Gestalt therapy, developed by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls, and Paul Goodman in the 1940s, is an

experiential and humanistic form of therapy that was originally designed as an alternative to
conventional psychoanalysis. Gestalt therapists and their clients use creative and experiential
techniques to enhance awareness, freedom, and self-direction. The word gestalt comes from the
German word meaning shape or form, and it references the character or essence of something.

 Principles of Gestalt Therapy

 Focus on "Here and Now"
 Benefits of Gestalt Therapy
 Gestalt Therapy Techniques
 Resources Related to Gestalt Therapy

Principles of Gestalt Therapy

At the core of gestalt therapy is the holistic view that people are intricately linked to and
influenced by their environments and that all people strive toward growth and balance. Gestalt
therapy is similar to person-centered therapy in this way, as well as in its emphasis on the
therapist’s use of empathy, understanding, and unconditional acceptance of the client to enhance
therapeutic outcomes.

According to
gestalt therapy, context affects experience, and a person cannot be fully understood without
understanding his or her context. With this in mind, gestalt psychotherapy recognizes that no one
can be purely objective—including therapists whose experiences and perspectives are also
influenced by their own contexts—and practitioners accept the validity and truth of their clients’
experiences.
Gestalt therapy also recognizes that forcing a person to change paradoxically results in further
distress and fragmentation. Rather, change results from acceptance of what is. Thus, therapy
sessions focus on helping people learn to become more self-aware and to accept and trust in their
feelings and experiences to alleviate distress.

Focus on "Here and Now"

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Gestalt therapy places emphasis on gaining awareness of the present moment and the present
context. Through therapy, people learn to discover feelings that may have been suppressed or
masked by other feelings and to accept and trust their emotions. Needs and emotions that were
previously suppressed or unacknowledged are likely to surface as well. Through this process, a
person gains a new sense of self as overall awareness increases.

The focus on the here and now does not negate or reduce past events or future possibilities; in
fact, the past is intricately linked to one’s present experience. The idea is to avoid dwelling on
the past or anxiously anticipating the future. Experiences of the past may be addressed in therapy
sessions, but the therapist and client will focus on exploring what factors made a particular
memory come up in this moment, or how the present moment is impacted by experiences of the
past.

Working with a Gestalt Therapist

Gestalt therapy sessions do not follow specific guidelines, in fact, therapists are encouraged to
use creativity in their approaches, depending on context and each person's personality. What is
consistent is the emphasis on direct contact between therapist and client, direct experience and
experimentation, and the focus on the “what and how”—what the client is doing and how he or
she is doing it—and the “here and now.”

Together, the therapist and the person in therapy will evaluate what is happening now and what
is needed as a result. Therapists refrain from interpreting events, focusing only on the immediate,
including the physical responses of the client. Remarking on subtle shifts in posture, for
example, can bring a person into the present. In this way, gestalt therapy helps people gain a
better understanding of how their emotional and physical bodies are connected. Understanding
the internal self is the key to understanding actions, reactions, and behaviors. Gestalt therapy
helps people take the first steps into this awareness so that they can acknowledge and accept
these patterns.

Gestalt Therapy Techniques

Gestalt therapy is practiced in the form of exercise and experiments. It can be administered in
individual or group settings. In general, exercises are somewhat established practices in gestalt
therapy designed to arouse action, emotion, or goals from the person in therapy. The therapist
and person in therapy can then examine the result of the exercise in order to increase awareness
and help the person understand the “here and now” of the experience.

In contrast to exercises, experiments arise throughout the development of the therapeutic process
and therapeutic relationship. They are a core component of gestalt therapy and allow the person
in therapy to understand different aspects of a conflict, experience, or mental health issue.

The empty chair technique is a

quintessential gestalt therapy exercise that places the person in therapy across from an empty
chair. He or she is asked to imagine that someone (such as a boss, spouse, or relative), they, or a
part of themselves is sitting in the chair. The therapist encourages dialogue between the empty
chair and person in therapy in order to engage the person’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Sometimes the roles are reversed and the person in therapy assumes the metaphorical person or
part of a person in the chair. The empty chair technique can be especially useful for helping
people become mindful of the whole situation and forgotten or disengaged pieces of their own
self.
Another common exercise in gestalt therapy is the exaggeration exercise. During this exercise,
the person in therapy is asked to repeat and exaggerate a particular movement or expression,
such as frowning or bouncing a leg, in order to make the person more aware of the emotions
attached to the behavior.

