Gestalt ALL

What type of questions will Gestalt practitioners ask?

"what" and "how" questions, but rarely "why"

Making the Rounds

A Gestalt exercise that involves asking a person in a group to go up to others in the group and either speak to or do something with each person. The purpose is to confront, to risk, to disclose the self, to experiment with new behavior, and to grow and change.

According to the Gestalt view, awareness a. is by itself therapeutic. b. is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for change. c. without specific behavioral change is useless. d. consists of understanding the causes of one's problems.

A awareness is by itself therapeutic.

The basic goal of Gestalt therapy is to help clients a. move from environmental support to self-support. b. recognize which ego state they are functioning in. c. uncover unconscious motivations. d. work through the transference relationship with the therapist. e. challenge their philosophy of life.

A move from environmental support to self-support.

Gestalt Therapy

An existential, phenomenological, and process-based approach created by Fritz Perls and Laura Posner Perls on the premise that individuals must be understood in the context of their ongoing relationship with the environment. Awareness, choice, and responsibility are cornerstones of the practice. The initial goal is for clients to expand their awareness of what they are experiencing in the present moment; through this awareness, change occurs. Special attention is given to existence as individuals experience it and affirms the capacity for human growth and healing through contact and insight.

Gestalt therapy can best be characterized as a. an insight therapy. b. an experiential therapy c. an action-oriented therapy. d. an empirically validated treatment. e. a cognitive approach.

B an experiential therapy

Which of the following is not a key concept of Gestalt therapy? a. acceptance of personal responsibility b. intellectual understanding of one's problems c. awareness of the present moment d. unfinished business e. dealing with the impasse

B intellectual understanding of one's problems NOT A KEY

The process of distraction, which makes it difficult to maintain sustained contact, is a. introjection. b. projection. c. retroflection. d. confluence. e. deflection.

E. deflection -- a way of avoiding contact and awareness by being vague and indirect

Holism

Gestalt German for "whole" We can't be separated into parts without losing our essence Interested in the whole person not just parts like the personality attending to the client as a whole: thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body, memories, and dreams

In Gestalt Theory, we believe that our power lies in the ____________ and __________, and we do not focus on our past mistakes or engage in endless resolutions and plans for the future.

Here and Now

The Four principles of Gestalt

Holism Field Theory Figure Formation Process Organismic Self-Regulation

Energy and Blocked Energy

In Gestalt therapy special attention is given tow here energy is located, how it is used, and how it can be blocked. Blocked energy is another form of defense behavior. It can be manifested by tension in some part of the body, by posture, by keeping one's body tight and closed, by not breathing deeply, by looking away from people when speaking to avoid contact, by choking off sensations, by numbing feelings, and by speaking with a restricted voice, to mention a few. Some of the therapeutic endeavor involves finding the focus of interrupted energy and bringing these sensations to the client's awareness.

Main Therapeutic Techniques of Gestalt

Internal dialogue exercise Rehearsal exercise Reversal technique Exaggeration exercise

The 5 major channels of Resistance are

Introjection, projection, retroflection, deflection, and confluence

Phenomenological inquiry

Involves paying attention to what is occurring now. To help the client make contact with the present moment, Gestalt therapists ask "what" and "how" questions, but rarely ask "why" questions. To promote "now" awareness, the therapists encourage a dialogue in the present tense.

Gestalt Therapy Philosophy

Person strives for wholeness and integration of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Concepts include contact with self and others, contact boundaries and awareness. Experiential approach, grounded in here and now and emphasizes awareness, personal choice and respnsibility

Rehearsal Exercise (Gestalt)

Practicing out loud to gain awareness and mastery

Unfinished business leads to

Preoccupation, compulsive behavior, wariness oppressive energy and self-defeating behavior

Discovery, Accommodation, and Assimilation (Gestalt)

Process of therapeutic change and growth.

impasse (Gestalt)

The stuck point in a situation in which individuals believe they are unable to support themselves and thus seek external support.

