs. Frederick (Fritz) and
Laura Perls , both classically trained psychoanalysts, became aware of the
limitations of Freud’s verbal, intellectual methods based on free
association. They began to develop methods based on Gestalt Psychology, in
which they expanded psychoanalysis to include a more holistic form of free
association that covers all sense modalities, including emotions and
body-awareness that cannot easily be put into words. They also modified
Freud’s method of encouraging projections by sitting behind the patient,
realizing that the subtle avoidances of contact that clients engage in
spontaneously and habitually are more significant than those produced in an
artificial situation — a view now accepted by many schools of
psychoanalysis.As it exists today, Gestalt therapy draws on humanistic psychology,
existentialism and Eastern thought in addition to its psychoanalytic roots.
A creative and patient approach that is non-authoritarian and
non-interpretive, Gestalt therapy focuses on the client’s here and now
experience. Through skillful use of a variety of experiential methods, our
therapy helps us to free energy locked into old, dysfunctional behavior
patterns and re-organize ourselves in a way that allows us to live more
fully and effectively, centered in ourselves, yet able to reach out and
take in what the world has to offer
