Gestalt Therapy Verbatim

by Frederick S. Perls

Softcover

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Counselling, Philosophy, Mental Health, Psychoanalysis, Science

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[anarki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Frederick 'Fritz' Perls. This book Gestalt Therapy Verbatim showed some Hardcore Gestalt Sessions. The way Fritz does his Skill Frustration is really amazing. For him, the only way to grow up is through frustration. But take note of the word Skillful. Just like a toothpaste, what comes out of you when you're squeezed is who you are. When one is inflicted with frustration, he is pushed the edge in where he thought is hell. Push to the place where he thought he can't survive. And he is forced to use his capabilities and potentials. Be who he really is.

The impasse –a place where most of the people go round and round their self-created labyrinth wall and find themselves stuck. People want to go pass the impasse without even passing though it. Such irony exists. They rather manipulate the enviroment –the world around them rather than suffering the pains of going through the impasse and growing up.


Playing stupid games such as blaming games etc. just to look like a helpless victim instead of being a person who's responsible for his life. As you can always hear from the ocean of people “I don't wanna grow up” or “It hurts so much to grow up”. Sounds familiar right? Of course, I also said that many times before. We all go through that stage. Most of us just want have themselves stranded in that stage. They want to stay. Afraid to let go of the sameness. Afraid to face the future. Most people try to fill the void and end with the feeling of emptiness.

Just for the record, a human being is the only creature in the world that interferes with his own growth. First, let us define growth: It's the transcendence from environmental-support to self-support. We people better understand right now that when we were born, we are already doomed enough to stand on our own two feet. But what we don't know is that, how beautiful it is to stand on our own. The pride of standing on your own two feet. A major problem in this world is that people are so afraid to responsible for their own lives. They blame the government, their friends, their neighbours, their enemies, their parents –the world and God for what's happening to their lives instead of owning the responsibility for their sunken ship. And this blaming never ends.


In the impasse, the awareness of how you're stuck is therapeutic –it will the the cure to your neuroses... You delve in to that's making you feel stuck. You go through thick layers of the morass of your neurosis. Quoting from Fritz Perls: Awareness per se –by and itself is curative. It's only in genuine awareness that we learn to grow and be responsible. Once this awareness surfaces. The awakening happens. The Satori … The moment he realizes that everything was just a nightmare he created and a mere fantasy –a set catastrophic expectations that causes tremendous anxiety(In Gestalt Therapy, Anxiety, it is defined as the gap between the now and the then). The void he thought to be empty and dark starts to become a fertile void. Now, a desert starts to bloom. Then it starts to become a way of life. Contact. Awareness. Responsibility. Growth. Living the most of our potentials. Living as a whole and not as a fragmented person. But question is … Are you willing to do what it takes?

If you were a bird, the moment you let go of your nest, would be the moment that the world becomes your home.

I do counseling and psychotherapy which have that much of Perlsian-Orientation. The amazing power of Skillful Frustration separates this kind of therapy from other quacks. Just kidding. Probably, I'm not. This just not a therapy .. This is a way of life. I'm greatly inspired by the Philosophy of Gestalt Therapy.


This reminds me of a quote from my favorite anime character. "Embrace Nothing. If you meed Buddha on the road, kill him. If you meet the Father on the road, kill him. Only live life as it is, not bounded by anything. Never be a captive to anyone. Just live yourself the way you are." Since I was in High School, that was the code that I live by.


To be a real person in this deceptive world filled with introjections is not easy. To cut all of the ropes keeping you from being a person, you first have to die –not literally. But still, are you gonna be willing to die?

********************************************************************


"Some people are made to find ways in unfolding the personhood in others and hopefully help them grow even to the extent that they themselves forget their own quests in life. These are the few people who always try their in making others realize how wonderful it is to own a life."

Because of this, I am who I am right now. I learned. I owe this to them. I'll be forever in debt.

They are know as the as the 'Facilitators' Circle.And this is what they do: Help Human Beings turn into Real People.


"I believe in a God but not in Master plan. Whatever happens in our lives is a reaction of what We do and Not do everyday. It's called the Law of Karma and it affects us all." -01c18

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I'd developed a great deal of interest and some expertise in continental depth psychologies during my year out of school, the course offerings and faculty at Grinnell College offered little. What was available, thanks to the college's practice of hiring visiting professors, were two teachers with backgrounds in what was then been called "humanistic" psychotherapy. Studying with them introducted me to Anti-Psychiatric, Rogerian, Existential, Phenomenological, Analytical, Logos and Gestalt schools of thought. Most prominent in the field of Gestalt was Fritz Perls, severals of his books being assigned.

