Abstract

Gestalt therapy stands out from other experiential psychotherapies through its unique attention to figure/ground emergence and the sequence of contact within the phenomenal field of the therapist and the patient. This is the “essence” or heart of gestalt therapy. It is achieved through the application of a modified version of Edmund Husserl's phenomenological method. This paper will describe that process and offer a clinical example for elaboration.

gestalt therapy, phenomenology, Husserl, epoché, reduction, bracketing, life-world, figure/ground, eidetic reduction, intentionality, psychotherapeutic intentionality, sequence of contact, intersubjectivity, lived-body
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Copyright © 2009 The Pennsylvania State University
2009
The Pennsylvania State University
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