Fritz Perls and Gestalt Therapy: Contact and Self

Posted on Dec 14, 2024 in Social sciences

Fritz Perls: Life and the Development of Gestalt Therapy

Fritz Perls (1893-1970), the founder of Gestalt Therapy, had a life marked by personal and global events that deeply influenced his therapeutic approach. Born in Berlin in 1893, Perls’s early life was characterized by familial conflicts and his mother’s strong ambitions for her children. Despite a strained relationship with his parents, his mother fostered his interest in art and theater. This exposure, particularly his training with Max Reinhardt, significantly impacted Perls, influencing his understanding of voice, behavior, and mimicry, which later became integral components of Gestalt Therapy.

Perls pursued medical studies, but World War I interrupted his education. He enlisted in the army in 1916, experiencing the loss of his best friend. After the war, he completed his studies and established himself as a psychiatrist in Berlin. During this time, he encountered Salomo Friedlander, whose philosophy of “creative indifference” profoundly impacted Perls, particularly in formulating his concept of homeostasis.

In 1926, Perls became an assistant to Kurt Goldstein at a school for soldiers with brain injuries. This experience introduced him to a new way of understanding the body and the concept of self.

In 1933, Perls and his family fled to Holland due to the rise of Nazism. They moved to South Africa in 1934, where he established the Psychoanalytic Institute in Johannesburg. Here, he was influenced by figures like Jan Smuts.

In 1946, Perls relocated to New York, setting up a new practice. He collaborated with Paul Goodman and Ralph Hefferline, culminating in their seminal work, “Gestalt Therapy,” published in 1951.

Core Principles of Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt Therapy is categorized as one of the existential therapies, alongside logotherapy and existential analysis. Its fundamental premise is that human nature is holistic, and individuals can only be understood through their totality. The term “Gestalt” signifies a complete and unified whole, similar to the Eastern concept of Tao. Both emphasize the interconnectedness of figure and ground, where neither can be separated without losing its meaning.

• Agency Self-Regulation:

Perls viewed the body as the form of human existence, existing both biologically and socially. He believed that all organic life is governed by the principle of homeostasis, a process where the organism meets its needs through a continuous exchange of balance and imbalance. Perls argued that our behavior is driven not by instincts but by needs arising from this homeostatic process.

Perls described the body’s tendency to balance conflicting desires and needs as the “center of opposites zero.” This is manifested through the constant struggle between self-preservation (security, tranquility) and growth (change, movement, risk). Any imbalance is experienced as a need, prompting action to restore equilibrium.

This homeostatic process is linked to the formation of Gestalts, where the most pressing need emerges as a figure against the background of other needs. The entire organism, including organs, senses, movements, and thoughts, aligns itself with this “emerging need.” Once the need is met, it recedes into the background, and a new need emerges. This process is continuous, with the closing of one Gestalt leading to satisfaction and the simultaneous opening of another, causing frustration.

Traditional psychology often separates mental and physical processes. Perls challenged this “psychophysical parallelism” with a holistic concept, asserting that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are formed by the same subject. This allows for a unified interpretation of these systems and the ability to transition between them.

• Theory of Self:

In their theory of self, Perls, Goodman, and Hefferline (PGH) divided the self into three subsystems: the ego, the id, and the personality.

Stages of Contact

PGH distinguished four phases of contact:

• Pre-contact: This phase is characterized by internal (organic) or external deficiencies or excesses, influenced by the active field limit of contact. This applies to all bodily functions, with breathing being particularly significant in psychotherapy as it clearly demonstrates how a living being is a field and how the environment is within them. These states are classified as “unresolved situations.”
• Home contact: Stimuli allow the body to more clearly define objects-figures in the surrounding field, enabling the integration of unresolved situations and the assimilation of the new or the removal of the superficial.
• Making contact: This is a pivotal moment in the contact process where the need or interest merges with the self. The self-perceived, which normally cannot exist without a background, momentarily lacks a background, environment, or body. This is possible because it is a form of self-perception in the realization of contact, where:
  • Each part of the whole is experienced with all other parts.
  • The whole comprises only the experienced parts.
• Post-contact: “The effect produced by contact (except for destruction) is growth,” which condenses psychologically within the body. Contact involves an influx of energy that extends beyond the body’s energy to the elements assimilated during the consummation of contact.

Neurosis as a Result of Contact Interruption

Neurosis, according to PGH, is a product of creative adaptation, similar to eating or sex. It arises from the interruption of the contact process. The type of neurotic change depends on where the interruption occurs.

A neurotic individual’s life is not in a fluid equilibrium but is marked by constant interruptions. Balance becomes their character, and the enjoyment of life is replaced by the struggle for survival. They cannot utilize challenges for development but instead direct them against themselves and others.

PGH termed the mechanism of permanent contact discontinuation “avoidance,” while psychoanalysis calls it “resistance.” Freud believed avoidance is learned from parents, whereas PGH argued it originates within the individual. Philosophically, resistance and fixation align with the causality principle of science-oriented philosophy, while avoidance and unresolved issues reflect an existential attitude.

PGH identified several types of neurotic disorders:

1. Confluence: Contact interruption before the primary stimulus.
2. Introjection: Contact interruption during the stimulus.
3. Projection: Contact interruption during the confrontation with the environment.
4. Retroflexion: Contact interruption during the conflict in the destruction.
5. Egotism: Contact interruption during the performance of the contact.

Practice of Gestalt Therapy

During therapy, it is crucial to determine:

1. At which stage of the contact process the individual is interrupted.
2. How the contact is interrupted. Unlike psychoanalysis, the focus is on the “how” rather than the “why” of the interruption.

Principles of Gestalt Therapy

To support clients, Gestalt Therapy emphasizes the following principles:

1. Here and Now: Bringing the client to present thoughts and feelings.
2. Self-Consciousness: “Now” and “how” are the two pillars of the theory. “Now” encompasses all that exists, while “how” adds the “what” (obvious existence). Gestalt Therapy starts with the “what” and explores abstractions, context, or situations, connecting the figure (immediate experience) with the ground (context, perspective, situation) to form the Gestalt.
3. Confrontation: Awareness of the here and now leads to self-confrontation. The primary goal is not to solve problems but to present them for digestion, allowing new materials from the environment to be integrated, potentially leading to a crisis.
4. Therapist-Client Relationship: The therapist operates in the “now” and “how” as part of the environment. Their essential task is to ensure the client maintains consciousness and does not break contact with themselves or the environment by diverting to the future or past.

Philosophical Background and Understanding of Science

Gestalt Therapy is deeply rooted in existentialist philosophy. Perls was influenced by Zen Buddhism, embracing the acceptance of human beings as they are, with their possibilities and limitations, living in the present moment, and relinquishing a supreme authority. Gestalt Therapy is an existential approach, addressing not just symptoms but also structures, character, and the entirety of human existence.

Perls’ Contribution to Humanistic Psychology

a) Contact as an Expression of Existentialism: Perls’ personal experiences led him to existentialist ideas, recognizing that humans are confronted with the dualities of life and that avoiding this reality contradicts their essence.

b) The Theory of Contact Termination: The contact and encounter between the individual and the environment are governed by the principle of homeostasis. Perls understood this as a process where the organism meets its needs through a continuous exchange of balance and imbalance. The defining characteristic of this contact process is its never-ending nature.