The article explains:
- Gestalt concept
- Principles of Gestalt formation
- The main reason for the appearance of gestalts
- Reasons to close gestalts once and for all
- An effective technique for self-closing gestalt
- Benefitting from Unclosed Gestalts
Many people, even having an accurate idea of what gestalt is, do not understand how to close it. And there are those who hear this word for the first time, but all the symptoms of such an “ambush” are obvious to them. To paraphrase a well-known expression, let’s say that ignorance of the existence of a problem does not exempt you from its negative consequences.
However, there is some good news. There are quite a few ways to close a gestalt. You can try to cope on your own, or you can seek the help of a specialist. But one thing is clear in any case: to start working with a problem, you need to at least understand its essence. This is exactly what our article today will be about.
Gestalt concept
In the 20th century, psychologists Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köller and Kurt Kofka studied human perception of the world around us. The purpose of this study was to identify a way to transform information coming from outside into holistic images. This is how the concept of Gestalt appeared. In simple words, this is a set of images and forms that the human brain forms in the process of understanding the surrounding reality. From German the word “Gestalt” is translated as “shape, figure, image.”
A person’s behavior in each situation is different and depends on various conditions that influence reactions to what is happening. In turn, reactions consist of disparate elements, which, thanks to gestalt, are transformed into a holistic image, i.e. a person sees not a set of colors, but a complete picture of events. Behavioral reactions are transformed into complex forms of human behavior - this is the Gestalt theory.
Every day a person has new desires and needs. Their importance changes depending on the situation. If one desire has replaced another, but the previous one has not been brought to fruition, the gestalt begins to work. Despite the fact that the previous need has replaced another, it remains unsatisfied. The psyche perceives the situation as logically incomplete and experiences discomfort.
How does modern science relate to Gestalt?
The first Gestalt psychologists only found some patterns in the functioning of the human brain, but did not explain their origin. However, neurophysiological observations helped to do this.
Since the 1950s, Hubel DH, Wiesel TN Brain and visual perception: the story of a 25-year collaboration have been conducting experiments on the study of perception. Neurons have been discovered that respond to complex stimuli. For example, on the face in general, and not on features such as the shape of the nose, eyes, and others.
Further research has shown that we perceive the whole picture much earlier than we perceive its individual components. It is enough just to look for a moment at the image of a forest, and we will immediately say that there are trees in front of us, but we will not notice whether they are maples or oaks.
In the early 2000s, scientists discovered another principle of how the brain works: predictive coding. It turns out that our mind does not analyze all information from the outside at once. First it “predicts” Wagemans J., Feldman J., Gepshtein S., et al. A century of Gestalt psychology in visual perception: II. Conceptual and theoretical foundations / Psychological Bulletin possible developments based primarily on experience rather than new data. It works like this: the brain sends information from higher neurons to lower ones, and then correlates it with data from the senses. This is done on the basis of past knowledge, that is, certain holistic images or, in other words, gestalts.
Thus, neuroscience indirectly confirmed the hypotheses of Gestalt psychologists.
The main reason for the appearance of gestalts
In order to understand the essence of gestalt, scientists studied people of different nationalities. The research results are striking: people who have only basic needs in the foreground, lack education and social status, are less at risk of developing unclosed gestalts. And vice versa, the higher a person’s position in society, the better developed his intellect, the greater the likelihood of debilitating wounds - unclosed gestalts.
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This is due to the fact that people of different classes have different values. For the first group described above, the issue of survival and procreation comes to the fore. They simply have no time to evaluate their actions; they live only for the events of the new day. But people of the second group often reflect on their past, think about their actions, and ask themselves: “Did I do the right thing then?” For people who value personal achievements, gestalt is their life partner; they are inseparable.
A look into the history of Gestalt psychology
Until the 1940s, the world of psychotherapy was dominated by Freud's method. His German student, Fritz Perls, together with his wife, revised their views on his theory. They added new concepts and slightly changed the way they communicated with the person in the session.
Gestalt Therapy : Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality is the first published book on the subject, written by him with Paul Goodman. According to its concept and principles, psychotherapy was carried out in the clinic (more precisely, just in the apartment) of the Perls.
What was this psychotherapy like? Fritz came into conflict with clients and raised a strong storm of negative emotions in them. A little later, group therapy was introduced because he considered the individual format too outdated.
On the Internet you can find rare historical footage of his Gestalt sessions, after watching which (though only with Russian subtitles, and not with Russian translation) you will understand his method:
Over time, this practice spread throughout Europe. Only the attitude towards people at the session became more loyal (what is this?). Although some avid Gestalt therapists still remain adherents of the old school and can afford to heat up the atmosphere.
Do you remember the pictures that show either a vase or the faces of people looking at each other? Some of this becomes the main figure, and some, accordingly, becomes the background for it.
Edgar Rubin studied this phenomenon. I came to the conclusion that some situations in a person’s life become the main ones and more attention is paid to them. Everything else fades into the background.
Reasons to close gestalts once and for all
Throughout life, people either specifically or at the subconscious level reproduce past events, thereby exhausting themselves. In this case, the growth and development of the individual most often stops. It is important to work through situations: healthy criticism and assessment of one’s actions is the engine of personal progress. But it is also important to let go of these life events after working on mistakes, otherwise the mistakes of the past become ballast that prevents you from moving forward.
Closing the gestalt means starting a new life, letting go of the past, feeling a new self. It is not always possible to work through problems on your own, because... Some problems are so deeply embedded in the subconscious that their root can only be pulled out with the help of a specialist.
If there is an open gestalt in a person’s life - for example, in a relationship - the subconscious will again and again reproduce hurtful events, push to the same model of behavior, look for the same people in order to solve that situation.
