Gestalt psychology main areas of research. What is Gestalt in simple words

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Do you remember many such situations when, for example, communication with your clients at work went on positive notes, and at the same time you were able to very easily agree on a deal? A little? Vague? Do you remember what happened, but the details are not preserved in your memory?

And when, on the contrary, did it all end in a quarrel, misunderstanding? Is it reflected much better and brighter in memories? That's right, that's exactly how it happens for most people. This is Gestalt.

Until it is closed and “it’s all spinning around in your head,” it will be difficult for you to find peace, balance and feel happy. The methods of Gestalt psychology help to get rid of everything “stuck in the head” and continue to live happily, enjoying it.

What is Gestalt and why does it haunt us?

The word itself comes from German (who would doubt it based on its sound) Gestalt. Literally translated, it means figure, image, form or structure (you can look it up in Google Translator yourself). In other words, it is a holistic image that is more than the sum of its parts.

A German philosopher introduced it into use more than a century ago, and gave a more accurate, but less understandable explanation (it is given in the video below).

Would you like an example of such an image (gestalt)? Well, take the tune. After all, it is much more than the individual sounds of its components. The same can be said about the painting. This property of the psyche is to look for the whole in the scattered.

We can mentally collect some separate things into a single image. This is how our psyche works and it has helped us survive for centuries (for example, recognizing the figure of a predator hiding in the bushes).

The most important property of Gestalt is desire for completion. I'm sure you have it in your memory better image a movie you didn't get to watch. Search your head. And how many times have you seen when an injured athlete still strives to at least hobble to the finish line. The desire for completion is something we all have.

All this happens at the subconscious level and a common person(who does not know how to professionally delve into his own head) simply does not realize all this. However, some unfinished gestalts “sit in the head” very deeply and haunt us (sometimes throughout our lives), leaving their mark on behavior. People are most prone to this, that is, with.

A person repeatedly pulls out of his memory some problematic, still unresolved situation, and it torments him. This can last for years, often going back to childhood. The whole catch is that the reason for the problematic nature of this situation (incompleteness of the gestalt) we simply do not realize, which prevents you from getting out of it.

It's like a splinter from which we feel discomfort, but we cannot understand the root cause. Gestalt psychology It is precisely recognized to point out this thorn to a person and help him get rid of it. No, not even that. Not to point out, but to teach how to find this relationship yourself and get rid of such mental splinters in the future on your own.

This therapy is designed to teach a person get rid of destructive gestalts on your own so that he can go through life without limping on both legs, but calmly and constructively building his future (without unnecessary unfinished psychological problems behind him).

The root cause of all problems in Gestalt psychology is recognized as the fact that this special person cannot live in the present and drags with him all the unclosed gestalts from the past. He constantly retrieves them from his memory, scrolls through them and suffers because he did something wrong then. To close all these problems and teach a person to live in the present - this is the task of a therapist practicing this technique.

A look into the history of Gestalt psychology

Until the 1940s, the world of psychotherapy was dominated by Freud's method. His German student, Fritz Perls, together with his wife, revised their views on his theory. They added new concepts and slightly changed the way they communicated with the person in the session.

« Gestalt therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality" is the first published book on the subject, written by him with Paul Goodman. According to its concept and principles, psychotherapy was carried out in the clinic (more precisely, just in the apartment) of the Perls.

What was this psychotherapy like? Fritz got into conflict with clients, raised a strong storm among them negative emotions. A little later, group therapy was introduced because he considered the individual format too outdated.

On the Internet you can find rare historical footage of his Gestalt sessions, after watching which (though only with Russian subtitles, and not with Russian translation) you will understand his method:

Over time, this practice spread throughout Europe. Only the attitude towards people at the session became more serious. Although some avid Gestalt therapists still remain old school and can afford to heat up the atmosphere.

Do you remember the pictures that show either a vase or the faces of people looking at each other? Some of this becomes the main figure, and some, accordingly, becomes the background for it.

Edgar Rubin studied this phenomenon. I came to the conclusion that some situations in a person’s life become the main ones, more attention is paid to them. Everything else fades into the background.

Incomplete gestalt - what is the essence of the problem

Gestalt is integrity, completeness. Refers not only to classic relationships between parents, friends, couples. In general, to satisfy desires, achieve goals, etc.

When someone is in disagreement with a loved one or cannot for a long time Finding a job is very depressing, you will agree. Let's look at a couple of common ones life situations to understand what's what.

Examples

Imagine the situation. The man really wanted to become an artist, tried to draw, but then abandoned it. Time passes, everything goes as usual, but when he reaches into the closet for some things, he accidentally stumbles upon his work.

What's happening? He is sad because he remembers his a desire that was not achieved. Then he walks around the apartment sad for a whole week.

Let's consider an unfinished gestalt using the example of a separation between a man and a woman. Let's say one of them decides to separate. As a rule, such news will come out of the blue in the middle of summer. The person will be discouraged and upset.

Perhaps he will fall into a state of hopelessness, deepen into a depressive state. He will be tormented by thoughts that it is impossible to return everything as before, to fix something.

This the situation will remain unresolved, if it is not worked out correctly in your head on your own or with the help of a psychotherapist.

How does a Gestalt therapy session work?

