Vera Felicidade de Almeida Campos (born August 18, 1942) is a Brazilian psychologist “Gestalt-Terapeutas do Brasil: formação e identidade” [Gestalt Therapists of Brazil: Formation and Identity] PhD thesis, University of Brasilia Unb, 2019, pages 19 to 21 (in Portuguese). “Gestalt Psychotherapy, however, is a psychotherapeutic proposal developed on Brazilian soil by the psychologist Vera Felicidade de Almeida Campos who disagrees with the reading of Gestalt Psychology contained in Gestalt Therapy.”"60 Anos da Regulamentação da Psicologia no Brasil" ["60 Years of Psychology Regulation in Brazil"]. CFP & CRP Symposium. Salvador, Bahia, 2 August 2022. (in Portuguese). "The Federal Council of Psychology and the Regional Council of Psychology award a Diploma to Vera Felicidade de Almeida Campos for her pioneering role in psychology in Brazil and for her 6 decades of work as a psychologist." who founded Gestalt Psychotherapy, a psychotherapeutic theory based on Gestalt Psychology. From gestalt and phenomenology she developed a clinical practice and a theory that supports it, breaking with psychoanalytic concepts that influence most other approaches to clinical psychology, even gestalt approaches.Campos, Vera Felicidade de Almeida. (2012) "Criação, questões e soluções da Psicoterapia Gestaltista" [Creation, Questions and Solutions of Gestalt Psychotherapy]. Portugal. Revista E-PSI (in Portuguese)“História da Gestalt Terapia no Brasil contada por seus primeiros atores: um estudo historiográfico no eixo São Paulo-Brasília” [History of Gestalt Therapy in Brazil told by its first actors: A historiographical study in the São Paulo-Brasília axis] Master's Thesis, Catholic University of Goiás, 2008, (in Portuguese).
Gestalt Psychotherapy, a term coined by Campos to name her theory, is different from Gestalt Therapy (developed by Fritz Perls). “Gestalt-Terapeutas do Brasil: formação e identidade”. 2019Campos, Vera Felicidade de Almeida in Gestalt Psychotherapy (in Portuguese)Campos. (2012) p. 43 The difference is in the methodology as well as in the theoretical basis, especially regarding the unconscious, a concept accepted by F. Perls and denied by V. Campos. The clinical practice is individual and based on dialogue between psychotherapist and client.Campos, Vera Felicidade de Almeida. (1972). PsicoterapiaGestaltista Conceituações (Gestalt Psychotherapy – Conceptualizations), Introduction, page 15, Rio de Janeiro (in Portuguese) – also available as eBook ISBN 9788595130920 Her eleven books expose the development of the theory's concepts, such as: to perceive is to know;Campos, Vera Felicidade de Almeida. (1999) Desespero e Maldade – Estudos Perceptivos (Despair and Evil – Perceptive Studies), chapter: Estruturação do Processo Perceptivo (Structuring the Perceptual Process), p. 35, Salvador. (in Portuguese) ISBN 8590118711 psychological life is perceptive life;Campos. (2012) p. 47 – "Psychological life is perceptive life, consequently psychological problems are perceptive distortions..." the human being is a possibility of relationship; non-acceptance; autoreferencingCampos. (1972). chapter V, p. 90 etc.
Biography Vera Felicidade A. Campos was born in the small town of Irará in the state of Bahia, Brazil. She is the first daughter of the couple Aristeu Nogueira Campos and Odete de Almeida Campos, and at the age of three, the family moved to the capital, Salvador, where she grew up, studied and started her university education, remaining in the city until the age of eighteen. She graduated in psychology in Rio de Janeiro,"Autêntica Plenitude" ["Authentic Plenitude"]. Magazine of The Regional Council of Psychology CRP-3 (in Portuguese). Edition 8. April/June 2012 (in Portuguese). and since then has been dedicated mainly to clinical practice and the development of Gestalt Psychotherapy theory as presented in her published books.Library of Congress Catalog Record – http://lccn.loc.gov/75405332 – This same Library has 5 of Vera Felicidade's books https://search.library.yale.edu/quicksearch?q=vera+felicidade+de+almeida+campos – Yale Library has cataloged a book and magazine article https://search.library.yale.edu/quicksearch?q=vera+felicidade+de+almeida+campos – Search by author's name in the central library of the University of Brasília – UnB, there are several books by Vera Felicidade cataloged there -> https://consulta.bce.unb.br/pergamum/biblioteca/index.php?resolution2=1024_1 etc.
