About gestalt (creative) therapy

Gestalt was initially developed as an approach to psychotherapy in the 1950s, but has wider applications in other fields that engage with change. It was formulated to help people navigate the perennial questions: “why do I always do this when it doesn’t seem to be helping me? “why is this always happening to me?”

The meaning of the word ‘gestalt’ comes from the German and has the sense of “whole”. The gestalt approach’s main insight is to suggest that the worlds we inhabit are the result of adaptations we have made, always for good reason and for the purposes of helping us survive in worlds where there may not have been enough resources and nourishment of the kinds we needed.

The act of engagement between our world and that of another person can bring awareness to the particular nature of our world. Becoming aware of the way we’re ‘doing’ ourselves is already to have changed our experience, so awareness is change.

The approach places a premium on relationship. We do not force change. Attention goes to what in gestalt we call the “structure of experience” - what we take for granted, what seems already given to us. Gradually we come to take ownership of our power, or whatever power is acting through us. We become less subject to our histories or our fates and more expert at riding the waves.

Notwithstanding that much is outside of our control, with enough support to make up for what hasn’t been there previously, we can become a little better at crafting our own narratives.

I have found that an understanding of gestalt offers a powerful lens through which I can transform my life experiences and relationships with others.