Gestalt therapy – a strange name, I hear time and again. Choosing the German word ‘Gestalt’ to describe a form of psychotherapy was something I, as a native German speaker, found puzzling for a long time. In the German language, a ‘Gestalt’ can be a figure that cannot really be defined, that has no clear outlines. In the context of psychotherapy, we tend to talk about an important need that comes to the forefront of an individual’s consciousness. In my life, I repeatedly encounter such ‘figures’ or ‘gestalten’ that appear before me, disappear again, and then reappear. Sometimes I notice this and ask myself: “Why does this have to happen to me again?‘ or ’This can’t be true, now this is happening to me again!” In other situations, I don’t notice it at all. I simply don’t pay attention to it because, for example, it doesn’t seem important to me, or it just annoys me and doesn’t suit me at all right now. So I push it aside. I’m good at that!
There is always one need in my life that is more prominent than others. If this need is resolved, it can recede into the background and ‘dissolve’. However, if it is not resolved, it recedes into the background without being resolved, as another need may be more important and come to the fore. In the picture accompanying this post, you can either see the flower and the butterfly in the foreground or the gentle female face. These figures offer me the opportunity to recognise myself. To recognise what I need, when and for what. But only if I engage with them. Then I can see how I can make my life easier and recognise who I am with joy, humour and love.
Another explanation for why Gestalt therapy bears its name goes back to the German verb ‘gestalten’ and means forming a meaningful whole. There are no isolated sensory qualities that are perceived in isolation as individual elements.
The individual elements are connected in perception as meaningful wholes, ‘Gestalten’. Perception, social life and personal existence are always expressions of a complex meaning. The
‘whole’ is more or different than the sum of its individual elements. This is the biggest difference between Gestalt therapy and empirically based therapies.
