What is Gestalt and why is it so important to complete it?

Close the gestalt and don't return to it

Learn to leave the past in the past.
Of course, memories are part of our life, part of us, and they should not be erased without a trace. But, also, they should not dominate your head and influence subsequent events. The past was in the past, and now is the present. Use your acquired experience, useful skills, and all your skills, but do not think that the past will always help you understand the present. It is very important to close the gestalt in a relationship, because otherwise you will not be able to fully move on. To start a new relationship, you need to make room for it, and only in this case will the new relationship begin correctly and your previous life will not affect it.

Moscow psychologists told whether it is possible to close gestalt and how to do it

Today, more and more often, not only from specialists, but also in the mass media, a phrase that is not very clear to the average person is heard: “it is important to close the gestalt.” What is gestalt and how its incompleteness affects our psycho-emotional state, says Nelly Sargsyan, a psychologist at the SAO family center.

“Gestalt is translated from German as a holistic form, structure. The concept of “unclosed gestalt” is something that we started but did not complete,”

- Nellie explains.

What is an “unclosed gestalt”

The idea came from the young scientist Bluma Zeigarnik, who was watching a waiter work in a restaurant. He remembered customers and their orders for several dishes, but as soon as the visitor paid, he immediately forgot everything. The action in his head was complete. Repeated experimental studies yielded the same result: unfinished actions were better remembered. The name “unclosed gestalt” appeared later.

These are conceived but not realized intentions and deeds that are not completed emotionally, a kind of feelings and experiences postponed for later. Reacting to incompleteness, the brain does not seem to “let go” of the topic and in a certain way creates tension for the psyche. There is a desire to return the situation and work through it again. For example, there is a high probability that resentments and unresolved conflicts from previous ones may appear in a new relationship.

“We are left with an open gestalt if we were unable to express indignation, anger, disappointment, love, gratitude, gratitude to significant people - parents, relatives, friends. A feeling of incompleteness can arise from the fact that you were to blame, but did not ask for forgiveness, from actions that you could have committed, but did not commit. And a person is haunted by the feeling that something in life is interfering with him, ideas are not being realized, natural emotional or physical processes are blocked,”

- says the psychologist.

How to close gestalts

1. Recreate in your head a picture that haunts you, and bring it, like the author, to a happy ending, that is, simulate the situation.
2. List all your tasks as urgent and not urgent. Plan when and how you will implement them, and take action.
3. Complete unsaid conversations: talk to those people with whom there is unsaid, make peace, ask for forgiveness, try to establish contact, especially if these are significant figures for you.
4. Write a letter if you can't talk (you don't have to send it).

Help you say goodbye to the past

Muscovite Anna contacted the family center of the Northern Administrative District. The divorce in her family occurred four years ago, but she was still emotionally in a relationship with her ex-husband, which is why she could not feel happy and improve her personal life. During the work, it turned out that the woman was sure that the breakdown in the relationship was initially her fault. This is where the unclosed gestalt was. The family center psychologist helped the client work through the situation, and Anna managed to “live” this difficult process again, but with the understanding that responsibility for the relationship could not be entirely hers. A few sessions were enough for the woman to feel better and be able to stop living in the past.

If you have a problem that takes a lot of effort, time and energy, you can always contact the capital’s psychologists through the “My Family Center” portal. A specialist will help you understand yourself and take the right actions to complete your gestalts.

Press service of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Moscow

Working methods

Of course, the first and easiest way is to get what you wanted from a certain object. But situations are different, people move, die and create obstacles due to which you cannot close the gestalt. What is this in simple words? By and large, this is a clash of scenarios and interests. But there are several ways to help you cope with the task:

• Modeling. Imagine how you could complete your gestalt. Live this situation so that its ending suits you. If the ending of the real situation was undesirable, now everything can be changed. Just don't do this all the time. If the changes suit you, then mentally you will not want to return to it.
• Transfer. Since it is not always possible to close the gestalt in a relationship that has already ended, do it in the current situation, in the present. But this must be done consciously and with the consent of the person who will help you. Instead of bullying your partner, ask him to shower you with care and attention. The open gestalt will gradually come to its logical conclusion. What it is and how it happens, you will understand and feel in the process.
• Expressing feelings and speaking words as it becomes necessary.
• Stop the fight. This is another important point. If you are looking for a way to close the gestalt in a relationship on your own, then... stop. Stop denying it, accept it and come to terms with its existence. Sometimes this is enough. A person stops feeding it with his emotions. Realize what process is unfinished and try to be completely indifferent to it.

