Gestalt Here-and-Now & Polarities - Comprehensive Notes

Here and now in Gestalt therapy

• Basis and purpose
  • Here and now in the session is rooted in Gestalt therapy.
  • The session is used as a mirror of the client’s emotional world, linking bodily sensations with emotional experiences.
  • Therapist focus is on what happens in the room: the client–therapist interaction and the client’s present-moment responses emotionally and behaviorally.
  • The approach helps the client experience and become aware of moments of emotion as they occur in the session.
  • Frustration (for example) may be experienced as bodily sensations and a range of emotions in the moment; awareness during these moments is used for growth.
• Core aim
  • Utilize the here-and-now to raise awareness of emotional experiences and guide decisions and responses.
• Key practices to utilize the here-and-now
  • Notice clients’ nonverbal changes and reactions in the session:
  • Posture changes, tone of voice, speed of talking, and shifts when discussing certain topics or people.
  • Pay attention to clients’ explicit content and what might be implicit or left out (wearables is mentioned as a cue, along with content and emotions/actions/thoughts).
  • Be aware of your own internal and external reactions.
  • Develop presence through long-term practice to notice and use these moments effectively.
  • After observing and recognizing an emotional moment, ask reflective questions at the moment of decision, e.g.:
  • "I noticed as you said that about how your partner makes you angry, you started to tear up. So this is really emotionally upsetting for you."
  • Responses delivered after the emotional moment, staying with the emotion, and then revisiting the moment later in the session:
  • Remain with the client and reflect on the feelings during the peak moment.
  • A few minutes later, invite reflection about the here-and-now experience.
  • Example prompts for future reflection:
    • "I noticed as you talk about the painfulness of that experience and despite saying how much you hate it all, you left. What could be going on for you?"
  • Goals of such prompts: to surface what is happening in real-time and to invite exploration of incongruities and emotional processes.
• Here-and-now and congruence (Rogers) connection
  • Here-and-now can support moving toward congruence, which is the alignment of experience and awareness.
  • Roger’s view: therapy helps clients move from incongruence to congruence.
  • Not all clients are aware of their incongruence; they may tell a story one way while showing a different affect (e.g., anger/frustration against a family member but smiling or laughing when telling the story).
  • Using here-and-now awareness helps therapists notice incongruence, question it with curiosity, and invite clients to reflect on it.
  • Outcome: clients become more transparent and more congruent with their own experience.
• Implicit vs explicit communication in the here-and-now
  • We listen for both explicit content and implicit messages, including what is said and what may be left unsaid.
  • Integrating implicit and explicit content during the here-and-now deepens awareness.
  • When incongruence is identified, the therapist can explore it with the client and invite reflection.
• Transition to the next mini-lecture on polarities
  • After introducing the here-and-now, the session shifts to working with polarities as a Gestalt concept.

Working with polarities (Gestalt therapy)

• What polarities are
  • Polarities are a natural way humans experience the world; people often reduce complexity into black-and-white either/or positions (polarization).
  • Polarization is a simplification strategy that helps manage complexity but can cause problems in certain situations.
  • Recognizing when you are falling into polarizations helps broaden the sense of what is possible between extremes.
• Conceptual basis and sources
  • Polarity theory is developed from Gestalt ideas, with reference to Polster and Polster (1973).
  • Polarities create a background against which present experience can become more vivid when both poles gain force.
• Purpose of exploring opposites
  • Exploring opposite dimensions of experience creates a broader range of emotional and cognitive possibilities where opposites can coexist.
  • The aim is not to force a single solution but to acknowledge and integrate multiple dimensions of experience.
• Practical implications
  • The opposite of sadness is not necessarily happiness; there is a spectrum of experiences between extremes.
  • Inviting clients to tolerate and explore undesirable or negative emotions can lead to integration and greater flexibility.
• Integrating polarity work with here-and-now
  • Polarities can be used alongside the here-and-now to bring awareness to the dynamics of the client’s experience as it shifts between poles.
• Role of Polster and Polster’ ideas in practice
  • Their ideas illustrate how recognizing polarities helps clients move toward integration and less rigidity.