Gestalt Therapy Verbatim may be Perls' most generally accessible volume as much of it is just that: verbatim records of several therapy sessions. What impressed me about Perls was his confrontational approach. I could imagine doing what he did if I were omniscient and was, in my innocence, prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt (maybe really old therapists become omniscient?), but this approach, quite the opposite of the Rogerian, rather shocked and intrigued, reminding me of the self-criticism practices in Peoples China during the Cultural Revolution.

[Vitalijus Gafurovas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stipri knyga, bet iš tų retų atvejų, kai praktikos aprašyta daugiau nei teorijos, o būtent teorijos ir šiokio tokio išaiškinimo trūko.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

For practitioners, this is a great read; I found something worth underlining on almost every page. GTV is a transcription of lectures Perls gave while at Esalen in 1968, between gestalt process and his memoir, Out of the Garbage Pail and it is obvious that his confidence and skill are at their peak. The transcripts mainly cover "work" he does with different group members, with most of the work being dream work, as well as some Q&A, not dissimilar to the style of several of Trungpa's books. Perhaps also similar to Trungpa, the words act as a vehicle for the transmission, or the essence of the practice, rather than a how-to guide. After the 15th or 20th vignette, it gets easier to see how he hones in, what comes into the foreground, and how powerful the here-and-now can be if there is confidence in staying with it. As a practitioner, it was especially valuable to get a feel for how he works with "resistance."

GTV is also highly quotable and full of gems, one liners, definitions, and concepts that I have never seen synthesized anywhere but would be great for anyone interested in what gestalt is all about. For my own reference, I'm outlining some of them below.

Neurosis:
"Pearls treats neurosis as though it were a kind of trance state, a secret preoccupation with anxious loose ends of childhood that removes people from vital contact with their present circumstances"
"neurotic behavior is based on manipulation to win love"
"a disturbance in development"
"a compromise between psychosis and reality"
"Most of our whole striving life is pure fantasy. We don't want to become what we are. We want to become a concept, a fantasy, what we should be like."

Task of Therapy:
"help them come alive to their immediate experience in the present moment"
"concentrate on helping the patient invent a new solution on the spot by experimenting with the contact between them"
"health is the ability to experience what is new as new"
"awareness per se- by and of itself - can be curative"
"if you understand the situation you are in, and you let the situation which you are in control your actions, then you learn how to cope with life"
"maturing is the transcendence from environmental support to self support"
"the aim of therapy is to make the patient not depend on others, but to make the patient discover from the very first moment that he can do many things, much more than he thinks he can do"
"If you are centered in yourself, then you don't adjust anymore. Whatever happens, becomes a passing parade and you assimilate, you understand, you are related to whatever happens."

Anxiety:
"is the gap between now and then"
"is the excitement, the élan vital which we carry with us that becomes stagnated if we are unsure about the role we have to play"

The Impasse:
"the position where environmental support or obsolete inner support is not forthcoming and authentic self-support has not yet been achieved"
"occurs originally when a child cannot get the support from the environment, but cannot yet provide for its own support"
"typical symptoms of the impasse. The merry-go-round-everybody sees the obvious except the patient. She drives you crazy. She is stuck. She is in despair. Mobilizes whatever gimmicks and tricks she has, to get out of the impasse."

"the question mark is the hook or a demand. Every time you refuse to answer a question, you help the other person develop his own resources."
"without communication, there can be no contact. There will be only isolation and boredom."
"Whenever you feel guilty, find out what you resent, and the guilt ill vanish and you will try to make the other person feel guilty"
"behind every resentments there are demands"
"if you have any difficulties in communication with somebody, look for your resentments"
"in a dream we have a clear existential message of what's missing in our lives, what we avoid doing and living, and we have plenty of material to re-assimilate and re-own the alienated parts of ourselves."
"if we alienate something that is really our own-my own potential, my life- then we become impoverished. people...who identify with their duty rather than their needs, with their business rather than their family."
"you always introject people who are in control"
"Always make it an encounter. This is the most important thing, to change everything into an encounter, instead of gossiping about. Talk to her. If you don't talk to someone you are just giving a performance."
"Any resistance is no good. You have to go full into it- swing wit it. Swing with your pain, your restlessness, whatever is there. Use your spite. Use your environment. Use all that you fight and disown. So boast about it! Boast about what a great saboteur you are."
"once you judge, you can't experience any more, because you are now much too busy finding reasons and explanations, defenses, and all that crap"

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

TRANSCRIPTS OF ACTUAL THERAPY SESSIONS WITH PERLS

Frederick Salomon Perls (1893-1970) was a German-born psychotherapist who developed 'Gestalt therapy'; he was a teacher in residence at the Esalen Institute from 1964, where he lived until 1969. He wrote other books such as ‘In and out the Garbage Pail,’ ‘The Gestalt Approach,’ ‘Eye Witness to Therapy, ‘etc.

