Notes from Gestalt Therapy’s seminal book by Fritz Perls, Ralph Hefferline and Paul Goodman, published in 1951, republished in 1994, entitled Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality.
The book starts with a preface that discusses key differences between Gestalt Therapy and Psychoanalysis, from which Gestalt Therapy evolved.
On Aggression: Gestalt Therapy vs. Psychoanalysis
Gestalt therapy views aggression positively, in contrast to Freud’s association with the death instinct. Perls theorised aggression stems from “dental aggression,” a process of selectively internalising experiences. This fosters self-preservation, environmental interaction, and creative agency. Gestalt therapy views the “no” as equally important to the “yes” in healthy personality development. Its repression, due to fear of conflict, is believed to be a core driver of neurotic tendencies.
All psychotherapeutic approaches hold implicit or explicit views on human development. Psychoanalysis encourages regression and reintroduces introjection through interpretation, while Gestalt therapy emphasises early development of self-determination. Gestalt therapy integrates interpretation with patient-led experiments fostering self-discovery.
The Structure of Growth
The Contact Boundary
“Experience occurs at the boundary between the organism and its environment, primarily the skin surface and the other organs of sensory and motor response.” (p. 3).
Contact in Gestalt therapy is a theoretical concept which describes a process of awareness. This process is ever-changing and dynamic. The contact-boundary does not separate the organism and its environment; rather it limits the organism, contains and protects it, and at the same time it touches the environment.
All contact is a creative adjustment between organism and environment. It is how the organism grows in the field. Interruption of contact hinders movement and growth. Creative and adjustment are polar and mutually necessary.
Gestalt therapy focuses on the “contact boundary,” the dynamic interface between self and other. This boundary is where experiences unfold, needs are met or thwarted, and growth occurs through interactions with the environment.
Chapter V: Maturing and the Recollection of Childhood
This chapter explores the role of memory and anticipation in present experience, specifically in the context of psychotherapy. It argues against an overemphasis on recovering past memories, focusing instead on present self-awareness and creative adaptation.
Key themes include: past and future in the present actuality; the compulsion to repeat as an attempt to finish unfinished situations; the “trauma” as unfinished situation; and a strong critique of the use of “infantile” versus “mature” — arguing that many so-called “infantile” traits like spontaneity, playfulness, and direct curiosity are essential for a fulfilling adult life.
Chapter VI: Human Nature and the Anthropology of Neurosis
Psychotherapy must consider social, cultural, and biological factors in human development. “Normality” is not always a healthy goal within a dysfunctional society. Neurosis reveals where society fails to support the thriving of its members.
Neurotic mechanisms (hallucination, isolation, etc.) are safety-valves for protecting the self in the face of overwhelming threat. In neurosis, these safety mechanisms overshadow more “normal” functions. The therapist’s goal is not to eliminate these valuable self-protective mechanisms but to help the patient integrate them healthily.
Chapter VII: Verbalising and Poetry
Speech, meant to connect us, can become a hollow substitute for genuine experience. When speech is alive, it channels the “I” (our needs and presence), the “Thou” (how we connect with others), and the “It” (truths of the world). Poets solve inner riddles through the very act of speaking.
Chapter VIII: The Antisocial and Aggression
There is a natural tension between individual desires and societal norms. Sometimes, behaviour that goes against societal norms is necessary for personal growth. The term “aggression” encompasses a range of behaviours, some positive and some negative. Annihilation is a defensive response to pain or danger, while destruction is a necessary part of growth and development.
Growth involves both aggressiveness (destroying outmoded forms) and love (joyful engagement with the new). When society blocks aggression, it turns against both the self and society.
Chapter IX: Conflict and Self-Conquest
“Creative disinterestedness” means embracing conflict, accepting risk, and letting go of clinging to the past. This allows growth and the excitement of changing into something new. The hallmark of this attitude is faith — a trust in oneself and in the field of life to support the change.
Chapter XII: Creative Adjustment
Fore-contacting and Contacting
The fore-contact is the excitement of the organism in response to an internal need of something from the environment. The contact process moves through stages:
Fore-contact — the body is the ground and the environment stimulus is the figure.
Contacting — the excitement becomes the ground and some object of possibilities is the figure. There is choosing and rejecting, approaching, deliberate orientation and manipulation.
Final Contact — the lively goal is the figure, awareness of the self is at its brightest.
Post Contact — there is flowing and equilibrium, the self diminishes into the background.
Emotions
Emotions are the products, the “integrative awareness” of the organism-environment field. They provide motivating knowledge — longing intensifies appetite when faced with a distant object; grief results from the tension of loss; anger fuels the drive to destroy barriers to our desires; compassion motivates us to help others.
Excitement and Anxiety
Interrupted excitement — the metaphorical and practical holding of one’s breath — this is anxiety. Fear involves anticipating a threat, allowing for deliberate and defensive actions. In fright, the overwhelming threat triggers a complete withdrawal.
Chapter XV: Loss of Ego-Functions
Neurosis is not a set of symptoms but a process of interrupted creative adjustment. The five mechanisms of interruption:
- Confluence — No contact or boundaries. Clinging, hanging-on, muscular paralysis.
- Introjection — Swallowing the environment. Taking in external values without digesting them.
- Projection — Disowning emotion. Attributing one’s own feelings to others.
- Retroflection — Turning against the self. Inhibiting outward expression.
- Egotism — Deliberate delay or avoidance. Over-analysis and perfectionism.
These are not fixed personality types but strategies used at specific moments in the contact process. The criterion for psychological health is ongoing creative engagement.
Volume II: Mobilising the Self
The authors critique experimental psychology’s limitations and argue for the clinical approach as a valid form of inquiry. Gestalt psychology serves as a bridge — a scientific approach that acknowledges the active role of perception and meaning-making.
Volume II: Contacting the Environment (Experiments)
A series of experiments designed to experience the present moment more deeply:
- Experiment 1: Feeling the Actual — Begin sentences with “Now I…” and describe direct awareness
- Experiment 2: Sensing Opposed Forces — Explore inner resistance and identify internal opposites
- Experiment 3: Attending and Concentrating — Observe how attention forms figures and grounds
- Experiment 4: Differentiating and Unifying — Perceive familiar objects with fresh eyes
What unites these experiments is the quiet revolution they suggest: a method of breaking down and rebuilding our habitual ways of seeing, feeling, and responding.
Book Reference
Perls, F., Hefferline, R., & Goodman, P. (1951/1994). Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality. Kindle Edition. ME: The Gestalt Journal Press.