What is the danger of gestalt in relationships?

We need to live NOW and HERE, but the burden of past mistakes is holding us back. Past disappointments are transformed into a collection of psychological complexes, prolonged depression and nervous disorders. Dissatisfaction, anger - all this needs timely expression. Experts do not recommend accumulating such cargo in the subconscious. If you do not close the gestalt in a relationship, you risk facing the following problems:

1. Lack of trust in current partner.
2. Apathy and depression.
3. Pessimism.
4. Fear of serious relationships.
5. Loser syndrome.

What is Gestalt therapy

In modern psychology, the Gestalt approach is very popular among both specialists and clients. The direction is based on the belief that a person always strives to satisfy needs. If it is impossible to do this, the individual will not die, but he will not be able to live well either.

It is important to understand the features of gestalt formation, how to close it and what it means. The specialist helps the client work with personal feelings, become aware of them, and satisfy needs

The main task is to teach how to live here and now, in a specific moment, and not carry the burden of past mistakes with you.

Gestalt is a practical approach in psychology. The specialist knows various exercises that help rethink the situation. It is not enough for him to complete a bachelor’s degree in his field; he needs additional training in courses.

How does the session work?

Therapy can take place in two options. The first is a standard conversation. During it, the specialist asks questions, offers to discuss situations and emerging emotions. Many people do not understand the specifics of Gestalt, what it means, and how the work should proceed.

From the outside, such a conversation really looks like an ordinary conversation between friends. In fact, the psychologist asks special questions, notices features and helps the client look at the situation differently and understand his problems.

Important! The specialist does not act only as a listener, he is an active participant in the conversation. A session with a gestalt psychologist has a number of features that distinguish it from a traditional conversation with a friend

A session with a gestalt psychologist has a number of features that distinguish it from a traditional conversation with a friend.

The specialist does not do the following things:

1. Doesn't evaluate. Many people hide things because they are afraid of judgment or negativity.
2. Tells the truth. Friends and acquaintances may withhold information because they are afraid of offending the person.
3. Does not reveal everything that was voiced in the office.

A conversation with a psychologist should be honest, correct, and accessible. The specialist’s task is not to insult and humiliate, but to convey certain information to the person.

The duration of therapy is individual. The average consultation is 10 one-hour sessions. If necessary, the specialist recommends increasing their number. You can close the gestalt either in one meeting or in five meetings.

During therapy, the client also performs various exercises. For example, a psychologist can put an empty chair in front of a client and invite the person to imagine himself as an interlocutor and express everything. During execution, the specialist carefully monitors facial expressions, emotions, and behavior.

There is also a special exercise for anxious clients. It is aimed at identifying the causes of experiences. To do this, a person must ask himself brief questions:

1. Is it really worth the trouble?
2. What exactly makes you worry: delaying the moment of resolving the situation or exaggerating what is happening?
3. What can you do to distract yourself?

Every day a person at home must analyze his condition, emotions, feelings. He may not understand the term gestalt and what it means, but he should take care of his feelings. A simple technique helps to distract yourself from negative thoughts: when a bad image appears, you immediately need to think about something else, for example, about conjugating irregular English verbs. At such moments, negative words should not be used.

The “antipode” exercise is aimed at turning negative character traits into positive ones.

The success of therapy directly depends on the client’s honesty and how diligently he will follow the specialist’s recommendations.

Principle Here and Now in Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt is what needs to be closed in order to be happy. And the principle of “here and now” is an approach to thinking that takes its origins from the philosophy of Buddhism. By the way, Fritz Perls carefully studied Eastern culture.

The psychotherapist always asks how the patient is feeling at the moment, what emotions and feelings he has. If a person talks about the past, the psychologist tries to bring him back to the present with questions:

1. What is your relationship like now?
2. How do you feel when you say this?
3. How can this situation be corrected today?
4. How does this situation affect you now?

This creates confidence that the client has control over the problem here and now. Even if it happened several years ago.

Therefore, there are exercises on how to learn this. One of them can be done during breakfast, lunch and dinner. We need to focus on the cutlery that we bring to our mouth; during the process of chewing food; on the hand that reaches for salt. Here and now.

What is Gestalt and why is it so important to complete it?

