Gestalt Therapy: Definitions

A

Awareness (or insight) is the goal of gestalt therapy. This includes greater awareness in a particular area and also greater ability for the client to bring automatic habits into awareness as needed. Awareness includes knowing the environment, taking responsibility for choices, self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the ability to make contact.

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C

Confluence is the loss of distinction Self and Other and loss awareness of contact boundary. Another case would be: the loss of boundary between You and I to become We for example. The unconsciously loss of self into surroundings, such as in mob mentality is also Confluence.

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F

Frustration is a common emotional response to opposition. Related to anger and disappointment, it arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of individual will. The greater the obstruction, and the greater the will, the more the frustration is likely to be.

G

Gestalt (German: Gestalt � "essence or shape of an entity's complete form") is a German word meaning a Whole or a completion that is greater than the sum of it�s parts. An integrated person is aware of all the elements that unite to make them whole � their body, feelings, intellect, and senses.

Gestalt prayer is a 56-word statement by psychotherapist Fritz Perls that is taken as a classic expression of Gestalt therapy as way of life model of which Dr. Perls was a founder.

Gestalt psychology (or gestaltism) is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies. The principle maintains that the human eye sees objects in their entirety before perceiving their individual parts, suggesting the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Gestalt therapy is an existential/experiential form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses upon the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of their overall situation.

H

Homeostasis � (homoeostasis or hom�ostasis) � is the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, relatively constant condition of properties such as temperature or pH. It can be either an open or closed system. In simple terms, it is a process in which the body's internal environment is kept stable.

I

Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect in a specific context. An insight that manifests itself suddenly, such as understanding how to solve a difficult problem.

Introjection is the process where the subject replicates in itself behaviors, attributes or other fragments of the surrounding world, especially of other subjects.

Introspection is examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology the process of introspection relies exclusively on observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's soul. Introspection is closely related to human self-reflection and is contrasted with external observation.

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P

Proprioception (from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own", "individual" and perception), is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement. It is distinguished from exteroception, by which one perceives the outside world, and interoception, by which one perceives pain, hunger, etc., and the movement of internal organs.

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Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals.

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