Gestalt therapy and gestalt psychology / Richard Wallen -- Four lectures / Frederick S. Perls -- Gestalt therapy: a behavioristic phenomenology / Elaine Kepner and Lois Brien -- Present-centeredness: technique, prescription, and ideal / Claudio Naranjo -- Sensory functioning in psychotherapy / Erving Polster -- The paradoxical theory of change / Arnold Beisser -- The tasks of the therapist / Joen Fagan -- An introduction to gestalt techniques / John B. Enright -- One gestalt therapist's approach / Laura Perls -- Therapy in groups: psychoanalytic, experiential, and gestalt / Ruth C. Cohn -- The rules and games of gestalt therapy / Abraham Levitsky and Frederick S. Perls -- Experiential psychotherapy with families / Walter Kempler -- Mary: a session with a passive patient / James S. Simkin -- Anne: gestalt techniques with a woman with expressive difficulties / Joen Fagan -- Gross exaggeration with a schizophrenic patient / Henry T. Close -- A child with a stomachache: fusion of psychoanalytic concepts and gestalt techniques / Ruth C. Cohn -- Dream seminars / Frederick S. Perls -- Limitations and cautions in the gestalt approach / Irma Lee Shepherd -- Crisis psychotherapy: person, dialogue, and the organismic event / Vincent F. O'Connell -- Gestalt therapy as an adjunct treatment for some visual problems / Marily B. Rosanes-Berrett -- Awareness training in the mental health professions / John B. Enright -- The gestalt art experience / Janie Rhyne -- Anger and the rocking chair / Janet Lederman -- Staff training for a day-care center / Katherine Ennis and Sandra Mitchell -- Deception, decision-making, and gestalt therapy / Bruce Denner.

Paul Goodman left his mark in a number of fields: he went from being known as a social critic and philosopher of the New Left to poet and literary critic to author of influential works on education (Compulsory Mis-education) and community planning (Communitas). Perhaps his most significant achievement was in his contribution to the founding and theoretical portion of the classic text Gestalt Therapy (with F. S. Perls and R. E. Hefferline, 1951), still regarded as the cornerstone of Gestalt practice. Taylor Stoher's Here Now Next is the first scholarly account of the origins of Gestalt therapy, told from the point of view of its chief theoretician by a man who knew him well. Stoehr describes both Goodman's role in establishing the principal ideas of the Gestalt movement and the ways in which his practice as a therapist changed him, ultimately leading to a new vocation as the "socio-therapist" of the body politic. He places Goodman in the midst of his world, showing how his personal and public life - including his political activities in the 1960s - were transformed by Gestalt ideas, and he presents revealing sketches of other major figures from those days - Fritz Perls, Wilhelm Reich, A. S. Neill, and others.

This essential new book gives the reader an introduction to the fundamental concepts of gestalt therapy in a stimulating and accessible style. It supports the study and practice of gestalt therapy for clinicians of all backgrounds, reflecting a practice-based pedagogy that emphasises experiential learning. The content in this book builds on the curriculum taught at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute University College (NGI). The material is divided into four main sections. In the first section, the theoretical basis for gestalt therapy is presented with references to gestalt psychology, field theory, phenomenology, and existential philosophy. In the later parts, central theoretical terms and practical models are discussed, such as the paradoxical theory of change, creative adjustment, self, contact, contact forms, awareness, polarities, and process models. Clinical examples illustrate the therapy form’s emphasis on the relational meeting between therapist and client. Detailed description of gestalt therapy theory from the time of the gestalt psychologists to today, with abundant examples from clinical practice, distinguishes this book from other texts. It will be of great value to therapists, coaches, and students of gestalt therapy.

Gestalt therapy offers a present-focused, relational approach, central to which is the fundamental belief that the client knows the best way of adjusting to their situation. By working to heighten awareness through dialogue and creative experimentation, gestalt therapists create the conditions for a client's personal journey to health. Gestalt Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques provides a concise guide to this flexible and far-reaching approach. Topics discussed include: the theoretical assumptions underpinning gestalt therapy gestalt assessment and process diagnosis field theory, phenomenology and dialogue ethics and values evaluation and research. As such this book will be essential reading for gestalt trainees, as well as all counsellors and psychotherapists wanting to learn more about the gestalt approach.

This seminal textbook on Gestalt therapy refreshes the theory of by revisiting its European roots. Taking the basic premise that people do the best they can in relation to their own situation, leading European therapist Georges Wollants explains Gestalt theory and provides a useful critique of commonly taught concepts. Each section approaches a key area of psychotherapy theory in context, while chapter summaries, illustrations and worked-through case examples help to make the theory accessible to all those training in Gestalt therapy. Commentaries from current experts in different areas of Gestalt provide a balanced overview of Gestalt therapy today.