Gestalt therapy is in simple words, attempt close those things and life situations that do not give a person peace.

If this is an individual session, then the client tells the psychologist about what worries him. And the therapist helps to find a way out. The main word here is “helps”, not “indicates” a solution to the problem.

If the psychotherapist immediately indicates how to act, what to do, how to think, then the gestalt will close, yes. But in further similar situations, the person will again not know what to do, how to cope with himself and the world around him. That's why psychologist teaches you to think correctly, independently get out of the labyrinth of troubles.

The therapist has in his arsenal not only a regular conversation with the client, but also many techniques. For example, there is a technique suitable for people who have an open gestalt with some person with whom it is no longer possible to physically talk and solve the problem. Let’s say he doesn’t want to see him, he left for another country or died.

In this case, a chair is placed opposite the client and asked to imagine that someone with whom there has been a misunderstanding or is harboring a strong grudge is sitting on it. This may take some time as you need to go deeper into the situation. After which the client must tell the image that he forgives him, lets him go, and no longer holds negative feelings. Before this, he can express all the negativity to “him” - to let off steam.

The “Here and Now” principle in Gestalt psychology

Gestalt is what you need to close in order to be happy.. And the principle of “here and now” is an approach to thinking that takes its origins from the philosophy of Buddhism. By the way, Fritz Perls carefully studied Eastern culture.

The psychotherapist always asks how the patient is feeling at the moment, what emotions and feelings he has. If a person talks about the past, the psychologist tries to bring him back to the present with questions:

What is your relationship like now?
How do you feel when you say this?
How can this situation be corrected today?
How does this situation affect you now?

This creates confidence that the client has control over the problem here and now. Even if it happened several years ago.

Understanding that a person should live at a given moment and hour is very difficult for us. We often get stuck either in the past or in dreams of the future.

Therefore, there are exercises on how to learn this. One of them can be done during breakfast, lunch and dinner. We need to focus on the cutlery that we bring to our mouth; during the process of chewing food; on the hand that reaches for salt. Here and now.

When should you contact a Gestalt psychologist?

Different areas of psychotherapy are suitable for certain types of people and certain areas of problems, but not suitable for others. How to understand what you need and whether you need it at all?

Under what circumstances should you contact a professional? who understands Gestalt therapy? The answer is not at all obvious, but honest answers to a number of questions (they are given below) will help you figure it out.

If you find any of the following symptoms in yourself (or several of them at once), then you should seriously think about the methods of Gestalt psychology:

You often experience stressful situations;
There are difficulties communicating with parents/children/friends/husband/wife;
Difficulty adapting to a new environment;
You are immersed in a long-term depressive state;
You are a victim of mental or physical violence;
Periodically, an incomprehensible feeling of sadness or emptiness arises;
You have experienced a bereavement and need support;
You have phobias that impair your quality of life;
You cannot achieve your goal;
You cannot satisfy your desire;
You cannot start living today;
It's hard for you to define what you're feeling.

We need to choose a psychotherapist with whom we can communicate comfortably. Don't be afraid to change a few until you find the right one. Then the effectiveness of the sessions will be much higher, and you will be satisfied with the result.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

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Main advantage

The main thing and the most big advantage is a holistic approach to a person that takes into account his mental, physical, spiritual and social aspects. Gestalt therapy, instead of focusing on the question “Why is this happening to a person?” replaces it with the following: “What does a person feel now and how can this be changed?” Therapists working in this direction try to focus people's attention on awareness of the processes that happen to them “here and now.” Thus, the client learns to take responsibility for his life and for everything that happens in it, and, consequently, for making the desired changes.

Perls himself viewed Gestalt as a whole, the destruction of which leads to the production of fragments. The form strives to be unified, and if this does not happen, the person finds himself in an unfinished situation that puts pressure on him. There are often many unfinished gestalts hidden in people, which are not so difficult to get rid of, it’s enough to see them. The huge advantage is that to discover them there is no need to delve into the depths of the unconscious, but you just need to learn to notice the obvious.

The Gestalt approach is based on such principles and concepts as integrity, responsibility, the emergence and destruction of structures, unfinished forms, contact, awareness, “here and now.”

The most important principle

A person is a holistic being, and he cannot be divided into any components, for example, into body and psyche or soul and body, since such artificial techniques cannot positively affect his understanding of his own inner world.

A holistic gestalt consists of a personality and the space surrounding it, influencing each other. To better understand this principle, you can turn to the psychology of interpersonal relationships. It makes it possible to clearly monitor how much influence society has on an individual. However, by changing himself, he influences other people, who, in turn, also become different.

TO key concepts The Moscow Gestalt Institute, like many others, refers to the concept of “contact”. A person is constantly in contact with something or someone - with plants, the environment, other people, informational, bioenergetic and psychological fields.

The place where an individual comes into contact with the environment is usually called the contact boundary. How better person feels and the more flexibly he can regulate the contact difference, the more successful he is in meeting his own needs and achieving his goals. However, this process is characterized characteristic features, which lead to disruption of the individual’s productive activity in various areas of interaction. Perls Gestalt therapy is aimed at overcoming such disorders.

The principle of the emergence and destruction of gestalt structures

Using the principle of the emergence and destruction of gestalt structures, one can easily explain the behavior of a person. Each person arranges his life depending on his own needs, to which he gives priority. His actions are aimed at meeting needs and achieving existing goals.

