ABSTRACT
Gestalt Therapy has developed with an existential and liberal perspective, according to which each human being is unique and individual. This philosophical viewpoint is thus in principle contrary to classification systems which tend to sort people into categories. Some Gestalt therapists try to elaborate a Gestalt interpretation of psychopathology, while most of them use other classifications, depending on their personal sensitivity, and cultural background, such as bio-energy, psychoanalysis or the DSM IV. According to Sigmund Freud, the two fundamental drives in Man are sexuality and aggression. Anxiety stems from the dissatisfaction of archaic sexual needs. All the neuroses come from sexual function disturbance, whether real or symbolic. Wilhelm Reich links them more directly to orgasmic dissatisfaction. Personality "disorders" could thus be considered as mechanisms of defense and adaptation, which facilitate survival at a given time. It is clear that careful training in psychopathology as well as regular clinical supervision are essential to therapeutic practice.
