Chapter 8 Gestalt Therapy

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

True

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

True

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

True

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

True

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

True

Fritz Perls' wife Laura stated, "Without the constant support from his friends, and from me, without the constant encouragement and collaboration, Fritz would never have written a line, nor founded anything." (T/F)

True

Gestalt group therapists use experiments to encourage clients to move from talking about action to taking action. (T/F)

True

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

True

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

True

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

True

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

True

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

True

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

True

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. (T/F)

True

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

False

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

False

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

False

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

False

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

False

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. (T/F)

False

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

False

The empty chair technique:

e. all of these. helps to resolve unfinished business. balances internal polarities. assists clients in reowning parts of their personality. allows clients to externalize an introject.

When a person experiences an internal conflict (namely a conflict between top dog and underdog), which of the following techniques would be most appropriate?

e. the internal dialogue exercise

According to Gestalt theory, all of the following are true about contact except:

e. withdrawal after a good contact experience indicates neurosis.

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

False

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

True

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

True

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. (T/F)

True

Gestalt therapy is a form of:

a. existential therapy

The basic goal of Gestalt therapy is:

b. attaining awareness, and with it greater choice.

Which of the following is not true about Fritz Perls?

c. During his childhood, he was a model student.

Who among the following is not considered a relational Gestalt therapist?

d. Fritz Perls

The Gestalt therapist:

d. pays attention to the client's nonverbal language.

Which of the following aspects of a client's use of language would a Gestalt therapist not focus on?

d. semantics

Without proper training, Gestalt therapists may:

e. all of these. evoke catharsis without having the ability to work it through with their client. design faulty experiments. may damage the therapeutic relationship with the client. may use ready-made techniques inappropriately.

Which of the following is not one of the Gestalt group leader's roles?

c. evoking group catharsis.

The paradoxical theory of behavior change suggests:

c. we change through becoming aware of who we currently are.

Gestalt therapists say that clients resist contact by means of:

d. all of these introjection. retroflection. projection.

A contribution of this therapeutic approach is that:

d. all of these. it can be a relatively brief therapy. it enables intense experiencing to occur quickly. it stresses doing and experiencing, as opposed to talking about problems.

Which of the following is not considered one of the six methodological components of Gestalt therapy?

e. assessment

According to Gestalt theory, people use avoidance in order to:

d. all of these keep themselves from facing unfinished business. keep from feeling uncomfortable emotions. keep from having to change.

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

d. all of these an existential encounter. a joint venture. an I/Thou interaction.

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. (T/F)

False

Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) is synonymous with Gestalt therapy. (T/F)

False

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

False

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

False

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

False

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.

In Gestalt theory, the experiment is considered:

a. a theoretical proposition crafted to fit the client's unique needs.

Empirical support for Gestalt therapy is:

b. becoming stronger.

Because of his need to be liked, Jose makes careful efforts to get along with everyone and minimizes interpersonal conflicts. Which boundary disturbance is Jose exhibiting?

b. confluence.

Field theory suggests that:

b. everything in human experience is relational and in constant flux.

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:

b. 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.

7. A critical difference between early Gestalt therapy and relational Gestalt therapy is:

b. the approach to confrontation.

Which of the statements below regarding emotion-focused therapy (EFT) is not true?

c. EFT was developed by Fritz Perls' wife, Laura.

Which of the following is not true about Gestalt techniques?

c. Experiments are always carried out during the therapy session, rather than outside it.

Contemporary Gestalt therapists view client resistance as:

c. an element of therapy that needs to be respected.

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:

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

Erv Polster believes that storytelling:

c. can be the heart of the therapeutic process since people are storytelling beings.

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

A healthy contact experience involves all of the following except:

c. projection.

Which of the following is not one of Miriam Polster's three stages in her integration sequence?

c. reunification

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

c. the reversal exercise.

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

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