For a better understanding, you can consider several examples. So, a person who wants to buy a house saves money to buy it, finds suitable option and becomes the owner of his own home. And those who want to have a child direct all their efforts to achieve this goal. After the desired is achieved (the need is satisfied), the gestalt is completed and destroyed.

The concept of an unfinished gestalt

However, not every gestalt reaches its completion (and then destruction). What happens to some people and why do they constantly form the same type of unfinished situations? This is the question long years interested specialists in the field of psychology and psychiatry. This phenomenon is called unfinished gestalt.

Specialists whose place of work is one or another Gestalt institute have managed to recognize that the lives of many people are often filled with constantly recurring typical negative situations. For example, a person, despite the fact that he does not like to be exploited, constantly finds himself in precisely such situations, and someone who does not have a good personal life comes into contact with people he does not need over and over again. Such “deviations” are associated precisely with incomplete “images”, and the human psyche will not be able to find peace until they reach their logical end.

That is, a person who has an incomplete “structure”, on a subconscious level, constantly strives to create a negative unfinished situation only in order to resolve it and finally close this issue. A Gestalt therapist artificially creates a similar situation for his client and helps him find a way out of it.

Awareness

One more basic concept Gestalt therapy is awareness. It is worth noting that a person’s intellectual knowledge about his external and internal world has nothing to do with him. Gestalt psychology associates awareness with being in the so-called “here and now” state. It is characterized by the fact that a person performs all actions, guided by consciousness and being vigilant, and does not live a mechanical life, relying solely on the stimulus-reactive mechanism, as is typical of animals.

Most problems (if not all) appear in a person’s life for the reason that he is guided by the mind and not by consciousness. But, unfortunately, the mind is a rather limited function, and people who live only by it do not even suspect that they are actually something more. This leads to the replacement of the true state of reality with an intellectual and false one, and also to the fact that the life of each person takes place in a separate illusory world.

Gestalt therapists around the world, including the Moscow Gestalt Institute, are confident that to solve most problems, misunderstandings, misunderstandings and difficulties, a person only needs to achieve awareness of his internal and external reality. The state of awareness does not allow people to act badly by giving in to impulses of random emotions, since they are always able to see the world around them as it really is.

Responsibility

From a person’s awareness, another useful quality is born - responsibility. The level of responsibility for one’s life directly depends on the level of clarity of a person’s awareness of the surrounding reality. It is human nature to always shift responsibility for one’s failures and mistakes onto others or even higher power However, everyone who manages to accept responsibility takes a big leap on the path of individual development.

Most people are not at all familiar with the concept of gestalt. They will find out what it is at an appointment with a psychologist or psychotherapist. The specialist identifies the problem and develops ways to eliminate it. It is for this purpose that Gestalt therapy has a wide variety of techniques, among which there are both its own and those borrowed from such as transactional analysis, art therapy, psychodrama, etc. According to Gestaltists, within the framework of their approach, you can use any methods that serve as natural continuation of the “therapist-client” dialogue and strengthen the processes of awareness.

The principle of “here and now”

According to him, everything that really matters happens in the moment. The mind takes a person to the past (memories, analysis of past situations) or to the future (dreams, fantasies, planning), but does not give the opportunity to live in the present, which leads to the fact that life passes by. Gestalt therapists encourage each of their clients to live “here and now”, without looking into the illusory world. All the work of this approach is connected with awareness of the present moment.

Types of Gestalt techniques and contracting

All Gestalt therapy techniques are conventionally divided into “projective” and “dialogue”. The former are used to work with dreams, images, imaginary dialogues, etc.

The latter represent painstaking work that is carried out by the therapist at the border of contact with the client. The specialist, having tracked the interruption mechanisms of the person with whom he is working, turns his emotions and experiences into part of his environment, and then brings them to the boundary of contact. It is worth noting that Gestalt techniques of both types are intertwined in work, and a clear distinction between them is possible only in theory.

The Gestalt therapy procedure, as a rule, begins with such a technique as concluding a contract. This direction is characterized by the fact that the specialist and the client are equal partners, and the latter bears no less responsibility for the results of the work performed than the former. This aspect is precisely discussed at the stage of concluding the contract. At the same moment, the client forms his goals. It is very difficult for a person who constantly avoids responsibility to agree to such conditions, and already at this stage he needs work. At the stage of concluding a contract, a person begins to learn to be responsible for himself and for what happens to him.

"Hot chair" and "empty chair"

The “hot chair” technique is one of the most famous among therapists whose place of work is the Moscow Gestalt Institute and many other structures. This method used for group work. A “hot chair” is a place where a person sits who intends to tell those present about his difficulties. During the work, only the client and the therapist interact with each other, the rest of the group members listen silently, and only at the end of the session talk about how they felt.