Translated from German, the word Gestalt means “form or appearance”, and its derivative is translated as “design”. The term was first introduced in 1890 by the philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels. He adhered to the theory that any whole is much more important for a person than the sum of its individual parts, which is why we place the main perception in it. This idea continued to develop, and in the 1930s, scientists confirmed it in the study of the perception of works of art. It turned out that when we look at a picture (even if it is an abstraction), we evaluate it as a whole, and not each stroke separately. Such a holistic perception came to be called “gestalt.” Gradually, this approach took shape as an independent direction in psychology.

Over time, scientists were able to prove that the whole is not always equal to the sum of the parts. For example, changing the key does not prevent us from recognizing a familiar melody, and changing the order of letters in words does not prevent us from reading the correct phrase. This also includes drawings distributed on the Internet, in which you can see several scenes in turn. For example, a drawing by psychologist Edgar Rubin with a vase and two faces. If you “read” it as an image of a vase, then the faces on the sides become the background, but if you focus on the faces, then the vase becomes the background.

The concept of background and main figure can be easily transferred to our everyday life: reality is the background, and objects and processes are figures. When a person has any need, he can deliberately “pull out” this or that figure from the background, and then place it back. That is, absolutely any process in our life can be a figure (gestalt). But why is it so important to complete it?

We remember unfinished processes much better; this phenomenon is called the “Zeigarnik effect” and is quite widely used by representatives of various professions. The thing is that uncompleted tasks create a certain tension in our memory, which will constantly remind us of the need to complete the process. This can play both a positive and negative role in our lives.

There is no need to accumulate a lot of unfinished tasks; for mental health, all gestalts should be brought to a logical conclusion. Otherwise, the unfinished process will constantly return you to the situation and force you to “replay” it. Then the person transfers the previous patterns to completely new conditions, for example, in a new novel he makes the same mistakes that ruined the relationship with his previous partner. It is recommended to work through complex and confusing cases of unfinished processes with a psychologist.

How to determine that the gestalt is not completed

It is difficult to track unfinished processes without experience. Especially those related to childhood. The psyche so masterfully muffles painful memories that an adult does not attach any importance to them. Or he remembers with some irony. This, for example, is the theme of “gifts for the Christmas tree,” played out in many films: a boy expects to see a toy railroad, but gets a set of socks or T-shirts. Grown men remember this with resentment, but the gestalt remains open.

Why is such an unfinished situation dangerous?

• At first, unconscious anxiety and worry appear.
• Then the symptoms intensify with insomnia, pressure surges, migraines, and decreased concentration.
• At the same time, problems may arise in communicating with relatives, colleagues, and friends.
• All this can result in a failure of the protective mechanisms of the psyche, depression, and chronic diseases.

In the case of an incomplete gestalt, the saying “time heals” does not work. Therefore, it is better to close situations at the first stage, so as not to take them to extremes. But mental traumas become so commonplace that identifying them becomes difficult. Over time, the pain dulls and the intensity of the memory decreases. But the subconscious regularly reminds itself of itself with familiar scenarios:

• Every time a childhood memory evokes a painful feeling of melancholy, dissatisfaction, sadness, and disappointment.
• You get upset when your mind returns to one situation.
• You have recurring dreams that vaguely resemble events in your life.
• You choose “unsuccessful” partners with similar appearance, manners, behavior, and income.
• Your relationship develops and ends according to one sad scenario.
• You take it out on your spouse and children in certain situations for no apparent reason.
• You experience an inexplicable antipathy towards a stranger or unfamiliar person.
• With amazing persistence, you continue to step on the same rake, even after experiencing pain or defeat.
• Unpleasant bodily sensations (nausea, migraine, pain in the eyes) suddenly appear when communicating with the same person, but also disappear abruptly.

What does it mean to “close the gestalt”?

An “unfinished gestalt” is an inner feeling that a problem or situation that happened to you earlier still affects you today. For example, you periodically remember and think about people with whom you had unpleasant relationships. Or you realize at some point that in new circumstances you are behaving according to the usual old scenario and repeating the same mistakes.

When we have an open gestalt, we give part of our energy to them. We also transfer this experience into new relationships, which can destroy them. We often dream about things that do not come true, depleting our strength and increasing our regret. We continue to attract people with whom we can live exactly that pain from the past and an identical situation. You can close the gestalt:

• Written practices. Take one of the situations that is most obvious and understandable to you. Write down why you don't like her. Then write what it gives you, what it teaches you, what experience you gain. Try to live through this situation again alone. To say what cannot be said, to show the desired emotions. You must part with anger, resentment, regret.
• Analyze your desires and goals. Perhaps there are a lot of them that are irrelevant.
• Complete the ones you've been dreaming about for too long. Go to a dance with a coach, have dinner at this restaurant, go to the sea with your girlfriends. It is important to choose your true desires.
• Try to behave in new ways in old situations. Choose different words, reactions.
• Contact a psychologist. Gestalt therapy will help you deal with unfinished gestalts.

