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Gestalt Cycle of Experience
Want to talk through your own cycle?
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Where this comes from
The cycle is drawn and named differently by different authors, and the number of stages varies — some accounts give six, some give seven. The seven above are how I teach it. If you want to read it from the source, start here.
- Zinker, J. (1977). Creative Process in Gestalt Therapy.
The cycle of experience as it is usually drawn and taught.
- Perls, F., Hefferline, R., & Goodman, P. (1951). Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality.
The underlying theory of contact and withdrawal that the cycle describes.
- Polster, E., & Polster, M. (1973). Gestalt Therapy Integrated.
The interruptions named at each stage here — introjection, projection, retroflection, deflection, confluence.
- Clarkson, P. Gestalt Counselling in Action.
A clear stage-by-stage walk through the cycle in clinical practice.
- Nevis, E. (1987). Organizational Consulting: A Gestalt Approach.
The same cycle applied to groups and organizations rather than individuals.