Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt Therapy - Techniques

A wide range of experiments are designed to intensify experiencing and to integrate conflicting feelings. Experiments are co-created by therapist and client through an I/Thou dialogue. Therapists have latitude to creatively invent their own experiments. Formal diagnosis and testing are not a requirement.

When a client recognizes he or she has a choice describes which stage of Miriam Polster's three-stage integration sequence?

Accommodation

When a client learns how to influence his or her environment describes which stage of Miriam Polster's three-stage integration sequence?

Assimilation

Gestalt Therapy - The Therapeutic Relationship

Central importance is given to the I/Thou relationship and the quality of the therapist's presence. The therapist's attitudes and behavior count more than the techniques used. The therapist does not interpret for clients but assists them in developing the means to make their own interpretations. Clients identify and work on unfinished business from the past that interferes with current functioning.

_____________ involves blurring the differentiation between the self and the environment

Confluence

(T/F) According to Perls, awareness of and by itself is not sufficient to lead to change; clients must also put their experiences into some type of cognitive framework if change is to happen.

False

(T/F) Genuine knowledge is the product of what the person understands of the situation of another.

False

(T/F) Gestalt theory is best considered as a form of psychoanalytic therapy.

False

(T/F) Gestalt therapy focuses on the cognitive aspects of therapy.

False

(T/F) Gestalt therapy is designed for individual counseling, and it typically does not work well in groups.

False

Which technique takes an anticipated event and brings it into the present moment to act out?

Future projection

(T/F) A Gestalt therapist pays attention to ways the client uses language.

True

(T/F) Although Perls used a highly confrontational approach in dealing with client avoidance and resistance, the confrontational model is not representative of contemporary Gestalt therapy.

True

(T/F) Blocked energy is a form of defensive behavior.

True

(T/F) Both contact and withdrawal are necessary and important to healthy functioning.

True

Who among the following is not considered a relational Gestalt therapist? a. ​Fritz Perls b. ​Laura Perls c. ​Miriam Polster d. ​Erving Polster

a - Fritz Perls

Which of the following is not true about the Gestalt view of the role of confrontation in therapy? a. ​ It is not possible to be both confrontational and gentle with clients. b. ​ It is important to confront clients with the ways they are avoiding being fully alive. c. ​ Confrontation does not have to be aimed at negative traits. d. ​ Confrontation should be a genuine expression of caring.

a - it is not possible to be both confrontational and gentle with clients

Which of the following is not one of Miriam Polster's three stages in her integration sequence? a. ​Reunification b. ​Discovery c. ​Assimilation d. ​Accommodation

a - reunification

The paradoxical theory of behavior change suggests

authentic change occurs more from being who we are than from trying to be who we are not

Which of the following is not true about Fritz Perls? a. ​ He was the main originator and developer of Gestalt therapy. b. ​ During his childhood, he was a model student. c. ​ He was influenced by psychoanalytic concepts. d. ​ He took issue with Freud's theory on a number of grounds.

b - during his childhood, he was a model student

Which of the following is not one of the Gestalt group leader's roles? a. ​ Designing experiments for group members b. ​ Evoking group catharsis c. ​ Engaging in self-disclosure d. ​ Facilitating contact in the group setting

b - evoking group catharsis

Empirical support for Gestalt therapy is

becoming stronger

_____________ are preplanned activities hat can be used to elicit emotion, produce action, or achieve a specific goal.

c - exercises

Which of the following Gestalt techniques involves asking one person in a group to speak to each of the other group members?

c - making the rounds

When a person experiences an internal conflict (namely a conflict between top dog and underdog), which of the following techniques would be most appropriate? a. making the rounds b. the reversal technique c. the internal dialogue exercise d. the rehearsal exercise

c - the internal dialogue exercise

According to Gestalt theory, all of the following are true about contact except: a. ​ contact is necessary for change and growth to occur. b. ​ one maintains a sense of individuality as a result of good contact. c. ​ withdrawal after a good contact experience indicates neurosis. d. ​ contact is made by seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and moving.

c - withdrawal after a good contact experience indicates neurosis

Erving Polster believes that storytelling

can be the heart of the therapeutic process

Because of his need to be liked, Jose makes careful efforts to get along with

confluence

Contemporary Gestalt therapists view client resistance as a

d - creative adjustment to a situation and something to be respected

Which of the following is not true about Gestalt techniques? a. ​ "Exercises" are readymade techniques. b. ​ "Experiments" grow out of the interaction between therapist and client. c. ​ Clients need to be prepared for their involvement in Gestalt techniques. d. ​ Experiments are always carried out during the therapy session, rather than outside it.

d - experiments are always carried out during the therapy session, rather than outside it

The five different kinds of contact boundary disturbances include all of the following, except: a. retroflection b. projection c. introjection d. introflection

d - introflection

Prerequisites for good contact involves all of the following except: a. zest b. creativity c. imagination d. projection

d - projection

One of the main contributions of the Gestalt approach is its

emphasis on learning to appreciate and fully experience the present moment

Gestalt Therapy - Application of the Approach

Addresses a wide range of problem and populations: crisis intervention, treatment of a range of psychosomatic disorders, couples and family therapy, awareness training of mental health professionals, behavior problems in children, and teaching and learning. It is well suited to both individual and group counseling .The methods are powerful catalysts for opening up feelings and getting clients into contact with their present-centered experience.

Gestalt Therapy - Key Concepts

Emphasis is on the "what" and "how" of experiencing in the here and now to help clients accept their polarities. Key concepts include holism, figure-formation process, awareness, unfinished business and avoidance, contact, and energy.

________________ grow out of the interaction between client and therapist and emerge within this dialogic process.

Experiments

(T/F) Gestaltists typically ask why questions in the attempt to get clients to think about the source of their problems.

False

(T/F) One of the contributions of Gestalt therapy is the vast empirical research that has been done to validate the specific techniques used.

False

(T/F) Retroflection involves doing to others what we would like them to do to us.

False

(T/F) Since Gestalt therapy focuses on the here-and-now, the past is neither explored nor given emphasis.

False

(T/F) The Gestalt approach to dream work consists of the therapist interpreting the meaning of the symbols in the dream.

False

(T/F) The Gestalt therapist typically uses diagnosis and interpretation as a basic part of the therapeutic process.

False

(T/F) The goal of Gestalt therapy is to solve basic problems, to resolve one's polarities, and to help the individual to adjust to his or her environment.

False

(T/F) Therapy is based upon the successful resolution of the transference relationships.

False

Gestalt Therapy - Contributions to Multicultural Counseling

Its focus on expressing oneself nonverbally is congruent with those cultures that look beyond words for messages. Provides many experiments in working with clients who have cultural injunctions against freely expressing feelings . Can help to overcome language barrier with bilingual clients. Focus on bodily expression is a subtle way to help clients recognize their conflicts.

Mariah tells her therapist, a Gestaltist, that she dreamt she got married to a pit bull and felt uneasy about telling her parents that she married a dog. When her parents discovered their son-in-law was a pit bull, they disowned her and suddenly became dogs themselves. In response to this dream, Mariah's therapist:

Should assist her client in reliving the dream as though it was happening in the now and have her become each part of the dream

Gestalt Therapy - Limitations of the Approach

Techniques lead to intense emotional expression; if these feelings are not explored and if cognitive work is not done, clients are likely ot be left unfinished and will not have .a sense of their learning. Clients who have difficulty using imagination may not profit from certain experiments.

Gestalt Therapy - Contributions of the Approach

The emphasis on direct experiencing and doing rather than on merely talking about feelings provides a perspective on growth and enhancement, not merely a treatment of disorders. It uses clients' behavior as the basis for making them aware of their inner creative potential. The approach to dreams is a unique, creative tool to help clients discover basic conflicts. Therapy is viewed as an existential encounter: it is process-oriented, not technique-oriented. It recognizes nonverbal behavior as a key to understanding.

Gestalt Therapy - Basic Philosophies

The person strives for wholeness and integration of thinking, feeling, and behaving. The view is nondeterministic in that the person is viewed as having the capacity to recognize how earlier influences are related to present difficulties. As an experiential approach, it is grounded in the here-and-now and emphasizes personal choice and responsibility.

Gestalt Therapy - Goals of Therapy

To assist clients in gaining awareness of moment-to-moment experiencing and to expand the capacity to make choices. Aim not to analysis but at integration.

(T/F) A current trend in Gestalt therapy is toward greater emphasis on the client/therapist relationship rather than on techniques.

True

(T/F) Gestalt techniques can be considered experiments.

True

(T/F) Gestalt therapies view a client's avoidance behavior as related to unfinished business.

True

(T/F) Gestalt therapy is lively and promotes direct experiencing rather than the abstractness of talking about situations.

True

(T/F) Gestalt therapy makes use of a wide variety of techniques that are designed to increase the client's awareness of his or her present experiencing.

True

(T/F) In Gestalt terms, awareness refers to our connectedness to our external and internal worlds.

True

(T/F) In Gestalt therapy, a client's resistance is welcome and used to deepen their therapeutic work.

True

(T/F) In the Gestaltist view, unfinished business is best explored in the present.

True

(T/F) Most of the Gestalt techniques are designed to intensify one's experiencing.

True

(T/F) Part of success in using Gestalt techniques is contingent upon preparing clients for these techniques.

True

(T/F) People who rely on retroflection tend to inhibit themselves from taking action out of fear of embarrassment, guilt, and resentment.

True

(T/F) Since Gestalt therapists believe that questions have a tendency to keep the questioner hidden, safe, and unknown, they often ask clients to change their questions into statements.

True

A critical difference between early Gestalt therapy and relationship Gestalt therapy is the

approach to confrontation

Often Greta, who struggles to feel good about herself, comes to sessions with slouched posture. In order to help Greta gain a clearer understanding of the inner meaning of her slouched posture, a Gestalt therapist might:

ask Greta to exaggerate her poor posture, which is likely to intensify her feelings attached to it

The basic goal of Gestalt therapy is

attaining awareness and contact with the environment

Which of the following aspects of a client's use of language would a Gestalt therapist not focus on? a. ​"It" talk b. ​"You" talk c. ​Questions d. ​Semantics

d - semantics

Gestalt therapy is a form of

existential thearpy

It is essential that counselors establish a relationship with their clients, so that the clients will

feel trusting enough to participate in the learning that can result from Gestalt experiments

The empty chair technique

is a vehicle for the technique of role reversal

According to Gestalt theory, people use avoidance in order to

keep from feeling uncomfortable emotions

The Gestalt therapist

pays attention to the client's nonverbal language.

A teenage girl is angry with her parents and cuts on her arm. In Gestalt terms, she is most likely engaging in

retroflection

In Gestalt theory, the experiment is

tailored to fit the client's unique needs and presented in an invitational manner

A contribution of this therapeutic approach is

the exciting way in which the past is dealt with in a lively manner by bringing relevant aspects into the present

In Gestalt therapy, the relationship between client and counselor is seen as

the heart of therapy

Field theory asserts that

the organism must be seen in its environment, or in its context, as part of the constantly changing field

A Gestalt technique that is most useful when a person attempts to deny an aspect of his or her personality (such as tenderness) is:

the reversal exercise

According to the Gestalt perspective, if people do not remember their dreams

they may be refusing to face what is wrong with their lives