Abstract

This article provides Gestalt Global's understanding of Gestalt therapy constructs, with expanded definitions, quotes, and cross references. The constructs are arranged in a nested fashion, with associated terms coming under larger ideas and cover the larger categories from "A" through "C.".

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Awareness - the spontaneous sensing of what arises

• "Awareness is characterized by contact, by sensing, by excitement, and by Gestalt formation...Contact as such is possible without awareness but for awareness contact is indespensible. The critical question is with what is one in contact...Sensing determines the nature of awareness... Excitement...covers the physiological excitation as well as the undifferentiated emotions...Gestalt formation always accompanies awareness...Only the complete Gestalt can be organized as an automatically functioning unit (reflex) in the functioning organism.." Perls, Hefferline, Goodman, 1951, p. viii-ix
• "...awareness is the holistic process of contact with and withdrawal from others in the field, of self regulation and meaning-making which takes place within our whole person, animates our being and changes us. It is noticing, recongising, being in touch with, and it involves our lived experience of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of our self." MacKewn, 1997, p. 113
• "Awareness and dialogue are the two primary therapeutic tools in Gestalt therapy. Awareness is a form of experience that may be loosely defined as being in touch with one's own existence, with what is...Full awareness is the process of being in vigilant contact with the most important events in the individual/environment field with full sensorimotor, emotional, cognitive and energetic support." Yontef, 1993, p. 144
• here and now - the current moment in process
  • "The touchstone of all of the processes in Gestalt therapy is the here-and-now focus. Even when the context pertains to situations and events which are there-and-then, that is, occuring outside the therapeutic setting and at other times, the work is carried on in a here-and-now manner, frequently through the use of fantasied contact with others who are psychologically, though not physcially, presnt." Crocker, 1999, p. 108
  • "The quintessence of all processes in Gestalt therapy is the here-and-now focus as it is implicit in the phenomenological foundation. Past and future get their bearings continuously from the present and have to be related to it for meaning to occur. Present-centeredness does not deny the importance of the past or the future; rather, it insists that those aspects of time exist in the present as nostalgia, regret, resentment, fantasy, legend, and history or as anticipation, planning, rehearsal, expectation, hope, dread and despair (Perls, 1976). Reality exists in the moment as a novel experience. If attended to, it can lead to personal growth. Predilection of past or future destroy present contact, and lack of contact with the present leads to flight into the past or the future." Kirchner, 2000

Boundary Processes - dynamics of the organism/environment relationship

• "The boundary between self and environment must be kept permeable to allow exchanges, yet firm enough for autonomy...When the boundary between self and other becomes unclear, lost or impermeable, this results in a disturbance of the distinction between self and other, a disturbance of both contact and awareness...In good boundary functioning, people alternate between connecting and separating, between being in contact with the current environment and withdrawal of attention from the environment." Yontef, 1993, p. 141.
• "To me, it is much more helpful to think of the external as just that, the external, objective world. That which is. Then there is the organism which is of the environment, in the environment, part of the environment, etc. And of course there is the boundary where the organism experiences self in the environment. I think the matter is complicated further by research that clearly indicates we organisms process our experience at many levels, and that a lot of it is carried out unconsciously, out of awareness. So, that is one reason that I conceive of the boundary as part of the field, but a part which incorporates unconcsious process as the organism's record of encounter in the objective world. That which rises to the level of awareness becomes one's construction of meaning, and thus, what many call one's experiential field." Brownell, 2001.
• "So what does this have to do with 'boundary,' and in particular 'boundary as a relative term?' The working definition for 'contact' in Gestalt is 'meeting the other,' and the boundary is 'where' this meeting occurs and the means, the 'how,' by which contact between the aware subject and the other occurs. It doesn't exist in the way that the skin or a membrane actually exists. 'Boundary' is a strictly relational term, meaning only 'where contact between subject and its object meet.' Thus, when the subject is aware of, or interacting with, some things in the external, public world, the meeting occurs between the organism (the person) and elements in the environment. But when, for example, I am absorbed in thought or am dealing with any of the varieties of pain within, then the boundary is internal. In this case, I as the subject am aware of the internal phenomena, and they are the objects of my awareness, or when, for example, I retroflect, my action involves me, as subject, acting on myself as object in certain ways and for certain purposes." Crocker, 2001.
• homeostasis - the maintenance of balance
• allostasis - the assimilation of stress
• creative adjustment - transformation arising from contact with novelty or difference, need, circumstance, unfinished business, and/or the solving of problems
• self regulation - the process of creative adjustments in which the organism strives for homeostasis, achieves health, responds to excitement, and assimilates stress
• confluence - a lack of appreciation of difference
• egotism - slowing spontaneity, increasing introspection, and/or constructing events as one wants them to be
• deflection - turning aside or being indirect
• introjection - taking in aspects of the environment without assimilating them
• retroflection - turning in on oneself, providing for oneself what could be obtained from the environment
• projection - attributing fantasy or interpreting meaning
  

Contact - awareness of the relationship between self and other in meeting needs, following interest, and/or experiencing relative degrees of intimacy and isolation

• "We use the word 'contact' - 'in touch with' objects - as underlying both sensory awareness and motor behavior...Primarily, contact is the awareness of, and behavior toward, the assimilable novelty; and the rejection of the unassimilable novelty." Perls, Hefferline, Goodman, 1951, p. 227 & 230
• "The central fact of human life, as well as the lives of all organisms, is contact, understood as meetings of various kinds with others. All of life, of whatever form, occurs in cycles of contact with others and withdrawal for rest, regeneration, and assimilation. Crocker, 1999, p. 18
• fore contact - initial awareness
• contacting - excitement and mobilization
• final contact - full engagement
• post-contact - satisfaction and assimilation of experience
• withdrawal - return to rest and equilibrium

Cycle of Experience - another way of conceiving of the contact cycle

• "The cycle of the interdependence of the organism and environment describes the phases in the formation of a single figure of interest/need against the background of the rest of the field in the overall process of self-other regulation. It illustrates the phases of a single episode of contact between the individual and the environment." MacKewn, 1997, p. 19
• sensation - sensory, proprioceptive, cognitive, and affective stimulation
• awareness - formation of figure
• mobilization - the gathering of energy and movement toward goal
• contact - full engagement to meet need or satisfy figure of interest
• assimilation - digestion of experience, learning
• withdrawal - return to rest

Resources:

• Brownell, P. (2001) Field and Boundary. Gestalt!, 5(2), available on-line at http://www.g-g.org/gej/5-2/1998field.html
• Crocker, S. (1999) A Well-Lived Life, Essays in Gestalt Therapy. Cleveland, OH: Gestalt Institute of Cleveland Press.
• Crocker, S. (2001) Field and Boundary. Gestalt!, 5(2), available on-line at http://www.g-g.org/gej/5-2/1998field.html
• Kirchner, M. (2000) Gestalt Therapy Theory: An Overview. Gestalt!, 4(3), available on-line at http://www.g-g.org/gej/4-3/theoryoverview.html
• Mackewn, J. (1997) Developing Gestalt Counselling. London, UK: Sage Pulications.
• Perls, L. (1976). Aspects of Gestalt therapy. unpublished manuscript presented at the American Orthopsychiatric Association.
• Perls, F., Hefferline, R., Goodman, P. (1951) Gestalt Therapy, Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality. London, UK: Souvenir Press.
• Yontef, G. (1993) Awareness, Dialogue, and Process, Highland, NY: Gestalt Journal Press.