Gestalt Therapy (Fritz & Laura Perls)

Blocked Energy (Gestalt)

- Another form of defensive behavior. Manifested why tension in some part of the body, by posture, keeping one's body tight and closed, not deeply breathing, avoiding eye contact, choking off sensations, numbing feelings, speaking with a restricted voice

Paradoxical Theory of Change (Gestalt)

- Authentic change occurs more from being who we are than from trying to be who we are not. We change when we become AWARE of what we ARE as opposed to trying to become what we are not.

Gestalt Strengths

- De-emphasizes abstract intellectualization of one's problems - Intense experiencing can occur quickly so therapy can be relatively brief. - It focuses on growth instead of treating disorders. - The techniques are adaptable to each client based on specific need. - There is an emphasis on the therapeutic relationship.

The Role of Confrontation (Gestalt)

- Gestalt therapy has progressed beyond theatrics, abrasive confrontation, and intense catharsis -Gestalt has evolved to combining sustained empathic inquiry with crisp, clear, and relevant focusing, with more support and increased kindness - Does not have to be viewed as a harsh attack - Encourage clients to look at certain incongruities, especially gaps in verbal and non-verbal expression - Does not have to be aimed at weaknesses or negative traits; clients can be challenged to recognize how they are blocking their strengths

"It" talk

- It instead of "I", using depersonalizing language

Questions (Gestalt)

- Keep the questioner hidden, safe, and unknown. Counselor ask clients to change their questions into statements, to assume responsibility for what they say.

Boundary Disturbance / Interruptions in contact

- Refers to the characteristic styles people employ in their attempts to control their environment through one of these channels of resistance.

FOCUS of Gestalt Therapy

- The Here and Now: "Power is in the Present" - The past is gone and the future has not yet arrived - What and How = Phenomenological Inquiry - I/Thou of relating = equal in the relationship, relates to quality of the therapist's presence - The authenticity of the therapist - Active dialogic inquiry and exploration

Gestalt Limitations

- There is a potential for the therapist to manipulate the client with these powerful methods. - This therapy is not helpful with clients who come from cultures where showing emotion is discouraged or is a sign of weakness.

Organismic Self-Regulation (Gestalt)

-A process where the equilibrium is "disturbed" by the emergence of need, a sensation, or an interest. -Organisms do their best to regulate themselves/achieve equilibrium using their own capabilities and resources in the environment.

Gestalt Therapy (Fritz Perls / Laura Perls)

-An existential, phenomenological, and process-based approach created on the premise that individuals must be understood in the context of their on going relationship with the environment. -Gestalt (German Word) the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of it parts.

Gestalt Goals for Therapy

-Clients to expand their "awareness" of what they are experiencing in the present moment. -Increased "awareness" (knowing the environment, accepting oneself, being able to make contact) is curative. -Greater choice -Moving the client from environmental support to self-support AND reintegrating the disowned parts of one's personality.

Unfinished Business

-Feelings about the past are unexpected -Feelings not fully experienced linger in the background and interfere with effective contact -Resulting in preoccupation, compulsive behavior, wariness, oppressive energy, and self-defeating behavior

The Figure Formation Process (Gestalt)

-How the individual organizes experience from moment to moment. -The field differentiates into a foreground (FIGURE) and a background (GROUND) -Tracks how some aspect of the environmental field emerges from the background and becomes the focal point of the individual's attention and interest. Dominant needs at a given moment influence this process.

Phenomenological Inquiry

-Involves paying attention to what is occurring now. -To help client make contact with the present moment - ask "what" and "how" but RARELY "why". -Promote "NOW" awareness

Contact (Gestalt)

-Made by seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and moving -Effective contact means interacting with nature and with other people without losing one's sense of individuality -Good contact includes clear awareness, full energy, and the ability to express oneself -In Gestalt therapy contact is necessary if change and growth are to occur, lifeblood of growth, continually renewed creative adjustment of individuals to their environment

Field Theory (Gestalt)

-The field is the client's environment which consists of therapist and client and all that goes on between them -Client is a participant in a constantly changing field, and must be seen in its environment. -Everything is relational, in flux, interrelated, and in process - constantly made and remade.