The empty chair technique and the exaggeration exercise are two of many gestalt therapy
techniques used to help people in therapy increase their awareness of immediate experiences.
Through exercises and spontaneous experiments, gestalt therapy also allows people reconnect
with parts of themselves they may minimize, ignore, or deny.

Gestalt therapy

Gestalt therapy refers to a form of psychotherapy that derives from the gestalt school of thought.
It was developed in the late 1940s by Fritz Perls and is guided by the relational theory principle
that every individual is a whole (mind, body and soul), and that they are best understood in
relation to their current situation as he or she experiences it. 

The approach combines this relational theory with present state - focusing strongly on self-
awareness and the 'here and now' (what is happening from one moment to the next). In gestalt
therapy, self-awareness is key to personal growth and developing full potential. The approach
recognises that sometimes this self-awareness can become blocked by negative thought patterns
and behaviour that can leave people feeling dissatisfied and unhappy. 

It is the aim of a gestalt therapist to promote a non-judgemental self-awareness that enables

clients to develop a unique perspective on life. By helping an individual to become more aware
of how they think, feel and act in the present moment, gestalt therapy provides insight into ways
in which he or she can alleviate their current issues and distress in order to aspire to their
maximum potential.

Key concepts of gestalt therapy 

Gestalt therapy works through the interconnection of key concepts. These offer insight into the
processes involved in therapy sessions between the therapist and client(s). 

 Person-centred awareness - Focusing on the future, and imagining it divorced from the present
and past is considered essential. The process follows an individual's experience in a way that
does not involve seeking out the unconscious, but staying with what is present and aware.

 Respect - Clients, whether an individual, group or family, are treated with profound respect by a
gestalt therapist. Providing a balance of support and challenge is key to helping those taking
part to feel comfortable about opening up and acknowledging areas of resistance.

 Emphasis on experience - The gestalt approach focuses on experience in terms of an individual's

emotions, perceptions, behaviours, body sensations, ideas and memories. A therapist
encourages the client to 'experience' in all of these ways, vividly in the here and now.
  Creative experiment and discovery - There is a range of experimental methodology used by
therapists to test their client's experience. These involve highly creative and flexible techniques
to help them open up and acknowledge hidden feelings.

 Social responsibility - The gestalt approach recognises that humans have a social responsibility
for self and for others. It demands respect for all people and acknowledges that everyone is
different. Ultimately it encourages individuals to adopt an egalitarian approach to social life.

 Relationship - Relating is considered central to human experience and gestalt therapy considers
individuals as 'whole' when they have a good relationship with themselves and others around
them. The interpersonal relationship between the individual and therapist that is developed and
nurtured in sessions is a key guiding process if therapy. 

How does gestalt therapy work? 

Fundamentally, gestalt therapy works by teaching clients how to define what is truly being
experienced rather than what is merely an interpretation of the events. Those undertaking gestalt
therapy will explore all of their thoughts, feelings, behaviours, beliefs and values to develop
awareness of how they present themselves and respond to events in their environment. This gives
them the opportunity to identify choices, patterns of behaviour and obstacles that are impacting
their health and well-being, and preventing them from reaching their full potential. 

The unfolding of this therapeutic process will typically involve a range of expressive techniques
and creative experiments developed collaboratively between therapist and client. These will be
appropriate for the client and their specific problems. Below are some of the most common
methods used: 

Role-play 

Role-play can help individuals to experience different feelings and emotions and better
understand how they present and organise themselves. 

The 'open chair' technique 

The open chair technique involves two chairs and role-play, and can give rise to emotional
scenes. The client sits opposite an empty chair and must imagine someone (usually
himself/herself or parts of him or her) in it. They then communicate with this imaginary being -
asking questions and engaging with what they represent. Next, they must switch chairs so they
are physically sitting in the once empty chair. The conversation continues, but the client has
reversed roles - speaking on behalf of the imagined part of his or her problem. This technique
aims to enable participants to locate a specific feeling or a side of their personalities they had
'disowned' or tried to ignore. This helps them to accept polarities and acknowledge that conflicts
exist in everyone.  
Dialogue 

A gestalt therapist will need to engage the client in meaningful and authentic dialogue in order to
guide them into a particular way of behaving or thinking. This may move beyond simple
discussion to more creative forms of expression such as dancing, singing or laughing. 

