Fritz Perls / L AURA P ERLS
FREDERICK S. (“FRITZ”) PERLS, MD, PhD
(1893–1970), was the main originator and devel-
oper of Gestalt therapy. Born in Berlin, Germany,
into a lower-middle-class Jewish family, he later
identified himself as a source of much trouble for
his parents. Although he failed the seventh grade
twice and was expelled from school because of
difficulties with the authorities, his brilliance was
never quashed, and he returned—not only to
complete high school but to earn his medical
degree (MD) with a specialization in psychiatry.
In 1916 he joined the German Army and served
as a medic in World War I. His experiences with
soldiers who were gassed on the front lines led to
his interest in mental functioning, which led him to
Gestalt psychology.
After the war Perls worked with Kurt Goldstein
at the Goldstein Institute for Brain-Damaged
Soldiers in Frankfurt. It was through this associa-
tion that he came to see the importance of viewing
humans as a whole rather than as a sum of dis-
cretely functioning parts. It was also through this
association that he met his wife, Laura, who was
earning her PhD with Goldstein. Later he moved to
Vienna and began his psychoanalytic training.
Perls was in analysis with Wilhelm Reich, a
psychoanalyst who pioneered methods of self-
understanding and personality change by working
with the body.
LAURA POSNER PERLS, PhD (1905–1990),
was born in Pforzheim, Germany, the daughter
of well-to-do parents. She began playing the
piano at the age of 5 and played with profes-
sional skill by the time she was 18. From the
age of 8 she was involved in modern dance, and
both music and modern dance remained vital
parts of her adult life and were incorporated
into her therapy with some clients. By the time
Laura began her practice as a psychoanalyst she
had prepared for a career as a concert pianist,
had attended law school, achieved a doctoral
degree in Gestalt psychology, and made an
intensive study of existential philosophy with
Paul Tillich and Martin Buber. Clearly, Laura
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Perls and several of his colleagues established
the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy in 1952.
Eventually Fritz left New York and settled in Big
Sur, California, where he conducted workshops and
seminars at the Esalen Institute, carving out his
reputation as an innovator in psychotherapy. Here
he had a great impact on people, partly through his
professional writings, but mainly through personal
contact in his workshops.
Personally, Perls was both vital and perplexing.
People typically either responded to him in awe
or found him harshly confrontational and saw him 211
as meeting his own needs through showmanship.
G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y
Having a predilection for the theater since child-
hood, he loved being on stage and putting on a
show. He was viewed variously as insightful, witty,
bright, provocative, manipulative, hostile, demand-
ing, and inspirational. Unfortunately, some of the
people who attended his workshops went on to
mimic the less attractive side of Perls’s personality.
Even though Perls was not happy with this, he did
little to discourage it.
For a firsthand account of the life of Fritz Perls,
I recommend his autobiography, In and Out of the
Garbage Pail (1969b). For a well-researched chap-
ter on the history of Gestalt therapy, see Bowman
(2005).
already had a rich background when she met
Fritz in 1926 and they began their collaboration,
which resulted in the theoretical foundations
of Gestalt therapy. Laura and Fritz were married
in 1930 and had two children while living and
practicing in South Africa. Laura continued to
be the mainstay for the New York Institute
for Gestalt Therapy after Fritz abandoned his
family to become internationally famous as the
traveling minstrel for Gestalt therapy. Laura
also made significant contributions to the
development and maintenance of the Gestalt
therapy movement in the United States and
throughout the world (although in very different
ways) from the late 1940s until her death
 in 1990. Laura’s own words make it clear that of being responsive at a time when the popular
Fritz was a generator, not a developer or organ- notion of Gestalt therapy was that it fostered
izer. At the 25th anniversary of the New York responsibility only to oneself. She corrected
Institute for Gestalt Therapy, Laura Perls (1990) some of the excesses committed in the name
stated, “Without the constant support from of Gestalt therapy and adhered to the basic
his friends, and from me, without the constant principles of Gestalt therapy theory as
encouragement and collaboration, Fritz would written in Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and
never have written a line, nor founded Growth in the Human Personality (Perls, Heffer-
anything” (p. 18). line, & Goodman, 1951). She taught that every
Laura paid a great deal of attention to Gestalt therapist needs to develop his or her
contact and support, which differed from Fritz’s own therapeutic style. From her perspective,
attention to intrapsychic phenomena and his whatever is integrated in our personality
focus on awareness. Her emphasis on contact becomes support for what we use technically
212 underscored the role of the interpersonal and (Humphrey, 1986).
CHAPTER EIGHT

introduction

aware-
ness

relational Gestalt therapy,

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 what how

field

213

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y
Emotion-focused therapy

Learning Emotion-Focused Therapy: The Process-Experiential Approach to

Change Emotion-Focused Ther-
apy

See the video program for Chapter 8, DVD for Theory and Practice of Counseling
and Psychotherapy: The Case of Stan and Lecturettes. I suggest that you view
the brief lecture for each chapter prior to reading the chapter.

key concepts
View of Human Nature

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214
CHAPTER EIGHT

paradoxical theory of change.

Some Principles of Gestalt Therapy Theory

holism Gestalt

figure
ground

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 field theory field theory,

the figure-formation process

figure-formation process

215

organismic self-regulation

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y
organismic self-regulation,

The Now

Phenomenological inquiry

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 talk about

now.

216
CHAPTER EIGHT

Unfinished Business
unfinished business,

do seek

impasse,

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 Contact and Resistances to Contact
Con-
tact

217

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y
Introjection

Projection

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 Retroflection

Deflection
218
CHAPTER EIGHT

Confluence

interruptions in contact boundary disturbance

Energy and Blocks to Energy

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 the therapeutic process 219

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y
Therapeutic Goals

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 Therapist’s Function and Role

220
CHAPTER EIGHT

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 It” talk.

“You” talk.

Questions.

221

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y
Language that denies power.

Listening to clients’ metaphors.

Listening for language that uncovers a story.

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222
CHAPTER EIGHT

Client’s Experience in Therapy

dis-
covery.

accommodation,

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 assimilation,

223

Relationship Between Therapist and Client

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y

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224
CHAPTER EIGHT

application: therapeutic
techniques and procedures
The Experiment in Gestalt Therapy

Case Approach to Counseling and Psycho-

therapy

Exercises

Experiments,

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 225

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y

Preparing Clients for Gestalt Experiments

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 personally

226
CHAPTER EIGHT

way

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 227

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y
The Role of Confrontation

Confrontation
invited

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 Gestalt Therapy Interventions

228
CHAPTER EIGHT

the internal dialogue exercise

empty-chair technique

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 making the rounds

229

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y
the reversal exercise

the rehearsal exercise

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 the exaggeration exercise

230
CHAPTER EIGHT

staying with the feeling

the gestalt approach to dream work

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 231

G E S T A LT T H E R A P Y

Application to Group Counseling

talking about

talking about

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232
CHAPTER EIGHT

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