THE PARADOXICAL THEORY OF CHANGE
Gary Yontef
Change is inexorable. From conception to death, people are constantly changing. The
universe itself is constantly changing, as are all events and structures in the universe. Even
when there appears to be no change, slow and subtle shifts are always taking place.
Apparently unchanging events are events that change so slowly that they merely appear to be
static; some processes appear to change so slowly that they take on the attributes of
unchanging structure. A standing wave looks as if it is not changing when it is actually a
repeating process that creates a static appearance by the repetition. A person who resists
change and stays relatively static still changes in relation to surroundings. The rest of the
field does not stop changing because some individual has slowed to the point of appearing
static.
The central question is not whether there will be change, but whether human change
will be toward growth, deterioration, or whether there will be apparent lack of change in
which the person grows or deteriorates so slowly in comparison with the surrounding world
that it appears as stasis. The central question for Gestalt therapy theory and practice is: How
do individuals and their societies, including psychotherapists, influence and support change
in the direction of healing, growth and wholeness and how do they interfere with healing,
growth and wholeness–or even precipitate deterioration?
In Gestalt therapy theory the therapist is not a change agent that makes change
happen. The Gestalt therapist is an agent in the quest to create conditions that maximize
conditions for growth, conditions that allow growth to happen when it has been arrested or
limited, conditions that focus attention where needed for healing and growth. Gestalt therapy
trusts organismic self-regulation more than therapist directed change attempts. Rather than
aiming to move the patient to be different, the gestalt therapist believes in meeting patients as
they are and using increased awareness of the present, including awareness of figures that
start to emerge (thoughts, feelings, impulses, etc) that the person might or might not allow to
organize new behavior. With this present-centered awareness, change can happen without
the therapist aiming for a preset goal.
