Gestalt theoretical psychotherapy is a method of
psychotherapy based strictly on
Gestalt psychology. It was developed by the German Gestalt
psychologist and psychotherapist
Hans-Jürgen P. Walter and his colleagues in Germany and Austria. Walter, a student of Gestalt psychologist Friedrich Hoeth, was influenced to form the core of his theoretical concept on the basis of the work of Gestalt theorists
Max Wertheimer,
Wolfgang Köhler,
Kurt Koffka,
Kurt Lewin, and
Wolfgang Metzger. Walter’s first publication of Gestalt theoretical psychotherapy came out in 1977
Gestalttheorie und Psychotherapie (Gestalt Theory and Psychotherapy), which is now on its third edition (1994). The majority of Walter’s books and journal articles on Gestalt theoretical psychotherapy are in the German language. However, his articles
Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Gestalt-Theoretical Psychotherapy and
What do Gestalt therapy and Gestalt theory have to do with each other? were published in English, as well as Gerhard Stemberger's introductory article
Diagnostics in Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy.