Nourishing Notions or Poisonous Propositions? Can “New Phenomenology” Inspire Gestalt Therapy?

Abstract

AbstractAccording to some Gestalt therapists, the so-called “New Phenomenology,” created by the German philosophy professor Hermann Schmitz, should change essential components of Gestalt therapy. At first glance, Schmitz's terms, such as “felt-body” [Leib] and “atmospheres” seem to be compatible with Gestalt phenomenology. Alas, his understanding of those key terms is not compatible. He distinctly separates the phenomenological felt-body from the physical body, tearing apart the field. Atmospheres, he claims, can grip a person, making the individual into a passive factor in the field. The term “contact” is to be replaced by a rather metaphysically defined felt-body resonance or “Einleibung” [incorporation], as “New Phenomenological” Gestalt therapists propose. By analyzing Schmitz's publication about Hitler (1999), including his blatant lack of historic methodology and his penchant for quoting Nazi sources, this article concludes that Schmitz trivializes both Nazi ideology and the Holocaust. His anti-existential approach is quite indigestible for existentially-based Gestalt therapy.