Therapeutic change occurs within the present moment of psychotherapy. This is the heart of gestalt therapy.
The Present in Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt therapy focuses on the present moment of every psychotherapy session. Therapeutic change occurs by paying close attention to this present moment. That is, as much as possible, focus is on developing process of experience and how, not why, it is sensed, felt, and even thought-through. The influence of the is past is experienced within the present. Repeating patterns or gestalts often lead to distress, loneliness, unhappiness, anxiety, confusion, depression, and so on. For example, unaware feelings about previous relationships can lead to repeating the same unsatisfying patterns in a new relationship. When these feelings become aware, a person is able to choose how to act rather than be caught in unaware repetitive patterns. Even when paying the strictest attention to the present, gestalt therapy never ignores a person’s wider social context — family, friends, work situation.
The Therapy Relationship
We are all connected to one another in some way. Human beings are always in relationships with others. Therapy occurs in the context of the therapy relationship. Contemporary gestalt therapy stresses the supportive, welcoming, yet direct role of the therapist in the two-person process of psychotherapy. The therapist is a part of the process, not merely a by-standing expert observing the process and making suggestions. The therapist’s support is interactive and never passive, present but never intrusive.
A Humanistic Perspective
The gestalt therapy has a humanistic lens through which a patient is not as person with a diagnostic label and mental disease to be cured but a person suffering a particular way in a life situation. By focusing on experience, the implicit creativity in each person is released so each person becomes what gestalt therapy calls “an artist of life.” Gestalt therapy, then, is an aware process of discovery and meaning making in which a person is freed to live with less distress and more choicefulnes.
Payment
You may pay me at each session or at the end of the month.
I am an out-of-network insurance provider. I provide statements to you at the end of each month. These statements contain all the information necessary for you to submit to your insurance company for any covered services.
I accept payments by credit card at the time of your session or through PayPal using the button below.