Walter Kempler (1890-1983)

Professional Life
Walter Kempler is an American psychiatrist and the founder of the Kempler Institute. He began his professional career focusing on family therapy and later shifted his attention to the existential aspects of the family construct. There are many similarities between his approaches and those of Fritz Perls, with whom he worked for a time. His treatment is based on Gestalt family therapy, but he often refers to it as experiential in nature. Kempler strives to address the present emotions of his clients and works to reveal what drives those emotions.

Contribution to Psychology
Through his experiential therapy, Kempler works with families to achieve union and separateness indirectly in order to arrive at a place off full engagement for all members. In order to do this, a therapist conducting experiential therapy encourages the members of the family to compromise their desires in order to meet an agreement that is mutually satisfying. There may be sacrifices that are made by some, but allowing for proper grieving of losses of dreams, and acceptance of disappointment and realizations, diminishes the impact of the compromise. Agreement does not mean everyone gets to a place of complete satisfaction and fulfillment, but rather a place of being able to realistically experience each other and their relationships.

Experience is at the heart of experiential therapy and Kempler believes that living an experience and being fully engaged in the action of that experience facilitates change. The therapist is only a tool for change, acting as a rudder on a boat, not an engine. The therapist is there to steer and direct, but should not push and force people into their experiences. The awareness of being in the present while engaging in the experience will allow every member of the family to understand their relationship to the union of the family.