* They are able to exercise initiative, both in expressing their difficulties to the therapist and in attempting to make desired changes. Most client-centered therapists will refrain from giving direction. * They are interested primarily in personal growth rather than the removal of specific symptoms. * They are blocked, inhibited, or rigid because they are too self-critical. * They are not severely impaired in their abilities to relate to others. {127} GESTALT THERAPY _For very rigid people who are always trying to be someone they are not, who will commit themselves to a challenging and usually frustrating process of growth leading to personal integration and genuineness._ GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY Gestalt therapy has its roots in Gestalt psychology, which was established early in this century by the German psychologists Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967), Kurt Koffka (1886-1941), and Max Wertheimer (1880-1943). The main contribution of Gestalt psychology consisted of studies of human perception. Gestalt psychologists demonstrated that perception reveals the existence of organized wholes that cannot be reduced to the sum of their parts. They called such an organized totality a _Gestalt_. (Outside of psychology, _Gestalt_ in German means "form.") A famous example, shown below, demonstrates how an object that you see can be closely linked to its background. Here, the figure and the ground can oscillate, depending on whether you concentrate on the faces or the vase. The figure depends on its background for its identity, and vice versa. [Illustration: A famous illustration of a white vase set between the black silhouettes of two faces in profile; at one moment you perceive the vase, at another you see the two faces] {128} GESTALT THERAPY Frederick (Fritz) Perls (1893-1970) brought together certain of the basic concepts of Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychodrama, an approach to therapy developed by J. L. Moreno (1889-1974) that emphasizes role-playing, acting out of fantasies, and group interaction. Perls transformed the Gestalt psychologists' central idea so it would serve as a basis for his approach to psychotherapy. Let's look at an example. A man has been stranded in the desert and has become severely dehydrated. He has wandered for several days in search of water. He stumbles along, nearly blinded by the sun, seeing only vaguely defined shapes of rocks and cacti. Suddenly, out of this hazy world, something becomes clearly defined: he sees a watering hole, surrounded by low bushes. It is clearly etched in his eyes, set against the indistinct background of the hot desert. Once he has plunged his head into the water and quenched his thirst, his Gestalt is _closed_: the need that caused him to struggle for days has performed its purpose.