Gestalt Therapy

Programs that specialize in providing therapeutic interventions that are based on the principles of Gestalt theory initially developed by Frederick Perls which suggest, in effect, that the proper subject matter for psychology is behavior and experience studied in wholes. Healthy personality functioning is seen as the patient's perception of experience in meaningful wholes, with fluid relationships existing between focal/figural experiences and background experiences. Emphasis is placed on attention, self-awareness, spontaneity of perception, involvement in experience, and overcoming gaps or distortions in experience that are believed to produce anxiety, compulsive behavior and loss of zest.