Gestalt therapy, anthropocentrism, and the family of things

Abstract

In the context of the world’s numerous ecological crises, in this article we consider how Gestalt theory can help or hinder the change from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric perspective in and for therapy. In particular, we examine some of the theoretical entanglements of Gestalt therapy in the very anthropocentric worldview that lies at the root of our current ecological crises. In response to this, we argue that Gestalt therapy could both expand and decentre self by drawing on ideas and methods that position humans as but one member of a vast ecological ‘family of things’. Keywords Gestalt therapy, self, organism, contact cycle, anthropocentrism, field theory, more-than-human world, climate change