Gestalt therapy is a therapeutic approach with a focus on personal responsibility that helps clients focus on the present and understand what is happening in their lives right now. Gestalt therapy aims to help clients focus on their current circumstances with fresh eyes to understand their situation. It is based on the concept that we are all best understood when viewed through our own eyes in the present. If working through issues related to a past experience, for example, rather than just talking about the experience, a Gestalt therapist might have a client re-enact it to re-experience the scenario and analyze it with new tools. During the re-enactment, the therapist might guide the analysis by asking how the client feels about the situation now, in order to increase awareness and accept the consequences of one's own behavior. Think this approach might be right for you? Reach out to one of TherapyDen’s Gestalt therapy experts today.
Gestalt therapy focuses on the present moment. It emphasizes self-awareness, personal responsibility, and the therapeutic relationship. By exploring thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in the here and now, Gestalt therapy helps clients become more aware of unresolved issues and unexpressed emotions, facilitating growth and healing. We explore what feels alive for you in the present moment and use that aliveness as a launching pad for where you would like to go.
— Vera Fleischer, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in San Francisco, CAGestalt therapy helps the client focus on the present to understand what is actually happening in their lives at this moment, and how it makes them feel presently, rather than what they may assume to be happening based on past experiences. The whole person must be explored, discovered, and confronted.
— Kate Fox, Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate in Denver, COI focus on the here and now, understanding the past exists, but not allowing the to define your future.
— Candice N. Crowley, LPC, Licensed Professional Counselor in Cincinnati, OHWorking with the body and the different parts within yourself are very powerful and effective ways to gain deeper insight into what is going on with us.
— Kim Stevens, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in Oakland, CAI have a passion for gestalt psychotherapy.
— Cassandra Keller, Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate in Boulder, CO“Gestalt therapy is about helping people become aware of what they do and how they do it, and to encourage living in the present, to ‘be here now,’ and make better choices.” – Violet Oaklander. In Gestalt therapy, I use talk or play to help you or your child experience, explore, and process thoughts, feelings and sensations to bring greater awareness, self-understanding and empowerment. I am not an ‘expert’ but a partner on your journey, in the process with you every step of the way.
— Michelle Sargent, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in Encino, CATo me, Gestalt therapy means being aware of what's alive in the present moment, and attending to that. Clients don't need to prepare anything for session, because there is always something happening in the mind and body to be curious about or just be with. I also invite experimentation into our sessions to explore and have new experiences, often through art or somatic movement.
— Maya Hsu, Associate Marriage & Family TherapistGestalt is my foundational theory that aligns with my views of human nature and counseling. I lean to the side of relational, nondirective gestalt therapy that utilizes dialogue and talk, rather than the popularized gestalt techniques. I am a gestalt nerd and love counseling gestalt therapists.
— Shea Stevens, Licensed Professional Counselor Associate in McKinney, TXI love Gestalt therapy because I do people that people are more than the sum of their parts. I like how it can help increase awareness of the present moment, and I use a lot of parts work to explore sides of the client that may be less frequently visible. I also use some Internal Family System ideas that are based on Gestalt parts work to help clients be in deeper relationship with themselves and their inner motivations.
— Lauren Sill, Marriage and Family Therapist AssociateI use a Gestalt therapy framework to help clients focus on the 'here and now,' bringing awareness to their present moment experience. Through this process, we explore the awareness continuum, noticing thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations as they arise. This approach fosters greater self-awareness and empowers clients to recognize patterns, deepen their understanding of themselves, and make more conscious choices in their lives.
— Dr. Kimberly Diorio, Associate Marriage & Family Therapist in Los Altos, CAWith this approach, we will work together to focus on your experience in the present moment.
— Jennifer Batra, Licensed Clinical Social Worker in , NYGestalt therapy focuses on the here and now. We explore what feels alive for you in the present moment and use that aliveness as a launching pad for where you would like to go. Body sensations, thoughts and feelings inform the process of discovering what choices you have as you move forward.
— Vera Fleischer, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in San Francisco, CAGestalt therapy is oriented around building awareness: of ourselves, of our thoughts & behaviors, of our choices, and of our physical systems that are constantly sending us invaluable data about our experiences. Through the gestalt process, clients learn to become more aware of how their own negative thought patterns and behaviors are blocking true self-awareness.
— Kim Stevens, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in Oakland, CAGestalt Therapy is a psycho-dynamic, present-centered and relational approach to talk therapy. I believe that a person’s history colors how they experience the present, but that few are fully aware of this process in day-to-day life. We’ll work together to move from judgment to curiosity, so that we can notice what reactions are based on historical assumptions, or grounded in our actual, shared experience of one another in the here-and-now.
— Heidi Mela, Clinical Social Worker in Bronx, NYGestalt is a type of parts work therapy, which means we see the human psyche as a combination of different parts that sometimes have quite different feelings and needs. Parts work can be incredibly helpful when we conceptualize inner conflict, and can help bring compassion to parts that hold challenging or outdated beliefs about ourselves, others or the world. I use Gestalt therapy to support my clients in growing awareness and understanding of our complexity as human beings.
— Julia Messing, Licensed Professional Counselor in Boulder, COSometimes just talking about a problem doesn't quite get the job done. By engaging in "safe experiments" in session, Gestalt therapy helps us to release ourselves from the bondage of old emotional wounds.
— Jesse Cardin, Licensed Clinical Social Worker in San Antonio, TXIt can help you increase your awareness of what you are experiencing (psychically and emotionally) in each moment.
— Marc Campbell, Licensed Mental Health Counselor in ,