Gestalt Therapy

The Basics

• four bases/legs

  • phenomenological viewpoint

    • awareness is ever-changing, and in each moment we can create something new

    • we create our own reality and destiny

  • dialogical relationship

    • therapist develops presence, which keeps client present

    • therapist must be “judiciously” genuine and authentic

  • field theory

    • the therapist and client form a “field” in which the work is done

    • also includes the office, culture, history, etc., as well as the client’s subjective perceptions

  • experimental freedom

    • use of spontaneous experiential activities in the moment in session

• other key ideas

  • holism

    • views the client as whole

      • however, this whole also includes negative aspects: people are manipulative, avoid responsibility, and resist change, so we have to use unexpected techniques to avoid these issues

    • cannot divide components

      • mind, body, emotion, behavior, cognition, past, and present

      • which other therapy shared this view?

    • psychological dysfunction derives from people’s attempts to signify reality

      • which cannot be simplified

  • contact (between self and other/reality

    • authentic interaction with nature without losing self

    • blocked by unfinished business

    • lack of contact leads to a distanced, superficial interaction with the world

      • vague, generalized world rather than genuine, precise one

  • unfinished business

    • unexpressed feelings about the past lead to a range of symptoms, including preoccupation, compulsive behavior, etc.

      • therapeutically it’s our job to use the contact and our authentic presence to bring awareness to the unfinished business

      • key to show source of unfinished business and how the client used these techniques in the past

    • various types, akin to defense mechanisms, often viewed as examples of boundary violations

      • projection

      • introjection

      • retroflection

        • altering a response meant for the environment to oneself

      • confluence

        • no-contact

        • no distinction of “I” and “you”, just a “we”

      • deflection

        • distancing oneself from feelings

  • layers of neurosis

    • the ways that people block contact and avoid awareness take place at 5 layers, and therapy generally progresses downward

    • the phony: clients behave inauthentically with others

    • the phobic: clients behave inauthentically with themselves, and therefore deny their full being, making self-acceptance impossible

    • the impasse

      • clients are stuck, empty, and helpless to change

      • may feel avoidance and abdicate responsibility to others

    • the implosive

      • clients come into contact with blocked thoughts and feelings, but may only experience them as “dead” because they have been so fully disowned

    • the explosive

      • clients have worked through all over layers, and experiences a full “explosion” of their various repressed grief, joy, anger, etc.

  • paradoxical theories of change

    • goal is or clients to gain awareness of their immediate experiencing in session and see their ‘true selves’

      • rather than abstract talking about other times/places

      • e.g., clients become fearful child instead of discussing past experiences

    • allows for the contact, which in turn allows for the processing of unfinished business and is curative on its own

    • only by being who we are truly are can we become something else

      • counselor must facilitate the client meeting their own denied and repressed elements to allow them to become accepting of themselves and whole as they already are

      • effort, self-control, and avoidance of future events will not bring about change

    • the paradoxical theory of change is the basis for a range of techniques

Therapeutic Techniques

• dialogical relationship is the basis

  • counselor must be genuinely present and authentic for clients

  • I/Thou in relationship

    • you know the times in your life when you have your phone on the table and if someone texts you, you disconnect from whatever you’re doing right now → not doing therapy

    • have to be deeply in contact and present

• focus on process over content

• therapy as “safe emergency” that heightens feelings in the moment and gives opportunities for contact

• experiential approach

  • experiments allow for clients to directly experience new reality

  • experiments are learning opportunities

• recognition of non-verbals

• the experiment in Gestalt therapy

• internal dialogue exercise

• rehearsal exercise

• reversal technique

• exaggeration exercise

• staying with the feeling

• fantasy exploration

• making the rounds (group gestalt)

• dream work

• repeating

• exploration of transference

• confrontation