Practical method: using polarity work with an empty chair

• Goal and overview
  • Use an empty-chair exercise to externalize parts of the self and to explore different perspectives.
  • The method is linked with here-and-now awareness by keeping attention on present-moment experiences during the exercise.
• Step-by-step process
  • Step A – Primary state (state A):
  • Get the client to unpack their primary state.
  • Explore beliefs, fears, worries, concerns, and emotions related to their current situation.
  • Step B – Introduce another identity (empty chair, state B):
  • Invite the client to imagine another person or identity sitting in the empty chair (e.g., friend, partner, family member, a dead person, or a life lesson).
  • The client should address the imagined person directly, not the therapist, in the content that follows.
  • Step C – Speak from the other’s perspective (state B):
  • The client speaks to the imagined person in the chair about their concerns, thoughts, and feelings as if addressing that person.
  • Step D – Switch chairs and adopt the other perspective (return to state A, then switch):
  • After the client has expressed themselves to the imagined person, invite them to stand up from state A and sit in the empty chair representing state B.
  • In the new chair, the client takes the perspective of the other person (e.g., the mother) and speaks on their behalf.
  • Step E – Observe bodily and emotional responses
  • Pay attention to bodily sensations and emotional experiences during the switch and while inhabiting the other perspective.
  • Step F – Return to original chair and reflect
  • Return to state A and observe how it feels to return to one’s own perspective after inhabiting the other.
  • Invite the client to explain what happens when they return to state A and what they felt in state C (after the switch) and so on.
  • Overall theory behind the approach
  • The pendulum swing between chairs facilitates movement and helps avoid stuckness.
• Observations during the exercise
  • Monitor bodily responses and psychological changes as the client moves between perspectives.
  • Observe how the client’s sense of self evolves during and after the exercise.
  • Pay attention to what the body does when putting oneself in someone else’s shoes.
• Outcomes and practical benefits
  • The exercise can help clients develop a sense of assertiveness that may have been suppressed (e.g., moving from timidness to assertiveness as appropriate).
  • It provides a structured yet flexible way to explore internal conflicts and social dynamics.
  • The activity can be integrated with the here-and-now approach to deepen awareness and facilitate change.
• Important cautions
  • Ensure the client feels safe and comfortable with role-play and chair work.
  • Use with sensitivity to avoid triggering trauma or distress; debrief and anchor to present-mense feelings.
• Integration with broader therapy
  • The empty-chair polarity exercise complements the here-and-now focus by offering a concrete, experiential method to access and integrate polarities.

Summary of theoretical links and practical implications

• Here-and-now as a tool for awareness
  • Builds attention to present-moment experience, including nonverbal cues and the therapist–client dynamic.
  • Supports recognition of incongruence and invites exploration toward congruence.
• Congruence as a therapeutic target
  • Congruence = alignment of experience and awareness; a state where a person’s inner experience matches their explicit content.
  • Many clients may acting-out incongruence; here-and-now helps surface and address it.
• Polarities as a complementary strategy
  • Polarities acknowledge the complexity of experience and promote integration rather than simplification.
  • The empty-chair technique operationalizes polarity work in a concrete, experiential format.
• Interplay with other therapeutic approaches
  • The here-and-now and polarity work can be used by therapists from eclectic or integrated approaches to foster client growth.
• Ethical and practical considerations
  • Maintain client safety, consent, and autonomy during experiential exercises.
  • Use curiosity and nonjudgment to explore incongruence and polarity.
  • Respect pacing and be attentive to emotional intensity in the session.
• Real-world relevance
  • The techniques help clients articulate and integrate multiple dimensions of self, relationships, and experiences.
  • They support flexible coping by expanding the range of acceptable emotional responses beyond rigid binaries.
• Connection to the broader module
  • These techniques set the stage for postmodern skills and exceptions-focused approaches discussed in the next mini-lecture (Solution-Focused/Exceptions).
• Notable references and concepts
  • Gestalt principle: here-and-now focus and the mirroring function of the therapy room.
  • Rogerian congruence concept: movement from incongruence toward congruence by increasing awareness.
  • Polster & Polster (1973): foundational ideas about polarities and their role in facilitating movement and integration.
• Mathematical/formal notes (conceptual)
  • Congruence relationship (conceptual):
  • \text{Congruence} = \text{Match}(\text{Experience}, \text{Awareness})
  • Implicit vs explicit content (conceptual relation):
  • \text{Implicit Messages} \subseteq \text{Content}
  • Opposite dimension example:
  • \text{Opposite}(\text{Sadness}) \neq \text{Happiness}
• Final recommended actions for learners
  • Practice noticing and naming here-and-now moments in role-plays or observed sessions.
  • Use the empty-chair technique to practice polarity work and observe its effects on self-perception and behavior.
  • Integrate awareness of incongruence and polarity with real-world counseling scenarios to enhance flexibility and client growth.