Epilogue: Contemporary
Gestalt Therapy

by

There have been various discussions and references from time to time about the differences between the Gestalt therapy of the sixties and early seventies and the Gestalt therapy of the late nineties and new millennium. One such example are the observations of Leslie Greenberg in the first issue of Gestalt! (1(1). In this response on the subject of contemporary Gestalt therapy various people offer brief comments and their various favorite references.

[ Last updated, 11/24/03 ]

Gestalt!
ISSN 1091-1766 

Volume 5 ; Number 2
Early Fall, 2001

Published by
Gestalt GlobalCorporation
Indexes for Gestalt!


Introduction | Working Corner |
Review of Literature: Responses to "Empirical and Hermeneutic Approaches to Phenomenological Research in Psychology, A Comparison," | Check-In: An Early On-Line Round of Subscribers | Field and Boundary | Projection and Self Psychology | Impasse | Contemporary Gestalt Therapy: an Epilogue | Announcements: Conference News | Letters to the Editor in Response to Gestalt!'s look at GATLA's Summer Residential Training Program
(Vol.5; No.1), by Sylvia Crocker - by Todd Burley in Response to Crocker - by Sylvia Crocker in
response to Todd Burley


Gstalt-L, An email discussion group devoted to Gestalt therapy and the community of its practitioners (www.g-gej.org/gstalt-l). Gstalt-J, An email discussion group devoted to research on Gestalt therapy, theory and practice (www.g-gej.org/gstalt-j). Supported by the Gestalt Research Consortium (GRC) (www.g-gej.org/grc). Gestalt Bookmarks, a place to begin researching the field of contemporary Gestalt therapy on the world wide web
(www.g-gej.org/gestaltbookmarks).

Consult Behavioraledu.com for continuing educational credits available by studying articles on Gestalt therapy appearing in this journal. See their catalogue for courses on:

  • The Basics of Contemporary Gestalt Therapy
  • Spirituality in Gestalt Therapy
  • Gestalt Therapy in the Response to Trauma and Anxiety
  • Field Theory in Gestalt Therapy
  • Dialogue in Gestalt Therapy


Photos and Graphics
by
Philip Brownell


"Holding the Heat" is the 6th International Conference for Gestalt Therapy sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT).

Chuck and I, and the whole planning committee, want to assure everyone that this next conference is being planned as a full-blown AAGT conference, with international proportions. We have secured a wonderful site on the beach in St. Petersberg, and our program committee is at work formulating the kinds of plenaries, workshops, and special programming that people have come to expect from an AAGT conference. We want to encourage you to make plans to attend, especially as this conference, with it's theme in managing conflict, will afford Gestalt practitioners from around the world the chance to meet and to grapple with issues related to our current world events.

We also want to encourage you to submit proposals for workshops related to the themes and sub-themes. We have extended the deadline for these proposals (now in December) to be sent to our blind peer review committee, and those interested can find a call for proposals at the AAGT web site (http://www.aagt.org), along with the submission form that goes with it. If people would prefer an email version of that call and form, please respond to Phil directly (philbrownell@earthlink.net) and request such a thing. Our hope is that everyone will consult the AAGT web site and use the call to submit proposals for blind peer review. We would also like to encourage everyone to print that out and use it with their colleagues and friends who may not utilize the internet.

Registration for the conference is possible as well through the AAGT web site. If you would like to view the facilities where the conference will take place, please consult the web site for the hotel, The Sirata Tradewinds (http://tradewindsresort.com/sirata).

Everything we need to continue the evolution of the AAGT will be available - plenty of space and time to associate in comfortable and supportive surroundings. The only thing left, really, is for YOU to attend and to make your presence known. We earnestly desire that you will do so.

Best Regards,
Chuck Kanner
Conference Chair
Rosie: Let me introduce myself, I'm Rosie and I'm studying Gestalt Psychotherapy, at The Sherwood Psychotherapy Institute, in Nottingham England. I subscribed to this group a few weeks ago and I'm enjoying everyone's contributions very much.

My first essay is entitled 'Self is discovered at the Contact Boundary - Discuss using personal experience from the first group.' I'm having some problems getting started with this and wondered if anyone would care to take make any suggestions and also I'm having difficulty making a distinction between Classical & Contemporary Gestalt.

Gary: I don't know if you are interested in the contrast between gestalt psychology ("classic gestalt") and gestalt therapy, or the difference between classic gestalt therapy and "contemporary" gestalt therapy.

If you are interested in the latter, you might find the preface I wrote for the German edition of my book (Awareness, Dialogue, Process)relevent. It is published in English in The Gestalt Journal, 1999, XXII, 1, pp 9-20.

Charlie: The discussion of changes in Gestalt therapy has caught my eye. I agree that Gary's preface to the German edition is a great place to capture the movement to a more "relational" approach. Sylvia's book offers a plethora of new ideas as does the ejournal, Gestalt!

I did some polling research of Gestalt therapists at the 1998 AAGT Conference and identified what Gestalt therapists found most important about Gestalt therapy. Here's the reference: Bowman, C.E. Definitions of Gestalt Therapy: Finding Common Ground. Gestalt Review, 2(2): 97-107, 1998.

Now, let me mention what I think Contemporary Gestalt therapy identifies. In the article referenced above one surprise to me was the number of Gestalt therapists interested in community and community building, etc. Of course this isn't new in the scheme of things, given the bent of Goodman, Shapiro and others in the original New York group towards social change, but it is a "coming about" and a shifting focus.

