Contemporary Gestalt therapy.

Abstract

2013) described the focus of Gestalt therapy as understanding the processes and structures by which human beings organize and interpret their perceived worlds, that is, a process of discovery. It is a hermeneutic and phenomenological perspective achieved in the course of Gestalt therapy through the relationship between therapist and client in the midst of a complex situation.In this chapter, I provide a theoretical overview of the core theory of contemporary Gestalt therapy. It has come a long way since the days of Frederick and Laura Perls, who focused on the revision of psychoanalysis (Perls, 1947(Perls, /1969) in an early theoretical integration of existential, phenomenological, and organismic theories (Brownell, 2010;Perls, Hefferline, & Goodman, 1951/1972. Since then, classical Gestalt therapy's pragmatic roots have developed into a grounded faith in process. Its phenomenological roots evolved from awareness of current experience to appreciation for embodied cognition (Frank &

“Some days it’s like she has died.” A qualitative exploration of first mothers’ utilisation of artefacts associated with now-adopted children in coping with grief and loss

“…In keeping with the ethos of the Interpretive paradigm, within which immersion in the descriptive accounts of actors who inhabit the world produces understanding of the situated experiences of individuals (Ormston et al, 2003), I approached interviews with an attitude of relational openness and deep respect for the legitimacy of respondents’ ways of creating meaning and experiencing the world (Brownell, 2008; Finlay and Evans, 2009). Sitting with mothers as they sorted through artefacts associated with their now-adopted children had a profound impact upon me as a researcher and children’s social worker, with mothers’ careful handling of keepsakes demonstrating their ongoing enactment of the maternal role (Lavelle, 2020).…”

The Oxytocinergic System as a Mediator of Anti-stress and Instorative Effects Induced by Nature: The Calm and Connection Theory

“…The dialogue between external and subjective reality never stops.” Theories of Gestalt were developed in the field of perception psychology ( Ellis, 1938 ; Wertheimer, 1938 ) and imply that our brains strive to generate wholes, instead of just collecting simple, unrelated elements. When the perceptual system has created a Gestalt, it constitutes its own reality, regardless of the parts: “the whole is something else than the sum of its parts” ( Brownell, 2016 ). Stern (2010) argued that movement connects phenomena to a Gestalt, which we can perceive.…”

“…By experiencing the Gestalt in its context, a person can understand its importance and be able to make the right decisions: a phenomenon that also has been further developed in therapies ( Perls et al, 1951 ; Brownell, 2016 ; Rhyne, 2016 ). This can be compared to what Jung (1960) referred to as the transcendent function.…”

Personal therapeutic approach in Gestalt therapists working with clients suffering from medically unexplained psychosomatic symptoms

“…Rather, it aims to support the human growth of the clients in the unique contexts of their lives. Despite the internationally widespread network of practitioners, rich theoretical developments, as well as a growing amount of research literature (Barber, 2006 ; Brownell, 2008 , 2016 ; Strümpfel & Goldman, 2001 ; Roubal et al ., 2016 ; Strümpfel, 2006), specific research on MUPS is vastly missing in the Gestalt therapeutic tradition, and Gestalt therapy relies on studies of other humanistic and experiential approaches.…”