Gestalt therapy is a client-centered approach of humanistic psychotherapy that derives from the gestalt school of thought. It was developed in the late 1940s by Fritz and Laura Perls. At the core of gestalt therapy is the holistic view of the human being, with their different dimensions: sensorial, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual integrated in a global experience. The belief is that people strive toward growth and balance and to realize their full potential.
The key to personal growth in gestalt therapy is through self-awareness. The therapist helps the client to become more self-aware and be in the present moment and the present context. In the here and now, the focus is on the process, on what is happening and how you respond to it and not on why something is happening to you. As a person develops a sense of overall awareness he learns to accept and trust his feelings and own experiences and this is the essence of Gestalt therapy; that change results from acceptance of what is.
Gestalt therapy focuses on the obvious, it is phenomenological, and the role of the therapist is to accompany the person in his path of self-discovery with respect. It is a process of co creation between the therapist and the client where, through experimentation, they evaluate together what is happening and what is needed. Therapists refrain from interpreting events, focusing only on the immediate and keeping in mind the pillars of gestalt therapy: to be aware, to be in the present moment, to focus on how you deal with what is happening to you and to assume responsibility for your life.