Creation of Gestalt Psychotherapy In the first book, published shortly after graduation at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Campos writes about her dissatisfaction with existing theories in the field of Clinical Psychology.Campos. (1972) Chapter III – "Dimensões Básicas Estruturantes" ("Basic Structural Dimensions"), pp. 55–66 She had work experience in psychiatric hospitals in Brazil (Juliano Moreira Hospital) and courses in Moscow at the Department of Medicine of the Patrice Lumumba University (The Peoples' Friendship University of Russia) in 1962, and due to her philosophical background and interest in theory studies, she has always had an epistemological concern making clear in her writings the inconsistencies and contradictions of authors who intend to develop a psychotherapy based on Gestalt Psychology, but continue assuming concepts from the psychoanalytic theoretical matrix.Campos. (2012) p. 36-37 For V. Campos, the visions of man implicit in psychoanalysis (Freud) and in Gestalt Psychology are incompatible.Campos. (1972). Chapter IV, pp. 72–78 Based on the research of Gestalt Psychology theorists, Koffka, Koehler and Wertheimer, especially their research on perception and sensation, laws of perception, and isomorphism,see the classics of Gestalt Psychology: A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology; article "Special Problems – Perception and Organization", pages 71 to 136, prepared by Willis D. Ellis, Routledge and Kegan Paul LTDA, London, 1969; Readings in Perception, chapter "Principles of Perceptual Organization", written by Max Wertheimer, organized by David C. Beardslee and Michael Wertheimer, D.Van Nostrand Company Inc. New York, 1964; Thinking: from Association to Gestalt, chapter: "The Unity of Thought", p. 222, organized by Jean Matter Mandler and George Mandler, John Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, 1964.Campos, Vera Felicidade de Almeida. (1988) Relacionamento Trajetória do Humano ("Relationship – Human Trajectory"), pp. 17–30, Salvador. – also available as eBook ISBN 9788582455531 Campos started her theoretical reflections towards the development of Gestalt Psychotherapy.Campos. (2012) p. 37-41 Another important topic of her studies was Kurt Lewin's research on Field Theory,Lewin, Kurt. Field Theory in Social Science, Livraria Pioneira, São Paulo, 1965. and from that she was critical of what she calls the dualistic approach and the Class Theory-based approach (Lewin's concept), which are characteristic of psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and other functionalist schools in psychology.Campos, Vera Felicidade de Almeida. (1993) Terra e Ouro são Iguais – Percepção em Psicoterapia Gestaltista (Earth and Gold are Equal – Perception in Gestalt Psychotherapy), chapters "Globalização da Unidade" and "A Polarização Resulta da Unidade" ("Globalization of the Unit" and "Polarization Results from Unity"), pp. 17–39, Publisher: Jorge Zahar Editor, Rio de Janeiro. (in Portuguese) ISBN 857110249X
The German Gestaltists centered their careers in research and theoretical development of Gestalt Psychology, but did not develop a psychotherapy, and that was a concern for V. Campos.Campos. (2012) p. 36 Since the beginning of her clinical practice, benefiting from both Gestalt concepts and Edmund Husserl's Phenomenology, she initiated the development of Gestalt Psychotherapy, a theory based exclusively on gestaltism, phenomenology, and dialectical materialism.Campos. (1972). "Introdução: Fundamentantes Contextuais" ["Introduction: Contextual Background"] At no time does she make use of psychoanalytic concepts, as does, for instance, Fritz Perls' Gestalt Therapy.Peter Philippson (August 26, 2014). "The Paychoanalytic Roots of Gestalt Therapy". British Gestalt Journal. One of the ideas most combated by Campos, because it is the most widespread not only in psychology but also in several other areas of knowledge, is the idea of the existence of the unconscious.Campos. (1972). "O Mito do Inconsciente" ["The Myth of the Unconscious"], p. 71 Campos always points out that the concept of the unconscious in Freud's work is the heart of psychoanalysis, and It is regarded as a fundamental concept with implications in the approach and way of thinking about man, his psychism and his behaviour.Campos. (1972). p. 71: "Let us now approach one of the myths that has dominated psychology for almost a century, and that has been the a priori responsible for the fear and distrust of any explanation of the human that denies it. Let's talk about the unconscious." With the great dissemination of psychoanalysis after World War II, this was one of its most widespread concepts not only in the human sciences but for the lay public, the common sense. V. Campos, since her first book, expresses her denial of the unconscious in a chapter titled "O Mito do Inconsciente" ("The Myth of the Unconscious").Campos. (1972) "O Mito do Inconsciente" ["The Myth of the Unconscious"], pp. 71–78
Campos works in clinical psychology since the late 1960s and has been consistently developing her theory in books, articles, and research reports for decades. At the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) she taught Extension Courses in Gestalt Psychotherapy in the beginning of the eighties and from that time on the subject "Vera Felicidade's Gestalt Psychotherapy" is part of the program content of the mandatory discipline Psychological Theories and Systems II at the Psychology Institute of UFBA (IPS). Besides this subject, in this same Institute of Psychology, it was created in 1998 the optional discipline "Vera Felicidade's Gestalt Psychotherapy" (approved by Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture – MEC).Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade Federal da Bahia: UFBA [Psychology Institute of UFBA], Disciplinas Optativas do curso de Psicologia: Código: FCH397 Disciplina: Psicoterapia Gestaltista de Vera Felicidade – Pré requisito: FCH046 [Psychology course optional subjects: Code: FCH397 Discipline: Gestalt Psychotherapy of Vera Felicidade – Prerequisite: FCH046] (in Portuguese). From her first book published in 1972 to the most recent ones, several of them are cataloged in the Library of Congress in Washington (USA)Catalog of the Library of Congress, Washington and other public libraries.Katalog Der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek on Vera Felicidade de Almeida Campos ; at the INSI – OCLC ; at the VIAF ; at KB Nationale Bibliotheek ; the LOC has entries about Campos' work ; WorldCat Identities data shows Vera Felicidade de Almeida Campos at 80 Library holdings . Her books are also found in Libraries of American Universities (Yale and Harvard),Yale University Library Catalog Harvard University Libraries as well as in Libraries of Brazilian Universities (University of Brasilia – UnB and othersSearch by author's name in Central library of Unb) and in the National Library (Rio de Janeiro). In addition to books, she regularly publishes articles in magazines and journals.Meer Magazine – Vera Felicidade de Almeida Campos has been publishing monthly articles in Portuguese, English and French in this online publication, based in Budva, Montenegro, since 2014. Link to V.Campos' articles in this magazine.
Selected publications Books Psicoterapia Gestaltista – Conceituações. Edição da Autora, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, 1972 Mudança e Psicoterapia Gestaltista. Zahar Editores, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, 1978 Individualidade, Questionamento e Psicoterapia Gestaltista. Editora Alhambra, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, 1983 Relacionamento – Trajetória do Humano. Edição da Autora, Salvador-BA, 1988