[Gestalt therapy]

Abstract

The authors describe Gestalt Therapy. They retrace its fundamental theoretical axes. These are psychoanalysis, character analysis, the german Gestalt theory of perception, existentialism, and the Orient. Some principal concepts are then elaborated more fully such as the cycle of awareness, desensitization, excitation anxiety and the five defense mechanisms: retroflection, introjection, projection, deflection, and confluence. The nature and goals of the therapeutic process are also described before the presentation of some techniques specific to this approach such as enactment and role playing. Finally, certain basic Gestalt rules, which aim at facilitating and intensifying the communication process among group members, are enunciated.