What is a gestalt and why is it so important to close it? A psychologist tells us

The popular term “gestalt” can be heard more and more often not only from psychologists, but also from representatives of related professions. It is used to explain how we make decisions, acquire knowledge, think, and take certain actions (and how they affect our future lives). But few people guess what the method is based on. Let’s go into the details together with a Gestalt therapist.

What does the term “Gestalt” mean?

The German word “gestalt” means “form”. And the verb “gestalten” means “to give form, to give a certain structure”. Therefore, on the one hand, a gestalt is a structured whole that carries meaning. And on the other hand, it is the process of giving form.

Using visual images, a gestalt can be compared, for example, to a vacuum cleaner. The appliance would be a gestalt, but the set of spare parts for it would not. What is this form that has a definite structure?

gestalt therapist.

The meaning of our existence lies in the fulfillment of needs. The more requests a person closes, the happier and fuller he feels. As a rule, what is necessary to satisfy needs, we have to get from the environment. And for this purpose – to interact with it. The process of interaction with the external world is called a gestalt or a cycle of contact.

How does contact happen?

A person approaches an object that, as it seems to him, can satisfy his need, evaluates its possibilities and qualities, and takes certain actions aimed at obtaining what he needs. After the obtained result he draws conclusions – how satisfactory the interaction was.

If as a result of the contact his need has been closed, he decides to interact with this object further. If not, there is a need to look for other ways to realize the request.

One can take as an example the search for information about some event. A person is interested in something and wants to learn more about it. He searches for information on the Internet or contacts acquaintances in order to find a suitable source of knowledge. Someone advises him to look at a certain site. He opens the resource, gets all the information he wants, and satisfies his interest. Gestalt is closed.

And there are a lot of similar actions in our life. Starting from a simple hunger quenching to a complex answer to search for the meaning of life.

But it happens that a person does not know how to determine his true needs, or breaks contact in the middle of the process, or cannot appropriate the experience. In such a case, cognitive dissonance occurs. The person begins to experience difficulties, dissatisfaction with life, anxiety, anger.

In this case, therapy is needed to help develop the ability to communicate. Gestalt therapy works with these tasks.

When was the term formulated?

The concept was introduced by Austrian philosopher and psychologist Christian Von Ehrenfels (1890) in his article “On the Quality of Form”. Then the theme of gestalt as a holistic image was developed by gestalt psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Keller, studying the peculiarities of human perception.

In 1951, Fritz Perls’ work “Gestalt Therapy” was published in co-authorship with Paul Goodman and Ralph Hefferlin. This year is considered the birth year of the Gestalt approach, and Fritz Perls himself is its founder.

In fact, the scientist and his associates borrowed the term from Gestalt psychology, which angered representatives of the latter. Nevertheless, the concept took root, gained popularity and became the official name of a separate direction of psychology – Gestalt therapy.

When was the science discovered?

In 1942 Fritz Perls, originally a psychoanalyst, published his first book “Ego, Hunger and Aggression” and in it he began to describe what, nine years later, formed into full-fledged Gestalt therapy: the importance of bodily manifestations, work with the present moment – in the “here and now”, the value approach, the development of client responsibility, the value of feelings, direct contact and so on.

In 1951, the work “Gestalt Therapy” was published, already more fully describing the new approach in psychotherapy. And in 1952 Perls and his associates founded the Gestalt Therapy Institute.

Since then, the approach has been successfully developing and is constantly gaining popularity.

What is the attitude of neurophysiologists to the method?

The main objectives of Gestalt therapy are to develop the client’s awareness and to stimulate his creative adaptation to the environment and the acquisition of new experiences. Increased awareness and new experiences inevitably activate the brain, increasing the number of neural connections. Gestalt therapy is therefore an important complement and aid to the challenges faced by neurophysiologists.

What does it mean to close gestalts?

“Unclosed gestalt” is an incomplete, i.e., an incomplete holistic image or an action that has not reached a logical conclusion. In this case we are talking about the Zeigarnik effect – an interrupted action.

At the beginning of the performance of any action a person has tension, which stimulates him to search for solutions to complete what he has started. As soon as the action is completed, it is discharged and the person gets satisfaction.

If an action is not finished, the psyche will strive to do so, expending energy to get a coherent image or a logically completed action. And that is why we continue to second-guess and fantasize about abruptly broken relationships, unlived resentments, unexpressed anger, unspoken grievances, and imperfect actions.

If a person tends to interrupt himself or does not know how to resist when others stop him, he accumulates unfinished situations. The energy allocated (and unspent) on them will keep him in constant tension and direct the focus of attention to unfinished deeds, preventing him from living fully in the present day.

But the Zeigarnik effect has a positive side. If it is difficult for you to start some business, you can use the method of small first steps. It’s about breaking down the complex into small details. And then, even if you put it aside, the focus of attention, thoughts will constantly return to this process, stimulating you to continue and finally complete what you have started.

Fritz Perls himself, the founder of Gestalt therapy, also had his own unclosed Gestalt. In 1936, the scientist came to Prague for the International Psychoanalytic Congress to deliver a report and to meet with Freud, whom he revered. But the meeting disappointed him by failing to answer his questions. It lasted only four minutes.

Perls recalled that he had traveled from South Africa to make a presentation and see the legend, but received only a short answer to his questions, “So when are you leaving?” Perls later referred to this meeting as one of the major unfinished situations of his life.

Is it always necessary to close gestalts?

Needs must be met. To do this, it is important to be able to recognize them. To understand which needs are important and primary, to find ways to satisfy them, to establish contact and to appropriate the experience. But this is not always possible.

A person is capable of interrupting himself, due to his traumatic experience or character traits.

There are times when there is not enough experience to solve a task. For example, a person does not understand the Internet, does not know how to use a search engine and is afraid to find information. Then it can happen that his interest – to learn more about something – will remain unsatisfied. Or he may ask an incompetent acquaintance and not get enough information, which will also leave him unsatisfied.

The process of contact can be interrupted without the participation of the person himself. External factors intervene: natural disasters, illnesses, accidents, etc. Here much will depend on the person’s ability to bear the tension of the arisen experiences and creatively adapt to the circumstances.

For example, the electricity is cut off, and a person naturally feels irritation. Not recognizing the anger or not understanding its source or fearing to call a specialist, he can simply vent his irritation on his loved ones. Tension will be relieved in this way, but there will be no satisfaction.

To get it, you need to act constructively: be patient and wait until the electricity is turned on. Or direct the energy of anger to find another source of information. You can also get the problem solved by the responsible person – the electrician.

There are times when it is impossible to close a gestalt because there is no one or nothing to contact. For example, it often happens that the person from whom we would like to receive love and acceptance is no longer alive…..

Then the grieving process comes to our aid, which includes experiencing shock, anger, sadness, and gratitude. All of these feelings help the person realize and accept that they will not be able to fulfill their need at all or do so in the way they would like. It is then the grieving process that helps to close the gestalt.

How does it help our mental health?

Gestalt therapy is about re-establishing a person’s contact with his environment. It helps to see and understand how he succeeds and whether he is able to adapt creatively, how he avoids, interrupts or fails to complete contact.

The technique restores the ability to emotional experience, which in modern upbringing is often subject to prohibitions, as public expression of anger, grief, longing, resentment, and sometimes joy, tenderness, love and joy is difficult to be perceived by others. It also gives a person the opportunity to notice his or her repetitive but outdated behavior, which hinders his or her contacts with the world.

Thus, Gestalt therapy helps a person to start living independently, focusing on his or her own abilities and limitations, rather than on someone else’s ideas of what is right and necessary for him or her.