A gestalt-terapia chega ao Brasil: recepção e desenvolvimento inicial

Gestalt therapy emerged in the USA in 1951 and arrived in Brazil in the early 1970s. This paper aims to present the history and the development of Gestalt therapy in Brazil. To this end, it addresses the reception of such psychotherapeutic approach in our country, considering the historical factors which enabled it, especially the socio-political context and the situation of Psychology as a science and a profession in the 1970s. It also presents the early development of this approach in Brazil, with its spread, growth and consolidation as a psychotherapeutic theory and practice. Finally, the article marks the expansion of Gestalt principles in other areas of Psychology, explaining the recent designation of the term gestalt approach.