Gestalt Therapy: Therapy of the Situation

We will be recommending this book to our first year students on the Diploma as a valuable addition to our booklist. It clearly provides a balanced overview.
-- Mrs Susan Draper-Todkill ― drupal Published On: 2013-03-19

Wollants emphasises a specific aspect of gestalt psychotherapy theory that I believe is essential to a full appreciation: namely the emergence of figures from ground/context.

Traditionally there was a strong tendency for therapy, coaching, consulting work to be ′figure bound′; paying attention to the issue itself with insufficient attention to the environment.

Wollants redresses the balance in a thorough way. His formulation is complex and compelling. His examples are excellent. I believe it is the most complete critique of ′figure bound′ therapy I have read.

In particular I value his revisiting of key concepts in Gestalt and renaming them in simple terms; the ′it′, the′I′ and the ′Me′, as opposed to the Id, Ego and Personality. I think this enables a more direct apprehension of the theory for some students. On the other hand, his parting from more conventional descriptors could leave some readers/students unable to contextualise their own learning within the wider field of psychotherapy. It is curious that Wollants does not consider this potential problem for trainees at greater length given his sensitivity to contextualisation.

I found a few instances of what are either typos or translation problems in the book that caused difficulty in comprehending specific points: e.g. P70, box on Field Diagnosis, 4th para, second line, I believe ′end′ should read ′and′.

Malcolm Parlett′s wonderful epilogue does address some of the ′language′ issues that arise. I suspect that for many students the book will need to be read again and again to fully appreciate the ′fullness′ of what Wollants is trying to convey. It is not an easy text book to ′dip′ into, but I nonetheless consider it an essential read that is a ′classic′ within the Gestalt literature. -- Dr Sally Denham-Vaughan ― drupal Published On: 2012-08-17

An interesting and well constructed overview of Gestalt Therapy. -- Mrs Suzan Flannery ― drupal Published On: 2013-11-21

Wollants is a Belgian Gestalt therapist, supervisor and trainer. This book is a culmination of his many years of learning and experience and is a must-read for any student of Gestalt theory and practice, whether in the fields of psychotherapy or organisational work.
\
In this book Wollants clarifies an essential aspect of Gestalt theory which is the indivisibility of the person in his or her environment and in doing so, sheds light on a much confused term of ‘field’ and adopting the term of ‘situation’ instead.
\
Wollant reminds us first of Gestalt’s European Roots and from that stance critiques aspects of Gestalt’s founding book by Perls, Hefferline and Goodman, Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and growth in the Human Personality (1951/1994).
-- Dr Marie-Anne Chidiac ― drupal Published On: 2012-11-02

very interesting for students
development of self awareness.

Helping sudents to identify own needs.

Written well and clear without confusing text to students -- Ms Annetta Bowden ― drupal Published On: 2013-04-11

This book was essential for part of the level 3 counselling course, clearly written and supportive -- Teresa Johnson ― drupal Published On: 2012-09-06