Gestalt therapy is an integrative, holistic form of psychotherapy designed to help individuals enhance self-awareness and self-regulation. By focusing on present experiences—how we think, feel, and act in the moment—patients learn to make conscious choices that lead to personal growth and healing. Through process-oriented exercises, goal setting, and practical skill-building, Gestalt therapy empowers individuals to take charge of their well-being and create meaningful, lasting change.
If you’re curious about how this approach works and how it can support your recovery, keep reading to learn more about the method and benefits of Gestalt therapy.
What Is Gestalt Therapy?
Gestalt therapy is a humanistic psychotherapy that helps people resolve the past by focusing on the present. Its goal is to increase self-awareness, encourage personal accountability, and promote healthy goal-setting for the future. By staying centered in the present while addressing unfinished emotional experiences, patients can find healing and purpose in their past.
The word “gestalt” translates from German as “whole” or “form,” reflecting the belief that true healing occurs when the mind, body, and emotions are treated as one complete system. This philosophy aligns closely with Aliya Mental Health’s holistic approach—addressing the whole person to support total well-being. The origins of Gestalt therapy began in Frankfurt, Germany, where psychologist Fritz Perl and psychoanalyst Laura Perls worked at the Frankfurt Psychological Institute., they introduced Gestalt therapy as a self-directed, awareness-based model emphasizing personal responsibility and present-moment experience.
What Does It Mean to Focus on the Present?
A cornerstone of Gestalt therapy is the “here and now.” Many people entering recovery have been shaped by painful past experiences, which can lead to emotional stagnation. Gestalt therapy teaches that healing and change can only happen in the present moment. By developing awareness of current thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, individuals can learn from the past without being controlled by it.
Therapists guide patients to explore what they’re feeling and thinking in real time, helping them recognize how these internal experiences affect their relationships and life decisions. This focus on present-moment awareness fosters mindfulness, clarity, and emotional balance.
What Does Gestalt Therapy Treat?
Gestalt therapy is an research-based therapy that is practical, positive, and process-oriented. As such, it is suitable for treating diverse issues. Some of the specific issues it has benefits for are outlined below.
Anxiety
Anxiety disorders are chronic mental health disorders with ongoing symptoms that can resurface and worsen over time. They produce symptoms of extreme distress, worry, nervousness, fear, and dread. Panic attacks are another potential symptom, an intense bodily response to stress you can’t handle. Gestalt therapy is shown to improve anxiety symptoms by promoting self-regulation in the individual. As they gain more awareness of their situation, they become better equipped to handle overwhelming emotions.
Depression
Depressive disorders are mood disorders that have symptoms of sadness, hopelessness, numbness, and loss of interest in passions. Similarly, those diagnosed often lose motivation, instead isolating from others, sleeping often, ruminating, and dreading the future. Thus, depression is connected to interpersonal relationship challenges, low self-esteem, and symptoms of distress. Gestalt therapy aids in reducing these outcomes while improving one’s ability to cope with their symptoms.
Self-Esteem Issues
Low self-esteem can be traced to any number of negative experiences a person has faced, especially during formative childhood years. Unfortunately, an estimated 85 percent of people world-wide struggle with their self-esteem. When not addressed, low self-esteem can lead to mental illness and self-harming behaviors, including eating disorders, cutting, risk-taking, and suicide. Gestalt therapy helps improve one’s self-perception through the development of greater self-awareness.
Grief and Trauma
Untreated trauma is unresolved emotions that will eventually surface through uncomfortable symptoms, no matter how much they’re pushed down. Many people haven’t properly dealt with traumatic experiences and loss because they weren’t capable of processing through them at the time. But through Gestalt therapy’s emphasis on dealing with pain in the present moment, individuals work on trauma healing in sessions.
Substance Use Disorders
Substance use disorders (SUDs) including alcohol use disorder (AUD) and specific drug disorders often start as tools of avoidance. Instead of addressing pain, low self-worth, mental health disorders, trauma, and grief, individuals turn to substances’ numbing effects. But in only a short timeline, they develop chronic SUDs they’ll have to fight for the rest of their lives. Gestalt
therapy offers a healthy tool for overcoming addiction. Markedly, some of the greatest challenges of substance abuse are cravings, triggers, and the stain of addiction on your past. Gestalt therapy helps you identify your patterns, address pain and disappointment, and motivate yourself through your personal responsibility to heal.
The Core Principals of Gestalt Therapy
Working through Gestalt therapy will have you following a process-oriented psychotherapy with clear core principles. These show up again and again in techniques, emphases, and exercises to truly help individuals achieve improvements in these areas.