How an incomplete gestalt interferes with life

All gestalts need to be closed. This is a prerequisite for maintaining psychological health. How they, being incomplete, are harmful, should be examined in more detail:

Constant stress

Gestalt without ending is constant tension, even if attention is switched to something else. A prolonged state of tension means stress.

Stressed man

1. Projection of the past. Constant returns to the past, its projection onto the present. This, in turn, negatively affects life and relationships today.
2. Increasing the scale of gestalt. The danger of unfinished business is that the tension not only persists, but also multiplies. In critical cases it comes to addiction - strong dependence.

Important! It is almost impossible to overcome a serious addiction (or larva) on your own. She won’t be able to close herself

This is a state of habit, abnormal fixation. In this case, it is highly recommended to visit a psychotherapist.

In addition, an unclosed gestalt takes an incredible amount of effort, time, and energy. It completely devastates a person. He has no strength left for anything. First, unfinished business takes up a lot of human resources. The further the problem shifts into the spotlight, the more forces are applied to it, the more it grows

It is extremely important to break this circle in time

How to neutralize gestalt

In general, in Gestalt therapy there are several steps to neutralize the feeling of incompleteness:

• Awareness of the true causes of your anxiety. Here you can try to make a list of things that you still can’t finish.
• Next, you need to pull yourself together, set aside some time and complete all projects, tasks, and more.
• Now the gestalt is closed. But for prevention, you should not allow yourself to be overloaded with unfinished tasks or worries.

In other words, you first need to understand your feelings, realize what is really important and why. Don't keep your feelings to yourself

You can tell someone about this, experience the feelings, which will help you let them go later.

Then you need to “clean up” your life: get rid of unnecessary things, finish things, remove all the “stones” that get in the way. It happens that a person does not really understand what he needs to finish and what is bothering him. In such cases, it often happens that you literally need a general cleaning of your home, getting rid of trash and garbage, as well as “cleaning” your environment and streamlining your routine. For everyone, such big and small things accumulate throughout their lives. In order not to delay too much with them, it is advisable to clean them at least a couple of times a month.

In addition to small matters, the issue of unfinished gestalt often concerns more global things: dreams and life goals, for example. The problem is that our desires can be deceiving. Behind one dream lies a thirst for something completely different. And here self-analysis is important. Perhaps it is better to let go of an unfinished gestalt in some cases than to close it, to understand that it is not yours, than to worry about the lack of implementation.

But to achieve true goals you will need a push. For example, do you want to be a dancer all your life, but have you ever thought about it? You should get together and finally sign up for a dance course or take any other action that can begin the path to realizing your dream.

Neutralization of Gestalt

To complete the gestalt you need:

• realize your need
• clearly form (order) the gestalt
• complete or remove the gestalt.

To get rid of unfinished experiences, Gestalt therapy offers three steps: forgiveness, farewell and gratitude.

• Forgive – get rid of anger and resentment.
• Let go of what is emotionally depressing and move on.
• Remember the good things and feel gratitude for what happened.

Learn to express feelings

The main purpose of this is to realize the need behind the feeling. Don't suppress your feelings, but live and let go. Tell someone about your experiences. Emotional involvement interferes with completion. Realize and accept things as they are. Indifference to the gestalt helps to successfully deal with it.

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One of the resolution options is to write a letter addressing the problem (it is not necessary to send it), the second is to meet and clarify unresolved issues with the person.

spring-cleaning

Make your list of unfinished tasks and plans. Select 3-4 tasks and get started. Dedicate your weekend to clearing out unfinished business.

Start by completing relatively simple gestalts. Do everything you wanted, but put it off all the time, forgot what you didn’t have time for. Buy a cactus, make cookies, paint peonies, throw away or donate unwanted items.

Complete 1-3 Gestalts per month to do some spring cleaning in your life.

Revision of priorities and desires

Perhaps what you dreamed of before is no longer needed, and you are still languishing with an unfulfilled dream. Desires often come and go. What is received too late no longer brings the desired joy.

When you really wanted something, ask “What did you really want at that moment?” Perhaps your deepest desire was inspired by another pressing need.

Find out what unfinished things are still important to you. If they take time, do them and plan them in detail. For the rest, decide if you will ever do it. If in doubt, discard this idea and let go of “not your dream.”

