Gestalt Therapy Integrated: Contours of Theory & Practice

by Erving Polster, Miriam Polster

Explains the fundamentals of the behavioral theory that is based on an integrated view of the personality. For the student and the professional.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Counselling

329 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[xenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some kind of Goffman-esque Hegelian wet dream with Levinas screaming yass from the sidelines.

Dramaturgical deconstruction of self-constituting polarities.

Spook busting reifications through collective fantasy enactments.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gestalt therapy is an existential/experiential form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses upon the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist–client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of their overall situation. Gestalt therapy was developed by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and Paul Goodman in the 1940s and 1950s. In the late 80s as a failing telemarketer, a manager introduced me to the dice puzzle Petals Around the Rose to try and disrupt my funk and improve my thinking. When I figured it out, I was told that thinking was "Gestalt". Well, I never became a decent telemarketer and I only now got around to trying to understand Gestalt.

OK, so this is second generation Gestalt, I take it. Authors Erving and Miriam Polster started a training center in La Jolla, California and played an influential role in advancing the concept of contact-boundary phenomena in the 1970s. They did this from very hands-on client sessions and scaled up to "happenings" like events and workshops.

You product differentiation for your particular target market. So, some of this book obviously required to differentiate from Freud which is basically done by saying Freud is about the infantile past and Gestalt is about the "now". Well, so often, the "now" seems to be about resolving childhood dysfunction from trauma or an aloof parent, etc. It is interesting that two competing approaches find themselves at the same task: working out issues originating in youth.

At a time when "Hippies and Cops" could be role-played in a coffeehouse, Gestalt sought to integrated the individual with a fracturing society.

Correspondingly, there is no point when a person becomes so well endowed with his own powers that he will never again want community attention to his psychological needs. The termination of therapy, for example, is the completion of only one form of communal aid. The traditional view of the terminated therapy is naive and mechanistic, counting on the delusion that once one is rid of his own faulty view of the world, the world will neatly fall into place. Of course, the world has never fallen into place in any age, and surely not in this one. Childrearing problems have existed since Cain and Abel; sexual dysrhythmia since Adam and Eve; environmental cataclysm since Noah; the rigors of paying the price since Jacob and Rachel; sibling rivalry since Joseph and his brothers; dysfunctional organizational behavior since the Tower of Babel. These tales record the many natural tortures which are the by-products of a human system of heterogeneous interests and contradictions. An ageless web forms in the interrelationship between the individual's needs and the group's needs and between two dissonant acts of the same person.

The consequent struggle calls for communal orientation, support and stimulation to guide or arouse behavior too difficult for solo performance. The community serves as a group ethos, providing mores, rituals, and instruction which give ease to the individual, freeing him from personally exploring everything under the sun to determine what is right for him...

What we need now are new rituals, mores, and instructions, sensitive to recurrent need but rooted also in present experience. Psychotherapists are finally beginning to take some responsibility in shaping some of the possibilities for living a good life.

The principles of gestalt therapy in particular apply to actual people meeting actual problems in an actual environment. The gestalt therapist is a human being in awareness and interaction. For him there is no pure patient-ness. There is only the person in relationship to his social scene, seeking to grow by integrating all aspects of himself.

Appendices give credit to two of my favorite researchers in the area: Carl Jung and Otto Rank as well as some actualized "new rituals" in coffeehouses and universities.

[Viktorija · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-book for each student in Gestalt therapy. Even though primarily intended for Gestalt practitioners, and because of the undemanding writing style, I could confidently say that it could also work as a book for any person who is interested in their personal development, but would be okay with reading about it in this style of writing which is unpopular compared to today’s self-help concept books.

From contact concept and contact boundary to contact functions and modifications, this book covers it all. Additionally, many of these concepts are supported through examples from work with real clients. One can seriously argue the way therapy was practiced back in the day versus today, but precisely that is one of the core points of the book, which is made quite abundantly, that therapy varies and should vary depending on the period when it is practiced. So, nowadays if we want to argue around the "touch" contact function, most probably it would seem rather unprofessional if we use it to the extent and degree it was used by Polsters and therapists from those times.

What I missed though and was only briefly explained in the end of the book, is maybe more overview of the whole social system and how Gestalt therapy works with couples, families, smaller or even bigger communities. However, this book could be considered as the base for anyone interested to find out more about the history of Gestalt, and all core concepts in it, supported with practical advice.

[Fern · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there are aspects of the language, ideologies and practices of this book which are outdated, I found the core material to be extremely interesting and insightful. I found this book very helpful in illustrating the concepts and practices of Gestalt, which is a field I find myself increasingly more interested in learning and integrating into my own future therapeutic practice.

I may be biased in my perception of this book, as my late grandfather was a Gestaltist and a contemporary of the Polsters, so for me reading this was also a way of learning more about my lineage history within psychotherapy.

I give it 5/5 because I feel this book thoroughly and successfully showcased the theories and practices of Gestalt, which was its mission.

