Evolutionary grounds for Gestalt therapy

In this article we explore the influence of evolutionism on Gestalt therapy. Evolutionism is fundamental to our scientific conception of human beings and therefore plays an inevitable role in Gestalt therapy, though this role is usually implicit. Darwin's theory of evolution constitutes the starting point of evolutionism. According to this theory, evolution can be seen as a kind of tree in which humankind is situated at the tip of one branch. Thus, the evolutionary principle of the ‘struggle for life’ also applies to humankind. This fight for survival should be understood as a mutual exchange between organism and environment in which organisms adapt to their environments but also modify them. Humankind’s mental flexibility is a very recent evolutionary adaptive development which has undeniably led to an important survival advantage. On top of biological intergenerational adaptation, it endows humankind with psychological intragenerational adjustment. Given that Gestalt therapy is a development-oriented psychotherapy which extrapolates evolutionary principles to human mental processes, this mechanism of creative adjustment is essential to Gestalt therapy’s perspective on mental health.

Jaar van publicatie:2019

Trefwoorden:A3 Journal article

Toegankelijkheid:Open