How is Gestalt Therapy Similar to Cognitive – Behavioral Therapy and How are They Different?
• Gestalt therapy has a long history and is based partly in the most significant cognitive and perceptual discoveries that also influenced the cognitive revolution in psychotherapy; today’s gestalt psychologists are the researchers of cognitive science who continue to explore consciousness and how we perceive and interpret our sensations – our experience in the world • Gestalt therapy is not merely insight focused (knowing theories about why one does such and such), because it is action-oriented (learning how one does such and such and intentionally doing something that leads to increased awareness and different choices in life); in this respect it is similar to cognitive-behavioral therapy • Gestalt therapy is different from cognitive-behavioral therapy in that it does not merely examine how one thinks, and it does not prescribe new behaviors with a view to causing precise, therapist pre-determined results • Gestalt therapy includes how one thinks as one aspect of a whole person’s exp
