The past is not neglected. Its importance is not in what happened then, but in how it affects now. .
One patient was asked how he thought his life would be different if he were healthy but had amnesia. At first he was delighted at the prospect of being free from his current entanglements, but then he ruefully observed, like a person caught in his own practical joke, that he himself was the only person keeping the past alive. Indeed he was. ("Gestalt Therapy integrated", Erving & Miriam Polster, 1973).
What we experienced as we developed, and how we adapted to that experience, comes into the present as both our "unfinished business" and our character styles, or ways of being in the world. Gestalt therapists deal directly with these elements in the "here and now", working with contact styles and focused awareness to help their clients complete and work through unfinished business and learn to experience and appreciate their full being-ness. By learning to follow their own ongoing process, and to fully experience, accept, and appreciate their complete selves, Gestalt Therapy clients can free themselves to move past pain, fear, anxiety, depression or low self-esteem. They can then discover who they really are, and allow themselves to develop in the ways appropriate for them. (Larry Stone, MFT, "Summary of Gestalt Therapy").
History.
Gestalt Therapy was developed in the 1940s and 1950s primarily by four individuals: Fritz Perls, Laura Perls, Paul Goodman, and Isadore From. These professionals in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, literature, and philosophy brought to the creation of Gestalt therapy their passionate interest in social criticism, dance, gender dynamics, theater, and Eastern thought and practice. They added the teachings from Gestalt perceptual psychology, social psychology, existentialism, and sociology.
Each of these individuals made their unique mark on the development of this new therapy.
