Fritz Perls (Key Figures In Counselling And Psychotherapy Series)

Fritz Perls was the co-founder of Gestalt Therapy, which is based on a holistic view of people and their relationship to the environment. A radical and refreshing challenge to psychoanalysis, Gestalt remains one of the most important and influential approaches in counselling and psychotherapy today, and many of its innovations have been assimilated into other therapeutic disciplines.

Fritz Perls provides a clear account of the diverse life of this popular but controversial psychotherapist and discusses his theoretical ideas simply and lucidly. The book includes examples of Perls' work, drawn from transcripts and films of his demonstration sessions. These examples, together with the present authors' commentaries on them, offer a unique illustration of what Perls' theoretical ideas meant in practice, and make his work available for observation and evaluation to a degree which is rarely matched by other exponents of psychotherapeutic theory.

A further feature is a full acknowledgement of the criticisms and appreciations which Perls' life and work have attracted and an honest evaluation of whether and to what extent they are justified. Comprehensive and jargon-free, this overview will be invaluable for all counsellors and psychotherapists.