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Gestalt Therapy Gestalt Therapy Quotation GESTALT • "I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I THERAPY feel that the world must live up to mine." --Fritz Perls Psychology 460 Counseling and Interviewing Sheila K. Grant, Ph.D. 1 2 Theory of Personality Gestalt • A person exists by differentiating self from • A gestalt, or whole, both includes & other & by connecting self & other transcends the sum of its parts • These are the two functions of a boundary • It cannot be understood simply as a sum • The boundary between self & of smaller, independent events environment must be permeable to allow • It is chiefly that distinctive emphasis on for exchanges, yet firm enough to enable looking to the whole for the meaning of autonomous action the parts that unites a group of theorists • When the boundary becomes unclear, into what is called the Gestalt school of lost, or impermeable, mental & emotional psychology disturbance results 3 4 Gestalt Therapy Gestalt Therapy • Fritz Perls (1893-1970) / wife Laura Perls (1905-1990) • Existential & Phenomenological – it is – Main originator & developer of Gestalt Therapy grounded in the client’s “here and now” • Gestalt therapy • Initial goal is for clients to gain awareness – an existential/phenomenological approach of what they are experiencing & doing now • Therapists try to increase clients’ awareness – Promotes direct experiencing rather than the • Clients are expected to do their own seeing, abstractness of talking about situations feeling, sensing, & interpreting – Rather than talk about a childhood trauma the client is encouraged to become the hurt child 5 6 1 Gestalt Therapy - Gestalt Therapy - An Overview An Overview • Gestalt Therapy is another type of counseling that is based upon the – 3. Existential—The person is to take existential framework. Key elements responsibility for their destiny and identity include: • The client is also encouraged to work in the “here and now,” not in the “there and then” – 1. A Phenomenological Basis—You are seeking to focus on the client’s perception – 4. Awareness—A key element in this of reality theory is helping the client come to an awareness of what he or she is doing and – 2. Experiential—The client is being asked experiencing to come to understand about what and how • This involves dropping those behaviors and they are thinking, feeling, and doing as they barriers that would stop someone from interact with the therapist and the other experience one’s self people in the world 7 8 Gestalt Therapy - A Gestalt View of An Overview Human Nature • Experiments—The • Gestalt’s basic understanding of the human therapist designs being is that people can deal with their experiments to problems, especially if they become fully increase the client’s aware of what is happening within oneself and outside of oneself awareness of what he or she is doing, experiencing, and how • Change happens in a person’s life when he or she is doing it. he or she can reintegrate a disowned part of the self back into the mix of identity – A disowned part of the self is something that 9 may conflict with how one perceives the self 10 A Gestalt View of A Gestalt View of Human Nature Human Nature • Problems begin when a person tries to be • Gestalt is a process of “reowning” parts of the self who or what he or she isn’t that have been disowned – Living with “masks” and being inauthentic does – This unification process leads to the goal of becoming strong enough to proceed with one’s own personal not promote change growth – In fact it promotes stagnation of the personality • Client needs to be in their current position and be aware of what they are, as opposed to trying to • According to Gestalt, the more a person become what they are not tries to be who they are not, the more • Change takes place when a person is more they stay the same aware of who and what he or she is – Once that is accepted, change towards a goal can take 11 place 12 2 The Now The Now • Our “power is in the present” • Therapist will focus on the “what” & “how” • The only moment that is significant is the of a person without asking the “why” present questions – Nothing exists except the “now” – This is to promote an awareness of the – The past is gone and the future has not yet arrived moment • To be fully aware is to live in the here & now – Questions such as “What is happening now?” or – By reliving the past or worrying about the future, a person “What are you feeling in this moment?” are used cannot be authentic and cannot come to terms with who to intensify the experience of the present & one is create awareness • For many people the power of the present is lost • “Why” questions lead only toward – They may focus on their past mistakes or engage in rationalizations and “self-deceptions” away endless resolutions and plans for the future 13 from the immediacy of the moment 14 The Now The Now • Therapist encourages the present time by • Therapist is asking the client to: seeking to help a – Bring the past into the present by re- person live their enacting it in the present feelings rather than talk about – e.g., imagine your father across from you in them chair and tell him how you feel when he ignores you? • To live the moment rather than describe it in a detached way 15 16 The Now Unfinished Business • The past is recognized as having an • Feelings about the past are unexpressed important influence on a person’s present – e.g., resentment, rage, hatred, pain, anxiety, grief, attitudes and behavior guilt, abandonment – These feelings are associated with distinct memories & – But what is in the past is either brought fantasies into the here and now (“As you talk about – Feelings not fully experienced linger in the this issue, what are your feeling now?”) so background & interfere with effective contact that a client can experience the feelings….. • Result: – OR – Preoccupation, compulsive behavior, wariness oppressive energy & self-defeating behavior – Unexpressed feelings can result in physical symptoms 17 – So Gestalt therapists emphasize paying attention to 18 the bodily experience 3 Process of Contact and Psychotherapy Resistances to Contact • CONTACT – interacting with nature and with other people • Goal of Gestalt psychotherapy is awareness without losing one’s individuality • RESISTANCE TO CONTACT – the defenses we develop to • Gestalt therapists do whatever is prevent us from experiencing the present fully necessary to jolt the person into a higher • Five major channels of resistance (i.e., styles of resisting contact): level of awareness of self, environment, & – Introjection (we passively incorporate what the environment provides relationship with others & do not know what we want or need) – Projection (we disown certain aspects of ourselves by assigning them • Contact Cycle involves increasing awareness to the environment; so we put them on others; e.g., see quality in others, we avoid responsibility for who we are) which leads to excitement which leads to – Confluence (a blurring of the differentiation between the self and the contact & action environment; e.g., high need to be accepted & liked) – Retroflection (is turning back to ourselves what we would like – Increase awareness-->excitement-->contact-->action someone else do to us; e.g., lash out & injure self because fearful of directing toward others) 19 – Deflection (distracting so that it is difficult to maintain a sustained 20 sense of contact Energy & Layers of Neurosis Blocks to Energy • The phony: • Special attention is given to – reacting to others in stereotypical and inauthentic ways – where energy is located, • Phobic layer: – how it is used, – avoid the emotional pain that we would prefer to deny • The impasse: – how it can be blocked – the point where we are stuck in our own maturation; w • Clients & therapist want to be aware of – we think we will not be able to survive the resistance which is being expressed in • The implosive level: their body – fully experience our deadness instead of denying it. • The explosive layer: – letting go of our phony roles & pretenses which release much energy that we have been holding in 21 22 Therapeutic Process Therapeutic Process • Therapeutic Goals • Therapist's Function and Role – Move towards increased awareness of themselves – Therapists notice what is in the foreground and the background. – Gradually assume ownership of their experience – Pay attention to the client's body language. – Develop skills and acquire values that will allow them to satisfy their needs without violating the rights of – Focus on the language others • "it" talk - client says it instead of I – Become more aware of all of their senses • "you" talk - client is asked to use I to make it more specific to the client – Learn to accept responsibility for what they do, • questions - this can hide the client including accepting the consequences of their actions • language that denies power - by adding qualifiers or – Move from outside support toward increasing internal disclaimers (i.e. "but", "I guess") support • listening to a client's metaphors - can clue into the client's – Be able to ask for and get help from others and to internal struggle give to others • listening for language that uncovers a story - because you 23 can get an idea of their struggles 24 4 Therapeutic Process Therapeutic Process • Client's Experience in Therapy • Relationship Between Therapist and – They are active participants who make their Client own interpretations & meaning – Therapists need to allow themselves to be – Discovery: new view of
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