Discussing dreams 

Dreams play an important role in gestalt therapy, as they can help individuals to understand
spontaneous aspects of themselves. Fritz Perls frequently asked clients to relive his or her dreams
by playing different objects and people in the dream. During this they would be asked questions
like: "What are you aware of now?" to sharpen self-awareness. 

Attention to body language 

Throughout therapy, a gestalt therapist will concentrate on body language, which is considered a
subtle indicator of intense emotions. When specific body language is noticed, the therapist may
ask the client to exaggerate these movements or behaviours. This is thought to intensify the
emotion attached to the behaviour and highlight an inner meaning. For example, a client may be
showing signs of clenched fists or frowning, to which the therapist may ask something along the
lines of: "What are you saying with this movement?"

Who can benefit? 

Ultimately, gestalt therapy is considered to help individuals gain a better understanding of how
their emotional and physical needs are connected. They will learn that being aware of their
internal self is key to understanding why they react and behave in certain ways. This journey of
self-discovery makes the approach beneficial for individuals who can be guarded when it comes
to their emotions, and find it difficult to process why they feel and act the way they do. It can
also provide support and a safe space for individuals going through times of personal difficulty. 

Gestalt therapy is considered particularly valuable for helping to treat a wide range of
psychological issues - especially as it can be applied as a long-term therapy or as a brief and
focused approach. It has been found effective for managing tension, anxiety, addiction, post-
traumatic stress, depression and other psychological problems that can prevent people from
living life to the full. Overall, people who participate in gestalt therapy tend to feel more self-
confident, calm and at peace with themselves. 

gestalt therapy

Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Gestalt Therapy
 

Definition
Gestalt therapy is a humanistic therapy technique that focuses on gaining an awareness of emotions and
behaviors in the present rather than in the past. The therapist does not interpret experiences for the
patient. Instead, the therapist and patient work together to help the patient understand him/herself.
This type of therapy focuses on experiencing the present situation rather than talking about what
occurred in the past. Patients are encouraged to become aware of immediate needs, meet them, and let
them recede into the background. The well-adjusted person is seen as someone who has a constant
flow of needs and is able to satisfy those needs.

Purpose
In Gestalt therapy (from the German word meaning form), the major goal is self-awareness. Patients
work on uncovering and resolving interpersonal issues during therapy. Unresolved issues are unable to
fade into the background of consciousness because the needs they represent are never met. In Gestalt
therapy, the goal is to discover people connected with a patient's unresolved issues and try to engage
those people (or images of those people) in interactions that can lead to a resolution. Gestalt therapy is
most useful for patients open to working on self-awareness.

Precautions
The choice of a therapist is crucial. Some people who call themselves "therapists" have limited training
in Gestalt therapy. It is important that the therapist be a licensed mental health professional.
Additionally, some individuals may not be able to tolerate the intensity of this type of therapy.

Description
Gestalt therapy has developed into a form of therapy that emphasizes medium to large groups, although
many Gestalt techniques can be used in one-on-one therapy. Gestalt therapy probably has a greater
range of formats than any other therapy technique. It is practiced in individual, couples, and family
therapies, as well as in therapy with children.

Ideally, the patient identifies current sensations and emotions, particularly ones that are painful or
disruptive. Patients are confronted with their unconscious feelings and needs, and are assisted to accept
and assert those repressed parts of themselves.

The most powerful techniques involve role-playing. For example, the patient talks to an empty chair as
they imagine that a person associated with an unresolved issue is sitting in the chair. As the patient talks
to the "person" in the chair, the patient imagines that the person responds to the expressed feelings.
Although this technique may sound artificial and might make some people feel self-conscious, it can be a
powerful way to approach buried feelings and gain new insight into them.

Sometimes patients use battacca bats, padded sticks that can be used to hit chairs or sofas. Using a
battacca bat can help a patient safely express anger. A patient may also experience a Gestalt therapy
marathon, where the participants and one or more facilitators have nonstop group therapy over a
weekend. The effects of the intense emotion and the lack of sleep can eliminate many psychological
defenses and allow significant progress to be made in a short time. This is true only if the patient has
adequate psychological strength for a marathon and is carefully monitored by the therapist.

