ABSTRACT

The Gestalt approach is based on the philosophy that the human being is born with the healthy ability to regulate needs and wants in relationship with the environment in which she/he lives. Heightening of personal awareness and exploration of needs is enabled by the therapist who actively engages in supporting and assisting the therapeutic journey of the client.

Gestalt Therapy: Advances in Theory and Practice is a collaboration of some of the best thinkers in the Gestalt therapy approach. It offers a summary of recent advances in theory and practice, and novel ideas for future development. Each chapter focuses on a different element of the Gestalt approach and, with contributors from around the world, each offers a different perspective of its ongoing evolution in relation to politics, religion and philosophy.

Incorporating ideas about community, field theory, family and couple therapy, politics and spirituality, this book will be of interest not only to Gestalt therapists but also to non-Gestalt practitioners, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Counselling, behavioural science and psychotherapy students will also find this a valuable contribution to their learning.

part |91 pages

Gestalt therapy and theory

chapter |11 pages

Flexibility in theory formation

Point and counterpoint

chapter |12 pages

Reconsidering holism in gestalt therapy

A bridge too far?

chapter |10 pages

The interactive field

Gestalt therapy as an embodied relational dialogue

chapter |10 pages

Personality

Co-creating a dynamic symphony

chapter |11 pages

Critiquing projection

supporting dialogue in a post-Cartesian world 1

chapter |12 pages

Sensing animals/knowing persons

A challenge to some basic ideas in gestalt therapy

chapter |10 pages

Mind and matter

The implications of neuroscience research for Gestalt psychotherapy

part |55 pages

Aspects of Gestalt practice

chapter |16 pages

Creating an embodied, authentic self

Integrating mindfulness with psychotherapy when working with trauma

chapter |12 pages

Gestalt family therapy

A field perspective

part |24 pages

Epilogue

chapter |11 pages

Awareness instead of rules

Gestalt ethics

chapter |10 pages

Culture change

Conversations concerning political/religious differences*