19

This article presents the text written by Paul Goodman in 1945, which led to the encounter of the founders of Gestalt therapy. This text shows how much therapists at that time were preoccupied with social transformation. As a radical young theorist with no clinical experience, Goodman relied on a certain understanding of Freud, and also in part on Reich, in order to challenge the psychoanalysts Alexander, Fromm and Horney. Highlighting the temporal proximity between the emergeance of this writing and the founding book of Gestalt therapy, this article reminds contemporary practitioners of the strengths and weaknesses of our Gestalt theory, as well as the importance of supporting the individual when he or she is alienated by social injunctions.