Gestalt Therapy for Patients with Schizophrenia: A Brief Review

Originally Gestalt therapy was aimed at neurotic patients and not at patients with major psychosis like schizophrenia. Later Gestalt therapy was modified to suit patients with schizophrenia both as group and individual therapy. The literature is reviewed, briefly concerning how schizophrenia can be understood in terms of Gestalt therapy, and in more detail covering the practical aspects of therapy. The studies cited agree on the importance of training awareness and contact, while there are discrepancies about the use of therapist authority, the engagement in the psychotic world of the patient, and the use of projective experiments.