Perls was a physician and psychotherapist. For him, the individual was "figural" and individual change the
major goal of his method. Perls, like Lewin, saw the individual from a systems perspective, but he focused in on the phenomenology of the intrapersonal system. Indeed, the major goal in Gestalt therapy is to "heal the
splits" within, the personal sub systems; mind, body and soul, and integration is defined as all parts being
unified and available for contact with the environment.
Given the fact that Lewin and Perls focused on different aspects of the total person-environment
configuration, it is no wonder that the followers of each have tended to ignore or neglect the work of the
other. Although Gestalt therapy and group dynamics developed simultaneously in the United States, they ran
parallel rather than intersecting courses. Perls acknowledged the contribution of Lewin to Gestalt
psychology, but remained an individualist and an individual therapist throughout his career. He never claimed
to be doing group therapy. In a talk delivered to the American Psychological Association in September, 1966,
he spelled out the ways in which he differed from group therapists and encounter group leaders: