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Gestalt Therapy & Existentialism

Gestalt psychology emerged from a German movement that was a reaction against structural psychology. According to James F. Brennan (1998), underlying Gestalt psychology "was the nativistic proposition that the organization of mental activity predisposes the individual to interact with the environment in characteristic ways" (p. 213). The goals of Gestalt psychology and therapy are to investigate the organization of mental activity while determining the exact nature of the interaction between the person and the environment.

The principles of Gestalt psychology are described by Brennan (1998) as growing out of both existential philosophy and research on sensory and perceptual processes. These principles have been applied to learning theory. The focus of the person-environment interaction is termed "the perceptual field" whose major characteristic is organization. In other words, Gestalt asserts that individuals seek closure, congruence, and object constancy. What Gestalt proposes, according to Brennan (1998), is an examination of the ways in which the individual and his or her environment achieve integration and wholeness.

Corey (1986) noted that the Gestalt view of human nature is rooted in existential philosophy and phenomenology. According to the Manchester (England) Gestalt Centre (2004):

Existentialism was a philosophical reversal of the dualism inherent in Platonic and Cartesian thought: essence and matter, body and soul. Existentialism makes primary the 'is-ness' of existence, rather than any attributes. There is great emphasis on the choices which people make, and people's relationship with the givens of the world, for example with death. And this is precisely what Gestalt field theory offers. The field is primary, experience arises from the field, 'self' and 'other' are processes in the field, our choices configure the field, meaning arises from field interactions rather than from some pre-existing 'essenc...

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Gestalt Therapy & Existentialism. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 12:33, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1695955.html