Awareness in gestalt psychotherapy : a qualitative study

Abstract

The aim of this qualitative study is to research the Gestalt therapist's understanding of the concept of awareness and its relevance to his therapeutic work. Six Gestalt therapists, who were recruited from the Maltese Gestalt website, participated in un-structured interviews. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data and five super ordinate themes emerged: (a) the therapist's understanding of awareness; (b) loss of awareness; (c) the therapist's awareness during therapy; (d) techniques used by the therapist to increase his own awareness and; (e) awareness work with the client. Results were interpreted within a humanistic phenomenological perspective. The outcome of this study shows that helping the client to raise his awareness is essential during therapeutic work as it promotes a shift in behaviour leading to growth. As a result this study can hopefully promote awareness techniques in psychotherapeutic settings.