Gestalt Therapy

CP 6642Group Dynamics and Counseling

 Troy UniversitySummer 2009

Jerry Traylor

It is important to accept who and what we are rather than striving to become what we should

be

Fritz Perls

Founder of Gestalt TherapyFailed 7th grade twiceEarned Medical Degree (Psychiatric

Specialty)Served in World War I as medicEstablished the New York Institute for

Gestalt TherapyPracticed at the Esalen InstituteInnovator in PsychotherapyThe Traveling Minstrel of Gestalt TheapyPeople Loved and AdmiredPeople Disliked and Disparaged

Co-founder of Gestalt TherapyPlayed Piano by 5 years oldPlayed with professional skill by 18 Incorporated music and dance into Gestalt

TherapyCompleted an extensive study of

Existential PhilosophyBegan collaborating with Fritz Perls in

1930Taught that every Gestalt Therapist needs

to develop her/his own therapeutic style

Laura Perls

Gestalt BasicsAwareness

Wholeness

Integration

Here and Now

Responsibility

Personal Choice

Gestalt View of Human NatureTherapy aims at integrating the

sometimes conflicting dimensions within the individual

Individuals are capable of dealing with their life problems themselves, especially if they are fully aware of what is happening in and around them

Gestalt Theory of Change: The more we try to be who & what

we are not, the more we stay the same

Therapeutic GoalsTo assist the client in obtaining AWARENESS!

Expand the client’s ABILITY TO MAKE CHOICES

Foster client’s INTEGRATON OF THE SELF

Support the client in TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

Therapeutic Relationship

Genuine I/Thou Relationship

Dialogic

Present Centered

Non judgmental

Supportive

X

Essentially "contemplative" rather than practical. Here we meet an Other in such a manner that nothing beyond the meeting is desired or sought: the experience is one of something/someone which/who is seen and felt as an end-in-itself. The experience involves an appreciation of and a respect for the reality of the Other, grasped in its uniqueness and its mysteriousness. Here I am open and willing to receive the self-revelation of the Other as it stands-out-in-the-open-toward-me, showing itself just as-it-is. In this I welcome, and thus encourage, the Other to show me his/its own unique Truth. The experience is not expressible in descriptive language: it is fundamentally ineffable, since it is the experience of the Other in its uniqueness and its unfathomable mysteriousness: the Other is apprehended as a reality which we can never fully to know, predict, or control. The

attitude which characterizes the person who experiences I-Thou is one of disinterested--yet caring and curious--fascination. (Crocker 2002)

I-Thou Relationships

ResponsibilityCounselor

Assists

Focuses

Emphasizes Pattern

Identifies Communication

Confronts

Client

Actively Participate

Make Discovery

Interpret

Recognize Choices

Influence Environment

Therapeutic Experience

Withdrawal

Awareness

Mobilization of

Energy

Contact

Sensation

Action

The ExperienceTakes Place In the Hear and Now

How What When Who Questions-WHY QUESTIONS AVOIDED

What happened in the past is of limited importance

Makes contact in a vivid & immediate manner rather than simply talking about

Interferes with the effective contact with oneself & others until one faces & deals with the unexpressed emotions

Unfinished Business

Therapeutic Experiment

Therapeutic Experiences are perceived as a series of experiments

Experiments are co-created by client and counselor

Designed to intensify experiencing and feeling

Experiments are created and changed throughout the experience

Therapeutic Experiment Preparation

Turn off Internal Dialog

Relax

Feel

Experimental Warnings

Experiments Are Not For Everybody

Experiments for less organized, more severely disturbed, or psychotic clients can be problematic

Experiments are powerful-Harm Can Occur

Experiments require caution, skill, training and experience

“Stones”Promotes:

Seeing in the moment

Identifying Important People, Places, and Things

Identifying patterns

Making the Rounds

Promotes:

Individual confrontation

Risk taking

Disclosure of self

Experiment with new behavior

Growth

ARTPromotes

Recognition of Feelings

Expressing feelings in ways other than in words

A willingness to play and Free Associate

Experiencing Feelings Changes

Self Disclosure

Risk Taking

Dialogue ExperimentA role playing technique

Encourages dialogue opposing poles in one’s personality

Promotes a higher level of integration & acceptance of the 2 polarities

“I Take Responsibility for …” ExperimentCounselor asks a client to make a statement & then adds: “and I take responsibility for it”

Promotes: Increased recognition & acceptance of the client’s feelings

Decreased projection of their emotions onto others

Playing the Projection Experiment Counselor asks client to role play certain assertions that he/she

makes about other people Increases awareness of how he/she sees clearly in others the very things he/she does not want to see & accept in the self

Reversal Technique ExperimentCounselor asks the client to role play the opposing side of the

personality Permits the contact with pieces of the self that have been denied & submerged

Rehearsal ExperimentCounselor asks client to share his/her internal rehearsing to make

him/her aware of how much energy & preparation is involved in “bolstering” their social roles

Staying with the FeelingCounselor encourages the client to stay

with the retain unpleasant feelings from which the client would prefer to escape

Gestalt Dream Work ExperimentsThe royal road to integrationThe counselor encourages the client to relive & act out the dream in the present tenseEach part of the dream is understood as a projection of the selfAll the different parts of the dream are expression of one’s contradictory & inconsistent sidesBy entering a dialogue between the opposing sides, one becomes more aware of the range of one’s emotions

Gestalt Therapy CriticismsDoesn’t Utilize Formal Diagnosis or

Assessments

The counselor must have a high level of personal development

May not be embraced within cultures that stress reserve

Experiencing Not Easily Seen To Solve Problems

ReferencesPower Point Presentation Gestalt Therapy File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint - View as HTML

The Gestalt Experiment. Counseling sessions are perceived as a series of experiments which are a creative adventure developed collaboratively between ...chdsw.educ.kent.edu/mcglothlin/Theories/Gestalt%20Therapy.ppt 

Slide No. 1 Corey, G. (2004). Theory & Practice of Group Counseling (6 ed.). (L. Gebo, Ed.) Belmont, California, USA : Brooks/Cole, pg. 301 .

Slide No. 2 Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8 ed.). M. Flemming, Ed.) Belmont, California, United States: Thomson Brooks/Cole, pg. 98.

Slide No. 3 Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8 ed.). M. Flemming, Ed.) Belmont, California, United States: Thomson Brooks/Cole, pg. 99

Slide No. 4 Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8 ed.). M. Flemming, Ed.) Belmont, California, United States: Thomson Brooks/Cole, pg. 455.

Slide No. 5 Corey, G. (2004). Theory & Practice of Group Counseling (6 ed.). (L. Gebo, Ed.) Belmont, California, USA : Brooks/Cole, pg. 301

Slide No. 7 Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8 ed.). M. Flemming, Ed.) Belmont, California, United States: Thomson Brooks/Cole, pg. 460.

Slide No. 9 Corey, G. (2004). Theory & Practice of Group Counseling (6 ed.). (L. Gebo, Ed.) Belmont, California, USA : Brooks/Cole, pg. 309-310.

Slide No. 10 Crocker, S. F. (2000, July). "I-Thou" and Its Role in Gestalt Therapy. Gestalt! an electronic journal , 4 . Vancouver, Washington, USA: Gestalt Global Corporation.

Slide No. 18 Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8 ed.). M. Flemming, Ed.) Belmont, California, United States: Thomson Brooks/Cole, pg. 466.