The Gestalt Philosophy

The German language word Gestalt denotes a complete pattern or whole, oneness, the entirety. The philosophical foundation for Gestalt therapy consists of postulations that are concerned with three aspects. These relate to ontology (the study of being or existence), epistemology (nature and scope of knowledge), and axiology (study of value or quality). Ontology deals with issues relating to reality, life, and the world. Epistemology is concerned with analysis of knowledge and its association with truth, conviction, and corroboration. And, axiology is the study of human values and ethics.

Characteristics such as transformation, focused involvement, movement, and occurrence, and their inter-relationships are all associated with a process called existence. Every existing entity is but a part of a wholesome and all-encompassing oneness. There are two kinds of knowledge, which are expressive kind and perceptive kind. Knowing of parts or of whole depends on one of these two types. Knowledge itself, by its very nature and scope, is a gestalt in the sense that it can not be evaluated or elucidated without changing the basic characteristics. So, getting to know is to watch and examine, and be willfully conscious of experiences in the present situation.

Every individual is considered a totalized consciousness, rather than an inert data receiver fed from external environment. Every human being will have a personalized and an exclusive sensory consciousness. Through this awareness, a person decides interactions with the outside world. The person also represents these approaches, emotions, and actions into utterances, physical actions, and dreams. In gestalt viewpoint, both the person and surrounding environment are acknowledged as a whole.

The Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt therapy encompasses the whole of a person and surrounding external environment. Person’s experiences such as thinking, emotions, and sensory awareness are integral to this approach. It stresses only the current and present happening. It is a phenomenological (involves description of aspects of human life as they are lived) therapy founded by Frederick and Laura Perls in the 1940s. It concentrates on what is happening, rather than what is being talked about. It educates both therapists and people about the phenomenological methodology of consciousness, in which perceptions, emotions, and actions are differentiated from elucidating and rationalizing the already existing approaches.

Justifications and analyses are regarded as less dependable than what is exactly observed and experienced. Patients and therapists in Gestalt therapy mutually convey their phenomenological outlooks. Divergences in outlooks will become the focal point of research and sustained interaction.

For patients who undergo therapy, the objective should be to beome conscious of what they are performing, how they are performing it, and how they can transform themselves. They should be made to understand to acknowledge and regard themselves. The stress is only on what is being performed, thought, and felt at the present moment currently.

The Job of Gestalt Therapist

The therapy’s success depends on the resonance between therapists and the therapy seekers. The therapist should try and identify with the aspirations and desires of the seeker to make him or her comfortable, which enables the seeker to seek and confront inner conflicts and erroneous beliefs. Existential dialogue and conversation is the basis for Gestalt therapy. Therapeutic goals can not be established before hand. The conversation with seeker of therapy will lead a therapist to identify the causative factors that exist at present and currently manifest, and try and make the him or her to contest and confront the negative influences as perceived and realized by the seeker.

There are four aspects of the information flow pertaining to conversation by a therapist. These are explained here:

Inclusive Participation: This is to involve oneself completely with the process of engagement with a patient without prejudging the conditions or interpreting prematurely. At the same time, the therapist should maintain an assuring presence and keep independent counsel. This is an existential treatment methodology that is applied to phenomenological therapy procedure. This inclusive participation offers an ambience of security for the patient and, by acknowledging the patient’s feelings and experiences, assists in enhancing the patient’s self-consciousness.

Existence: The therapists should constantly articulate and share observations, choices, personal occurrences, and perceptions in a regular manner and with discretion so as to enable the patients to feel the presence of therapist all through their narrative journey. The therapist should not be dependent on theory-based analysis, but should depend on personal experiences of inclusive participation. The therapist does not dominate or maneuver the patient to get pre-determined goals and outcomes. It is the therapist’s job to make the patient self-regulatory and independent.

Dedicated Conversation: Connecting to the patient and creating resonance will arise while interacting. The therapist yields to the interpersonal procedures, keeping focused attention and let things happen in an uninterrupted flow.

Dialogue is current: Conversation is to be performed. It is just not about mere talking. It is something that is felt then and there, in the immediate. Communication may even be non-verbal. It should be ethical and appropriate.