Process
 
Gestalt therapy is process-oriented.  This separates Gestalt therapy from any form of therapy that contains or is founded upon sets of constructs about human behavior that are believed to apply to all persons in prescribed experiences.  Rather than trying to fit a person into a category, the Gestalt therapist focuses with respect upon the uniqueness of each individual. 

      As the therapist pays attention to the stories or reports of events that a client shares, the focus is not only on the report but also on the lively signals that indicate underlying material of which the client may not be aware — how the client is experiencing him/herself in his/her world in the present moment.  Process may be signaled in both verbal and non-verbal behavior, often primarily in the non-verbal sphere, in "metacommunication," as George I. Brown has stated (1987).  These signals indicate the client's contact or lack of contact with that which is meaningful. 

      In another context, the signals of underlying process in verbal and non-verbal behavior indicate different things in different spheres.  In the internal (intrapersonal) sphere, such signals indicate the unique individual's on-going formation of, or interference with, gestalt formation and completion.   In the external (interpersonal) sphere, such signals indicate the contact or interference with contact between individual and environment

      The signals of process are the focus for the Gestalt therapist. 
 



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