Awareness of the Present
As noted, being rooted in the present is a key component of working through Gestalt therapy. Through exercises and discussions, individuals practice focusing on their immediate experience. With self-awareness being another main concept, the two go hand-in-hand when individuals consider the experience they’re having at any moment. For example, Gestalt therapy has people ask themselves what they are thinking, feeling, and experiencing around them right then. This way, they connect the events in their lives with how they feel, which fosters greater emotional awareness.
Notably, the concept of unfinished business also plays a role in the core principle of presentness. For those who have past experiences without healthy resolution, Gestalt encourages them to revisit the past in the present. An exercise called the empty chair method allows individuals to address an empty chair as a symbol of their unresolved experience.
Holism
“Holism” refers to the theory that people make up a whole based on their individual parts, which must be considered collectively to understand them. Thus, holism aligns with the holistic approach of addressing the mind, body, and spirit for total wellness. Gestalt therapy looks at each of these parts to treat them, reflecting on how a person and their influences (environment, upbringing, culture) create the whole picture.
Responsibility
Gestalt therapy integrates the core belief that people have a responsibility as humans. Not only do they have a responsibility to themselves, but also to others. Further, it requires individuals to be reflective about their actions and account for their mistakes. Even more, the concept of responsibility applies to others. While you can only control yourself, you can reckon with the ways others have hurt you. Since Gestalt therapy focuses on the present, exercises allow individuals to reflect on struggles they’ve faced and harm they’ve experienced to forge a new path for the future.
Self-Regulation
Gestalt therapy is goal-oriented, with one task being to foster greater self-regulation. What is self-regulation? It’s the process of managing yourself to fulfill your obligation to yourself by daily working on self-improvement. Thus, managing your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors is self-regulation. As you hone these skills through practice, you’ll have better communication skills, stronger coping mechanisms, deeper peace, and healthier relationships to others. Even more, you will be able to view yourself as an ally rather than an enemy. The more you practice self-management, the more you’ll develop trust, empathy, and confidence in yourself.
The Benefits of Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt therapy offers numerous benefits across emotional, mental, and behavioral domains:
- Improved Self-Awareness: patients develop insight into how their internal experiences shape their external world.
- Enhanced Emotional Resilience: Studies show Gestalt therapy helps individuals face challenges such as trauma, divorce, or serious illness with greater strength.
- Better Mental Health: The holistic nature of this therapy promotes balance across mind, body, and spirit.
- Healthier Coping Skills: Through guided practice, patients learn sustainable ways to manage triggers and stressors without resorting to harmful behaviors.
What Is Gestalt Therapy Like?
When trying any new therapy technique, especially if you’re new to therapy as a whole, it can feel intimidating. Because therapy requires vulnerability, people often feel nervous to start. Additionally, that can be a reason preventing people from looking into treatment in the first place. But we assure you, therapy is a simple and straightforward process designed to help you heal. Yes, therapy takes hard emotional work, but sessions are designed to feel comfortable and safe. You’ll develop a bond of trust with your therapist over numerous sessions, so don’t worry about feeling entirely comfortable on day one.
Here are some tips for what to expect in a Gestalt therapy session to help you be prepared.
Session Structure
During Gestalt therapy sessions, there will be room for fluidity, spontaneity, and creativity. Although the therapy is based around specific principles, emphases, and processes, you control the session. Your whole-body healing is the most important goal, allowing for freedom in what any session looks like. Yet, psychotherapy can include discussion, exercises, and reflection. For example, your therapist may walk you through the chair method to help resolve unfinished business from the past.
Role of the Therapist
You will develop a trust-based relationship with your therapist as you work together over multiple sessions. They are there to guide you, motivate and encourage you, and help you achieve your goals.
How Long Is Gestalt Therapy?
The length of therapy varies for each person. Progress depends on your goals, consistency, and comfort with the process. Some individuals complete treatment after a few months, while others continue long-term for ongoing support.
At Aliya Mental Health, your therapist will help you set measurable goals—such as improving resilience, managing triggers, or enhancing self-awareness—and adjust your care plan as needed. When you’re ready, we’ll assist in transitioning to continued care with another trusted provider.
Gestalt Therapy at Aliya Mental Health
Healing begins when you take ownership of your story and embrace growth in the present moment. Gestalt therapy provides the tools to resolve the past, strengthen emotional awareness, and create a healthier, more fulfilling future.
At Aliya Mental Health, we combine Gestalt therapy with a range of research-based and holistic treatments designed for your unique needs. Our compassionate care team is here to support your recovery every step of the way.
Contact us today to schedule your initial consultation and begin your journey toward self-awareness, balance, and lasting healing through Gestalt therapy.