Research on gestalt therapy

This article will present an overview of process and evaluation research in gestalt therapy. Our starting point will be what research shows about the practice in gestalt therapy. In the following section we will take a close-up look at research on detailed or "microscopic" aspects of processes discernible in therapeutic work. We will be seeing fine-tuning aspects in the course of the dialogue between therapist and client. Our path will then take us to 'macroscopic' dimensions of the therapeutic process where developments are identified. We will then come to paradigms relating therapeutic processes to long-term effects of therapy. Finally we will discuss differential effects of gestalt therapy from clinical evaluation studies, including comparisons with other psychotherapeutic treatments.