Preparation
Gestalt therapy begins with the first contact. There is no separate diagnostic or assessment period.
Instead, assessment and screening are done as part of the ongoing relationship between patient and
therapist. This assessment includes determining the patient's willingness and support for work using
Gestalt methods, as well as determining the compatibility between the patient and the therapist.
Unfortunately, some "encounter groups" led by poorly trained individuals do not provide adequate pre-
therapy screening and assessment.

Aftercare
Sessions are usually held once a week. Frequency of sessions held is based on how long the patient can
go between sessions without losing the momentum from the previous session. Patients and therapists
discuss when to start sessions, when to stop sessions, and what kind of activities to use during a session.
However, the patient is encouraged and required to make choices.

Risks
Disturbed people with severe mental illness may not be suitable candidates for Gestalt therapy.
Facilities that provide Gestalt therapy and train Gestalt therapists vary. Since there are no national
standards for these Gestalt facilities, there are no set national standards for Gestalt therapy or Gestalt
therapists.

Normal results
Scientific documentation on the effectiveness of Gestalt therapy is limited. Evidence suggests that this
type of therapy may not be reliably effective.

Abnormal results
This approach can be anti-intellectual and can discount thoughts, thought patterns, and beliefs. In the
hands of an ineffective therapist, Gestalt procedures can become a series of mechanical exercises,
allowing the therapist as a person to stay hidden. Moreover, there is a potential for the therapist to
manipulate the patient with powerful techniques, especially in therapy marathons where fatigue may
make a patient vulnerable.
GESTALT THERAPY is a humanistic therapy technique that focuses on gaining an awareness of
emotions and behaviors in the present rather than in the past. The therapist does not interpret
experiences for the patient. Instead, the therapist and patient work together to help the patient
understand him/herself. This type of therapy focuses on experiencing the present situation
rather than talking about what occurred in the past. Patients are encouraged to become aware
of immediate needs, meet them, and let them recede into the background. The well-adjusted
person is seen as someone who has a constant flow of needs and is able to satisfy those needs.

PURPOSE OF GESTALT THERAPY

Gestalt (comes from a German word, meaning form), the major goal is SELF-AWARENESS.
Patients work on uncovering and resolving interpersonal issues during therapy.

In Gestalt therapy, the goal is to discover people connected with a patient's unresolved issues
and try to engage those people (or images of those people) in interactions that can lead to a
resolution. Gestalt therapy is most useful for patients open to working on self-awareness.

PRECAUTIONS

The choice of a therapist is crucial. Some people who call themselves "therapists" have
limited training in Gestalt therapy. It is important that the therapist be a licensed mental
health professional.

PREPARATION

Gestalt therapy begins with the first contact. There is no separate diagnostic or assessment
period. Instead, assessment and screening are done as part of the ongoing relationship
between patient and therapist.

This assessment includes determining the patient's willingness and support for work using
Gestalt methods, as well as determining the compatibility between the patient and the
therapist

DESCRIPTION

Gestalt therapy has developed into a form of therapy that emphasizes medium to large
groups, although many Gestalt techniques can be used in one-on-one therapy
It is practiced in individual, couples, and family therapies, as well as in therapy with children.
Ideally, the patient identifies current sensations and emotions, particularly ones that are
painful or disruptive. Patients are confronted with their unconscious feelings and needs, and
are assisted to accept and assert those repressed parts of themselves.
 TECHNIQUES

1.Role-play can help individuals to experience different feelings and emotions and better
understand how they present and organize themselves. 

2.The open chair technique involves two chairs and role-play, and can give rise to emotional
scenes. The client sits opposite an empty chair and must imagine someone (usually
himself/herself or parts of him or her) in it.
This technique aims to enable participants to locate a specific feeling or a side of their
personalities they had 'disowned' or tried to ignore. This helps them to accept polarities and
acknowledge that conflicts exist in everyone.

3.Battacca bats, padded sticks that can be used to hit chairs or sofas. Using a battacca bat can
help a patient safely express anger.  
4. DIALOG,A gestalt therapist will need to engage the client in meaningful and authentic
dialogue in order to guide them into a particular way of behaving or thinking. This may move
beyond simple discussion to more creative forms of expression such as dancing, singing or
laughing. 

5. DISCUSSING DREAMS, Perls believed that characters and objects in our dreams are in fact
projections of ourselves. They are in fact parts of our personality that we do not accept or
acknowledge as well as our view of others.