The publisher's Acknowledgement in this 1969 book states, "Almost all of the material in this book... is selected and edited from audiotapes made at week-end dreamwork seminars conducted by Fritz Perls at Esalen Institute... The transcripts of Gestalt Therapy sessions presented here are essentially verbatim. Small changes have been made to clarify meaning, and some of Perls' comments have been inserted... Copies of many of the original tape recordings ... are available, and are recommended for serious study of the methods of Gestalt Therapy. There is much to be gained from hearing the voices, the inflections, the silences, the timing, and the nuances that cannot be adequately reproduced in print."

Perls says, "If we don't know if we will get applause or tomatoes, we hesitate, so the heart begins to race and all the excitement can't flow into activity, and we have stage fright. So the formula of anxiety is very simple: anxiety is the gap between the NOW and the THEN. If you are in the now, you can't be anxious, because the excitement flows immediately into ongoing spontaneous activity. If you are in the now, you are creative, you are inventive... like every small child, you find a solution." (Pg. 3)

He asserts, "there is only one way through: to become real, to learn to take a stand, to develop one's center, to understand the basis of existentialism... I am what I am, and at this moment I cannot possibly be different from what I am. That is what this book is about. I give you the Gestalt prayer, maybe as a direction. The prayer in Gestalt therapy is:

I do my thing, and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you and I am I,
And if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.
If not, it can't be helped." (Pg. 4)

He asserts, "I personally believe that objectivity does not exist. The objectivity of science is also just a matter of mutual agreement. A certain number of persons observe the same phenomena and they speak about an objective criterion. Yet it was from the scientific side where the first proof of subjectivity came. This was from Einstein. Einstein realized that all the phenomena in the universe cannot possibly be objective, because the observer and the speed within its nervous system has to be included in the calculation of that phenomenon outside." (Pg. 13)

He argues, "The topdog usually is righteous and authoritarian; he knows best. He is sometimes right, but always righteous. The topdog is a bully, and works with 'You should' and 'You should not.' The topdog manipulates with demands and threats of catastrophe... The underdog manipulates with being defensive, apologetic, wheedling, playing the cry-baby, and such. The underdog has no power. The underdog is the Mickey Mouse. The topdog is the Super Mouse... the underdog is cunning, and usually gets the better of the topdog because the underdog is not as primitive as the topdog. So the topdog and the underdog strive for control... This inner conflict, the struggle between the topdog and the underdog, is never complete, because topdog as well as underdog fight for their lives." (Pg. 19)

He notes, "I know you want to ask WHY, like every child, like every immature person asks WHY, to get rationalization or explanation. But the WHY at best leads to clever explanation, but never to an understanding. 'Why' and 'because' are dirty words in Gestalt Therapy." (Pg. 47) He adds, "The difference between Gestalt Therapy and most other types of psychotherapy is essentially that we do NOT analyze. We INTEGRATE." (Pg. 70)

He contends, "We are all concerned with the idea of change, and most people want to go about it by making programs. They want to change. 'I should be like this' and so on and so on. What happens is that the idea of deliberate change NEVER, NEVER, NEVER functions... a counter-force is created that prevents you from change. Changes are taking place by themselves. If you go deeper into what you ARE, if you accept what is there, then a change automatically occurs by itself. This is the paradox of change... As long as you fight a symptom, it will become worse." (Pg. 193)

Apart from actually obtaining tapes of Perls' original sessions, this book is the most vivid way of getting an idea of just what occurred in his therapy sessions. This book will be "must reading" for anyone wanting to know more about Perls and his techniques.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heel boeiend om de grondlegger van Gestalt therapie zo aan het werk ‘te zien’.

[Zulu Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable book, both fascinating and illuminating. The first section where Perls explains his theories is powerful stuff and pushes to the forefront his no-nonsense methodology. He explains that asking "why" is a waste of time and how we must concentrate on the "now" and "how". But it doesn't reek of new age nonsense as I imagine others might. He straight up tells people they are "mindf***ing" themselves and he makes clear that there is no point in dressing up that message in anything flowery.

The other two thirds of the book where he enacts the therapy on a host of trainee therapists and the curious at Esalen are also enlightening, but at times it was a bit opaque. When you could see them struggling to get anything out of it, it was disappointing, while at other times when Perls seems to get them to "explode" a feeling they've been avoiding, it's a revelation.

