IMPROVing Spontaneity: Gestalt Therapy Perspective on Improvisational Theater as a Therapeutical Intervention

Abstract

This article outlines the theoretical background for improv-therapeutical processes and interventions found in the contemporary theory of the Gestalt therapeutic approach. Although there is a growing number of studies reporting on the potential of improvisational theater in psychological well-being and psychotherapy, few of them explore theoretical parallels with existing psychotherapeutic approaches. This article proposes that the roots and paradigms of improv theater and Gestalt therapy are epistemologically close and explore how concepts specific for relational Gestalt therapy—understanding of self as a process in the phenomenological intersubjective field, an aesthetic approach to mental health, and the notion of creative adjustment—could contribute to the understanding and empowering of the therapeutic processes found in improv theater. The theory proposes that nurturing creative and spontaneous processes in improv possibly contributes to the healthy functioning of the self and, therefore, enhances healthy contact with the environment.