Taste it

An effective way to free yourself from temptation is to try it. Translate your dreams from fantasy into reality and try. Especially if thoughts about them have not left you for many years.

If you wanted to take up dancing, take it and sign up for it. It's never too late to do what you love. On the other hand, perhaps after a couple of dance lessons you will realize that this is not your thing, but it would be more interesting to take drawing classes.

Move on

The basic principle of Gestalt therapy is “here-and-now”. This means living with your eyes wide open, aware of the present. Without constantly being distracted by the past and without fantasizing about the future. This means paying attention to the things and people around you.

There are many exercises to practice this principle. For example, pay attention to how you walk, how you place your foot on the asphalt, whether you do it in a hurry or leisurely.

Break the vicious circle

Start behaving differently. If you feel a repeating scenario in your life or relationships, then something needs to change. Apply a new strategy to avoid repeating past mistakes.

If you demanded a lot from your partner and didn’t get what you wanted, stop demanding, start giving more yourself. Sometimes when you've been trying to solve a problem for a long time, it's good to let it go and not worry about it anymore. The solution may lie on the surface or come from the outside from a casual acquaintance.

Turn on your imagination

If you can’t complete an action in real life (the company has closed, the person has moved), imagine how it could end . Imagine the situation and play it out in your head. You can also write a story about it or create an art piece.

Act out the scene. Psychodrama uses the stage performance of episodes from life to work through traumatic events of the past, unfinished situations, fantasies and dreams. Recreate or simulate some real situation. Even watching a film with a parallel situation to yours and experiencing it will be effective.

When to contact a Gestalt psychologist

If a person is looking for a specialist, then he always understands what the word gestalt means

In this case, he needs to pay attention to what problems the psychologist is working with. The Gestalt approach helps with difficulties in communication, failures in personal life, and dissatisfaction with current events.

Feelings of sadness and sadness that do not go away may also be a reason to contact a specialist

The concept of an unfinished gestalt is closely related to psychosomatics. In case of such violations, doctors do not find the cause of physical ailments and refer them for consultation to a psychologist.

A practice-oriented approach to results is what Gestalt psychology is. This method is suitable for those who want to quickly solve their problems. Unlike psychoanalysis, where therapy takes 3-5 years, Gestalt psychology does not require such time.

How to determine gestalt

Before you begin to complete the gestatt, it is important to discover it in yourself. How to do it? You can understand that there are unfinished scenarios in life by the following signs:

How to do it? You can understand that there are unfinished scenarios in life by the following signs:

1. Certain work or information causes a person to experience an attack of unreasonable anxiety, panic, and worry.
2. An individual cannot complete some task or project for unknown reasons, as if someone is preventing him.
3. A girl or guy avoids new relationships after a painful breakup. This way they simply avoid possible pain.
4. Every new relationship follows the previous scenario. There may be a suspicion that a person simply chooses similar partners. However, it is the unfinished gestalts that prevent you from changing the scenario.
5. Parents force the child to follow the path they have outlined. It seems to them that this is the surest path. But in reality, they are simply trying to realize their unfulfilled dreams through their children.
6. An individual constantly “steps on the same rake,” that is, he ends up in the same unsightly situation. For example, he becomes a victim of scammers, crashes a car, quits his job in scandal.

The facts listed above indicate the presence of unfinished processes in the subconscious: attachments to people and places.

What is closing a gestalt?

Gestalt is translated from German as “image”. To close a gestalt means to complete something, to satisfy an urgent need. As soon as the gestalt closes, the image will stop haunting the person.

Is it possible to suspect the presence of an open gestalt? Yes. People usually describe it something like this:

• “I stepped on the same rake again”;
• “there are only freaks”;
• “everyone betrays me, just as my parents once betrayed me”;
• “Everyone offends me”;
• “everyone hates me”;
• “I constantly let people down, I do everything wrong.”

It seems to you that you are going in circles, that certain situations in your life are repeating over and over again. The fact is that while the gestalt is not closed, you see this image everywhere. You remember that something in your life remains unfinished, and you try to put an end to it. But, as a rule, a person tries to do this through other people, other circumstances and conditions. And the root cause remains unnoticed. And until a person understands the primary situation, he will walk in circles. Subconsciously, he reproduces the problematic situation again and again, hoping that now he can say goodbye to the past. He is also looking for people who can replace significant figures from the past.

