The Relational Dimension in Gestalt Psychotherapy: Epistemological and Clinical Aspects
Abstract
ABSTRACT This article reframes Gestalt psychotherapy as intrinsically relational: experience and self‐emerge from contact at the organism–environment boundary and from the field/situation. We revisit ambiguities in the Perls/Goodman model against a brief historical background and articulate a pragmatic stance grounded in the id of the situation and esthetic relational knowledge (ARK). A brief clinical vignette illustrates how attending to the field's esthetic qualities and to embodied resonance guides participation, timing, and dosage.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Publication details
- Journal / source
- The Journal of Humanistic Counseling
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- S1
- Publication date
- 28 January 2026
- Language
- EN