Gestalt Therapy

View of Human Nature: people are

self-reliant spontaneous capable of self-regulation able to reintegrate the disown parts of

themselves striving toward actualization and growth

The present (here and now)

Directly Experience rather than talking about situations Becoming the hurt child rather than talking about

childhood trauma experiences. Ask “what” and “how” instead of “why” The power is in the present. However, many people focus on past mistakes and

future plans.

Unfinished Business (UB)

Definition: Feelings about the past are unexpressed May be of anger, hatred, guilt, fear… May be memories and fantasies Interfere with effective contact Tend to result in physical symptoms By working through unfinished business, the

preoccupation with the past is complete.

Contact & Resistance to contact

Contact – interaction with nature and other people without losing one’s individuality

Contact is necessary for change to occur

Resistance to contact – the defenses that prevent us from experiencing the present fully

Contact Boundary Disturbances

Clients are encourage to be aware of their dominant style of blocking contact

Introjection: uncritically accept others’ view without reviewing them Children often take parents’ opinions as fact

Projection: disown certain aspect of ourselves by assigning them to others Feeling anger may lead a person to project anger onto others

Retroflection: doing to ourselves what we want to do to others, Biting one’s nails can be a substitute for aggression toward

others

Energy and blocks to energy

Attend to where energy is located, how it is used, and how it can be blocked

Blocked energy is a form of resistance Recognize how their resistance is being expressed

in their body feeling numb

Exaggerate their tension and tightness in order to increase awareness

Therapeutic Goals: helping clients

to enhance awareness

to depend on themselves

to bring the past or future into the present

to achieve integration of the whole person Verbal behavior, nonverbal behavior, feelings, thoughts,

perceptions.…

Therapist’s function and Role

Increase clients’ awareness Attend to the present moment Attend to verbal, nonverbal, and inconsistent message Help clients to experience their being “stuck” Make “I” statement

It is difficult to make friendsI have trouble making friends

The Therapeutic Relationship

Therapeutic relationship is important for the therapy to be effective

Be empathetic, genuine, and understanding Share therapists’ experiences to clients in “here-

and-now” Apply the notion of “use of self” in therapy

Therapeutic Change

Not making progress is due to fear of change (Perls, 1969)

Exploring the reluctance The Change Process: three-stage (Polster, 1987)

Discovery (get a new perspective) Accommodation (learn that they have a choice) Assimilation (change their environment)

Therapeutic techniques and procedures

The experiential work Use experiential work in therapy to work

through the stuck points and gain new insights Preparing client for experiential work

Obtain permission from clients Be sensitive to cultural differences Respect resistance

Therapeutic techniques and procedures

The internal dialogue exercise Top dog (critical parent) and underdog (victim) Empty-chair (two sides of themselves)

Making the rounds Go around to each person and say “What makes it hard

for me trust you is……”

Reversal exercise Reverse the typical style (e.g., behave as negative as

possible)

Therapeutic techniques and procedures

Rehearsal exercise Share the rehearsals out loud with a therapist

Exaggeration exercise Exaggerate gesture or movement, which usually

intensifies the feelings attached to the behavior Staying with the feeling

Go deeper into the feelings they wish to avoid

Therapeutic techniques and procedures

The Gestalt approach to dream work Do not interpret or analyze dreams Bring dream back to the present life as though they are

happening now Every person or object in the dream represents a

projected aspect of the dreamer Dreams serve as an excellent way to discover personality Not rememberingrefuse to face what it is at that time

Research on Gestalt Therapy

Compare with a waiting list control or no treatment, Gestalt therapy is effective

In general, results are similar among Gestalt therapy, P-C therapy, or CBT.

Leslie Greenberg and colleagues conducted a series of research on empty chair technique

Across studies, the empty chair technique is helpful by reducing self-criticism and increasing self-understanding.

From a multicultural perspective

Contributions Work with clients from their cultural perspectives

Limitations Focus on “affect” may not be appropriate

Asians value emotion self-control Direct expression of the negative feelings to

their parents is not appropriate.

Summary and Evaluation--contribution

Enhance awareness Attend to verbal and nonverbal cues Directly experience rather than talking

about it Focus on growth and enhancement See each aspect of a dream as a projection

of themselves

Summary and Evaluation-limitation

Ineffective therapists may manipulate the clients with powerful experiential work

Some people may need psycho-education