Introducing the historical underpinnings & fundamental concepts of Gestalt therapy, this volume takes both a conceptual & a practical approach to the examination of classic & cutting-edge constructs.

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.

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.

The Gestalt approach is based on the philosophy that the human being is born with the healthy ability to regulate needs and wants in relationship with the environment in which she/he lives. Heightening of personal awareness and exploration of needs is enabled by the therapist who actively engages in supporting and assisting the therapeutic journey of the client. Gestalt Therapy: Advances in Theory and Practice is a collaboration of some of the best thinkers in the Gestalt therapy approach. It offers a summary of recent advances in theory and practice, and novel ideas for future development. Each chapter focuses on a different element of the Gestalt approach and, with contributors from around the world, each offers a different perspective of its ongoing evolution in relation to politics, religion and philosophy. Incorporating ideas about community, field theory, family and couple therapy, politics and spirituality, this book will be of interest not only to Gestalt therapists but also to non-Gestalt practitioners, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Counselling, behavioural science and psychotherapy students will also find this a valuable contribution to their learning.

Introducing the historical underpinnings & fundamental concepts of Gestalt therapy, this volume takes both a conceptual & a practical approach to the examination of classic & cutting-edge constructs.

Gestalt Therapy: Perspectives and Applications is a classic text which, when it was first released in 1992, signaled a renaissance of Gestalt scholarship throughout the world. In this volume, Edwin Nevis, one of the foremost Gestalt writers, thinkers, and practitioners of the last 40 years, skillfully draws together a diverse selection of essays from Gestalt therapists of every persuasion, united here by the clarity of their thought, and the constancy of commitment to the development and extension of the Gestalt model. Here you will find one of the finest overviews of classical Gestalt therapy theory and practice available: groundbreaking essays on such topics as diagnosis and ethics from a Gestalt perspective, and an assortment of pragmatic clinical essays of immediate value to the working practitioner.