The Reversal Exercise (Gestalt)

The theory underlying the reversal technique is that clients take the plunge into the very thing that is fraught with anxiety and make contact with those parts of themselves that have been submerged and denied. This technique can help clients begin to accept certain personal attributes that they have tried to deny.

Internal Dialogue Exercise/Empty-chair technique

This is one way of getting the client to externalize the introject. Using two chairs, the therapist asks the client to sit in one chair and be fully the top dog and then shift to the other chair and become the underdog. The dialogue can continue between both sides of the client. Essentially, this is a role-playing technique in which all the parts are played by the client. In this way the introjects can surface, and the client can experience the conflict more fully. The goal of this exercise is to promote a higher level of integration between the polarities and conflicts that exist in everyone.

phenomenological inquiry

Through a therapist asking what and how questions, clients are assisted in noticing what is occurring in the present moment.

Gestalt Therapy Goals

To assist clients in gaining awareness of moment to moment, experiencing and to expand the capacity to make choices, to foster integration of the self

Gestalt therapies view a client's avoidance behavior as related to unfinished business.

True

Gestalt therapy is lively and promotes direct experiencing rather than the abstractness of talking about situations.

True

In Gestalt terms, awareness refers to our connectedness to our external and internal worlds.

True

The basic goal of Gestalt therapy is:

attaining awareness and contact with the environment.

The basic goal of Gestalt therapy is

attaining awareness, and with it greater choice.

Clients Experience in Gestalt Therapy

dialogue, interpretation is done by the client and formal diagnosis is not typically done.

projection

disowning attributes of personality that are inconsistent with self-image of self by assigning them to the environment; blaming others for problems, and feeling like a victim of circumstance

Which is not true of Gestalt therapy? a. The focus is on the "what" and "how" of behavior. b. The focus is on the here and now. c. The focus is on integrating fragmented parts of the personality. d. The focus is on unfinished business from the past. e. The focus is on the "why" of behavior.

e. The focus is on the "why" of behavior. NOT TRUE

Feelings not fully experienced in awareness linger in the background and are carried into present life in ways that interfere with ___________ __________ with oneself and others

effective contact

The initial goal of Gestalt therapy is

for clients to gain awareness of what they are experiencing and doing now

the reversal technique

gestalt technique - selecting a personality trait, and then assume the opposite characteristic as fully as possible.

staying with the feeling

gestalt technique that encourages the client to continue with the feeling that is being reported, instead of blocking or avoiding them.

may i feed you a sentence?

gestalt technique to help clients verbalize feelings when they are struggling by being given a statement that they will repeat themselves.

exaggeration

gestalt technique where client is asked to act out more intensively and expansively a particular behavior and to focus more attention on what that behavior feels like.

CONTACT

interacting with nature and with other people without losing one's individuality; the continually renewed creative adjustment of individuals to their environment

confluence

involves blurring the differentiation between the self and the environment; the absence of conflicts, slowness to anger, and a belief that all parties experience the same thoughts and feelings as we do. This style is characteristic of clients who have a high need to be accepted and liked, thus finding enmeshment comfortable

Gestalt

is a German word meaning a whole or completion, or a form that cannot be separated into parts without losing its essence

According to Gestalt theory, people use avoidance in order to

keep themselves from facing unfinished business, keep from feeling uncomfortable emotions and keep from having to change.

In Gestalt therapy, contact is both ______________ & _____________, and clients are encouraged to become increasingly aware of their dominant style of blocking contact and their use of resistance.

normal and healthy

deflection

the process of distraction or veering off, so that it's difficult to maintain a sustained sense of contact; overuse of humor, abstract generalizations, questions rather than statements.

introjection

the tendency to uncritically accept other's beliefs and standards without assimilating them to make them congruent with who we are; passively incorporating what the environment provides rather than clearly identifying what we want or need.

converting questions to statements (Gestalt)

this technique helps clients acknowledge their own beliefs and feelings and take responsibility for them by making statements instead of questions.

