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Quotation
GESTALT • "I am not in this world to live up to
THERAPY other people's expectations, nor do I
feel that the world must live up to
mine."
--Fritz Perls
Psychology 460
Counseling and
Interviewing
Sheila K. Grant, Ph.D.
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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
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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
• Therapists try to increase clients’ awareness now
–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
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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
– 1. A Phenomenological Basis—You are “here and now,” not in the “there and then”
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
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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
awareness of what he and outside of oneself
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
not promote change strong enough to proceed with one’s own personal
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
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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
–e.g., imagine your father across from you in than talk about
chair and tell him how you feel when he them
ignores you? • To live the
moment rather
than describe it in
a detached way
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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
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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
• Gestalt therapists do whatever is • RESISTANCE TO CONTACT – the defenses we develop to
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
level of awareness of self, environment, & contact):
– 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
which leads to excitement which leads to others, we avoid responsibility for who we are)
– 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:
– avoid the emotional pain that we would prefer to deny –how it is used,
• 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 – Focus on the language
to satisfy their needs without violating the rights of
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
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