6. BODY LANGUAGE , Throughout therapy, a gestalt therapist will concentrate on body

language, which is considered a subtle indicator of intense emotions.
For example, a client may be showing signs of clenched fists or frowning, to which the
therapist may ask something along the lines of: "What are you saying with this movement?"

AFTERCARE

Sessions are usually held once a week. Frequency of sessions held is based on how long the
patient can go between sessions without losing the momentum from the previous session.

Patients and therapists discuss when to start sessions, when to stop sessions, and what kind
of activities to use during a session. However, the patient is encouraged and required to make
choices.

RISKS

Disturbed people with severe mental illness may not be suitable candidates for Gestalt
therapy. Facilities that provide Gestalt therapy and train Gestalt therapists vary.
 Professional Life of Fritz Perls

Fritz Perls was a 20th century psychiatrist who founded Gestalt therapy in collaboration with his
wife, Laura Perls. 

Fritz Perls is the founder of Gestalt therapy.  Fritz Perls is also know for his work with dreams. 
Perls believed that characters and objects in our dreams are in fact projections of ourselves.
They are in fact parts of our personality that we do not accept or acknowledge as well as our
view of others.

Friedrich (Fritz) Perls was born in 1893 in Berlin. Against his family’s wishes, Perls served in the
army during World War I. After the war, Perls studied medicine and began treating soldiers with
brain injuries. He was drawn to the work of Sigmund Freud as a teenager, and his experiences
treating patients pulled him further down the path toward Freudian psychoanalysis. He studied
at the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis and in Vienna.

In 1930, Perls married Lore Posner, later known as Laura Perls; the couple had two children and
fled the Hitler regime by relocating to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1933. There, Perls
founded a training institute to serve the psychoanalytical community. During World War II,
Perls again joined the military and became a psychiatrist with the South African army.

In 1946, the Perls family moved to New York where Perls worked briefly with Wilhelm Reich
and Karen Horney. Perls eventually settled in Manhattan and began working with the
intellectual Paul Goodman. In 1951, in collaboration with Ralph Hefferline, Goodman and Perls
produced the book Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality, based
mostly on Perl’s own research and clinical notes. Shortly after the publication in 1951, the Perls
founded the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy and began conducting training from their
apartment in Manhattan. Perls began sharing his theories with all of North America and began
traveling extensively to conduct seminars and training workshops.

Later in life, Perls moved to California and became affiliated with the Esalen Institute, in 1964,
where he provided workshops and continued to practice and develop Gestalt therapy. In 1969,
Perls moved to Vancouver Island, Canada, to establish a training community for therapists. He
died the following year in Chicago.

LAURA PERLS

A Memory of Laura Perls – became interested in psychology at 16

Laura Perls (née Lore Posner; August 15, 1905 in Pforzheim – July 13, 1990 in Pforzheim) was a
noted German-born psychologist and psychotherapist who helped establish the Gestalt school
of psychotherapy.
She became interested in psychology when she was 16 (Fadiman & Frager, 2002). Like many
before and after her, her interest began after reading Freud's 1899 The Interpretation of
Dreams (Fadiman & Frager, 2002).

In 1930 she married Friedrich (Frederick) Perls. They had met while working at the Frankfurt
Psychological Institute. At Frankfurt University Lore Posner had earned a doctorate in Gestalt
Psychology. In 1933 the Perls had to flee Germany during the rise of Nazi power. They then
spent ten years in South Africa. It was there that the Perls wrote their first book together, Ego,
Hunger and Aggression, published in 1942. This work held the beginnings for their new theory
of psychotherapy, Gestalt Therapy, which consisted of facing the client to notice his or her
postures and gestures (Fadiman & Frager, 2002).

In 1951, having moved to New York, the Perls, together with Paul Goodman and Ralph
Hefferline published Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality. By
1952, with the help of Paul Goodman, they had established The New York Institute for Gestalt
Therapy (Fadiman & Frager, 2002).

"Young man," she said, "please come out from behind that couch and talk to me."

"Yes," ... I found myself responding quietly and feeling this strong pull towards her. It was like a
string that was attached to Laura's eyes was pulling me towards her.

"Please," she said, "Tell me, tell me about your childhood, how did you grow up?"

Without any hesitation I began telling her about being born the first month the World War II
started and my family fleeing from Eastern Europe, and the bombs, and my mother's fears and
my father's death. I was two years old then.

Laura listened carefully with her eyes. She smiled quietly and said, "Please, now show me how
you were growing up, but tell me your story with your body, your movements."

