Oleksiy Vinohradov
Phenomenological, Relational, and Field Perspectives in Group Work within the Gestalt Approach
Working with a psychotherapeutic group in the Gestalt approach is an extensive and complex domain that integrates a solid theoretical foundation and rich practical applications.
This article presents a comprehensive approach to group work that simultaneously incorporates three key perspectives:
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Working with participants' inner phenomenology
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Working with relationships (the relational approach)
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Working within the field paradigm
By considering, using, and shifting between these perspectives, therapists can gain a more multidimensional understanding of group processes, uncovering subtle interconnections and hidden dynamics.
However, before delving into these perspectives, let us first discuss what a Gestalt group is, its purpose, and the importance of remembering the principle of holism.
The Main Tasks of a Gestalt Group Leader
So, what is a Gestalt group? It is a psychotherapeutic group where the leader applies the Gestalt approach.
The primary and fundamental task of a group leader is the same as in individual therapy: healing through awareness.
The difference is that a group consists of more than two people, meaning that an individual experiences themselves within a social system.
While individual therapy represents personal relationships, group therapy represents social interactions.
For example, in individual therapy, the client may feel that the therapist is not attentive enough to them, just as their mother was not attentive. That is, the client experiences a transference of maternal feelings onto the therapist.
Similarly, in group therapy, the client may feel a lack of attention toward themselves, just as they felt in their family. In this case, we speak of group transference, meaning the transfer of past family experiences onto what is happening in the group.
It is important to note that a group can involve both individual transference ("You treat me like my brother!") and group transference ("I feel rejected, just like I did with my classmates at school.").
The task of the group leader is to explore these processes and help group members become aware of them. In this sense, group gestalt therapy is a powerful tool, as it can work with layers of the psyche that are difficult to access in individual therapy.
This is especially true (though not exclusively) when dealing with trauma related to social experiences—such as bullying, self-expression, recognition, shame, the need for belonging, and more.
The Idea of Holism in Group Work
In Gestalt therapy, we adhere to the principle of holism, which states that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Thus, we perceive a psychotherapeutic group as a unified whole, a living organism with its own characteristics, rules, and history.
This raises an important question:
When applying self-theory to groups, are there multiple selves, or is there only one self?
Let us look at how nature functions:
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A cell in the body—Is it a separate living being, or is it part of the organism?
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An animal in an ecosystem—Is it an individual entity, or part of a greater system?
The answer is both.
Each group participant is an individual self, but they also belong to a larger group self. The group self emerges from the personal selves of its members, yet it is more than just the sum of individual identities.
We talk about a group self that evolves dynamically through the group's interactions.
A skilled group leader facilitates the exploration of both individual selves and the collective group self, allowing the group self to become a powerful healing force.
Three Perspectives in Group Work
Gestalt group work can be divided into three perspectives:
1. Awareness of oneself – one’s feelings, body, thoughts, desires, inner conflicts, and intentions. In other words, awareness of one’s inner phenomena. This is referred to as the perspective of working with inner phenomenology.
2. Awareness of one’s relationships with others – relational needs, boundaries, behavioral patterns, attachment styles, expectations, and so on. This is called the relational (interpersonal) perspective of work.
3. Awareness of the broader context of one’s life – specifically, how the surrounding environment influences one’s life. The environment is understood in the broadest sense: nationality, culture, economic situation, climate, country, city, neighborhood, the movies one watches, the news one reads, what happens outside the window, and even the atmosphere created within the group itself—everything. This is referred to as the field perspective.
Of course, this division is conditional, as all these processes are closely interconnected and cannot always be clearly separated. However, such a distinction is useful because it allows the therapist working with the group to perceive group processes across multiple dimensions simultaneously.
Let me explain these three perspectives in more detail. I will structure my explanation in a way that demonstrates how these three perspectives are interconnected.
Working with Inner Phenomenology
Inner phenomenology is the process of an individual’s experiences within the group—experiences that originated “there and then” but continue to influence “here and now.” Exploring these inner phenomena is a crucial part of therapy because it is precisely what allows us to understand ourselves more deeply. It is the awareness of the unconscious.
Why do I react so strongly in certain situations?
What emotions do I hide from myself?
How did I become the person I am?
What are my core drivers, needs, and motivations?
What is my shadow—the forbidden part of myself that conceals my strength?
Where am I striving to go, and, more importantly, what am I so desperately avoiding?
The answers to these questions are often far from obvious.
Let me give an example of how exploring inner phenomenology looks in a group therapy setting.
A participant in the psychotherapy group (let’s call him John) shares that he struggles to complete an important project that matters to him.
The leader then suggests conducting a "hot seat work" session (an individual therapeutic session within the group). They sit in the center while the rest of the group silently observes.