Figure (Gestalt)

those aspects of an individual's experience that are most salient at any moment

Ground (Gestalt)

those aspects of the client's presentation that are often out of her or his awareness

Figure-formation Process (Gestalt)

tracks how the individual organizes experience from moment to moment as some aspect of the environmental field emerges from the background and becomes the focal point of the individual's attention and interest.

retroflection

turning back onto ourselves what we would like to do to someone else or doing to ourselves what we would like someone else to do or to do for us. ex. self mutilation

What is true about Gestalt techniques?

- "Exercises" are readymade techniques. - "Experiments" grow out of the interaction between therapist and client. - Clients need to be prepared for their involvement in Gestalt techniques. NOT that Experiments are always carried out during the therapy session, rather than outside it.

Which of the following aspects of a client's use of language would a Gestalt therapist focus on?

- "It" talk - "You" talk - Questions NOT Semantics

Contact (Gestalt)

- Contact is made by seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, or moving. - Effective contact means interacting with nature and with other people without losing one's sense of individuality. - Contact is the continually renewed creative adjustment of individuals to their environment. Withdrawal usually comes after contact- both are necessary and important for healthy functioning - Resistance to contact- prevents from experiencing the present in a full and real way

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

- Designing experiments for group members - Engaging in self-disclosure - Facilitating contact in the group setting NOT Evoking group catharsis

What's true about Fritz Perls?

- He was the main originator and developer of Gestalt therapy. - He was influenced by psychoanalytic concepts. - He took issue with Freud's theory on a number of grounds. NOT that During his childhood, he was a model student.

What's true about the Gestalt view of the role of confrontation in therapy?

- It is important to confront clients with the ways they are avoiding being fully alive. - Confrontation does not have to be aimed at negative traits. - Confrontation should be a genuine expression of caring. NOT that It is not possible to be both confrontational and gentle with clients.

The five different kinds of contact boundary disturbances include (Gestalt)

- introjection - projection - retroflection - deflection - confluence

Prerequisites for good contact involves

- zest - creativity. - imagination. NOT projection. (Gestalt)

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

Assimilation

Genuine knowledge is the product of what the person understands of the situation of another.

False: Genuine knowledge is the product of what is immediately evident in the experience of the perceiver. (Gestalt)

Gestaltists typically ask why questions in the attempt to get clients to think about the source of their problems.

False: Gestalt therapists ask "what" and "how" questions but rarely ask "why."

The Gestalt therapist typically uses diagnosis and interpretation as a basic part of the therapeutic process.

False: Growth occurs through the I/Thou relationship rather than through the therapist's interpretations or techniques.

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 changes is to happen.

False: Increased and enriched awareness, by itself, is seen as curative.

The Gestalt approach to dream work consists of the therapist interpreting the meaning of the symbols in the dream.

False: The intent is to bring dreams back to life and relive them as though they were happening now.

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: the goal of Gestalt therapy is attaining awareness and contact with the environment (external and internal) and expanding choices. The initial goal is for clients to expand their awareness of what the are experiencing in the present moment. Awareness includes knowing the environment, knowing oneself, accepting oneself and being able to make contact.

Retroflection

The act of turning back onto ourselves something we would like to do (or have done) to someone else. (Gestalt)

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

True

An effective Gestalt therapist must develop deep personal awareness.

True

Both contact and withdrawal are necessary and important to healthy functioning.

True

Gestalt group therapists use experiments to encourage clients to move from talking about action to taking action.

True

Gestalt techniques can be considered as experimenmts.

True

Gestalt techniques can be considered experiments.

True

Most of the Gestalt techniques are designed to intensify one's experiencing

True

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

True (Gestalt)

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

a joint venture, an existential encounter, and an I/Thou interaction.

The empty chair technique

assists clients in reowning part of their personality, balances internal polarities, allows clients to externalize an introject and helps to resolve unfinished business. (Gestalt)

Contemporary Gestalt therapists view client resistance as a:

creative adjustment to a situation and something to be respected.

One of the main contributions of the Gestalt approach is its:

emphasis on learning to appreciate and fully experience the present moment.

