Integrative Gestalt Therapy at SFU

IG Lehrtherapeut*innen – Juni 2025.pdf (in German)

What is ‘Integrative Gestalt Therapy’?

Integrative Gestalt therapy was developed in the 1940s by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and Paul Goodman. It is based on an interdisciplinary approach and integrates elements from psychoanalysis (e.g. K. Horney, W. Reich, S. Ferenczi), Gestalt psychology (e.g. Ch. von Ehrenfels, M. Wertheimer, W. Köhler, K. Koffka), creative indifference (S. Friedlaender), field theory (K. Lewin), existential philosophy (e.g. M. Heidegger, M. Buber, P. Tillich), the concept of organismic self-regulation (K. Goldstein) and holism (J. Smuts).

At the centre of Integrative Gestalt Therapy is the human being as a holistic being in a lifelong process of growth, integration and self-realisation. The method understands people as beings capable of responsibility, orientated towards social encounters and relationships, who can develop their full potential through the perception and integration of experiences.

Integrative Gestalt therapy places particular emphasis on the present. Client and therapist pay attention to the mental, emotional and physical phenomena that emerge in the process of the present, therapeutic encounter in the ‘here and now’, which can be experienced in their meaning and thus integrated more easily. Special emphasis is placed on the dialogue-based relationship between therapist and client. The central goals of Integrative Gestalt Therapy include the promotion of the ability to establish contact and relationships, a deeper experience of meaning and an increase in joie de vivre and vital energy.

Unfavourable developmental conditions can significantly impair and permanently disrupt the lifelong process of growth and integration. As a result, perceptions are repressed, emotional impulses are suppressed, opportunities for action are limited and life energy is blocked. These processes often lead to a fragmentation of central parts of the personality and the fixation of maladaptive patterns in conflict processing (so-called ‘fixed patterns’), which can manifest themselves in a variety of psychological and psychosomatic symptoms or in dysfunctional social relationships.

Integrative Gestalt therapy aims to reactivate these interrupted and blocked processes in order to make individual development potential and vitality accessible again. Consideration of the client’s personal background is a central component of the therapeutic dialogue and forms the basis for possible changes.

In order to enable a holistic experience beyond understanding, experience-activating methods (creative media, imaginative techniques, scenic expression, as well as body and movement work) can be incorporated into the therapeutic process in addition to dialogue. Integrative Gestalt therapy is used in the context of individual, group, couple and family therapy, as well as in therapeutic work with children and adolescents.

• IG – Curriculum (pdf, in German)
• IG – Curriculum – Beschreibung detailliert (pdf, in German)
• Infodatei Integrative Gestalttherapie FS SFU (pdf, in German)

Admissions for 2027

Admissions for the start of the IG specialist training course in autumn 2026 has already been completed. Applications for the coming year, 2027, are now being accepted. The 2027 training will begin by September 2027 at the latest. If there are enough applications, it may also be possible to start the course partway through the year.

Contact for enquiries:
Sabrina Khondker (email: sabrina.khondker@sfu.ac.at)
Dr. Hans Peter Weidinger (email: hp.weidinger@sfu.ac.at, Tel.: +43 664 463 27 07)

Admission Procedure

1. Two interviews with teaching therapists specialising in Integrative Gestalt Therapy:
Brigitte Rasmus (email: brigitte.rasmus@t-online.de, Tel.: +49 179 511 76 86) and Dr. Hans Peter Weidinger (email: hp.weidinger@sfu.ac.at, Tel.: +43 664 463 27 07).

2. A full-day admission seminar at SFU Vienna – with teaching therapists specialising in Integrative Gestalt Therapy. After successfully completing the two admission interviews, you will be registered for the admission seminar (see Method Admission Seminars for the respective winter semester).

3. We expressly point out that a certificate of completion of the psychotherapeutic propaedeutic course must be presented before the start of training.

Costs Admission

Admission fee: € 550
This includes the processing of the documents, two interviews, participation in a seminar (or three interviews), information meetings, crediting procedure, etc.

Contact Finance and Controlling:
Mail: ptw-accounting@sfu.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 798 40 98 304
Opening and telephone hours: Mon-Thu: 10:00 – 15:00 / Fri: 10:00 – 15:00 (Fridays only available by telephone)
Address: Freudplatz 1, 3rd floor, room 3002

• Continue to the payment modalities

Costs (as of winter semester 2026/27):
Fee for the training programme per semester: € 6.359
Admission fee: € 550

Duration: 6 semester

Contact Finance & Controlling:

Mail: ptw-accounting@sfu.ac.at
Phone: +43 1 798 40 98 304
Office and telephone hours: Mo-Thur: 10 am  – 3 pm / Fr: 10 am – 3 pm (Fridays by telephone only)
Address: Freudplatz 1, 3rd floor, room 3002

• General payment modalities