A seminal book that placed the study of human behaviour in a new perspective, demolished many schools of psychology and brought about a return to the dynamic view of human personality. It invites the reader to go on a course of self-therapy designed to develop an awareness of the self and a growth of the personality. Employing the wide-ranging techniques of the Gestalt approach to heighten sensory perception and motoric behaviour and to deepen the capacity to enjoy interpersonal relationships, it is a practical insight into one of the most important psychotherapeutic techniques. Starting with the premise that experience begins at the contact boundary it examines the nature of that experience and the various obstacles that can stand in the way of growth. Gestalt therapy is explained in detail, with its basis in the methods of psychotherapy from Freud to the present outlined. First published in 1951, Gestalt Therapy has remained constantly in print ever since and is regarded as one of the most important studies of self-awareness available.

From the introduction: So I would commend these formative writings of Fritz Perls to those who would get a fuller sense of the original ideas of Gestalt therapy, a work in progress, but already a fairly consistent field-relational approach to psychology and therapy. My hope is that, with more people reading these papers and our 'Bible, ' Perls, Hefferline and Goodman, the discussion of what is useful and what needs reworking can be grounded in a rediscovery of what is exciting and unique in Perls' ideas. Peter Philippson January, 2012 Contents: Planned Psychotherapy Frederick Perls delivered this talk at the William Alanson White Institute in late 1947 or early 1948. Theory and Technique of Personality Integration Reprinted from American Journal of Psychotherapy, October 1948 The Theory of "The Removal of Inner Conflict (co-authored with Paul Goodman) Reprinted from Resistance Introduction to A Doctor's Report on Dianetics: Theory and Therapy by J. A. Winter (1951) Psychiatry in a New Key "Psychiatry in a New Key" is a manuscript Perls started sometime in the early 1950's. It was first published in The Gestalt Journal in 1977. Morality Ego Boundary, and Aggression Reprinted from Complex, #9, 1955. Finding Self Through Gestalt Therapy Fritz Perls delivered this talk as part of the Cooper Union Forum Lecture Series: "The Self" in New York City on March 6, 1957. Gestalt Therapy and Cybernetics In 1958, Jacob L. Moreno invited Frederick Perls to write an article discussing the similarities between Gestalt therapy and Cybernetics for publication in Moreno's publication, Sociometry: A Journal of Interpersonal Relations. Moreno decided not to publish the article. Resolution This paper was given as a talk at Mendocino State Hospital, Talmage, California, in 1959 as the conclusion of a series of talks and demonstrations Gestalt Therapy and Human Potentialities. Reprinted from Explorations in Human Potentialities, edited by Herbert A. Otto in 1966 Group vs. Individual Therapy Reprinted from Etc: A Review of General Semantics, Vol. 34, No. 3,1967