Gestalt

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Grammarist

Gestalt is a composition of elements that can only be appreciated as a whole rather than as a sum of its parts. The plural forms are gestalts and less frequently, gestalten. The noun forms are gestaltism and gestaltist. Gestaltqualität was introduced as a philosophy by Christian von Ehrenfels in 1890, in 1922 the German word gestalt, which means shape, form, figure, appearance, was absorbed into English. Gestalt psychotherapy, which stresses personal responsibility and experiencing the present moment, was developed by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and Paul Goodman in the mid-twentieth century. The goal of Gestalt psychotherapy is to unify the whole.

 Examples

But read his 2013 book, Revolution, and binge-watch his YouTube series, The Trews (which he put on hold last month citing a need to withdraw in interest of further academic edification), and you may realise that these two seemingly antithetical personalities are really just offshoots of the same gestalt identity. (The Hindu)

It matches his appreciation for Gestalt psychology, which says we must recognize primary patterns to understand the whole. (The Daily Pilot)

Looking at the Gestalt Prayer, which is a 56-word statement by Fritz Perls, a psychotherapist, the first line of ‘I do my thing and you do your thing’ is of great importance. (The Nation)

However, what happened later in the Interstate 10 blowup also shows the flip side of Brown’s political gestalt. (The Sacramento BEe)

The gestalt of these outfits is both ragtag and radical, with pops of Day-Glo topped by wigs and masks and faces covered in goggles. (The Village Voice)

This gestalt—of crime, blunder, obliviousness, and heartiness—that formed around Whitey Bulger is depicted by Cooper as so unreal, so unbelievable, that he costumes and cosmeticizes and directs Bulger and his henchmen as grotesques. (The New Yorker)