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 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: (Gestalt)

retroflection (Gestalt)

Gestalt therapists say that clients resist contact by means of

retroflection, projection, and introjection.

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

retroflection: the act of turning back onto ourselves something we would like to do or have done to someone else (Gestalt)

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.

A contribution of Gestalt therapy 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.

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

the internal dialogue exercise. (Gestalt)

Field theory asserts that:

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

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

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

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

- contact is necessary for change and growth to occur. - one maintains a sense of individuality as a result of good contact. - contact is made by seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and moving. NOT that withdrawal after a good contact experience indicates neurosis.

Gestalt View of Human Nature

- rooted in existential philosophy - therapy aims at awareness and contact with the environment which consists of both the external and internal world -the therapist is attentive to the client's present experience and trusts in the process, thereby assisting the client in moving toward increased awareness, contact, and integration.

Field Theory (Gestalt)

-- the organism must be seen in its environment, or in its context, as part of the constantly changing field -- Paying attention to and exploring what is occurring at the boundary between the person and the environment

The tendency to uncritically accept others' beliefs without assimilating or internalizing them is a. introjection. b. projection. c. retroflection. d. confluence. e. deflection.

A. introjection.

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

Accommodation (Gestalt)

Organismic Self-Regulation (Gestalt)

An individual's tendency to take actions and make contacts that will restore equilibrium or contribute to change.

Confrontation (Gestalt)

An invitation for the client to become aware of discrepancies between verbal and nonverbal expressions, between feelings and actions, or between thoughts and feelings.

The main founder of Gestalt therapy is a. Carl Rogers. b. Fritz Perls. c. Albert Ellis. d. William Glasser. e. none of the above.

B Fritz Perls

The process of turning back to ourselves what we would like to do to someone else is: a. introjection. b. projection. c. retroflection. d. confluence. e. deflection.

C. Retroflection

The focus of Gestalt therapy is on a. the relationship between client and counselor. b. free associating to the client's dreams. c. recognizing one's own projections and refusing to accept helplessness. d. understanding why we feel as we do. e. all of the above

C. recognizing one's own projections and refusing to accept helplessness.

Exaggeration Exercise (Gestalt)

Client exaggerates movements or gestures over and over

Reversal Technique (Gestalt)

Clients act the opposite of their personality

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

Confluence (Gestalt)

Relational Gestalt Therapy

Contemporary Gestalt therapy. This contemporary version stresses dialogue and the relationship between client and therapist. This model includes more support and increased sensitivity and compassion in therapy as compared to the confrontational and dramatic style of Fritz Perls. The emphasis here is on the quality of the therapist-client relationship and empathetic attunement while tapping the client's wisdom and resources.

The impasse is the point in therapy at which clients a. do not have external support available to them. b. experience a sense of "being stuck." c. are challenged to get into contact with their frustrations and accept whatever is. d. do all of the above.

D All of the above

A contribution of the Gestalt approach is that it a. sheds light on transference. b. is primarily a cognitive perspective. c. stresses talking about problems. d. deals with the past in a lively manner.

D deals with the past in a lively manner.

The process of blurring awareness of the boundary between self and environment is a. introjection. b. projection. c. retroflection. d. confluence. e. deflection.

D. confluence.

Figure Formation Process

Describes how the individual organizes the environment from moment to moment and how the emerging focus of attention is on what is figural.

Emotion-focused therapy (EFT)

Developed by Leslie Greenberg, EFT is related to Gestalt therapy and entails the practice of therapy being informed by understanding the role of emotion in psychotherapeutic change. It uses a phenomenological approach, and is an integrative model that draws from existential therapy, person-centered therapy, and Gestalt therapy.

Miriam Polster's three stages in her integration sequence characterizing client growth in therapy (Gestalt)

Discovery -- clients reach new realizations about themselves Accommodation -- clients recognize they have a choice, try out new behaviors in therapy then expand awareness to world, out of office experiments Assimilation -- learn how to influence their environment., take a stand on a critical issue, do more than passively accept environment

Gestalt therapy encourages clients to a. experience feelings intensely. b. stay in the here and now. c. work through the impasse. d. pay attention to their own nonverbal messages. e. do all of the above.