After finishing the book, I immediately went back and read the first section again because it was that good. I'm giving four stars only due to the hit-and-miss nature of the subsequent therapy transcripts, but genuinely this should be read by everybody.

[xenia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some hellish proto-neoliberal, victim-blaming variant of Wilhelm Reich's (superior) work, emphasising self-responsibility over communion or compassion, and treating patients as monads to their own becoming, rather than as beings intersected by power relations. Completely ignores how one's position in the social field generates different forms of neurosis and anxiety. Goes as far as to say all trauma is fictional. No wonder this took off in America.

Just read R. D. Laing, Wilhelm Reich or Erving and Miriam Polster.

[Rosa Ramôa · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Eu faço as minhas coisas e você faz as suas.
Eu não estou neste mundo para satisfazer as suas expectativas.
E você não está neste mundo para satisfazer as minhas.
Você é você, e eu sou eu.
E, se por acaso, nós nos encontrarmos, será óptimo.
Se não, nada se pode fazer.”

[Matt Mazenauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think I agreed with many of the concepts here, but was enjoying using it to challenge my way of thinking. However, I grew tired of the rambly "verbatim" style of writing - being so dismissive of question askers and dodging answering the question at all.

[John Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a lot of fancy concepts and terminology attached to Gestalt therapy, but the philosophy basically boils down to two precepts:

1. Human beings, when functioning normally, have an automatic organismic self-regulation ability which allows them to overcome issues in their lives.
2. The goal of therapy is to aid people in achieving normal functioning through fostering self-awareness of the here-and-now.

By here-and-now, Gestalt therapists often mean awareness of bodily responses—as bodily responses are seen as more unconscious and automatic than thoughts and feelings—and of the meaning behind the responses. And dreams, for the same reason.

Listening to Fritz Perls talk for 300 pages, I got the sense that not only is he a huge dick but his therapeutic model is pretty wobbly and weakly argued—but I don’t have the philosophical chops to really deep dive into why I feel this way. I will say that what Perls means by organismic self-regulation isn’t something he clearly defines (although I’m sure he’d get huffy at me about it). What if people don’t have organismic self-regulation, maybe through traumatic or neglectful childhood development? If some babies aren’t spoken to past a certain age, their brains lose the ability to learn language. What happens then?

Another big issue I have with Perls is the idea that trauma isn’t real, people just need to take responsibility for who they are, “trauma” is just people stuck in the past acting like a child. I’m sorry, what? Sure, you can go through your career thinking trauma doesn’t exist when the only clients you see are people who volunteer for your dreamwork seminars and you kick out anyone who resists your methods. You know who else operates like that? Stage hypnotists.

[Deimantė Pruselaitytė]

The past is no more. The future is not yet. When I say, "I was," that's not now, that's the past. When I say, "I want to," that's the future, it's not yet. Nothing can possibly exist except the now. Some people then make a program out of this. They make a demand, "You should live in the here and now." And I say it's not possible to live in the here and now, and yet, nothing exists except the here and now.
*
The Freudian idea that we introject the person we love is wrong. You always introject people who are in control.
*
Awareness is always the subjective experience. I cannot possibly be aware of what you are aware of. The Zen idea of absolute awareness, in my opinion is nonsense. Absolute awareness cannot possibly exist because as far as I know, awareness always has content.
*
If some of our thoughts, feelings, are unacceptable to us, we want to disown them. Me wanting to kill you? So we disown the killing thought and say “That’s not me- that’s a compulsion,” or we remove the killing, or we repress and become blind to that.
*
Most questions are simply inventions to torture ourselves and other people. The way to develop our own intelligence is by changing every question into a statement.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dvě hvězdičky prý znamenají "it was ok", ale můj dojem z této knihy je spíše ten, že "some things definitely aren't ok". Tak třeba nechat účastníky workshopu, aby před početným publikem s pláčem přehrávali hádku mezi svou pravou a levou rukou, a říkat tomu terapie. Přesnější termín by nejspíš byl léčba šokem. A rozhodně bych něco takového z dnešního pohledu nenazvala gestalt terapií.

Kniha ve mně vyvolala smíšené dojmy. Přiměla mě zamyslet se o mnoha neuzavřených gestaltech v mém vlastním životě a podnítila řadu zajímavých myšlenek, takže rozhodně ji nepovažuji za naprostou ztrátu času. Taky seznámení se základními koncepty gestaltu bylo podnětné. Perls coby terapeut mi ale byl dost protivný a zejména ke konci už jsem neviděla ve čtení moc smysl, protože jeho rozhovory s účastníky přecházely v nudné absurdní drama. Zajímalo by mě, nakolik efektivní by Perlsova terapie byla s reálnými, zranitelnými pacienty.

