Gestalt Theory and Therapy

History

Gestalt psychology became a leading school of thought in Germany in the 1920s. However, it virtually disappeared in the mid-1930s after its founders and many of the former students left the country. Gestalt psychology was met with initial great interest and enthusiasm in the United States after publications by Kurt Koffka in 1922. But behaviorism was even then rapidly becoming the ruling brand of psychology in America, and there was no room for gestaltic ideas. Gestalt psychology began as a reaction to the behaviorism of John B. Watson. Gestalt's argument with behaviorism was its focus on the systematic collection and analysis of data from the bottom up. Psychologists investigated each element individually without an appreciation for their importance as a whole that was greater than the sum of their parts.

Max Wertheimer, considered to be one of Gestalt psychology's early researchers, was born in Prague in 1880 and attended the University of Frankfurt, where he studied “apparent motion.” This phenomenon is experienced when an observer notices that two lights, within close proximity to each other and flashing alternately, appear to be one light moving back and forth and to and from both locations. The observer perceives movement even though none has occurred. This concept is called “apparent motion,” and is thought to occur because when experiences are perceived in a way that calls for the simplest explanation, even though it may differ from reality. This became known as the Gestalt Law of Minimum Principle. Simplicity is a principle that guides our perception and may even override the effects of previous experience. Wertheimer contended that the understanding of conscious experiences does not rely on breaking the experience into its components. For example, to enjoy music at a concert, we do not have to know the qualifications of each member of the orchestra, the quality of their instrument, how the performers are dressed, the extent of the conductor's training, and so forth to enjoy the performance as a whole.

Another significant influence in Gestalt psychology is Kurt Koffka, the guru of apparent motion, who wrote Principles of Gestalt Psychology in 1935. This became the bible for Gestalt psychologists. Gestalt psychology had a pervasive effect on many different areas such as learning, ethics, and social psychology. It philosophized that learning is most effective when students learn generalizations and principles that can be applied to new situations, as opposed to rote memorization, which is more of a conditioned response than true learning.

Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt therapy is a form of “counseling” or “psychotherapy” unconnected to the Gestalt psychology developed in the United States during the 1960s by the German-born psychiatrist Fritz Fredericks Perls (1893–1970). In it clients are encouraged to focus on immediate pressures and to express inner true feelings openly and honesty. Gestalt therapy focuses on patients being out of touch with their needs as a living organism. Each of us is a living organism; thus, a living, breathing, caring, organism that exists in an environment. Yet people are self-regulating organisms. Perls believed people inherently know what their needs are and that when they are free of obstacles, they will satisfactorily meet those needs naturally. He emphasized that biological needs lie at the core of all human behaviors and that humans are biological entities.

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