E All of the above

What is a limitation (or limitations) of Gestalt therapy as it is applied to working with culturally diverse populations? a. Clients who have been culturally conditioned to be emotionally reserved may not see value in experiential techniques. b. Clients may be "put off" by the emphasis on expressing feelings. c. Clients may be looking for specific advice on solving practical problems. d. Clients may believe showing one's vulnerability is being weak. e. All of the above are limitations.

E All of the above

Homeostasis (Gestalt)

Every moment we are phased with two factors that try to disturb the balance external (demands of environment) and internal (needs).

Gestalt therapy is it is grounded in the client's "here and now," which means that it is both

Existential & Phenomenological

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

Experiments (Gestalt)

Which of the following is not true about Gestalt techniques

Experiments are always carried out during the therapy session, rather than outside it. -- not true

A major function of the therapist is to make interpretations of clients' behavior so that they can begin to think of their patterns.

F

Gestalt techniques are primarily aimed at teaching clients to think rationally.

F

Recent trends in Gestalt practice include more emphasis on Confrontation, more anonymity of the therapist, and increased reliance on techniques.

F

The basic goal of Gestalt therapy is adjustment to society.

FALSE

Gestalt experiments are ready-made techniques that are often used to evoke the expression of certain emotions.

False

Gestalt therapy focuses on the cognitive aspects of therapy.

False

Gestalt therapy is designed for individual counseling, and it typically does not work well in groups.

False

Gestalt therapy relies mainly on psychoanalytic techniques.

False

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

False

Preparing clients for Gestalt exercises destroys both their spontaneity and effectiveness.

False

Since Gestalt therapy focuses on the here-and-now, the past is not explored or given emphasis in this approach.

False

Therapy is based upon the successful resolution of the transference relationship.

False

Retroflection involves doing to others what we would like them to do to us.

False -- retroflections involves doing to ourselves what we would like to do to others.

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: Awareness by itself can be curative

Since Gestalt therapy focuses on the here-and-now, the past is neither explored nor given emphasis.

False: The past will make regular appearances in the present moment, usually because of some lack of completion of that past experience -- unfinished business.

Gestalt theory is best considered as a form of psychoanalytic therapy.

False: it is existential, phenomenologic and experiential

Making the rounds (Gestalt)

Gestalt technique that involves asking one person in a group to speak to each of the other group members

Staying with the Feeling

Most clients desire to escape from fearful stimuli and to avoid unpleasant feelings. At key moments when clients refer to a feeling or mood that is unpleasant and from which they have a great desire to flee, the therapist may urge clients to stay with their feeling and encourage them to go deeper into the feeling or behavior they wish to avoid.

Exaggeration Exercise

One aim of Gestalt therapy is for clients to become more aware of the subtle signals and cues they are sending through body language. Movements, postures, and gestures may communicate significant meanings, yet the cues may be incomplete. In this exercise the person is asked to exaggerate the movement or gesture repeatedly, which usually intensifies the feeling attached to the behavior and make the inner meaning clearer.

Blocks to energy (Gestalt)

Paying attention to where energy is located, how it is used, and how it can be blocked. (defense mechanism)

In Gestalt Therapy, the therapist uses _________________ & _______________

Personal engagement, Active techniques

Continuum of Awareness (Gestalt)

Staying with the moment to moment flow of experiencing, which leads individuals to discover how they are functioning in the world.

Blocked energy can be considered a form of resistance. (Gestalt)

T

Dreams contain existential messages, and each piece of dream work leads to assimilation of disowned aspects of the self. (Gestalt)

T

Gestalt therapy is well suited for group counseling, especially when there is a here-and-now emphasis within the group.