A nebo možná radši ani ne.

[Apphia · Rating 5 out of 5]

During my first year of training, I was recommended to read this book by my favourite supervisor to "understand the language of feelings" better. I was in for an intense and unexpected surprise, witnessing Perls interacting with his patients ; candidly, directly, brutally honest yet so accurate that they couldn't deny it. What was he seeing? how did the see it? Magical, unattainable (it felt to me at that time)
Finally I come to the understanding that not everyone is Fritz Perls and not everyone is Carl Rogers and they gave us something that's one of a kind, and it's ours to make what we can of it.

[Jim Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is as the title proclaims Verbatim. The 5-star rating reflects not the enjoyment or interest in the book but just the reporting of what Perls said and the transcripts of some of the encounter sessions he conducted at Esalen.

I thin the book would have been more informative if there had been annotations giving some explanations of why Perls did what he did in the sessions. Having been through these kinds of sessions myself, I had some understanding but was often left confused as to what Perls was trying to accomplish beyond just the general goal of getting the person or persons in the sessions to be genuine.

[María · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este libro es un regalo para quienes quieran conocer el legado de Fritz. Los seminarios son muy interesantes, sin embargo las transcripciones de las sesiones de terapia son muy tediosas y, como buena milennial, echo en falta ver esas sesiones en vídeo, pues los textos saben a poco y sin ver las reacciones y la entonación de las personas que hablan en las sesiones, se empobrece lo que se pretende transmitir.

[Joseph Dubey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one that I really liked.I think T brain needs a brain transplant to be remotely funny. I like the links that were supplied so you could see for yourself what was said.Wonder when there will be a book put out for Obama and one for Clinton?? Might be a little funnier. Pick this book up and read it and decide if it is for you.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. Yes, it is quite dated, and I wouldn't try to defend some of his assertions about gender, but if you sift out what is obviously a product of his time, there are gems here that have kept their value. I found this very provoking, and I started to reexamine my dream journal in a new way. I have also more courage in working with my clients in the here and now.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dose of 60s Esalen direct from the source. Perls taped a number of group therapy sessions and, along with selling them as training material, produced this book from them. Most of the sessions deal with the subjects’ dreams, which are used as starting points for playing out the various figures in the dream.

[Alex Hernández · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me recuerda a La Chimoltrufia, pero en pseudo hegeliana.

Hay cosas en las que se nota alguna razón, pero no parece que les interese un mínimo dejar bien claras las ideas.

En demás, entiendo que el dolor es su principal concepto de requisito para el aprendizaje.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. A little bit of the introduction and everything of the intensive except for the consuming girl was kind of weird, but everything else is fantastic.

[Zeynep Özmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitap bilinçlilikle ilgili alıştırmalardan oluşuyor. Herkesin anlayabileceği türden değil. Temel gestalt bilgisi olmadan okumamalı.

[Rey-Philip Genaldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure where I would be without Gestalt therapy in my life. This book is an inspiration, something for me to aspire to in my own practice.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the introduction, watch the sessions (transcribed here) on youtube. It is a wonderful amazement that these videos of Fritz exist.

[Tomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Largely inapplicable.

[Zoë · Rating 2 out of 5]

This guy sucks but the book is okay as a source about gestalt therapy

[Tomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

ty perls for starting this whole thing but also you can be so annoying sometimes and yes that's a fact not a projection xx

[X X · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely fucking insane 👍

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book holds a special place in my library. Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt Therapy, was nothing short of a no-bullshit maverick visionary, and whose work was as important as Freud's or Maslow's, and many believe to be far more effective. But this is not dry psychoanalytical reading. These are transcripts from Perls' sessions with patients from his work at Esalen Institute in front of other practicing psychotherapists, with some introductory notes from Perls summarizing Gestalt Therapy. Believe it or not, this reading is somehow entertaining.

This is powerful stuff because it illustrates how creative and protectionist the human psyche is, how it splinters off parts of one's personality, and how one might hold court with oneself to once again synthesize those disparate parts.

If you are in any creative field this reading will likely benefit you.

[Dmitriy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is less on theory and more on practice sessions. Good examples given on gestalt approach toward working with dreams. I can understand now the distinction between gestalt and freudian methods of dreams processing with gestalt being more efficient one. Also in this book first appeared the "the top dog /the under dog" concept as one of the most frequent split in the human psyche, though for me it remained unclear as to how this concept correlate with introjection or retroflexion or where it fit in the whole 'personality-ego-id' concept, but then it might start looking like too much intellectualization and less real ))) Anyway this book is a good expansion on gestalt therapy method.