For example, a girl who never received love from her mother or father expects it from other people. She demands constant attention, is suffocated by jealousy, is capricious and manipulative. As a result, either she is abandoned, or she herself becomes offended and leaves the relationship. At the same time, the unclosed gestalt forces the girl to throw out anger and anger directed at her parents on other people. She is offended and angry at them for their lack of love, but cannot express this openly, so she takes revenge on other people, seeing them as her parents.

Note! The difficulty of working with gestalts is that a person may not remember the primary situation in which he did not receive something important for himself. It is recommended to start working by closing what you remember right now - deeper unfinished situations will gradually emerge.

What is an incomplete gestalt

An unfinished gestalt is a concept in gestalt psychology that denotes an interrupted but vital event that requires elaboration and completion in the present tense. It's like a frozen computer program that spins around uselessly somewhere inside, draining energy, overloading memory. The program works even in a dream and replays events that a person has not remembered for years. Hundreds, thousands of unfinished gestalts first take away time and energy, then provoke psychosomatic illnesses. Therefore, for a person to be healthy, satisfied and happy, the gestalt must always close.

The phenomenon of unfinished gestalt was discovered by the founder of Soviet pathopsychology B.V. Zeigarnik. She herself explained the occurrence of the phenomenon by the property of our psyche to bring everything to its logical conclusion. That is, the need to complete what has been started literally takes over the consciousness. At the moment of an unplanned interruption, tension arises - after all, all the efforts made were in vain. Thus, the work started “hangs” in the memory in order to be finally realized in the future. Sometimes it waits until completion, exhausting a person throughout his life.

An unfinished gestalt is always generated by past (usually traumatic) experiences:

1. When we really wanted something, but we didn't get it.
2. When we ended a relationship in an ambiguous environment or at the peak of emotions.
3. When you didn’t finish the work you started, a book, a date, a conversation.
4. When you successfully completed a task, but did not give yourself the opportunity to enjoy the result.
5. When the internal balance between “who I am” and “who I want to be” is disrupted.

All these unfinished gestalts literally chain us to people, places, and events of the past. They do not allow us to move forward, forcing us to mentally return to the situation, to play out similar scenarios in already changed circumstances. Thus, the betrayal and departure of the father provokes a woman to control every step of her husband

It doesn’t matter that the husband does not give reasons for jealousy - control and scandals intensify. And all because it was necessary to express the grievance to the father - the person with whom the gestalt was open

The influence of gestalts on loved ones

It would seem, how can our unfinished situations affect other people? However, those closest to us – children and partners – suffer the most from this. For example, a person who at one time dreamed of becoming an artist, but, following the instructions of his parents, went to a law school, will, without realizing the unfinished aspiration, send his child to all kinds of creative clubs. At the same time, they usually forget to ask the child himself about what he really wants, how to realize himself. After all, it is much easier to make an artist out of your child than to close the gestalt yourself, to work through an unfinished situation yourself.

In relationships, incompleteness manifests itself in the form of whims, incomprehensible demands, hysterics and inappropriate behavior

And the reason for this is the lack of attention received from the previous partner. In order not to torment people dear to your heart, it is necessary to work through and complete all unfinished processes, strive to close the gestalt in past relationships

The concept of closed gestalt

Zeigarnik's fundamental work, based on experiment, became one of the starting points in the formation of the basic Gestalt principle - completeness and integrity. Based on the concept of K. Lewin, Zeigarnik explained her results as follows: an interrupted task or action leads to the emergence of psychological stress in the subject. In order for discharge to occur, the subject strives to complete a particular task, that is, he tries to make the image or memory complete, complete, and come to its logical conclusion. The concept of an unfinished task has often been used by Gestalt psychologists as an analogue to the unfinished perceptual and cognitive task introduced by Perls and Shepard.

Based on developed theories and conducted research, psychologists increasingly began to use the Gestalt principle in relation to situations. The concept of “closed gestalt” has acquired the connotation of an incomplete emotional or behavioral reaction of a person in a certain situation. Suggestions began to emerge that people tend to get “stuck” in events or experiences precisely because of an open gestalt. For example, a situation that happened to a person had an unsatisfactory ending for him. The tension that arises as a result of this is permanent and is not relieved by emotional release, since a person cannot change existing circumstances. However, there is one of the paradoxical principles of Gestalt therapy, which states that a situation or event could be interrupted due to the mechanism of avoidance as a defensive reaction of consciousness. The event may have been traumatic, and the experience of it caused the person to “withdraw” from the actions necessary for completion and subsequent internalization. But the subject constantly resorts to the same actions, unfinished in the past, is prone to fantasies and thoughts about the past situation, repeats the same scenarios of actions in parallel situations in the present time.