Holism (Gestalt)

-The full range of human functioning includes thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body, language, and dreams -Gestalt is a GERMAN WORD meaning a whole or completion, a form cannot be separated from into parts without losing essence

Energy & Blocks to Energy (Gestalt)

-Therapeutic process involves finding the focus of interrupted energy and bringing the sensations to the clients awareness Blocked Energy: -Defensive behavior, manifested by tension in part of the body (posture, keeping body tight and closed, by not breathing deeply, looking away to avoid contact, numbing feelings, speaking with a restrictive voice) -Clients are encouraged to recognize how their resistance is being expressed in their body and transform their blocked energy into more adaptive behaviors

LANGUAGE that: 1. Denies Power 2. Metaphors 3. Uncovers a story

1. Denies Power = Using qualifiers or disclaimers; "maybe", "perhaps", "sort of", "I guess", "possibly" and "I suppose", ask clients to OMIT these words and substitute "won't" for "can't" to assist in owning and accepting POWER by taking RESPONSIBILITY for decisions. 2. Metaphors = "I feel like I have a hole in my soul." May represent critical 'unfinished business', encourage client to say more about what she is experiencing 3. Uncovers a story = "fleshing out a flash", elusive language yet providing significant clues to a story that illustrates their life struggles

Clients Experience (Gestalt)

1. Discovery: New realization, new view of an old situation, new look at a significant person 2. Accommodation: Recognizing they have a choice, trying new behaviors 3. Assimilation: Learning how to influence their environment

Five Contact Boundary Disturbances

1. Introjection: uncritically accept others' beliefs and standards WITHOUT ASSIMILATING them to make them congruent with who we are 2. Projection: Reverse of introjection - We disown certain aspects of ourselves by assigning them to the environment; or other people 3. Retroflection: Turning back onto ourselves what we would like someone else to do to or for us. An interruption of the action phase in the cycle of experience and typically involves anxiety (i.e. cutting) 4. Deflection: the process of distraction or veering off, attempting to diffuse or defuse contact through the overuse of humor, abstract generalizations, and questions, rather than statements (beating around the bush) 5. Confluence: Blurring the differentiation between the self and the environment, the absence of conflicts, slow to anger, belief that all parties experience the same feelings and thoughts we do. (need to be accepted and liked)

SIX Methodological Components (Gestalt)

1. The continuum of experience 2. The here and now 3. The paradoxical theory of change 4. The experiment 5. The authentic encounter 6. Process-Oriented diagnosis

Therapist Role (Gestalt)

1. Use active methods & personal engagement 2. Create a climate in which clients are likely to try out new ways of being and behaving 3. Pay attention to body language and non-verbal cues 4. Focus on overt speaking, are words congruent with emotions

"You" talk

Global and impersonal language tends to keep the person hidden

Gestalt Causes of Anxiety

Lack of awareness

Impasse (Gestalt)

Stuck point, when external support is not available or the customary way of being does not work. -The therapist task is to accompany clients experiencing the "impasse" with rescuing or frustrating them.

Techniques (Gestalt)

The experiment: fundamental to contemporary Gestalt therapy. A creative adventure and a way in which clients can express themselves behaviorally. Spontaneous, one-of-a -kind, and relevant to a particular moment and development of a figure formation process. An attitude inherent in ALL Gestalt therapy, collaborative process with the full-participation of the client. Internal dialogue exercise: The 'top dog' (righteous, authoritarian, moralistic, demanding, bossy, 'critical parent') vs. The 'underdog' plays role of victim by being defensive, apologetic, helpless and weak by feigning powerlessness (the passive side, without responsibility, that finds excuses - he disobedient child) ENGAGED in a constant struggle for control. Rehearsal exercise: When it comes to the performance, we experience stage fright, or anxiety, because we fear that we will not play our role well. Internal rehearsal consumes much energy and frequently inhibits our spontaneity and willingness to experiment with new behavior Reversal technique; 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 Exaggeration exercise: exaggerate the movement or gesture repeatedly, which usually intensifi es the feeling attached to the behavior and makes the inner meaning clearer. Some examples of behaviors that lend themselves to the exaggeration technique are trembling (shaking hands, legs), slouched posture and bent shoulders, clenched fi sts, tight frowning, facial grimacing, crossed arms, Staying with the feeling: willingness to endure the pain necessary for unblocking and making way for newer levels of growth. 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. Making the rounds: 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. I have experimented with "making the rounds. Dream work: bring dreams back to life and relive them as though they were happening now. The dream is acted out in the present, and the dreamer becomes a part of his or her dream Empty Chair: Externalizing the introject. Using one chair as the top dog and other as the underdog, client plays both sides.

Boundaries (Gestalt)

Two functions: 1. To Connect 2. Separate