There are many types of therapy that have been included and excluded throughout history. Starting from Freud and his gateway into the subconscious mind and psychoanalysis, there have been many people and innovations in the psychiatric world that have spurred from him. One of those innovations was the Gestalt Theory by Fredrick S. Perls. The background behind Perls and his theory, an analysis of what his theory was and what it did, and how it is still used today, is what is focused on in this paper.
Fredrick S. Perls created the Gestalt Theory in the 1940’s and continued to have an influence on culture through the 1950’s. His main interests in existenalism and Eastern religions, and Gestalt psychology contradicted what his Freudian training had taught him, but in the end led him to his well-known Gestalt Theory. “Perls saw the human being as a unified organism, an integration of mental, physical, emotional. And sensory processes expressed in the present moment” (Irving B. & Craighead, 2010). A lot of Perls work had been influenced by Kurt Goldstein, a neurologist, Moreno’s social experimentation, field therapy by Kurt Lewin, and ideas derived from Zen (Gaie, 2003). His theory focused on the less shy and submissive idea of feelings and brought up the value of the client/patient dynamic and the effectiveness of facing the problem head on. Even though all the people and therapy’s listed above had an influence on Perls, he was able to mesh all of what he had learned together beautifully into his own.
The Gestalt Theory that was created by Fredrick Perls is a theory that focuses on self-acceptance and taking responsibilities for one’s own actions. It is also a more direct way of expressing feelings towards a traumatic experience or an unresolved issue during the patient’s life. Perls called this “unfinished business” and was resolved by acting out the problem and allowing the patient to openly express thoughts and raw feelings. How it was done was very client/patient oriented and its effectiveness would often be evaluated by the technique the therapists used (Moore 2004). How a session using this therapy would look like is the client would be put in a chair that was facing another chair that was empty. The therapist would use the empty chair to have the client “imagine” that the root of their problem (a family member, rapist, friend), and ask the client questions that they would be able to express how they felt to the empty chair. It could become intense very fast, which is why some psychologists say it is only effective to well-motivated and verbal clients (Irving B. & Craighead, 2010).
While there has been a lot of good things that have come from Gestalt Theory, there has been some issues that have been criticized by the psychiatric field. One of the issues is the issue of responsibility. Perls suggests that we are responsible for ourselves and no one else, that what we do only affects us as an individual and no one else. “It appears that Perls would have us believe that we are not responsible or obligated to each other for we do not actually respond for each other. While it is physically and logically contradictory for a person to not be the source of his actions, this does not mean we cannot have effects on each other” (Binderman, 1974). It is agreed that we are in charge of how we act and what we think, it is not agreed that it has no effect on the people around us and vice versa. This idea was part of the foundation for the Gestalt Theory and can be manipulated into a more reasonable concept for present therapists using this method.
Another issue with the Gestalt Theory is the linearity assumption. Linearity basically means the relationship between two variables when one is taking on the role of the other. An example of this would be a son, whose father beat him, taking on the role of the father and talking to the son about why he beats him. In essence, there is nothing wrong with linearity assumption, the issue with linearity assumption in Gestalts theory was that almost all of his research was based off of it and not much else. “Couched in terms of experiential processes and related to how people could be helped to function differently, Gestalt therapy's theory has not been recognized as addressing the issues that are of concern to theorists and researchers who are more focused on methods of systematic investigation” (Marvin & Netta Kaplan, 1985). The fact that every individual is different and will react differently is what makes theory not as stable as a systematic form of therapy. Many people who practice this theory have been able to tweak it to their patient’s needs and that is why it is still being used today by some therapists.
One of the positive impacts that using Gestalt Therapy has is perspective. Using his “two chair” method described above, the patient is able to see other people’s perspective by acting as that person, talking either to themselves or another person. This can be helpful because a lot of the times we don’t see other people’s sides because we feel that we are right. Another positive impact it can have is self-realization. It may help the patient figure out or discover feelings they did not know they had about a situation or a person. As you can see this type of therapy can have some impactful effects on people.
Overall, there are many types of therapy that have been included and excluded throughout history. The Gestalt Theory has given the world of psychology quite a stir in its unorthodox methods, but non the less has had a big impact.

Gestalt Therapy. (2010). In I. B. e & W. E. Craighead (Eds.), The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology (4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 721-723). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved from http://www.pierce.ctc.edu:2055/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX1942000397&v=2.1&u=puya65247&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=8ee3799bcabd9dad7a3c269b4ddd4ebf

Houston, G. (2003). Brief Gestalt Therapy. London, GBR: SAGE Publications Inc. (US). Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
Kaplan, M. (2008, July 7). The linearity issue and Gestalt therapy's theory of experiential organization. Retrieved February 18, 2016, from Wagner-Moore, L. (n.d.). Gestalt Therapy: Past, Present, Theory, and Research. Retrieved February 18, 2016, from http://www.pierce.ctc.edu:2189/ehost/detail/detail?sid=748225f8-5e5f-4e74-a2bf-2ff1efd25d73@sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4209&bdata=JnNjb3BlPXNpdGU=#AN=2004-15932-011&db=pdh
Wagner-Moore, L. (n.d.). Gestalt Therapy: Past, Present, Theory, and Research. Retrieved February 18, 2016, from http://www.pierce.ctc.edu:2189/ehost/detail/detail?sid=748225f8-5e5f-4e74-a2bf-2ff1efd25d73@sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4209&bdata=JnNjb3BlPXNpdGU=#AN=2004-15932-011&db=pdh