Therefore, they resort to the method of playing out situations and possible options for events that will allow them to “let go” of the situation

The task of a psychotherapist is to increase the awareness of a person’s actions, to draw his attention to what he is doing and why. That is, to transfer the gestalt from the unconscious to the conscious state

It is completeness, satisfaction from the “necessary” completion that allows a person to close the gestalt and, thereby, relieve psychological stress.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that B.V. Zeigarnik herself never practiced Gestalt therapy and had nothing to do with it. However, her research is still actively used by psychotherapists and psychologists of various directions. After all, it was the results of her experiment that led to the conclusion that a person’s personality constantly strives to complete situations or tasks. Interruption of such actions can cause psychological tension and may well form neurosis.

Bibliography:

• 1. Zeigarnik B.V. Personality and pathology of activity. M., 1971.
• 2. Sokolova E. T. Motivation and perception in health and disease. M., 1976.
• 3. Birenbaum G. Das Fergessen einer Fornahme. - “Psych. Forschung", 1931.
• 4. Lewin K. Vorsatz, Wille und Bedurfnis Berlin, 1926.
• 5. Lewin K. A dynamic theory of personality. NY - London, 1935.
• 6. Lewin K. Principles of topological psychology. NY, 1936.
• 7. Lewin K. The conflict between Aristotelian and Galilean modes of thought in contemporary psychology. NY, 1927.
• 8. Lewin K. Die phychologische situation bei Zohn und Strafe. Leipzig, 1931.
• 9. Owsiankina M. Die Wiederaufnahme unterbrochenen Handlungen.—“Psych. Forsch.”, 1928, Bd 10.
• 10. Zeigarnik B. Uber das Behalten erledigter und unerlegiter Handlungen.— “Psych. Forsch.”, 1927, Bd 9.

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Gestalt therapy

Therapy is one of the types of psychological influence that allows you to forget about things and life situations that slow down new events and personal development. The specialist may not give instructions, but only correctly pushes in the right direction. The main goal of therapy is to establish unfinished gestalts and close them, after which the person begins to recognize himself as a holistic person. Various techniques are used for these purposes.

Main directions:

Working with feelings and emotions that cause depression and apathy. A person feels that he didn’t finish something, didn’t do something, didn’t receive something. As part of the therapy, it is suggested to open up, demonstrate your experiences, and experience them until relief is found. Group therapy is widely practiced, within which the opportunity to recreate the situation is provided. Self-analysis - to understand the incomplete gestalt, you need to analyze yourself and find the cause of your experiences. Attention to your body - harmony with yourself is achieved only if there is a connection between the physical and spiritual sides

A conscious attitude towards your bodily shell plays an important role. Body-oriented practices help to free destructive beliefs hidden from consciousness. Separating the present and the past - it is important to learn to distinguish past experiences from real life. The main principle is to live your life “here and now”

It is important to be able not to float away from the present into the past or future. An important role is played not only by the image of a person, but also by the surrounding environment, music, and smells. Experts advise not to visit such places, which will allow you to forget about emotional reinforcement.

How to close a gestalt

The Gestalt Closing Method is based on certain principles. They are flexible and set the direction of the specialist’s work.

Basic principles:

1. "Me and you". The principle is constant interaction with the outside world and people. Patients undergoing therapy have problems with another person. Group work is aimed at building relationships. As part of its implementation, joint performance of verbal and non-verbal exercises as part of a group is provided.
2. Subjectivization. A person must realize his own guilt in his difficulties and failures. The right approach to solving a problem will help solve it. The goal is to learn to describe a state. A person must understand that only he bears responsibility. The phrase “it bothers me...” should be replaced with “I can’t...”, etc. Continuity of awareness - during the therapy process it is important to keep the experiences and emotions that arise in the patient under control.

How to close the gestalt in a relationship

Unfinished gestalt haunts romantic relationships too. Most often it looks like this: there were some conflicts and arguments with the previous partner, which left a feeling of unsaidness and dissatisfaction. In a new relationship, a person inevitably provokes the same quarrels. He replays the problems that were not resolved with the previous satellite.

Man and woman quarreling

It is not uncommon for an unfinished gestalt to be found in the very incompleteness of the relationship. For example, a woman fell in love with a man, but he decided not to reciprocate her feelings. In her mind lives the hope of a reunion, that the young man will inflame with passion for her, and everything will be fine with them. The girl clings to any little thing that promises her good luck in this endeavor.

