es'. Instead of Aristotle's "The unexamined life is not worth living", we have more "The unlived life is not worth examining." The Pollsters say "What is, is; and one thing follows another." Phenomenology asserts that while what we perceive is coloured by our preconceptions and our method of viewing, we can learn to pay close attention to the actuality of our sensing, to what our senses tell us. We can also learn to recognise what preconceptions we bring to a situation, and to bracket them off, and thus come closer to an ability to relate to our environment in an immediate way. Notice the similarity to the 'awareness continuum' in Gestalt therapy (p. 1).
The approach is also experiential, according to Corey (1986), in that it helps clients come to grips with what they are feeling, thinking and doing as they interact with another person -- the therapist. Gestalt therefore places a high premium on the willingness and the ability of the therapist to be "fully present" during the therapeutic encounter.
Also subsumed within Gestalt and of special significance in the context of Existentialism is the emphasis on the integration of unity of mind and body (Coleman, 1990). Gestalt therapy was first developed by Fritz Perls (1967) and was conceptualized as a means of teaching clients to recognize the bodily processes and emotional modalities that they tended to block off from their awareness. By increasing the individual's self-awareness, Perls (1967) theorized that the individual achieves a greater level of self-acceptance and therefore a reduction in tension, neurosis, hostility, or other damaging thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Gestalt therapy as articulated by Perls (1967) emphasizes the fact that no individual exists outside of a specific environment. To achieve wholeness, unity and integration, there must be an appropriate fit between the individual and the environment. It can be argued that Gestalt therapy facilitate...