s identifying those areas in which the person-environment fit is inadequate or damaging. Once this problem is identified, it becomes possible for the therapist and client to develop strategies for eliminating dissonance and achieving a supportive degree of wholeness.
As an existential and experiential system of therapy, Gestalt offers a viable alternative to Freudian psychoanalytic theory and practice in that it is far more holistic and much less mechanistic (Corey, 1986, 1991). Perls (1967) and his followers were concerned with the "here-and-now" and not the past. Most important is the recognition that Gestalt therapy lends itself to the group therapy setting but still provides for a focus on one individual at a time (Coleman, 1990). In the Gestalt oriented group, a therapist works individually with clients, helping to identify those aspects of the individual's self or world that are not being acknowledged in their conscious awareness. Gestalt provides an opportunity for the client, directed by the therapi
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