What’s most difficult is that closing such gestalts can be quite difficult. The problem does not go away, leaving some chance for a successful resolution. People invest their energy and time into it, although in fact all their expectations are initially unsuccessful. Tension grows, and the psyche comes up with illusions, showing the brain what is not really there in order to reduce the load. A person’s efforts intensify, and the protective response of the psyche also increases... The circle closes, and the result is a gestalt trap.

Woman in a gestalt trap

That is why the problem should be taken seriously. It is necessary to complete the gestalt, no matter how difficult it may be. The best way here is to remove the “hooks” that hold it in place.

This can be done in different ways: experience the situation, express it, get an answer, or simply shift the focus of importance to another matter. The advice is slightly different for both men and women.

For women

Women more often than men suffer from unclosed gestalts in love. This is due to their greater emotionality and more frequent mood swings. It seems that the girl has already married someone else and loves him. But the thoughts “this is how I should have told the first one” remain, even if there are no such feelings and never have been. Problems from past relationships are resurrected this time.

Considering women's thinking, the best ways to close the gestalt would be:

Intimate talk. Even if you no longer have anything in common with that once significant person, you can still meet and talk. Express your guesses and assumptions. At least for the sake of laughing at them. After such a conversation, relief will inevitably come.

Man and woman talking

• Story. You should imagine the development of events that haunts you, and say it (necessarily out loud, phrase by phrase). It is advisable to focus not on sublimely romantic details, but, on the contrary, on gray everyday life. This is done in order not to give unnecessary “clues” to the consciousness. The best option is if they tell it to the audience.
• Playback. If the new guy, the husband, agrees, then together with him you need to act out situations from the past. He will play the past passion, apologize and accept apologies as necessary, allowing the gestalt to be completed.

For men

Men are not nearly as elevated as women, which is why they treat romantic experiences more down to earth. They prefer not to leave any misunderstandings, clearly stating the facts. However, this is not a defense against incomplete gestalts in general. At the same time, the stronger sex is more accustomed to keeping everything to itself and not sharing experiences with others. Considering this feature, we can say that this is what will help close the gestalt:

Comparison and improvement. This method means working on yourself. By becoming better, a man can claim more beautiful and intelligent women nearby. This detracts from the value of the old gestalt.

A man works on himself

Introspection. Not trusting to bring an internal problem to the surface, guys can easily help themselves

To do this, they need to rethink what caught their attention, why, and whether it is so important. Forgiveness, farewell, gratitude. You won't have to meet your ex-passion

You just need to write her a letter, which you don’t have to send. It should describe all your grievances and experiences. Then forgive the woman and be sure to say goodbye. This will put a logical gestalt point. In the end, so that only good aftertaste remains, it doesn’t hurt to express gratitude for all the good that this lady brought.

How to close the gestalt yourself

To do this, you need to follow three simple points:

1. identify a problem situation;
2. characterize it verbally (or in writing);
3. reassess the situation, rethink it and find the positive aspects.

Many unforeseen unpleasant situations happen in our lives, but one of them is more disturbing than the rest. This is where you need to start your internal work. This is called defining the situation. You need to work with those situations that hurt and touch a nerve. Just write down in a notebook everything that worries you at the moment, makes you nervous or irritates you.

After this, you need to identify what exactly you don’t like in this situation. How do you think events should have developed, and what did the indicated situation teach you? You need to honestly face the truth and find the positive aspects of a traumatic situation. If this is not done, the gestalt will not be closed.

For example, thanks to the unfair (in your opinion) attitude of your parents, you managed to become more courageous and independent. Our Ego wants to see only unfair treatment and shed tears, trying to ignore the positive aspects. We don’t notice that thanks to difficulties we become real people and achieve many peaks.

Unclosed Gestalt

The term unfinished gestalt means any task or process that has not been completed. This should include unfulfilled dreams, goals and desires. Relationships that ended abruptly also fall into this category. Any physically unfinished task that is constantly being thought about is considered an unfinished gestalt. Signs of an open process are considered to be repeated situations and relationships, grievances, and the incessant voice of conscience.

This condition prevents you from doing something new and seriously complicates your life. Fear of repeating the situation prevents success. Closing the gestalt will help make life harmonious and find balance. Some people will be able to start a new life. It is worth noting that not everyone can close the gestalt on their own. In such a situation, it is recommended to seek the help of a psychologist.