Demystifying Gestalt Therapy
While being quite popular in Europe, Gestalt therapy is relatively rare in the United States. However, due to its unusual name and oft-misunderstood nature, this therapeutic modality attracts public interest on both sides of the Atlantic.
At its core, Gestalt therapy is a psychodynamic modality, related to psychoanalysis. This means that Gestalt therapy sees human psychology as an interplay of conflicting and frequently unconscious forces. Despite being a close relative of psychoanalysis, Gestalt therapy rejects one of its fundamental tenets: a Gestalt therapist is an active participant in the therapeutic process, not a dispassionate, objective observer of the kind many psychoanalysts strive to be.
Gestalt’s view of human psychological structure is strikingly similar to that of psychoanalysis. The id represents physiological drives and bodily sensations; the personality contains internalized experiences and patterns from past interactions with the environment; and the ego balances the id’s desires with the personality’s knowledge of what’s possible and the likely consequences.
The Structure of the Self
In Gestalt therapy, the self can be understood through the id, the ego, and the personality.
Operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification and avoiding discomfort.
It is nonverbal, timeless, and exists in the present.
It is unaware of reality, consequences, or social rules.
Therapy Focus
Gestalt therapy does not try to eliminate or control the id. It helps the person become aware of impulses and desires so they can be expressed in healthy ways.
Operates on the reality principle, balancing desire with what is possible and appropriate.
It is rational, organized, and oriented toward problem-solving and decision-making.
It is aware of self, others, and the environment.
Therapy Focus
Gestalt therapy strengthens the ego so it can handle life’s demands more skillfully. It improves awareness, supports better choices, and encourages responsibility.
It shapes the way we relate to self, others, and the environment.
It includes beliefs, values, roles, habits, and coping strategies.
It is learned, flexible, and can change.
Therapy Focus
Gestalt therapy helps the person become aware of habitual contact patterns. The person can then choose new ways of relating to self, others, and the environment that are healthier and more fulfilling.
Because there are very few desires that people can realize completely autonomously, we must constantly interact with our environment, both physical and social. In Gestalt therapy, such interactions are called contacts. Every contact has several stages that together form a contact cycle. Different schools of Gestalt identify different stages of contact. But the main building blocks are always the same.
First, we become aware of our desire. Then we look to our environment for resources to satisfy it. After that, we acquire those resources and use them to fulfill the desire. Finally, we analyze our experiences and the outcomes we have achieved. Note that the awareness of one’s desire in the first stage and the analysis of the results in the final stage can often be subconscious. That’s why many people frequently cannot clearly explain the reason for their actions or reliably learn from bad experiences.
In an ideal scenario, a completed cycle of contact leads to a satisfied desire and an increased knowledge about how to satisfy similar desires in the future. Even if the desire hasn’t been satisfied but a person has learned and internalized a valuable lesson in the last stage of the contact cycle, this can be considered a success. Alternatively, if the cycle gets interrupted at any one of its stages, it can lead to frustration, also known as an open Gestalt.
A Gestalt therapist mostly focuses not on any specific thwarted desire of the client but rather on a pattern of cycle interruptions (analogous to defense mechanisms in other modalities). The theory is that people tend to exhibit the same patterns when failing to fulfill all sorts of desires. For example, a person may consistently deny himself the pursuit of certain desires because of an internalized societal stigma, the phenomenon known as introjection. This will likely manifest itself in a plethora of contexts: the choice of university, political affiliation, career, or even a romantic partner.
Another person may consistently interrupt the last stage of the contact cycle. This would likely lead to her inability to learn from past experiences and make her prone to repeating the same mistakes. It is the job of a therapist to bring such maladaptive patterns to the client’s attention.
Contact Cycle
In Gestalt therapy, contact unfolds through pre-contact, contacting, and post-contact.
Step 1
Sensation
A desire begins as a felt sensation or an emerging tension in awareness.
Step 2
Awareness
The person recognizes the desire and begins to understand what is coming into focus.
Step 3
Search
The person looks for the resources, options, or conditions needed to satisfy the desire.
Step 4
Mobilization
Energy gathers and the person prepares to act in support of the desire.
Step 5
Action
The person moves toward the resources that may help satisfy the desire.
Step 6
Contact
The person acquires and uses the resources in direct contact with the environment.
Step 7
Resolution
The desire may or may not be fulfilled exactly as expected, but the experience still reaches a form of resolution.
Step 8
Learning
The person reflects on the experience and integrates what was learned from the contact.
Post-contact closes the cycle by helping the person absorb the experience, whether the desire was fulfilled exactly as expected or resolved in another way.
Of course, not all desires can be fulfilled even in principle. It is impossible to reunite with a dead friend or become taller or change the fundamental properties of the universe. Not to mention that there are plenty of desires whose pursuit is simply illegal. In such cases, a therapist is going to help the client reformulate his desires at the initial stages of the contact cycle. For instance, one may achieve a sense of security not by controlling others (which is impossible and maladaptive) but by controlling one’s own reactions to others (which is possible and reasonable). Alternatively, a therapist may suggest some creative ways of closing a Gestalt, such as writing a letter to the deceased friend or making the client temporarily impersonate that friend to achieve closure.
An important feature of Gestalt therapy is its focus on the here and now. A Gestalt therapist pays close attention to incongruities in the client’s presentation. For instance, when the client’s body language belies her words, it can be a sign of a psychological defense mechanism and an important clue for discovering the client’s pattern of cycle interruption. The way the client speaks is often more important than what she is saying.
Thus, the goal of Gestalt therapy is to assist the client in maintaining an uninterrupted contact cycle that would allow him to reliably fulfill his desires, all while enjoying the positive outcomes and learning from the negative ones.
And if you are still wondering, the term “Gestalt” comes from the German for “shape” or “form.” It has to do with the field of Gestalt psychology, which, paradoxically, is only loosely connected to Gestalt therapy. But this is a whole other story that deserves a separate article.