Discovering and Developing Themes

Theme development is a particularly important concept when studying the here-and-now process in Gestalt therapy. The word "theme" is used in numerous ways in the Gestalt lexicon, ranging from describing a momentarily important issue (e.g., the theme of one particular session) to addressing the deeper questions that underlie each client's ongoing therapy. The distinctions between theme discovery, theme development and theme work are important for this Working Paper. Theme discovery is...
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Theme development is a particularly important concept when studying the here-and-now process in Gestalt therapy. The word "theme" is used in numerous ways in the Gestalt lexicon, ranging from describing a momentarily important issue (e.g., the theme of one particular session) to addressing the deeper questions that underlie each client's ongoing therapy. The distinctions between theme discovery, theme development and theme work are important for this Working Paper. Theme discovery is that magical moment that occurs when a therapist and a client acknowledge that something meaningful that bears further exploration is beginning to emerge in the present. Theme development is the process of taking this discovery and shaping it into a theme that the client owns, feels and wants to work on. Theme work is taking the developed theme and doing the actual work on it that expands the client's boundaries and creates the ability for the client to be different in the world. Thus, the theme implies a present phenomenon that the therapeutic partnership considers ripe for exploration.