Gestalt Psychotherapy, Hypnosis and Art Therapy By Razi.Ghaemmagham.Farahani

Gestalt therapy is not new, yet, it is still a growing field of Psychology, which considers human behaviour in terms of totality. Gestalt is a German word and there is no exact English equivalent for it; however, the meaning of this word approximates the formation of an organized, meaningful whole. Dr Frederick Perls, who is the founder of Gestalt Methodology, perceives some personalities as being fragmented. He believed that people most often are not aware of self in terms of wholeness; rather, they are only aware of self partially.

The aim of Gestalt Psychotherapy is to integrate fragments of self into a whole. Integration helps the individual To make transition from dependency to self- sufficiency, from outer support to inner support. This is the most important element of the Gestalt approach, which describes the whole as determining the parts. A Gestalt Psychotherapy session is a meeting between client and therapist, or a better way of saying it, is self-discovery of both parties at the meeting. I am sure that every individual have had many valuable experiences within life, and yet that does not mean that individual knows need not to discover oneself more or become more aware of own needs, desire or wants.

People are experiencing life continuously in the present moment rather than the past. The goal within gestalt approach is to make transition process smooth and feasible to integrate as whole within the framework of experiential experiments. Gestalt therapy is focusing in here and now which is most essential foundation of this methodology.

Gestalt therapy encourages individual to become aware of own feelings, sensation, experiences and mobilizing hidden positive energies of the self in present time. Gestalt therapy guides the individual to recognize the self and value the self as a whole.

Now every professional can go on and on to describe what technique they use and how successfully facilitate session and on the other hand must remember that all the progressive work will do with client rather than the therapist.

No matter of gestalt approach, clinical hypnosis approach or art therapy approach to resolving conflict it is necessary to explain client each approach clearly before starting the session.

Through Clinical, hypnosis understanding of individual consciousness process, way of learning and some other important elements are necessary. Contrary to belief in hypnosis individual has the power to stop the session. However, I am not going to enter discussing the technicality of trance state yet, I am emphasizing that hypnosis approach is more effective one in dealing with almost every individual conflict.

Within art, in which the individual can find their own roots of conflicts by drawing, or using colours and symbols. Gestalt therapy works with person’s fantasy, imagination, dreams, desires, wishes and needs. Gestalt therapy guides the individual to overcome anxieties by changing those anxieties to excitement. The individual can regain their own self- esteem and confidence within a re-framing use of language, values and belief systems. All most all the time client leads therapist to the point of their conflicts, their wanting and so on and therapist facilitate probabilities of solving conflict then sit back and observing unfolding process of rediscovery and growth. This mostly done by teaching to client some coping mechanism until they reach a suitable closure according to the self.

A therapist can use hypnosis and gestalt methodology in which both offer wonderful opportunities to help the individual by the use of relaxation, imagination, dreams, colours and drawings. With hypnosis and Gestalt therapy, an individual learns how to make contact with self and their environment by being aware of the various needs and desires of the self.

An individual may want to work with issues of self-identity, self respect, self-acceptance, self- image or some other concern that they might relate to self through imagination, art, language, culture or belief. You can increase your enjoyment of life after discovering greater creativity of self, which will welcome and allow the mobilization of positive energies in a more organized and sufficient way.