We will post a synopsis of our Seminar topics for any of you interested in learning more about Gestalt theory and also to learn more about our training seminars. The Boundary Disturbances One of our topics this year has been the boundary disturbances in Gestalt therapy theory. The Gestalt approach is directly concerned with the ways people interrupt their contact with the environment and avoid the possibility of satisfying their needs at any one time. For example, a child may quickly learn that whenever he makes some demand on his parents for their attention, he will be punished in some way, e.g. told to be quiet, smacked, sent to his room. He then learns that the way to get their approval is to not be demanding, to fade into the background.
Interruptions are momentary and normally unnoticed by the individual in whom they occur.
A person may be feeling angry at another person or situation, and in telling about his experience may be unawares laughing while telling of his experience. Let's say this perosn had learned it was OK to feel or express anger. The person now interrupts his experience of his anger by his laughing it off. Uncritical acception of rules or patterns of behavior which are imposed by parents, teachers, organizations, etc. The absence of any boundary between self and the environment.