[Evan Micheals · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tom Ryan allowed me to borrow this book as I investigate Gestalt Therapy with the recommendation is was more readable than Frederick Perls and the warning that Gestalt is more something one does and that it does not translate easily in a Dummies Guide written form. The three touchstones of Gestalt Therapy are described as “contact, awareness, and experiment” (p 300).

I loved the following statement which seems to be the core of Gestalt. “The gestalt psychologist investigates the dynamics of the act of perceiving.  They theorized that the perceiver was not merely a passive target for the sensory bombardment coming from his environment; rather, he structured and imposed order on his own perceptions (p 29)."  What I get from this is that we have a hierarchy of stimulus that we pay attention too. So two people experiencing the same stimuli would have a different experience due to the ‘structure and order’ that they impose on the experience.  So the Gestaltian therapist looks not just at what we are perceiving, but how we perceive.

I saw myself in things Kerri has said to me over the years in ‘Yes, but’ statements. Polster cites Perls saying when you hear “Yes, but”, only listen to what follows the ‘but’, and there is no need to pay attention to what is prior to the ‘but’. “If only” is a similar phrase from which you can ignore what follows. It is a statement of hopelessness (p 156). Kerri would point out I apologise with a ‘but’ and then I go on to justify what I had done wrong. There is no need for a ‘but’. This provided me with an awareness of what I have been doing for years. I have to learn to battle the ‘but’, however I rarely do ‘if only’.

Regarding the experimental aspect of Gestalt. A strategy is doing opposite (like the famous Seinfeld episode when George Costanza does the opposite of what he would usually do) within the safety and confines of a therapeutic group. The passive wall flower is encouraged to be an obnoxious interrupter. The person who is always cool and in control, is encouraged to be emotional and say things with feeling. The people get the experience of what it is like being beyond themselves. An interesting experiment for sure, but I am not sure I will ever do group therapy.

I had to remember it was written in 1974 and it is of its time, and not timeless. A number of the ‘therapies’ described would be socially and politically unacceptable, and perhaps even illegal today. For example: Polster writes of freeing a man from homosexual fantasies into a life of virile heterosexuality and marriage (194); "One patient in a moment of fury took my favourite ashtray and dash it to the floor, breaking it into unreconstructable fragments. I reached over and whacked her across the ass" (p 201); “Militant blacks, for example, have unfinished business and must release their fury whether or not improvements happen” (p 294). Pushing people away from their sexual impulses, spanking people, and allowing ‘ militant black people’ to release their fury (implied that they cannot help but be angry) would all be unacceptable suggestions in today's milieu.

Most egregious was the following ”I walked over, put my hands on her throat, and began choking her”. How much trust would you need to therapeutically choke someone? I just cannot imagine it. He then describes doing it again “As I went towards her with the intention of choking her again, Sue rose up before I could reach her. She lurched for my throat and began to grapple with me and soon we had wrestled down to the floor” (p 241). I love wrestling, but cannot imagine physical action being part of therapy. Polster acknowledged “Perhaps this enactment was risky and unprofessional. It was both”. Justified later by “The therapist’s professional responsibility is to engage and do whatever it takes to help her recover what she has lost on her way to his office” (p 242). People seemed to either trust or respect the competence of a therapist in a way I doubt is possible today. I can totally imagine Therapist’s of the era being able to justify having a sexual relationship with people, because ‘I needed to do whatever it took to them recover’. Those days are gone.

I am still struggling with Gestalt. I can see it’s influence on contemporary practise, but also the blind alleys it went down. I will not read anymore until next year. I am sure I will never describe myself as a Gestalt Therapist, but it is worth knowing and describes skills I am still working with.

[Dillyn Mykal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought this book at a thrift store, because of the 2001/beyond Jupiter type of cover. I was amazed at first, reading this book of psychology. Then I became bored after page 150. It was tough to finish, but I did it. The authors a pervert, but in a real funny way...talking about how attractive women from his workshops jump on his lap, profess their love for him - to him, blablablah (I assume it's a him, itd be more fun if it was a 'her'). And I will continue to judge books by their cover. Because

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this a while ago, I just wanted to understand Gestalt a little more. This book is very theoretical and was written in the 70s—so has good information but also alarming and unintentionally hilarious passages about therapists crossing professional boundaries with clients in ways that I’m sure made more sense when it was published. Like clients curling up on their therapists lap, or a therapist jumping onto the back of a client. Just wow.

[Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you are interested in Gestalt theory, this is a must read.

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent theory resource. I especially liked the section on experience, processing experience, and assigning meaning, which he ties in with experiencing art. We lose something when assigning meaning too quickly, attempting to put the experience in a tidy labelled box. Lots of helpful examples of experiment use, ie. empty chair.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Gestalt text. If you are interested in Gestalt theory, this is a must read. There are many chapters that stand out-- the chapter on resistances was very helpful to me as I was beginning to learn more about gestalt theory

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erv and Miriam do a great job expanding gestalt therapy concepts in a clear and insightful way. Also, they do it in a way that it can be practiced and implemented in therapy.