Gestalt Approaches to Psychotherapy

Many of us find ourselves in life with questions and a desire for change, but we don’t know how to begin creating that change. We may have tried every resource we have to address our questions and we still don’t know how to move forward to resolve things.

My psychotherapy clients find that our work together has been a source for solutions. They tell me that they are sometimes surprised that the path to those solutions has taken them not on a search for how to change, but into a closer examination of what is unique and essential to them.

In Gestalt therapy we call this the paradoxical theory of change: stay focused on what is now, and from that awareness the potential for new meaning and change emerges.

• Our work together is grounded in three principles: awareness, acceptance and action.
• Much of what we need to do is stay with what is, open to what is real for us right now, and explore where that takes us. Gestalt therapy places great emphasis on present awareness of what we are experiencing. Often our present experience is shaped by our past experiences, and looking at the past is useful in the process of present awareness.
• The process of acceptance is not one of resignation. It is a journey of transformation. We begin to see our world from new points of view, allowing for new choices and greater opportunities for fulfillment and serenity.
• When we reach acceptance of the experience that is unique to each one of us, we can then take intelligent actions to care for our own needs and goals.

In addition to the paradoxical theory of change, the relational Gestalt Therapy approach places emphasis on the application of Martin Buber’s principles of dialogue and dialogic meeting. In this sense, therapy is a mutual exploration of experience, a shared endeavor of finding new meaning for ourselves, our communities and our larger worlds.