User talk:DrJohnGPhD

Bold textGESTALT THERAPY

 Dr. Laura Perls, co-founder of Gestalt therapy, as well as Dr. Joseph Zinker, Dr. Miriam Polster, Dr. Irving Polster and other mentors taught me directly that "gestalt" as it applied to a human being means, the sum total of all that this individual is in the here and now, in the current context, plus the meaning that this unique configuration gives to one's relationship to oneself and to others, as well as the environment.  Since "meaning" is not merely the arithmetic sum of the individual's scores on a personality test, genetic makeup, attitudes, temperment, appearance, etc., the client and therapist perceive the meaning of self and other through physiognomic isomorphism in which one's meaning stimulates areas of the self's / other's cerebral cortex by virtue of the corresponding theme which one's life brings to interpersonal relationship, one's job or vocation, one's hobbies or activities, one's thinking and feeling and so forth as a human being.  This works because we are all human beings.  Non human themes or feelings might have no impact on us except as we anthropomorphise these gestalten.  It should be noted that, since my perception of the other also includes my own perceptual errors of awareness, that the gestalt which I imagine to be you is only my gestalt with my meaning.  Honing one's awareness of self, other and environment allows one to come closer to a gestalt formation that is not just "my gestalt formation," rather "our consenually experienced gestalt formation).
 The meaning of a woman talking about her religion to me at my front door is very different from that woman telling me about her religion in my bed, for example.  We can say that the gestalt, in this instance is more than the person but does include person, behavior, etc. within a unique context.  If we were to badly apply the saying of Euclid to gestalten, we would restate it as, the gestalt of a human (or of anything) is greater than the sum of its parts.  In a photographic or artistic rendering, foreground alone does not give meaning to the picture, rather the apple on a branch in a closeup picture, has its full meaning: on the branch, with the lighting, applying the distortion of the lens (if any), as impressionistically interpreted (if any), in a depth of field, etc. in that particular picture.  Any two pictures of an apple have different meanings depending on many elements of figure and ground and their interaction in the unique gestalt of that picture.  Humans develop gestalten in contact with a background (environment / other(s)) and create new, unique gestalten all of the time.
 One who repeats various fixed gestalten have habits.  One who pathologically repeats dysfunctional gestalten is in need of treatment.  In the Gestalt therapy process, the key tool is awareness not analysis.  Therefore, the key question for the client / therapist to ask is "how do you do such and such" rather than "why do you do such and such." Awareness in the present is required in order to bring to the surface behaviors, thoughts, feelings, experiences of environments, etc. in which an individual (or in a larger context, a couple or family) derives its sense of meaning for their self(ves) in general and specifically within various contexts with certain people, alone, etc.  Experimentation with alternative intra and interpersonally functional / useful feelings, thoughts, perceptions, behaviors, attitudes, etc. can be made once an individual understands the gestalt (and its meaning) which is formed in a dysfunctional manner and how to change gestalten to improve one's sense of self, sense of authentic contact, sense of other, sense of environment, etc. in useful ways.  In other words, one becomes "healthier" when one improves meaningful contact with people and things.  Eating while watching TV is a great way to avoid tasting and savoring food.  It is an example of "mixed gestalten." One may wish to change this situation, making better contact with the food.  In doing so, their gestalt in the moment would be different in a positive manner for relating to food.  
 In Gestalt Psychology, a clear gestalt (Laura Perls sometimes said "strong gestalt" in our training) is desirable.  An ambiguous gestalt (like the picture of the two faces that also form a vase) is interesting as an art form but hardly helpful in trying to lead a clear, daily life.  Multiple gestalten, however, do occasionally occur: wanting to eat that cupcake vs being on a diet.  The importance of one gestalt over another has to be ordered by the individual for overall self satisfaction.
 Between sessions, therefore, clients in Gestalt therapy perform experimental assignments or design their own in order to experience the world in different configurations (new gestalten).  Each new configuration will bring with it, its own meaning.  This meaning is also known as the Gestaltqualitat, in the German, but it is enough to say that the gestalt has changed (understanding that this includes a change in meaning).
 Gestalt therapy builds on the original theories of perception found in Gestalt Psychology but also adopts the concepts of "Here and Now" (Wittgenstein), Phenomenology (ala Rudolph Arnheim), Existentialism (what is, is), Contact theory (Buber, Zetzel, Fenichel, Stone and others), Zen literality (the color of the wind is what one experiences when wind blows into your eyes) and the unwitting application of just about every psychological theory ever written or employed for the helpful alteration of perceiving, thinking, feeling, and behavior.  Laura Perls once said to me, "If it works, it's Gestalt therapy."  So far, I have been told that I use any of 64 different theories on psychological development and their applied psychotherapy at different times during the work of following the alteration of the gestalten of a client from moment to moment, seeking to aid the individual (or larger unit) to find closure for historical gestalten (childhood abuse, eg.) and a self-aware life of satisfaction lived in the here and now with high levels of awareness of self and others and context.  This was tested in repeated trials before audiences of psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists schooled in one or more of the 64 theories which they listed upon observation and description of my doing therapy with volunteers on the stage. 

JohnHGagnonPhD 20:11, 14 November 2012 (UTC) (Gestalt therapist for 36 years / past instructor of the NY Institute for Gestalt Therapy / lecturer on Gestalt therapy and Gestalt Psychology.)