The basic Gestalt techniques also include the “empty chair”. It is used to place a person significant to the client with whom he can conduct a dialogue, and it does not matter so much whether he is currently alive or has already died. Another purpose of the “empty chair” is dialogue between various parts personality. This is necessary when the client has opposite attitudes that generate

Concentration and experimental enhancement

The Gestalt Institute calls its original technique concentration (focused awareness). There are three levels of awareness - internal worlds (emotions, bodily sensations), external worlds (what I see, hear), and thoughts. Keeping in mind one of the main principles of Gestalt therapy, “here and now,” the client tells the specialist about his awareness at the moment. For example: “Now I’m lying on the couch and looking at the ceiling. I just can't relax. My heart is beating very fast. I know there is a therapist next to me.” This technique enhances the sense of the present, helps to understand the ways in which a person is removed from reality, and is also valuable information for further work with him.

Another effective technique is experimental amplification. It consists in maximizing any verbal and non-verbal manifestations that are little realized by him. For example, in a case where a client, without realizing it, often begins his conversation with the words “yes, but...”, the therapist can suggest that he begin each phrase this way, and then the person becomes aware of his competition with others and the desire to always have the last word. .

Working with Polarities

This is another method that Gestalt therapy often uses. Techniques in this field are often aimed at identifying opposites in a person. Among them, working with polarities occupies a special place.

For example, for a person who constantly complains that he doubts himself, a specialist suggests that those who are confident try to communicate with the people around him from this position. It is equally useful to have a dialogue between your uncertainty and confidence.

For a client who does not know how to ask for help, the Gestalt therapist suggests turning to group members, sometimes even with very ridiculous requests. This technique makes it possible to expand the individual’s zone of awareness by including previously inaccessible personal potential.

Working with dreams

This technique is used by psychotherapists of various directions, but the original Gestalt method has features that are characteristic only of it. Here, the specialist considers all elements of sleep as parts of the human personality, with each of which the client must identify. This is done to appropriate one’s own projections or get rid of retroflections. In addition, in this technique no one has canceled the use of the “here and now” principle.

Thus, the client should tell the therapist about his dream as if it were something happening in the present time. For example: “I am running along a forest path. I have great mood and I enjoy every moment spent in this forest, etc.” It is necessary for the client to describe his dream “here and now” not only from own name, but also on behalf of other people and objects present in the vision. For example, “I am a winding forest path. A person is running towards me now, etc.”

Thanks to its own and borrowed techniques, Gestalt therapy helps people get rid of all kinds of masks and establish trusting contact with others. The Gestalt approach takes into account heredity, the experience acquired in the first years of life, the influence of society, but at the same time it calls on each person to take responsibility for their own life and for everything that happens in it.

The definition of “gestalt” in psychology comes from the German words “image”, “form”, “structure”. It means the integrity of perception or the balance of forces influencing the elements of the surrounding world. Gestalt psychology is based on the principle: unfinished business and unhappened events prevent a person from enjoying life.

The concept of Gestalt psychology appeared around 1912, when Max Wertheimer described the phenomenon of the irreducibility of the perception of the whole to a collection of individual elements.

What is Gestalt? This term refers to the concept of a single whole, which is something different from the sum of its individual parts. The only thing common between the two terms is the word gestalt. The founder of therapy, Perls, had a superficial understanding of Gestalt psychology, having mastered only part of the fundamental works devoted to this issue. He used some ideas, but nothing more.

Gestalt is, and therapy contains only a small part of its elements. It is a mixture of psychodrama, analytics and bioenergetics.

Gestalt psychology - what is it in simple words? This is a scientific direction aimed at studying the characteristics of human perception. Several interesting features of the psyche were found experimentally, such as the laws of correlation and grouping of objects.

The basic principle of Gestalt psychology: the whole is not just the sum of its parts, but something more significant. A person perceives his surroundings holistically, that is, he does not see a collection of individual lines and points (a tree, and not a set of leaves, branches and a trunk).

Defense Mechanisms

The main gestalt approach in psychology is understanding and respecting human defense mechanisms necessary for comfortable interaction with the outside world. They are required by the individual to interrupt traumatic contact and maintain his integrity.

It also unconsciously creates defense mechanisms, considered in Gestalt psychology. They allow you to get out of a traumatic situation and interrupt contact with the environment. On the other hand, their appearance leads to the fact that the situation does not have its end, since the discomfort is poorly recognized and the traumatic events are repeated again.

What are defense mechanisms in gelstatt psychology? These are neurotic processes and behavioral characteristics that are unconsciously used by a person to interrupt painful contact. Experiences and painful feelings are a signal of an urgent need. However, the peculiarities of the human psyche are such that he often unconsciously resorts to self-manipulation and self-regulation.

Self-manipulation - what is it in Gestalt psychology? A method to stop identifying feelings and satisfying a specific need. Often a person is not able to navigate his experiences and concludes that his needs should be satisfied by others, or, on the contrary, he directs negative feelings towards himself, and not towards others. external environment. This is what the defense mechanism looks like: avoidance occurs, interruption of contact with the environment.

The main defense mechanisms in Gestalt psychology are:

introjection is a state in which a person, without internal evaluation, allows into himself any attitudes or moral principles of other people, blindly accepting them on faith;
confluence (merging with someone) manifests itself in the fact that it is difficult for a person to distinguish himself from others or to highlight his main experience. In this case, the pronoun “we” will constantly appear in the subject’s speech;
egotism is an exaggeration of the ego, when the subject closes himself in and cannot allow himself to be completely dissolved in what is happening (man in a case);
projection is when a person attributes to other objects something characteristic of him inner world;
retroflection is when a person addresses to himself what was intended environment(projection in reverse).

