Gestalt Therapy

What are the 5 layers of neurosis?

1. phoney 2. phobic 3. implosive 4. explosive 5. impasse

Holism Place no value on

a particular aspect of the individual

By becoming aware clients are

able to make informed choices and thus live a more meaningful existence.

Goals is for clients to gain

an awareness of what they are experiencing and how they are doing it.

Therapy is aimed not at

analysis or introspection but at awareness and contact with the environment which consists of both the external and internal worlds

Change occurs

automatically through awareness

therapy focuses on

creating the conditions that promote client growth rather than relying on therapist directed change

Organismic Self-Regulation is a process by which

equilibrium is disturbed by the emergence of a need, a sensation or an interest

the phobic layer of neurosis are

fears keep us from seeing ourselves

Gestalt theory is based on

field theory - principal that the organism must be seen in its environment, its context as part of constantly changing the field.

holism places emphasis on a

figure (aspects of individual's experiences that are salient at the moment). Or Ground - aspects of the clients presentation that are often out of his or her awareness

with unfinished business figures emerge

from the background but are not completed and resolved - unfinished business

in the implosive layer of neurosis we

fully experience our deadness

the impasse layer of neurosis relates to

giving up our power

according to gestalt therapy, a therapeutic goal is to assist client to attain

greater awareness and greater choice which includes knowing the environment, knowing oneself, accepting oneself, and being able to make contact is seen as curative

One of the aims of gestalt is to

help clients become aware of their present experience

the goal of organismic self-regulation is to

help the clients to obtain closure of unfinished situation, destroy fixed gestalts and incorporate more satisfying gestalts.

Basic assumption of gestalt therapy is that

individuals have the capacity to self-regulate when they are aware of what is happening in and around them.

Gestalt emphasis is on

learning to appreciate and fully experience the present moment

according to the The figure-formation process the individual

organizes experience from moment to moment

unfinished business emphasizes on

paying attention to the bodily experience on the assumption that if feelings are expressed they tend to result in some physical sensation or problem

Phenomenological inquiry is

paying attention to what is occurring now

Gestalt approach is

phenomenological because it focuses on the clients perceptions of reality and existential because it is grounded in the notion that people are always in the process of becoming, remaking and rediscovering themselves.

according to organismic self-regulation organisms do their best to

regulate themselves, give their capabilities and the resources of their environment

unfinished business effects can

show up in some blockage within the body

The gestalt field is the entire

situation of the therapist, the client and all that goes between them

The figure-formation process tracks

some aspect of the environment field emerges from the back and becomes the focal point of the individuals attention and interest ground

the phony layer of neurosis is

stereotypical and inauthentic

in organismic self-regulation therapists direct

the clients awareness to the figures that emerge from the background during a therapy session and use the figure formation process as a guide to focus therapeutic work

unfinished business persists until

the individual faces and deals with the unexpressed feelings

Gestalt Theory posits that

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

Gestalt therapy rests on

the principle that everything is relational, influx, interrelated and in process

Gestalt Therapy provides

the setting and opportunity for that awareness to be supported and restored

a therapeutic goal of gestalt therapy is to help clients become aware of

their own awareness process so that they can become responsible and can selectively and discriminatingly make choices

unfinished business can result in

unexpressed feelings such as resentment, rage, hatred, pain, anxiety, grief, guilt and abandonment

in the explosive layer of neurosis we

we let go of phony roles

Genuine knowledge is the product of

what is immediately evident in the experience of the perceiver