During this process, it may emerge that John’s parents had excessively high expectations of him and constantly criticized him. Now, whenever he tries to finish his project, he hears internalized parental criticism and devaluation in his mind:
"You’ll never succeed!"
"You’re going to mess everything up again!"
"You’re a failure!"
Subconsciously, John avoids completing the project because he fears making a mistake—if he does, the toxic voices of his parents in his own mind will once again shame and belittle him.
Everything I just described represents John’s inner phenomena—his internal processes that block him from moving forward.
The leader’s task is to help the client overcome these difficulties. In this case, that means recognizing the toxic introjects (internalized parental voices), letting go of them, and instead learning to support and praise himself.
After such a session, the participants may share their emotional reactions to the work. It is important to emphasize that observing another participant’s process often creates resonance and can be deeply therapeutic for those watching.
Even if they did not actively participate in the work in the circle, the act of observing itself is still inner work—that is, work with their own inner phenomenology.
Awareness of inner phenomena is a fundamental and essential aspect of psychotherapy, fostering inner growth and the ability to rely on oneself.
Working from the Relational Perspective
We all know that pain, when shared with another, becomes lighter.
Working from the relational perspective allows us to explore real relationships—both between participants and between participants and the leader (as the leader is also part of the relational dynamics). This approach not only helps people better understand themselves and the roots of their suffering but also provides an opportunity to gain a new experience in the here and now.
It is an experience of healthy relationships, where a person feels seen, heard, respected, where their dignity is acknowledged, their emotions are shared, and they are met with authenticity.
Many of us lack this kind of experience, and it is precisely this experience that heals the soul.
Continuing the previous example, the leader may draw the participants’ attention to how John’s work affected the group—that is, the relationships between participants.
One participant, let’s call her Mary, shared that at first, John seemed too serious and unapproachable to her. But after hearing his story, she started feeling warmth and interest toward him.
John reacted coldly, simply nodding in response. Mary immediately noticed this and said:
"Oh, now I feel your coldness again. The moment of warmth just disappeared… That’s a shame."
This small exchange might seem insignificant, but the leader chose to pause and focus on it. They pointed out how John tends to push people away. It turned out that John was completely unaware of this. But when he noticed it—his face lit up.
At that moment, John realized the real reason why he struggled to make friends. He had always thought that people simply didn’t like him. But in reality, he was subconsciously pushing them away.
This realization deeply moved John. He turned to Mary and apologized for his coldness, saying:
"In reality, your support meant a lot to me. It’s just hard for me to admit it, which is why I react so coldly. But I want to change that."
This newfound awareness allowed John to respond with warmth when others in the group reached out to him.
And later, building on this experience gained in the group, John was able to form relationships more easily in his everyday life.
It is important to add that in such group interactions (just as in life), the principle of complementary transference is often at play. This means that people tend to engage with those whose behavior mirrors familiar patterns of interaction from their past experiences—often from past traumatic experiences.
In our example, we looked at John’s story—a man who subconsciously pushes people away due to his fear of vulnerability. But there is also Mary’s story—a woman who subconsciously chooses those who push her away. Working with her experience could also bring many valuable insights for Mary.
The leader’s task in this case is not just to help John and Mary become more aware of their emotions and behavioral patterns in relationships (inner phenomenology work).
The leader must also facilitate new types of interaction within the group—allowing participants to gain a different kind of relational experience. One that is more aligned with their needs for authenticity, closeness, and respect.
It is precisely this new experience that enables participants to make meaningful changes in their lives.
Working from the Field Perspective
The human psyche and its mental processes are complex phenomena that cannot be fully described with formulas or reduced to specific instructions for handling every situation. While we can identify general patterns, we cannot predict every unique moment in the therapeutic process—this is what differentiates psychotherapy from exact sciences.
There are simply too many factors influencing a person, and we cannot know or predict them all. In Gestalt therapy, this vast network of influencing factors is referred to as "the field."
However, even though we cannot see all the elements of the field, we can sense the field as a whole phenomenon.
To truly perceive the field of a therapeutic group, a therapist must simultaneously track multiple processes:
- Observing the phenomena of the participants
- Remembering the context of their stories and what has already happened in the group
- Staying aware of one’s own bodily sensations, emotions, and fantasies
- Considering the external context of the situation
The field is not something that can be mathematically calculated—it is something that must be felt. And we all have a natural capacity for this kind of perception.
Let me illustrate this with a specific example. To do that, let’s return to our fictional therapy group.
After John’s "Hot seat work" and his conversation with Mary, a deep silence settled over the group. It lasted for quite some time, and the leader began to notice something within himself—growing tension. His body felt frozen, his breathing became shallow, and he observed that other participants also seemed motionless.
A part of him wanted to break the silence—to make a joke, suggest an exercise, do anything to relieve the intensity and move on. But he resisted the impulse. Instead, he gave himself a pause to better understand what was behind this tension.