Gestalt therapy is carried out over a long period of time and carefully, under the guidance of a person with psychological problems Even in childhood, one gets used to existing within a certain emotional framework (a tunnel of defense mechanisms) and a forced withdrawal beyond this limitation can be complicated by psychosomatic diseases or even decompensation. It will be better if intense experiences and “passions” enter the client’s life gradually.

A Gestalt psychologist will help a person gain awareness; for this purpose, the therapy arsenal includes special techniques and techniques that allow one to gradually adapt and get out of a difficult state and achieve full contact with the environment.

Gestalt therapy: techniques, what Gestalt therapy teaches

The leading methods of therapy are role-playing games. These practices help the client find a solution to the problem and find a way out of a deadlock. F. Perls found effective technique, which allows you to free yourself from negativity and find a solution to the problem. It's called "empty chair". The person is asked to imagine that a specific person is sitting on him. It is easier for an imaginary interlocutor to “express” complaints and free himself from psychological burden.

A frequently used technique in Gestalt therapy is dream analysis. It is believed that the technique makes it possible to determine individual characteristics the client, as well as to restore in memory any traumatic events. The person is asked to keep a diary for 2 weeks in which to record dreams. Then you need to choose the brightest one and play it in the presence of a specialist. It is expected that this will help reconnect with episodes of the past that the client previously refused to acknowledge.

A well-known Gestalt method is pillow beating, which releases unspoken anger. The client imagines an object that causes him aggression and beats him, getting rid of pent-up anger.

The following Gestalt technique helps to increase awareness:

The client says out loud a phrase that clearly defines his self, for example:

I realize that I am in this room and sitting on a chair;
I realize that I am currently feeling sad.

In this way, the subject separates his internal sensations from subjective assessments and interpretations. This simple and very common technique helps to create an image of how the patient is aware of himself.

Unfinished Gestalt

The founder of Gestalt therapy, F. Perls, defined main reason internal feeling of dissatisfaction with life (in other words, lack of happiness). In his opinion, the factor creating neurosis is not a closed gestalt. To complete it, it is necessary to achieve an indifferent attitude towards it. The more negative the client feels about the situation, the more difficult it is to achieve closure of the gestalt.

What is an incomplete gestalt in psychology? Is not goal achieved, provoking repetition of life situations and connecting the client with certain people. In other words, this is:

unfulfilled desires;
unfinished business and plans;
an unexpected and painful break in personal relationships.

Any episode from life that periodically emerges in memory and at the same time causes strong negative experiences is an incomplete gestalt.

You should get rid of it for two reasons:

The situation is causing internal tension, Creates life dissatisfaction and decreased self-esteem.
It becomes a serious obstacle to achieving other goals. A person feels unsure of his abilities.

Often such people cannot establish contacts with others, exhausting them with constant excursions into the past and complaints about dissatisfaction with life. In this case, conscious actions upon completion of the gestalt will help. Psychologists recommend realizing the most simple and even ridiculous dream, the achievement of which will not take much effort and time. For example, you can learn to cook some exotic dish, dance the waltz or swim breaststroke. It has been noticed that after this the remaining, more important gestalts will begin to close.

Projection and introjection in Gestalt therapy

To increase awareness, psychologists teach clients to work with two main defense mechanisms - projection and introjection:

Projection is a feature of the psyche when a person tends to attribute to living and inanimate objects properties inherent in his own inner world. Man by nature tends to anticipate events, relying on his negative experience. In the client’s speech this is manifested by an abundance of pronouns “they” and “you”. A person is unable to recognize anger or hostility in himself, complains about others, projecting his emotions onto them: “they don’t like me,” “you don’t value me.”
The state when a person transfers to others qualities or emotions that he himself possesses or would like to have is called mirror projection. Often this situation does not allow the individual to recognize his valuable traits or qualities, attributing them to strangers, and considering himself unworthy of possession.
The situation when a person transfers to others properties or emotions that he does not want to recognize in himself is called the projection of catharsis.
There is also an additional projection when an individual gives others far-fetched properties, attitudes, emotions that somehow justify his own unsightly qualities.
The mechanism by which a person internalizes other people's ideas or principles without critical evaluation and reflection is called introjection. The speaker conveys such things in a peremptory tone. For example: “elders must be respected,” “being late is rude,” “it is unacceptable to hurt a person.”

In the process of development, children acquire behavioral patterns, attitudes, ideas about others, beliefs and ways. They perceive them without understanding responsibility and project them into their lives, receiving feedback. A healthy adult attitude is to see the world clearly, be aware of one's projections, and show responsibility and empathy for others. During therapy, the therapist helps the client gain awareness and take responsibility for life events.

Who can benefit from Gestalt psychology and therapy?

Gestalt therapy has the widest range of application, which is much larger than that of other areas of psychology. Possible individual, family and group therapy, work with clients childhood, seminars, etc. This type of therapy is used in private and public medical institutions, as well as personal growth centers.

What is Gestalt psychology and who is it recommended for? This area of psychology is of interest to clients working to expand self-awareness, develop responsibility, and self-improvement. Hypnologist and hypnotherapist Nikita Valerievich Baturin conducts face-to-face and correspondence consultations, trainings and sessions. His activities are aimed at helping people suffering from depression, phobias, increased anxiety, and low self-esteem.

