Gestalt Psychology: A Completely Different Approach

counselling byron bay

Gestalt psychology is a field or a school of thought in psychology that focuses on your own life and your own experiences and it does not put blame on anyone other than the person themselves. Gestalt psychology believes that whatever the individual experiences is his or her own experience no one else is to be blamed for that. Gestalt psychology focuses on present and the main focus is to solve the problem rather than introspect all in to the past to recall painful experience. Gestalt therapy is the name given to the counselling in byron bay that is provided by a gestalt therapy specialist to people giving them a positive insight into the present rather than taking them into the past and recalling the previous experiences which may also be painful for the person himself.

Educational Requirements

To be a gestalt psychotherapist or a counsellor you are required to have a bachelors’ degree in psychology than you need to continue your masters’ degree in Gestalt psychology or therapy. After this you need to have some experience under expert supervision to continue working in your field. Another important thing that are required for any kind of therapist are very good listening and verbal abilities, a therapist must listen to the patient with patience and then suggest him some good measures to overcome the situation. The most important ability one in this field should be equipped with is to know when to speak and how to speak as this makes a lot of difference towards the patient.  Gestalt therapy was first introduced in the 1940s by fritz pearls and his wife. Both husband and wife were trained psycho analysts. They aimed to find an approach that was much closer to reality and would help people in a unique way. Before this Sigmund Freud’s’ methods were used which were thought to cause more distress to the suffering people. Gestalt therapy believes that present is everything and they help people analyse their situation according to their present conditions. A gestalt therapist tells about his own experience and talks the patient out of distress and anxiety effectively.

Scope of Gestalt Psychologist

Many people today believe that gestalt therapy is much better than cognitive therapy as it focuses on the individuals present and problems related to it. People believe that since past is long ended so it might not have an effect on the individuals’ mental health and there should be a more realistic approach when it comes to psychological health. It is also believed that a psychotherapist should provide recommendations to solve the problems and gestalt therapy covers it all. Gestalt therapy is an emerging field all over the world and more and more students are pursuing it as a sub field of psychology for a good careers and many universities now offer professional degree in the discipline.

Danielle Chambers