The heaviness in the room felt like an overwhelming emotion. The leader sensed a deep sadness, even though there was no obvious reason for it. Without fully understanding the source of these feelings, he decided to share them with the group:
"I don’t know why, but I just felt an incredibly strong sadness—so strong that my whole body froze. And I immediately had the urge to make a joke or suggest an exercise—anything, just to avoid sitting with this difficult feeling."
After these words, several participants exhaled deeply.
"I felt sadness too," one of them admitted, "and for some reason, I suddenly thought of my grandfather, whom I loved dearly. He passed away last year."
At that moment, one of the participants—let’s call her Sarah—began to sob uncontrollably.
"When I was listening to John, I kept thinking about my mother, who passed away when I was five. I didn’t want to bring it up because I didn’t want to upset anyone, and it felt inappropriate. Even though John was criticized by his parents, I actually felt jealous that he even had a mother. Losing mine still hurts."
As Sarah shared her story, it became clear that many participants in the group had their own unresolved grief—losses they had never fully mourned.
Loss and grief were the emotions that the group was collectively avoiding. This is referred to as a "group figure of avoidance." However, no matter how much these emotions were pushed aside, they were still present in the field of this situation.
The leader sensed these field emotions. It is important to emphasize that this was not about intellectual understanding but rather about a felt experience. The leader had no logical explanation for why he suddenly felt such deep sadness. But he felt it nonetheless, and—just like the other group members—he had the impulse to avoid it.
By naming his emotions, normalizing them, and allowing them to exist, the leader created space for others in the group to recognize their own grief and take the risk of sharing it.
This raises an important question:
Is everything the leader experiences part of the field?
After all, the leader’s emotions might not always be field experiences shared by the group—they could simply be his own personal emotions.
Let’s explore this question further.
Is the field different for each person, or is it a shared dimension in a specific situation?
Both at the Same Time.
On one hand, we can confidently say that the field is one and shared by all. When two people are in the same room, that room is part of their field, and it is the same for both of them.
On the other hand, no two people ever experience the field in exactly the same way because each individual has their own unique configuration of the field.
Each person’s field is unique because we all have:
- Different life experiences
- Different upbringings and cultures
- Different social circles and relationships
- Different values, beliefs, and personal histories
This means there is a part of the field that overlaps, forming our shared field. At the same time, there is a part of the field that does not overlap—our individual contexts that we bring into situation.
The combination of all these contexts—both shared and individual—creates a unique, specific field that exists only here and now, as long as we are engaged in this conversation.
And beyond all this, the field is not static—it is a constantly evolving process.
Returning to the group leader, we can say that, on one hand, there is no clear boundary between whether their emotions belong to them personally or whether they are field phenomena.
Technically speaking, everything the leader experiences is part of the group field, because the leader is an inseparable part of the field, just like the other participants.
On the other hand, there are clear diagnostic criteria that help distinguish whether the leader’s emotions are connected to what is currently emerging in the group (field perception) or whether they are rooted in their own past experiences ("there and then")—which would be countertransference.
The Two Key Criteria: Emotional Resonance & Increased Energy
When the leader shares their emotions, the participants’ reactions (such as deep exhales, tears, relief, or a desire to share their own stories) indicate that these emotions belong to the field.
If, after the leader shares their experience, there is no resonance and the energy in the group does not increase, then the emotion likely belongs to the leader’s personal countertransference rather than the group field.
The leader’s work from the field perspective consists precisely of sensing the field, sharing their reactions, experiences, and thoughts. It also involves supporting processes where resonance arises and stepping away from those where there is no resonance.
Conclusion
Self-awareness, relationships with others, and interaction with the world are the three fundamental aspects of every person’s life.
They are deeply interconnected and cannot be artificially separated. We come to know ourselves through our relationships with others within our surrounding environment.
Therapeutic group work should integrate these core aspects of human existence. The three perspectives described in this article—inner phenomenology, relationships, and the field—serve as a useful framework for understanding group processes and guiding therapeutic interventions.
The ability to hold these perspectives in focus and consciously shift between them for therapeutic purposes makes group work deep and multilayered. This approach allows participants to gain a holistic experience of self-awareness and fully engage in the process of living their own lives.
Author
Oleksiy Vinogradov
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Accredited Gestalt therapist, supervisor, and associate trainer at the National Association for Gestalt Therapy of Ukraine (NAGTU)
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Accredited Gestalt therapist at the Kyiv Gestalt University (KGU)
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Associate member of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy (NYIGT)
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Member of the Gestalt Australia & New Zealand (GANZ) Association
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Leader of psychotherapy and supervision groups, as well as training programs in Gestalt therapy
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Founder of the Gestalt Club community
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Co-organizer of the Gestalt intensive "The Space of Relationships"
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Over 15 years of psychotherapeutic practice