Gestalt therapy is applicable to working with groups of people of different ages and clients with severe psychological disorders. The method is most effective in treating clients with phobias and depression, violation of internal restrictions, increased anxiety and a tendency toward perfectionism.

The therapy is also successfully used in the elimination of psychosomatic diseases, for example, gastrointestinal dysfunction, migraine headaches, spasms of the back and neck muscles. Gestalt therapists also work with couples to resolve psychological conflicts. Sessions can help with some mental disorders and severe emotional disorders.

“Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I’ll remember, let me do it and I’ll understand.” The book “Delegation and Management” by Confucius (representative of ancient Chinese philosophy).

Most perceive psychology as a complex of life phenomena. Although, on the other hand, this is a system of proven knowledge, with its help various practical and purely scientific problems are solved. In the 16th century, “psychology” was first mentioned as a field that deals with the study of phenomena from the mental and mental side. In the 17th-19th centuries, the field of study grew significantly and included processes at the unconscious level. And since the 19th century, psychology has been an experimental field of scientific knowledge.

What is Gestalt psychology?

Gestalt psychology is a direction in psychology that arose during a crisis period in science (1920). The founder was M. Wertheimer, work on the idea was continued by K. Levin, V. Keller and K. Koffka. Gestalt psychology originated in Germany and became a kind of objection to the program developed by Wundt.

Human visual consciousness was studied. Based on the results obtained, a new unit “gestalt” was developed (gestalt in psychology is a unitary form). Its essence is that people tend to understand the world around them as a consistent integral structure, and not each element separately.

Proponents of Gestalt psychology denied the effectiveness of structural psychology (consciousness is divided into blocks) and everything that it focuses on. They even formulated a kind of law stating that “the whole is in any case greater than the totality of its constituent elements.”

According to Wikipedia, initially the subject of Gestalt psychology was the phenomenal field. In the future, the topic expanded significantly: questions about problems included mental development, the diversity of individuals' needs, memory and extraordinary thinking.

The emergence and development of the school of Gestalt psychology

Gestalt psychology was born after one very important experiment by Max Wertheimer called the “phi-phenomenon”. The essence of the study: using a tachostoscope and a strobe, the scientist observed two straight lines (stimuli) in the participants, transmitting them different speeds. Thus he found out that:

lines are perceived sequentially if the gap is large;
the lines are realized simultaneously if the gap is minimal;
awareness of movement appears (the testee followed the movement of the line in a certain direction, and not two together or one after another);
“phi-phenomenon” if the gap is optimal (exclusively pure movement is perceived, the subject understands that there is movement, but without changing the position of the line itself).

He outlined the results of the experiment in detail in his work in 1912. This and his other works attracted the interest of many famous scientists of the time. Further, Gestalt psychology acquired many representatives, the most important of which is K. Koffka.

The results of his own research are shown in Perception: An Introduction to Gestalt Theory. In 1921, the book “Fundamentals of Mental Development” was published, which tells about the formation of child psychology. The work was extremely popular both in Germany and abroad.

Koffka's research on perception in children revealed a number of interesting patterns. One of them: initially, the child actually owns a set of partial and not very logical images of the entire external world. Then the scientist decided that perception is strongly influenced by the ratio of figure and background on which the object is located. Afterwards he formulated the law of transduction in psychology. In the Gestalt school, this is one of the theories of perception, briefly outlining which it turns out that children are aware not of the colors themselves, but of their combinations.

Gestalt, what is it in psychology: ideas, laws and principles

Consciousness is what the Gestalt psychologist, as a representative of the school, works with. In essence, it is a living whole in which all the constituent elements interact with each other. A good analogy: human body as a whole, it consists of many systems that work harmoniously and properly for many years. Gestalt psychology is based on the following basic concepts:

What is Gestalt? A measure of consciousness, a certain figurative configuration.
Gestalt psychology uses consciousness as its subject of study. Its study is based on the use of the principle of integrity.
Observation and description are the main research methods. Perception does not come from sensations, they are unreal. It comes from hearing, as from a reflection of changes in air pressure.
Visual perception comes first. This is the leading process in psychology, determining the degree of development of the psyche.
Thinking is the process of solving problems using structured fields. Through insight in the present time.

Basic laws of perception in Gestalt psychology:

Transposition. The psyche responds to a complex of stimuli, and not to each one separately.
Constancy. All processes strive for immutability.
Proximity. The tendency to combine adjacent elements into one whole.
Figure and background occupy one of the most important places in Gestalt psychology. Each figure is an isolated whole, the background is something dynamic behind the figure.
Law of Pregnancy. The tendency to react to the most constant and simple figure among all possible ones.
Closure. If a person sees something incomprehensible, the brain tries to transform the information into something that is familiar to us.

Gestalt psychology is a direction in psychology in which all the laws of perception are in contact with each other using certain principles:

intimacy;
isolation;
common area;
similarity;
adjacency;
integrity.

The Gestalt theory of perception focuses on 3 constants:

Size. It remains unchanged, regardless of changes in its position on the retina.
Form. It always remains constant.
Brightness. The brightness of an object remains constant, even as lighting conditions change.

