Chapter 10 ~Holistic Approaches~ Gestalt and ecopsychology Amber Gilewski Tompkins Cortland Community College
Feb 24, 2016
Chapter 10~Holistic Approaches~
Gestalt and ecopsychology
Amber GilewskiTompkins Cortland Community College
Holism• The whole is more than the sum of its parts • Environmental problems best approached by
considering the system in which they are createdReductionism:• Seeing the world as consisting of
separate elements• The modern worldview, which emphasizes
individualism and scientific inquiry, is reductionistic
Gestalt psychology • Gestalt:
– A German word that is roughly defined as form, whole, structure, or meaning
• Gestalt psychology:– Wolfgang Kohler describes learning as perceptual
reorganization• Insight learning:
– A sudden perceptual reorganization – Environmental problems are less a crisis of
technology and more a crisis of insight
Gestalt therapy• Laura and Fritz Pearls
– Defensiveness results from fragmentation of various parts of the psyche
• Awareness brings about an integration of those dissociative parts so that people can experience their full range of feelings without blocking off parts of their consciousness
Mindfulness - Reducing internal chatter and raising awareness of present experience
• Mindful practices in natural settings:– Enhance people’s experience of the present moment – Enhance their felt connection with surrounding
ecosystemsMindfulness practice: VIDEO• Reduces the impact of consumer culture on
overconsumption THE DHAMMA BROTHERS• Reduces materialistic values• Increases ecologically friendly behaviors• Lowers ecological footprint
Empathy• The cognitive and emotional understanding of
another’s perspective• Being identified with nature, people are more
likely to protect it as they would protect themselves
• Laboratory research suggests people increase the strength of their ecological self by increasing empathy
ECOLOGICAL EMPATHY?
Ecopsychology• The study of the synergistic relations between
planetary and personal well-being• Bridges the outer world of the natural
environment with the inner world of the psyche• Posits that animism represents an earlier and
wiser stage of cognitive development that should be cultivated rather than dismissed
Ecopsychology’s contribution to clinical psychology
• Ecotherapy: – Expanding the practice of psychotherapy to places
outside offices and hospitals into gardens and wilderness settings
• Human being are distressed when ecosystems are distressed– Clinical psychologists are urged to take client’s
anxiety about ecological problems seriously, rather than assuming that it is displaced anxiety
“All things in the biosphere have an equal right to live and blossom and to reach their own
individual forms of unfolding and self-realization within the larger Self-realization. This basic intuition is that all organisms and
entities in the ecosphere, as parts of the interrelated whole, are equal in intrinsic worth.”
(Devall & Sessions, 1985, p. 67)
Emotional dimensions of ecopsychology• Emotional affinity results from positive
experiences in wilderness settings, especially in the company friends and close relations
• Emotional connection to nature combined with:– Righteous anger concerning insufficient protection– Guilt over one’s own inadequate efforts
equals people who are more likely to vow to protect the environment
IF A TREE FALLS
The ecopsychology of place• A deep sense of belonging, love, and
perfection in a particular place– Place theory – Some places provide deep meaning
and emotional bonding, accompanied by feelings of stability and security, a sense of mystery and connection, and anger or grief when the place is threatened
– Sacred places – Spiritual experiences in special places often occur in wilderness settings, where people feel a sense of perfection, meaning, and connection with something larger than themselves