T

One of the functions of the therapist is to pay attention to the client's body language. (Gestalt)

T

Resistance refers to defenses we develop that prevent us from experiencing the present in a full and real way. Resistances are developed as a means of coping with life situations, they possess positive qualities as well as problematic ones. (Gestalt)

T

The founder of Gestalt therapy contends that the most frequent source of unfinished business is resentment.

T

Awareness (Gestalt)

The process of attending to and observing one's own sensing, thinking, feelings, and actions; paying attention to the flowing nature of one's present-centered experience.

Future projection

This technique takes an anticipated event and brings it into the present moment to act out (Gestalt)

A Gestalt therapist pays attention to ways the client uses language.

True

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

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.

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.

True

Gestalt therpay makes use of a wide variety of techniques that are designed to increase the client's awareness of his or her persent experiencing.

True

In Gestalt therapy, a client's resistance is welcomed and used to deepen their therapeutic work.

True

In the Gestaltist view, unfinished business is best explored in the present.

True

Most of the Gestalt techniques are designed to intensify one's experiencing.

True

Part of success in using Gestalt techniques is contingent upon preparing clients for these techniques.

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.

True

Blocked energy is a form of defensive behavior.

True (Gestalt)

Unfinished Business

Unexpressed feelings (such as resentment, guilt, anger, grief) dating back to childhood that now interfere with effective psychological functioning; needless emotional debris that clutters present-centered awareness.

Gestalt group work is

action-oriented, standardized, focused on the here and now.

Contemporary Gestalt therapists view client resistance as

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:

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

Paradoxical Theory of Change (Gestalt)

authentic change occurs more from being who we are than from trying to be who we are not--therapists believe people change and grow when they experience who they really are in the world

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. The more we work at becoming who or what we are not, the more we remain the same.

Rather than talk about a childhood trauma, in Gestalt therapy, the client is encouraged to ___________ the hurt child

become

Empirical support for Gestalt therapy is:

becoming stronger

Empirical support for Gestalt therapy is

becoming stronger.

blocked energy (Gestalt)

both a defensive behavior and a form of resistance to contact. can be manifested physically

The Gestalt approach to dreams

both asks the client to become all parts of his or her own dream and has the client actively interpret the meaning of the drean himself or herself.

Gestalt-therapy techniques are designated to help the client

both expand awareness of the here and now and intensify feelings and experiences. experience the present moment more fully and gain awareness of what they are doing.

From a multicultural perspective, a limitation of Gestalt therapy is that

both it tends to produce high levels of intense feelings and it is highly focused on direct expression of feelings.

Prerequisites for good contact are

clear awareness, full energy, and the ability to express oneself

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

confluence: a disturbance in which the sense of the boundary between self and environment is lost (Gestalt)

Field theory suggests that:

everything in human experience is relational and in constant flux. (Gestalt)

Gestalt therapy is a form of

existential therapy experiential phenomenological

Gestalt therapy is a form of:

existential therapy.

A contribution of the Gestalt therapeutic approach is that

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

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

keep from feeling uncomfortable emotions.

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

making the rounds.

In Gestalt theory, the experiment is:

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

Using personal pronouns (Gestalt)

take responsibility by saying I or me.

In Gestalt therapy growth occurs through

the I/Thou relationship rather than through the therapist's techniques or interpretations.

RESISTANCE TO CONTACT -

the defenses we develop to prevent us from experiencing the present fully

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 -- ask client to demonstrate aspect of personality they are denying. The theory is that clients take the plunge into the very thing that is fraught with anxiety and make contact with those parts of themselves that have been submerged or denied.

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.

What is top dog/underdog? (Gestalt)

two sides of oneself-- angel/devil

The paradoxical theory of behavior change suggests

we change through becoming aware of who we currently are.

contact boundary disturbances (Gestalt)

when contact boundaries are broken which results in resistance to contact. Effects present experiences.

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

withdrawal after a good contact experience indicates neurosis. NOT TRUE (After a contact experience there is typically a withdrawal to integrate what has been learned. both contact and withdrawal are necessary and important to healthy functioning.)