Gestalt therapy

This is one of the types of psychotherapy, founded by F. Perls in the 50s of the last century. The subject of Gestalt therapy is the contact and boundaries within which a person and everything that surrounds him is located. Contact is the solvation of the needs of the individual with the capabilities of the environment. It turns out that a specific need can only be satisfied by making contact with the outside world. (You can quench your thirst if you take water.)

The main technique of such therapy is a game based on dialogue within oneself. The conversation is conducted with one or more parts of one's own personality. In principle, all therapy is aimed at completing some previously abandoned task - gestalt.

The circle of correct gestalt looks like this:

A need arises.
Ways are being sought to satisfy it.
Satisfaction occurs.
Contact with the outside world ends.

There are always a number of factors that interfere with the ideal process. If the cycle is not completed, then the person feels exhausted throughout his life and cannot open up to new desires. An incomplete gestalt can cause a serious disruption in the protective properties of the human psyche.

Gestalt psychology and therapy is an opportunity to help “oneself” and find the root causes of internal inconsistencies, to put it briefly. There are a number of exercises aimed at accepting oneself and what lies beyond the real at the same time. They should help you start thinking about yourself and opening up to the world. Find more engaging interactive content developed by leading psychologists on BrainApps. Tests and courses on self-development, over 90 exciting games will allow you to understand your inner experiences even faster and put everything in its place.

Gestalt pictures

Gestalt drawings are called upside-down pictures (illusions). Looking at them, you need to answer what you see and what emotions the image evokes. Such materials are not recommended for viewing by preschoolers, as they can lead to various mental disorders. Below are some well-known optical illusions. What exactly did you see on them?

At the beginning of the 20th century in Germany, Max Wertheimer, experimentally studying the features of visual perception, proved the following fact: the whole cannot be reduced to the sum of its parts. And this central position became fundamental in Gestalt psychology. It can be noted that the views of this psychological movement contradict the theory of Wilhelm Wundt, in which he highlighted the elements of consciousness. So, in one of his scientific research W. Wundt gives the subject a book and asks him to evaluate what he sees. At first, the subject says that he sees a book, but then, when the experimenter asks him to look more closely, he begins to notice its shape, color, and the material from which the book is made.

The ideas of Gestaltists differ; they believe that it is impossible to describe the world from the point of view of dividing it into elements. In 1912, M. Wertheimer’s work “ Experimental studies Perception of Motion”, in which he uses an experiment with a strobe light to show that movement cannot be reduced to the sum of two points. It should be noted that this same year is the year of birth of Gestalt psychology. Subsequently, the work of M. Wertheimer gained great popularity in the world and soon a school of Gestalt psychology appeared in Berlin, which included such popular scientific figures as Max Wertheimer himself, Wolfgang Köhler, Kurt Koffka, Kurt Lewin and other researchers. The main task facing the new scientific direction was to transfer the laws of physics to mental phenomena.

Basic ideas of Gestalt psychology

The main concept of Gestalt psychology is the concept of Gestalt. Gestalt is a pattern, configuration, a certain form of organization of individual parts that creates wholeness. Thus, Gestalt is a structure that is holistic and has special qualities, in contrast to the sum of its components. For example, a portrait of a person usually has a certain set constituent elements, but the human image itself is perceived completely differently in each individual case. In order to prove the fact regarding integrity, M. Wertheimer conducted an experiment with a strobe light, which made it possible to observe the illusion of movement of two light sources that light up alternately. This phenomenon is called the phi phenomenon. The movement was illusory and existed exclusively in this form; it could not be broken down into separate components.

In his subsequent studies, M. Wertheimer also extends his views regarding other mental phenomena. He views thinking as an alternating change of gestalts, that is, the ability to see the same problem from different angles, in accordance with the task.

Based on the above, we can highlight the main position of Gestalt psychology, which is as follows:

1) mental processes are initially holistic and have a certain structure. Elements can be identified in this structure, but all of them are secondary to it.

Thus, the subject of research in Gestalt psychology is consciousness, which is a dynamic integral structure where all elements are closely interconnected.

The next feature of perception that was studied in the school of Gestalt psychology, in addition to its integrity, was the constancy of perception:

2) constancy of perception represents the relative invariance of the perception of certain properties of objects when the conditions of their perception change. These properties include color or lighting constancy.

Based on such features of perception as integrity and constancy, Gestaltists highlight the principles of the organization of perception. They note that the organization of perception occurs precisely at the moment when a person turns his attention to the object of interest to him. At this time, parts of the perceived field are connected to each other and become one.

M. Wertheimer identified a number of principles according to which the organization of perception occurs:

The principle of proximity. Elements located next to each other in time and space are combined with each other and form a single form.
The principle of similarity. Similar elements are perceived as one, forming a kind of vicious circle.
The principle of closure. There is a tendency for humans to complete unfinished figures.
The principle of integrity. A person completes incomplete figures into a simple whole (there is a tendency to simplify the whole).
The principle of figure and ground. Everything that a person assigns a certain meaning is perceived by him as a figure against a less structured background.

Development of perception according to Koffka

Kurt Koffka's research made it possible to understand how human perception is formed. After conducting a series of experiments, he was able to establish that a child is born with unformed gestalts, unclear images of the outside world. For example, any change in appearance loved one, may lead to the child not recognizing him. K. Koffka suggested that gestalts, as images of the external world, are formed in a person with age and over time acquire more precise meanings, become clearer and differentiated.

