The Gestalt Approach and Eye Witness to Therapy,

Rating:
Summary: A Very Readable Classic
Review: All of Perls' books are an interesting read. Too bad the title sounds so clinical. You don't have to be a psychologist to enjoy this book. Anyone that wants to understand themselves and others better will be satisfied.

Rating:
Summary: Simplemente maravilloso
Review: Este es mi libro favorito de los que ha escrito Perls. A mi juicio la síntesis de su trabajo y enseñanza es inmejorable. Para mí es material de consulta permanente.
Es un "must" para los que están interesados en acompañar sus procesos de terapia gestalt con los principios y fundamentos que subyacen a este mágico enfoque.

Rating:
Summary: Simplemente maravilloso
Review: Este es mi libro favorito de los que ha escrito Perls. A mi juicio la síntesis de su trabajo y enseñanza es inmejorable. Para mí es material de consulta permanente.
Es un "must" para los que están interesados en acompañar sus procesos de terapia gestalt con los principios y fundamentos que subyacen a este mágico enfoque.

Rating:
Summary: The Gestalt Approach & Eye Witness to Therapy
Review: I HAVE A BOOK WITH THE SAME NAME WITH THIS ON THE COVER,THE LAST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE WORK BY THE GENIUS WHO FATHERED GESTALT THERAP, AND CAN NOT FIND THIS IN YOUR BOOKS SHOWN I WOULD LIKE TO SELL THIS POCKETBOOK NOW. The author is the same .

Rating:
Summary: Essays and Transcripts
Review: In an interview with Adelaide Bry, Perls refused to answer when asked what Gestalt Therapy was. He commented that he hated intellectualizing, and instead walked her through some exercises to demonstrate the integrative rather than the analytical nature of a gestalt-based approach. It's an interesting moment, and sheds some potential light on the best way to read this book.

Essentially what Perls believed was that in order to make intelligent and healthy decisions, you have to make conscious decisions. So the goal of therapy is to bring all the issues at play into consciousness so that by being aware of all the factors involved, real choices can be made in an informed fashion. He used theatrical techniques and group therapy to help his patients achieve their goals.

Perls is reported to have viewed the essays in the first portion of the book (The Gestalt Approach) as outdated, and instead wished that he could have made a film to convey his ideas. There are seven essays, which lay out the basic principles behind his theories and ideas:

Foundations
Neurotic Mechanisms
Here Comes the Neurotic
Here and Now Therapy
Peeling the Onion
Shuttling, Psychodrama, and Confusion
Who is Listening?

I would tend to agree (with Perls' implied message) that reading the transcripts of group therapy sessions in the second part of the book (Eye Witness to Therapy) is much more illuminating for somebody who wants to get some insight into what really is involved in Gestalt Therapy.

For me at least, as a layman, it was much easier to get a feel for what was involved by reading the flow between the patients and the therapist in group than it was to digest the message in essay form.

Thought-provoking.