CHAPTER 8 Gestalt Therapy
Introduction
Gestalt approach focuses on the following:
oThe here and now
oThe what and how of experiencing
oThe authenticity of the therapist
oActive dialogic inquiry and exploration
oThe I/Thou of relating
Gestalt therapy is an existential, phenomenological, and process-based approach.
Initial goal is for clients to expand their awareness of what they are experiencing in the present
moment.
oIncreased awareness is curative.
Through becoming aware of one’s denied parts and working toward owning their experience, clients
can become integrated, or whole.
Self-acceptance, knowledge of the environment, responsibility for choices, and the ability to make
contact with their field
Contemporary relational Gestalt therapy stresses dialogue and the I/Thou relationship between
client and therapist.
Emphasizes support, acceptance, empathy, respect, and dialogue as well as confrontation.
Some Principles of Gestalt Theory
Holism:
oThe full range of human functioning includes thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body, memories, and
dreams.
Field Theory:
oClient is a participant in a constantly changing field.
oEmphasis may be on a figure and on the ground.
Figure Formation Process:
oHow an individual organizes experiences from moment to moment
Foreground: figure
Background: ground
Organismic Self-Regulation:
oEmergence of a need, a sensation, or an interest disturb an individual’s equilibrium
Contact and Resistances to Contact
Contact
oInteracting with nature and with other people without losing one’s individuality
Boundary disturbances/resistance to contact
oThe defenses we develop to prevent us from experiencing the present fully
Contact Boundary Phenomena
Following are the five different kinds of contact boundary disturbances:
oIntrojection
oProjection
oRetroflection
oDeflection
oConfluence
The Now
Our “power is in the present.”
oNothing exists except the “now.”
oThe past is gone and the future has not yet arrived.
oPhenomenological inquiry involves paying attention to what is happening now.
For many people, the power of the present is lost.
oThey may focus on their past mistakes or engage in endless resolutions and plans for the future.
Unfinished Business
Feelings about the past are unexpressed.
oThese feelings are associated with distinct memories and fantasies.
oFeelings are not fully experienced, so they linger in the background and interfere with effective
contact.
Result:
oIndividual is beset with reoccupation, compulsive behavior, wariness oppressive energy, and self-
defeating behavior.
oWhen external support is not available, the impasse occurs.
Energy and Blocks to Energy
Gestalt therapists focus on where energy is located, how it is used, and how it can be blocked.
Blocked energy is a form of defensive behavior that may result in unfinished business.
Clients are encouraged to recognize how their resistance is being expressed in their body and
transform their blocked energy into more adaptive behaviors.
Therapeutic Goals
Move toward increased awareness of themselves.
Assume ownership of their experience.
Develop skills and acquire values.
Become more aware of all of their senses.
Learn to accept responsibility for what they do.
Be able to ask for and get help from others and be able to give to others.
Therapist’s Function and Goals
Invite clients into an active partnership.
Increase clients’ awareness, freedom, and self-direction.
Pay attention to clients’ body language.
Emphasis on the relationship between language patterns and personality.
Clients express their feelings, thoughts, and attitudes.
Therapist’s Function and Role
“It” talk
“You” talk
Questions
Language that denies power
Listening to clients’ metaphors
Listening for language that uncovers a story
Gestalt Therapy Interventions
The Internal Dialogue Exercise
The Empty-Chair Technique
Making the Rounds
The Reversal Exercise
The Rehearsal Exercise
The Exaggeration Exercise
Staying With the Feeling
The Gestalt Approach to Dream Work
Application to Group Counseling
Gestalt therapy encourages direct experience and action.
Here-and-now focus allows members to bring unfinished business to the present.
Experiments need to be tailored to each group member.
Leaders can use linking to include members in the exploration of a particular individual’s problem.
Leaders actively design experiments for the group while focusing on awareness and contact.
Group leaders actively engage with the members to form a sense of mutuality in the group.
Strengths From a Diversity Perspective
Gestalt experiments can be tailored to fit the unique ways in which clients perceive and interpret
their culture.
Gestalt therapy helps people integrate the polarities within themselves, which can assist bicultural
clients in reconciling diverse aspects of their cultures.
Creative experiments can emphasize nonverbal behaviors.
Shortcomings From a Diversity Perspective
Clients who are culturally conditioned to be emotionally reserved may find the emphasis on feelings
to be off putting.
Those who use Gestalt techniques in a mechanical way to elicit certain effects (e.g., intense
emotions) may lead clients to terminate from therapy prematurely.
Contributions of Gestalt Theory
It is a creative and lively approach that uses experiments to move clients from talk to action and
experience.
Clients are provided with a wide range of tools for discovering new facets of themselves and
changing their lives.
The Gestalt approach to working with dreams is a unique pathway for people to increase their
awareness of key themes in their lives.
It is a holistic approach that values each aspect of theindividual’s experience equally.
The therapist’s role is assisting the client to increase awareness that will allow reidentification with
the part of the self.
A key strength of Gestalt therapy is the attempt to integrate theory, practice, and research.
Limitations and Criticisms of Gestalt Therapy
Fritz Perl’s style placed more attention on using techniques to confront clients and getting them to
experience their feelings.
The approach has the potential for the therapist to abuse power by using powerful techniques
without proper training.
This approach may not be useful for clients who have difficulty abstracting and imagining.
The emphasis on therapist authenticity and self-disclosure may be overpowering for some clients.
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