Gestalt Therapy as an Integrative Therapy

When people ask what kind of therapy I practice, I tell them I’m trained in gestalt therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy — but that I consider myself integrative, and I do what works for each client.

Doing what works requires practice experience, judgment, and a willingness to try new things and step outside my comfort zone. I don’t defend any single approach to therapy. Instead, I try to work with a client’s strengths, build a collaborative relationship, and show up as myself — humor, presence, and worldview included.

What “Gestalt” Means

Gestalt therapy, part of the existential-humanistic tradition in psychotherapy, is often described through Aristotle’s idea that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. “Gestalt” is a German word loosely translated as “whole.” As a therapy that draws on multiple psychotherapy theories, gestalt continues to evolve — a genuinely integrative approach.

In a sense, every psychotherapy theory is its own gestalt. As a therapist, when I’m with a client, all of that training and theory fades into the background. What remains is present awareness and contact — meeting the client in the here-and-now.

Being genuine in the present moment is central to gestalt practice. It involves expanding momentary awareness through carefully chosen experiments and a particular kind of relationship, one that creates the conditions for growth.

Integrative therapy customizes treatment to the individual — understanding the specific realities of a client’s life and adjusting technique with flexibility, within a collaborative relationship. That approach is very much in line with how gestalt therapy is practiced today.

Where It Comes From

Gestalt therapy is best known for the empty chair technique and its founder, Fritz Perls, who in the 1960s used psychodramatic methods to confront clients directly. Originally trained as a psychoanalyst, Perls combined elements of field theory, gestalt psychology, and Reichian therapy into something new. Since then, the practice has evolved into a more relational approach, now shaped by contemporary relational psychoanalysis, body-based psychotherapies, post-feminist theory, and postmodern ideas like constructivism.

A large part of gestalt therapy is cognitive, behavioral, and emotional — drawing on imagination and the senses. It can be playful and exciting, and it can also stir up anxiety. Much of what gestalt therapists do is creative, experimental, and relationally oriented, grounded in that same integrative spirit.

What “Whole” Means

When we say “whole” in gestalt therapy, we mean all the parts — not a fragmented version of the person. We try to see someone as completely as possible, in their full environment and complexity. We are, organically, everything we’ve experienced — embedded in our genetics, social world, economic conditions, and culture. No one else has lived exactly this life. That uniqueness is also a challenge: to creatively live and adapt.

Human beings are constantly in a state of growth. It’s impossible to avoid changing throughout life — change happens, a figure emerges from the ground, and the present is made up of the past.

Certain blocks can get in the way of living more fully — of further expansion and possibility. People can get stuck after trauma, developing fears, anxieties, and depression that limit their potential for a more satisfying life. These symptoms cause stagnation by helping us avoid what’s already happened to us.

The answer lies in the present moment — in noticing more than we typically do on our own. Gestalt therapists are trained to notice subtle shifts in the here and now. By expanding our awareness of the present, we begin building a new sense of who we are — and who we’re not.

Through gestalt therapy, we pay close attention to processing our life experience, and all the parts of ourselves present in the moment. By turning toward what we’ve been avoiding, we open the door to further growth.

We try to notice what’s happening between therapist and client in real time — how the client’s emotions, thoughts, movements, and other behaviors arise, sometimes seemingly at random, and how all of it is shaped by the surrounding world: the therapist’s, the client’s, and the world beyond. In that noticing, a shift can occur.

A Global Practice

Gestalt therapy is practiced and researched around the world. I have gestalt therapy colleagues across Italy, Spain, the UK, Mexico, Canada, Iceland, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, and India, among other places.