A striking example of this phenomenon is the repetition of errors. At the age of 20, Katya married Maxim. Maxim was a terrible tyrant, constantly beating Katya. Katya didn’t understand why this was happening, she was in great pain not only outside, but also inside, because she loved him. Soon Katya got tired of putting up with it and left. But the mental wound continued to bleed. Soon she met Petya, at first everything was fine, then the situation repeated itself, because Katya’s subconscious remembers that relationships are not happy walks in the evenings, but beatings. History repeated itself again, and all because Katya did not let go of that image of a man, did not live the problem in her subconscious.
The main question remains: “How to determine what events need to be worked through in order to continue living free from them?” The answer is very simple.
You just need to remember the most painful event, which pops up in the subconscious much more often, and start working through it. Then a chain reaction will begin, freed from one gestalt, you will feel freedom. Trust me, you won't want to stop.
Incomplete gestalt - what is the essence of the problem
Gestalt is integrity, completeness. Refers not only to classic relationships between parents, friends, couples. In general, to satisfy desires, achieve goals, etc.
When someone is in a quarrel with a loved one or cannot find a job for a long time, it is very depressing, you must admit. Let's look at a couple of common life situations to understand what's what.
Examples
Imagine the situation. The man really wanted to become an artist, tried to draw, but then abandoned it. Time passes, everything goes as usual, but when he reaches into the closet for some things, he accidentally stumbles upon his work.
What's happening? He is upset because he remembers his desire, which he did not achieve . Then he walks around the apartment sad for a whole week.
Let's consider an unfinished gestalt using the example of a separation between a man and a woman. Let's say one of them decides to separate. As a rule, such news will come out of the blue in the middle of summer. The person will be discouraged and upset.
Perhaps he will fall into a state of hopelessness, deepen into a depressive state. He will be tormented by thoughts that it is impossible to return everything as before, to fix something.
This situation will remain unresolved if it is not worked out correctly in your head on your own or with the help of a psychotherapist.
An effective technique for self-closing gestalt
Usually a person has several open gestalts. Each of them has its own root depth. Global problems are always followed by small ones, so the study begins with problems of major importance.
To simplify the work, personal problems are divided into thematic groups: finances, career, family, psychological trauma of childhood, unrequited love. Thus, when starting to work with one group, the problems of other groups emerge.
Closing the gestalt means working through the situation not directly, but inside your subconscious. Live it alone again and let it go, drawing certain conclusions. At first glance this seems like a very difficult matter, but in reality it is not. Experts have outlined three simple steps to start therapy. If the problem is very deep, there will not be dramatic changes immediately, but you will see progress in thinking and feeling almost immediately. You will feel it inside.
The first step is very simple - you need to find the event that traumatized you the most. To do this, take a piece of paper and write down those events that cause the strongest feelings (sadness, anger, pain, hatred), or what pops up in your head more often.
The second step is to find out what exactly went wrong in this event, what you would have liked to do, why you didn’t do it the way you wanted, what prevented you. Write down everything that comes to mind. This exercise allows you to understand the root of the problem.
The third step is that you describe the situation, but already idealizing it. It must be described in as much detail as possible. Separately, write down the experience that you would gain due to this life situation.
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Then the most interesting and productive part begins. You have a detailed plan for the problem event. Now you need to recreate the situation in your subconscious as realistically as possible and live it again. And now the most important thing is to say everything that was never said, to do everything that you wanted to do. You need to not just talk, but use emotions and feelings as much as possible. Don’t be shy to convey them, no matter what they are.
After this exercise, you yourself will feel light inside, and in the future, if this episode comes up again, there will no longer be the same pain as before.
Where is Gestalt therapy used?
This therapy is widely used both in group format and individually.
The most effective are the following directions of gestalt:
- in working with children;
- for consulting organizations;
- with alexithymia (when a person has difficulty expressing his feelings and emotions);
- treatment of psychosomatic diseases (diseases that are associated with psychological causes);
- building professional and interpersonal relationships;
- working with self-esteem and self-doubt;
- living through psychological traumas and crises;
- work with child-parent relationships;
- separation from parents (the stage of a child’s growing up, which is expressed in emotional, financial and physical separation from parents);
- and others.
In solving some issues, Gestalt therapy is used only in addition to other areas of psychotherapy. In such as:
- working with dependencies;
- work with couples;
- working with family.
Benefitting from Unclosed Gestalts
Most often we try to get rid of gestalts, but some of them benefit us every day. Some examples below:
To-do list.
A lot of people, to improve their productivity, write down all their tasks in a diary, and at the end of the day they summarize their completion. This way of using Gestalt brings a lot of benefits to people and even helps to increase the level of motivation and energy.
Definition
Gestalt in simple words is an image consisting of several independent elements perceived by a person as a single whole.
Our perception has a unique ability to connect separate objects together and create something new from them. This ability makes life much easier. For example, with its help we can easily recognize familiar faces. To do this, we do not need to look at a person’s nose, mouth, and eyes separately. We perceive the entire face.
The role of a gestalt is often a certain sequence of actions that the brain seeks to complete. An open gestalt is usually some kind of situation that we perceive as incomplete. For example, someone was rude to you in line at the post office, and you could not give him a decent answer. And now you spend the whole day thinking about this situation, turning it over in your head, looking for the right words.
This is an example of how an unclosed gestalt causes our energy to flow into nowhere and prevents us from focusing on the issues that really matter.
Here's another example - a positive one. You ironed your shirt, got distracted by extraneous thoughts and forgot to turn off the iron. Although you didn’t consciously notice it, your brain recorded that its usual sequence of actions turned out to be incomplete. After leaving the house, you felt very anxious and uncomfortable, which eventually forced you to return.
