Gesalt Therapy Verbatim Author:Frederick S. Perls, MD, Ph.D. The originator an developer of Gestalt Therapy, Frederick S. Perls of Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California, was an innovator in the field of humanistic psychology. He wrote poems, painted and was the author of Ego, Hunger, Aggression, and an autobiography, In and Out the Garbage Pail. He died in 1970.