I see a traditional approach epitomized by Fritz's statement in Verbatim: "Maturation is the transcendence from environmental support to self support." I am not sure he ment it as literally as it has often been taken, and in the Perls, Hefferline and Goodman text they identify that in our isolative society, NOT asking for help is a resistance (granted, this is only a footnote!). At any rate, a traditional approach focuses more on the internal resources of the client, the organism, and the therapist is seen as an instrument of change. I don't see, necessarily, a lot of room there for Buber's "I-Thou" meeting.

Granted, a lot of growth occurrs with awareness of body process and with awareness of how I manipulate my environment. What is missing for me in this "Classical" schema includes the following:

  1. A significant emphasis on Field Theory and the interrelatedness of all things and events (see Malcolm Parlett's article in the Gestalt Review: Parlett, M. (1997). The unified field in practice. Gestalt Review, 1(1), 10-16.
  2. A framework for sorting out technique from sound theoretical practice (see Bob Resnick's article in the British Gestalt Journal: Resnick, R. (1995). Gestalt therapy: principles, prisms and perspectives. British Gestalt Journal, 4, 3-13.
  3. Ignorance regarding the significant body of knowledge about the transferential components of psychotherapy. Gary's book tackels this (Awareness, Dialogue and Process: Essays on Gestalt Therapy. NY: Gestalt Journal Press) but it is not a central focus of that work. Two other resources, include "Transference meets Dialogue" in the Gestalt Journal (I don't have the resource handy) and a chapter on transference and countertransference in Clarkson Mackewn's text: Fritz Perls. 1993. London: Sage Publications.
  4. The quality of the relationship between therapist and client. This is primary for me and makes the difference between a Gestalt technician and a Gestalt therapist. The experiment isn't just the myriad ideas I come up with for creating "safe emergencies", it is the relationship itself! See Hycner and Jacobs' Healing Relationship in Gestalt Therapy. See also the most recent Gestalt! (http://www.g-g.org/gej/4-2/editorial.html) for more discussion of the relational aspects of Gestalt therapy.

I could go on and on, and have been threatening to write a more thorough treatment of this subject for about a year now. I have more pressing needs to atend to, however, like the cereal boxes and milk currently flying around my kitchen as my children prepare for school!

Ansel: Wow, Charlie, what a fine response (listing references with commentary) to Rosie's request. You continue to make these wonderful contributions to the world of Gestalt. I also appreciated your getting back to her Gary, and find these great golden nuggets in your book. As Charlie indicated, Sylvia's book is also filled with loads of nuggets.

I'd also like to add six additional resources to Charlie's fine reading list for you Rosie:

  1. "Introduction" by Isadore From and Michael Vincent Miller to The Gestalt Journal Edition of Perls, Hefferline & Goodman's Gestalt Therapy (1994). Gestalt Journal Press.
  2. Handbook of Experiential Psychotherapy (1998) by Leslie Greenberg, Jeanne Watson and Germain Lietaer. The Guilford Press.
  3. Developing Gestalt Counselling (1997) by Jennifer Mackewn. Sage Publications.
  4. My review of Jennifer's book in the British Gestalt Journal, Vol. 7:2 1997 entitled, Awakening the Field in Gestalt Counselling.
  5. Robert Harman's book, Gestalt Therapy Discussions with the Masters (1990). Charles C. Thomas Publishers.
  6. Liv Estrup's recently released video tape: What's Behind the Empty Chair: Gestalt Therapy Theory and Methodology (2000). You can contact her by Email at LivEstrup@aol.com or www.gatla.org

Andrew: As a 3rd year trainee, here at the Gestalt Institute of Western Australia - perhaps I can point you in the direction of a few articles and books that I found useful for a similar essay topic. My immediate reaction to reading your message was - what did you discover about your process from your first group? I'm also not sure what you mean by classical and contemporary Gestalt. I've posted the reference of an articles by Henle and Wulf who write on the differences between Gestalt Psychology and Gestalt Therapy and the historical connections between the two - I found these useful in getting a grounding on historical aspects of GT. Gary Yontef's book brought me up to date with his clear writing contemporary GT practice.

Happy studying!

  1. Clarkson, P. (1989) Gestalt Counseling in Action. London: SAGE Publications.
  2. Korb, M., Gorell,J., & Van De Riet, V. (1989) Gestalt Therapy: Practice and Theory. Allyn and Bacon, Mass. USA.
  3. Harman, R., L. (1982) Gestalt Therapy Theory: Working at the Contact Boundary. The Gestalt Journal. Vol5, No. 1, pp 39-48.
  4. Henle, M. (1975) Gestalt Psychology and Gestalt Therapy. Paper presented to American Psychological Association, Chicago, 1975. Obtained from Gestalt Journal Website - http:www.gestalt.org.
  5. Perls, F,. S. (1957) Finding Self Through Gestalt Therapy. Available on-line (http://www.gestalt.org).
  6. Smith, E. Self-Interuptions in the Rhythm of Contact and Withdrawal. The Gestalt Journal Vol. Xi, No.2
  7. Wulf, R. (1998) The Historical Roots of Gestalt Therapy Theory. The Gestalt Journal, Vol xxi, No. 1.
  8. Yontef, G.M, (1993) Awareness, Dialogue and Process: Essays On Gestalt Theory. The Gestalt Journal Press Inc. New York.

See also Sylvia Crocker's Letter to the Editor, for comments regarding the contemporary perspective on the phenomenological method and what constitutes the basic theoretical tenets of contemporary Gestalt therapy.









Coming in subsequent
issues of Gestalt!:

Vol. 5; no. 3 Spirituality and Gestalt Therapy. Special Editor, Brian O'Neill

Special Issue, Vol. 6; no. 1 A Gestalt Perspective on Terrorism and PTSD. (Photos, narrative, and discussion on the events of September 11, 2001)