The Theory of Gestalt Therapy. Novelty, Excitement, and Development

In his book "The Theory of Gestalt Therapy," Frederick Perls and his co-authors presented the foundations of their theory in the most comprehensive and systematic way for the first time, which became revolutionary for its time and remains relevant even today.

The formation of figure/ground – is a dynamic process in which the needs and resources of the field gradually transfer their energy to the interest, brightness, and strength of the dominant figure. Therefore, it is meaningless to try to consider any psychological behavior in isolation from the socio-cultural, biological, and physical context. At the same time, the figure is a specifically psychological phenomenon: it possesses special qualities of brightness, clarity, integrity, grace, liveliness, freedom, charm, and so on; which specific qualities we perceive first depends on which context (background) we consider primary – perceptual, sensory, or motor. The fact that the gestalt possesses specific psychological qualities is very important for psychotherapy, as it provides us with an autonomous criterion for the depth and reality of experience.