THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP IN GESTALT THERAPY: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC PROCESS

Abstract

This article seeks to understand, from the perspective of Gestalt therapy, the therapeutic relationship and its contributions to the psychotherapeutic process. This is a bibliographic study with a qualitative approach, conducted through a narrative review of the literature. The theoretical review was based on articles and scientific publications published between 2007 and 2025, identified in databases and other digital sources, as well as classic works relevant to the theoretical foundations of the approach. The literature analysis allowed us to verify that the therapeutic relationship is a phenomenon that takes shape in the encounter between therapist and client, considering the relational field in which both are embedded. Field theory, contact, dialogue, and the therapist’s presence constitute the foundations for understanding how experience is constituted within the therapeutic relationship and can be explored in the psychotherapeutic process. The discussion highlights that this relationship can foster the expansion of awareness, the recognition of the client’s resources, the exploration of new possibilities for contact, and the development of self-support and creative adjustment. It is concluded that the therapeutic relationship occupies a central place in Gestalt therapy, not because it determines change, but because it fosters conditions for the client to expand their ways of responding to their own experience.