I found myself slowly slouching on the floor and going into a fetal position, then slowly going on
my hands and feet all fours and then standing up.

Laura looked at me carefully, following every move I made then when I stood up on my two
feet she said:

"I notice that in your growing up you missed one step."

"Oh?" I said, surprised.

"Yes, you missed the crawling stage you are a young man in a great hurry."

You can slow down now," she said, "there is no more war, no need to rush."
That small piece of work with Laura was extremely significant for me. My existence was like
fighting a war a war with myself with little satisfaction and a lot of fear. Now I move more with
life's flow and ebb. I found my path and my direction. I move with grace, slow when need be,
crawl when necessary and run when I want to. I have a purpose, a direction, and a peaceful,
successful life.

Paul Goodman Biography

     Paul Goodman was born in New York City on September 9, 1911. He never knew his father
who abandoned the family when Paul was an infant. This left his bohemian mother a working
single parent. His brother Percival left home early. He was raised without much supervision by
his mother's sisters and his older sister Alice in the rich atmosphere of the urban Jewish
intellectual community of the early part of the century. He was a bookish and curious child who
roamed freely in the streets, parks, museums and libraries of New York City absorbing a truly
free education. He graduated from City College in the depression year of 1931 and snuck into
classes at Columbia and Harvard. Through a Columbia professor he was invited to teach at the
University of Chicago while he earned his Ph.D in Literature, but he was fired from his job (as he
was fired from every teaching job in his life) because he insisted on his right to fall in love with
his students. He was never in the closet about his bisexuality and saw no reason to hide it even
in the face of the trouble it caused him in that less permissive time.

     Through the next twenty-five years he lived with his common-law wife Sally. Goodman had
two daughters, Susan (whose mother was Virginia Miller, Goodman's first wife) and Daisy, and
a son, Matthew Ready. During this time they lived in decent poverty and an ideal environment
for serious people. They got by on little jobs including a $5 per story contract with the MGM
story department in New York for plot synopses of French novels. During this time he wrote
furiously. He considered himself an artist and produced mostly poems, plays and short stories.
He promoted himself vigorously but met with little acceptance of his mostly avant-garde style.
He was involved with little literary magazines, theater groups and political activities centered
around the Spanish Anarchist Hall (Solidaridad International Anti-Fascista).

     Midlife found Paul Goodman drained and fearful in the face of his status as a marginal artist
with children to raise. He wrote in a journal: I am at a loss, in our great city, how to do anything
at all that could make an immediate difference in our feeling and practice (and so in my own
feeling and practice). Therefore I have ceased to want anything, I do not know what we want. It
was at this time that he met Fritz Perls, a German Jew who spent the Hitler years in South Africa
and fled to the United States as the apartheid regime arose there. Perls had studied with the
founding generation of Freudians but soon developed a very unconventional therapeutic
practice. Perls' ideas blended well with Goodman's and they were soon involved in a rich
collaboration, founding the Gestalt Therapy Institute and writing Gestalt Therapy .

     This exposure shifted Goodmanâs career from artist/writer to social critic. He wrote no more
stories or plays and fewer poems. His breakthrough book, Growing Up Absurd, was rejected by
a dozen publishers before finally seeing print in 1960 and becoming a huge success. Soon the
rest of society began to catch up to him as young people began to rebel against the excessive
conventionality of the fifties. He was well placed to address the anti-institutional critique which
emerged at this time and led to massive change in the years to come. By the mid-sixties he was
adopted as sort of an uncle of the youth/student movement, wrote a book a year, and made
almost constant campus appearances. His contribution was scholarly yet personal, classical yet
revolutionary, and thoroughly natural and anti-institutional.

     As the movement became the Movement and shifted to a struggle between the Old Left and
the New Left, Goodman remained unapologetically free. Many of his former followers
abandoned him as he refused to offer a blueprint for building structures for the future,
preferring the formulation of here, now, next. He seemed both saddened and relieved by this
and soon settled into his familiar status as outsider critic, but now with a comfortable fame and
some financial security.

     In 1967 his son Mathew died tragically in a mountain climbing accident. Friends say he never
recovered from the grief this caused him. Soon his health began to deteriorate and his writing
mellowed into the reflections of an old warrior. He died of a heart attack on August 2, 1972, just
short of his sixty-first birthday.

By: John Fitzgerald