Fritz Perls and Gestalt

Friedrich 'Fritz'  Perls (1893-1970) was born in Berlin (Germany) but left there when Hitler came to power. Originally Perls studied under Freud. He was a psychiatrist and an innovatory humanistic practitioner whose 'Gestalt Therapy'  became very popular during the 1960s. The word 'gestalt' comes from a German word for form, an organised whole which differentiates foreground from background images. Only parts of ourselves are known, and gestalt exposes the whole, the integrated parts that bring us from dependency to self sufficiency, from authoritarian behaviour to authenticity and self reliance. Top dog and under dog engage in dialogue! Perls was a rather controversial figure at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur but his psychotherapy model provides fast insight for therapeutic change. “Reality therapy for the walking well”. 

Perls joined the German army and was posted to the trenches in WWI. He worked as a psychiatrist with brain injured soldiers at the end of the war, studying under Wilhelm Reich, Jacob Moreno and Otto Rank and other leading lights of the therapeutic movement. As Hitler became more powerful, he and his wife and family fled abroad. 

Gestalt focuses on current awareness of sensations, feelings and thoughts. 

This quote is attributed to Fritz Perls:  I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful. If not, it can't be helped.

Books by the same author:

• Perls, F., Ego, Hunger and Aggression (1942
• Perls, F., Hefferline, R., & Goodman, P., Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality (1951) 
• Perls, F., Gestalt Therapy Verbatim (1969) .
• Perls, F., In and Out the Garbage Pail (1969) 
• Perls, F., The Gestalt Approach and Eye Witness to Therapy (1973)