Studying color perception in more detail, K. Koffka substantiated the fact that people do not distinguish colors as such, but their relationships among themselves. Considering the process of development of color perception over time, K. Koffka notes that initially a child is able to distinguish among themselves only those objects that have a certain color and those that do not have color. Moreover, the colored ones stand out to him as figures, and the uncolored ones are seen by him as the background. Then, to complete the gestalt, warm and cold shades are added, and already at an older age these shades begin to be divided into more specific colors. However, colored objects are perceived by the child only as figures located on a certain background. Thus, the scientist concluded that the main role in the formation of perception is played by the figure and the background against which it is presented. And the law, according to which a person perceives not the colors themselves, but their relationship, is called “transduction.”

Unlike the background, the figure has more bright color. However, there is also the phenomenon of a reversible figure. This occurs when, upon prolonged examination, the perception of an object changes, and then the background can become the main figure, and the figure - the background.

The concept of insight according to Köhler

Experiments with chimpanzees allowed Wolfgang Köhler to understand that the task assigned to an animal is solved either by trial and error or through sudden awareness. Based on his experiments, W. Köhler made the following conclusion: objects that are in the animal’s field of perception and that are in no way connected with each other, in the process of solving a particular problem, begin to connect into some single structure, the vision of which helps to resolve the problem situation. This structuring occurs instantly; in other words, insight occurs, which means awareness.

To prove that the solution certain tasks in humans occurs in a similar way, that is, thanks to the phenomenon of insight, W. Köhler conducted a number of interesting experiments to study the thought process of children. He posed a task for the children similar to the one posed for the monkeys. For example, they were asked to get a toy that was high on the cabinet. At first, in their field of perception there was only a closet and a toy. Next, they paid attention to the ladder, chair, box and other objects, and realized that they could be used to get the toy. In this way, a gestalt was formed and it became possible to solve the problem.

W. Köhler believed that the initial understanding of the general picture, after some time, is replaced by a more detailed differentiation and on the basis of this a new gestalt, more adequate for a specific situation, is already formed.

Thus, W. Köhler defined insight as solving a problem based on capturing logical connections between stimuli or events.

Lewin's dynamic theory of personality

From the point of view of Kurt Lewin, the main gestalt is a field that functions as a single space, and individual elements are pulled towards it. Personality exists in a charged psychological field of elements. The valence of each item that is in this field can be either positive or negative. The variety of objects surrounding a person contributes to the emergence of his needs. The existence of such needs can be manifested by the presence of a feeling of tension. Thus, to achieve a harmonious state, a person needs to satisfy his needs.

Based on the basic ideas and principles of Gestalt psychology, Gestalt therapy was created in the mid-20th century by Frederick Perls.

Gestalt therapy according to Perls

The main idea of this therapy is the following: a person and everything that surrounds him is a single whole.

Gestalt therapy assumes that a person’s entire life consists of an infinite number of gestalts. Every event that happens to a person is a kind of gestalt, each of which has a beginning and an end. An important point is that any gestalt must be completed. However, completion is possible only when the human need that resulted in this or that gestalt is satisfied.

Thus, all Gestalt therapy is based on the need to complete unfinished business. However, there are various factors, which can interfere with the ideal completion of the gestalt. The incompleteness of the gestalt can manifest itself throughout a person’s life and interfere with his harmonious existence. In order to help a person get rid of excess tension, Gestalt therapy offers various techniques and exercises.

Using these techniques, Gestalt therapists help patients see and understand how unfinished Gestalts affect their lives in the present, and also help complete unfinished Gestalts.

An example of these techniques are exercises that are aimed at understanding oneself and others. Gestalt therapists call these techniques games in which the patient conducts an internal dialogue with himself, or builds a dialogue with parts of his own personality.

The most popular is the “empty chair” technique. For this technique, two chairs are used, which must be placed opposite each other. One of which contains a fictitious interlocutor, and the other - the patient, the main participant in the game. The main idea of the technique is that the patient gets the opportunity to play out the internal dialogue, identifying himself with his subpersonalities.

Thus, for Gestalt psychology, the fact that a person is an integral personality is integral. The constant development of this scientific direction to this day allows us to develop new methods of working with different patients. Gestalt therapy currently helps individuals make their lives more and more meaningful, conscious and fulfilling, and therefore allows them to achieve more high level psychological and physical health.

Bibliography:

Wertheimer M. Productive thinking: Trans. from English/General ed. S. F. Gorbova and V. P. Zinchenko. Entry Art. V. P. Zinchenko. - M.: Progress, 1987.
Perls F. “Gestalt approach. Witness to therapy." - M.: Publishing House of the Institute of Psychotherapy, 2003.
Shultz D.P., Shultz S.E. Story modern psychology/ Per. from English A.V. Govorunov, V.I. Kuzin, L.L. Tsaruk / Ed. HELL. Nasledov. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house "Eurasia", 2002.
Koehler V. Study of the intelligence of anthropoid apes. - M., 1930.
http://psyera.ru/volfgang-keler-bio.htm

Editor: Bibikova Anna Aleksandrovna