Fritz Perls

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Lore & Background

Fritz Perls was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1893. He grew up in the bohemian scene in Berlin, participated in Expressionism and Dadaism, and experienced the turning of the artistic avant-garde toward the revolutionary left. He was expected to practice law, following his distinguished uncle Herman Staub, but instead he studied medicine. Perls joined the German Army during World War I and spent time in the trenches. After the war in 1918 he returned to his medical studies graduating two years later, specializing in neuropsychiatry as a medical doctor, and then became an assistant to Kurt Goldstein. In 1927, Perls became a member of Wilhelm Reich's technical seminars in Vienna, and in 1930 Reich became Perls' supervising senior analyst in Berlin. In 1930, Perls married Laura Perls and they had two children together, Renate and Stephen. In 1933, soon after the Hitler regime came to power, being of Jewish descent and because of their anti-fascist political activities, Perls, Laura, and their eldest child Renate fled to the Netherlands, and one year later they emigrated to South Africa, where Perls started a psychoanalytic training institute. In 1942, Perls joined the South African army, and he served as an army psychiatrist with the rank of captain until 1946. While in South Africa, Perls was influenced by the "holism" of Jan Smuts. During this period Fritz Perls co-wrote his first book, Ego, Hunger, and Aggression (published in 1942 and re-published in 1947). Laura Perls wrote two chapters of the book, although when it was re-published in the United States she was not given any recognition for her work.

Reader's Guide

Fritz Perls left South Africa in 1946 and ended up in New York City, where he worked briefly with Karen Horney and Wilhelm Reich. After living in Montreal and serving as a cruise ship psychiatrist, Perls settled in Manhattan. He wrote his second book with the assistance of Paul Goodman, who drafted the theoretical second part based upon Perls' hand-written notes. Along with the experiential first part written with Ralph Hefferline, the book was entitled Gestalt Therapy and published in 1951. Fritz and Laura Perls started the first Gestalt Institute in their Manhattan apartment. In 1960 Fritz Perls left Laura behind in Manhattan and moved to Los Angeles, where he practiced with Jim Simkin. He started offering workshops at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, in 1963. Perls became interested in Zen during this period, and incorporated the idea of mini-satori into his practice. He also traveled to Japan, where he stayed in a Zen monastery. Eventually, he settled at Esalen, and even built a house on the grounds. One of his students at Esalen was Dick Price, who developed Gestalt Practice. At Esalen, Perls collaborated with Ida Rolf to address the relationship between the mind and the body. Perls has been widely cited outside the realm of psychotherapy for a quotation often described as the "Gestalt prayer": "I do my thing and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful. If not, it can't be helped." In 1969 Perls left Esalen and started a Gestalt community at Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island, Canada. There, he hosted eight educational films on his gestalt therapy, directed by Stanley Fox for Aquarian Productions. Fritz Perls died of heart failure in Chicago, on March 14, 1970, after heart surgery at the Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital.

Did You Know?

• Perls was a heavy smoker, first experiencing cigarettes at age eight and becoming a chain smoker due to his experiences in the Second World War.
• Perls used LSD recreationally during the 1960s.
• Perls practiced non-monogamy and had many sexual and romantic encounters outside of his marriage to Laura Perls.
• Psychoanalyst Jeffrey Masson quoted Perls from his autobiography describing an incident where Perls physically fought a female group member, writing 'I've beaten up more than one bitch in my life.'
• Therapist Barry Stevens, who met Perls in 1967, described him as 'almost always a very warm and gentle old gentleman.'