GESTALT

Gestalt
Gestalt principles were developed prior to

the development of Gestalt therapy. Gestalt = form, figure, pattern, or whole Gestalt psychology was concerned with how we organize our experiences, I. E. perception or awareness.

It is phenomenological in that it stresses the subjective experiences. Life is best understood by knowing the subjective , internal rather than the objective, external.

Humans perceive things as wholes and the whole is more than the sum of its parts (holism, I.E. non-reductionistic)

Introduction - PG. 195

Fritz and Laura Perls - Founders Existential & Phenomenological - it is grounded in the clients here and now Initial goal is for clients to gain awareness of what they are experiencing and doing NOW. Promotes direct experiencing rather than the abstractness of talking about situations Rather than talk about a childhood trauma the client is encourages to become the hurt child

Freud
Past Reductionistic Deterministic Unconscious Energy system seeking homeostasis or completion (repetition compulsion)

Perls
Present Holistic Phenomenological Disowned parts Energy system seeking homeostasis or completion (Closure)

KEY CONCEPTS
View of Human Nature - PG. 195 F. Perls view of human nature is that clients are manipulative and avoid selfreliance, I. E. not willing to accept their own perceptions as valid. They are looking to others for the answers. A 12

13
C

14

F. Perls therapy involved (PG. 196)

Moving client from environment support to

self support Reintegrating disowned parts of self Very abrasive confrontive style, with modern gestaltness. How is Gestalt inherently confrontive?

Other Key Concepts:

1) existential

- genuine knowledge is the product of what is immediately evident in the experience of the perceiver. Awareness is ever-changing and each moment is one of choice based on evolving awareness. We are the creators of our own destiny, I. E. non-deterministic. 2) self-regulatory - awareness leads to closure

 3)

change happens in the now If you want to go to S. Dakota, where do you start?

The Now (PG. 197)

Our power is in the present
Nothing exists except in the now The past is gone and the future has not yet arrived. For many people the power of the present is lost. They may focus on their past mistakes or engage in endless resolutions and plans for the future.

The influence of psychoanalysis is merged with Gestalt psychology in the concept of now. Events may have happened in the past; however, they are always interpreted and felt with the present. Energetic homeostasis and repetition compulsion (psychoanalysis) and closure and unfinished business (gestalt) are similar. They both say that issues unfinished in the past will be energetically present in the now. Both say that homeostasis or closure is sought. They just approach it differently.
Both work on the past in the present. Psychoanalysis through transferenceGestalt through experiments in the present.

What? and How? NOT Why? (PG. 198)

WHY?

What and how - NOW - in the body/experiential Why - Past - in the head/ analytical

E. Polster Story - the unfinished past is urgently in

Unfinished Business PG. 198

Feelings about the past are unexpressed
These feelings are associated with distinct memories and fantasies. Feelings not fully experienced linger in the background and interfere with effective contact.

Result:
Preoccupation, compulsive behavior, wariness oppressive energy and self-defeating behavior.

Unfinished Business (PG. 199)

The effects of unfinished business [often] show up in some blockage within the body. Gestalt therapy emphasizes paying attention to the bodily experience , as expressed feeling must be suppressed by the body musculature. (REMEMBER: eMOTION) Our story is in the body. Polsters fleshing out the flesh!

The Impasse, or stuck point (PG. 199), is a situation in which individuals believe they are unable to support themselves. They feel stuck, avoiding experiencing threatening feeling, imagining something terrible will happen.

Layers of Neurosis (PG. 199-200)

Perls likens the unfolding of adult

personality to the peeling of an onion

Phony layer - stereotypical and inauthentic Phobic layer - fears keep us from seeing ourselves Impasse layer - we give up our power Implosive layer - we fully experience our deadness Explosive layer - we let go of phony roles

Contact and Resistances to Contact (PG. 200-202)

CONTACT - interacting with nature and with

other people without losing ones individuality RESISTANCE TO CONTACT - the defenses we develop to prevent us from experiencing the present fully

Five Major Channels of Resistance

Introjection Projection Retroflection Deflection

Confluence

Therapeutic Goals (PG. 202)

The goal is attaining awareness and greater choice. Awareness includes knowing the environment and knowing oneself, accepting oneself, and being able to make contact. Clients are helped to note their own awareness process so that they can be responsible and can selectively and discriminatingly make choices. Awareness emerges with in the context of the I/Thou relationship between client and therapist. With awareness the client is able to recognize denied aspects of the self and proceed toward reintegration of all its parts. Gestalt is an insight, experiential, and action-oriented.

Zinken (PG 203) expects clients will:

Move toward increased awareness of themselves Gradually assume ownership of their experience (as opposed to making others responsible for what they are thinking, feeling, and doing) Develop skills and acquire values that will allow them to satisfy their needs without violating the rights of others Become more aware of all of their senses Learn to accept responsibility for what they do, including accepting the consequences of their actions Move from outside support toward increasing internal support Be able to ask for and get help from others and be able to give to others

Therapists Function and Role - PG 203

1. Create (as a joint venture) experiments (I.E. experiences) inviting here & now awareness 2. The therapist is a catalyst to increased awareness of both foreground and background 3. The therapist works in an I/Thou context (joint venture) to search for blocks to awareness as they are exhibited in non-verbal ways. PG. 204 for language focus

Therapeutic Relationship
This approach stresses the I/Thou relationship. The focus is not on the techniques employed by the therapist but on who the therapist is as a person and what the therapist is doing. Contemporary Gestalt therapy stresses factors such as presence, authentic dialogue, gentleness, more direct self-expression by the therapist, decreased use of stereotypic exercises, and a greater trust in the clients experiencing. The counselor assists clients in experiencing all feelings more fully and lets them make their own interpretations. The therapist does not interpret for clients but focuses on the what and how of their behavior. Clients identify their own unfinished business from the past that is interfering with their present functioning by re-experiencing past situations as though they were happening at the present moment.

Therapeutic Techniques
The experiment in Gestalt Therapy Preparing clients for experiments Internal dialogue exercise Rehearsal exercise

Reversal technique
Exaggeration exercise

The Experiment - PG 208

1. Exercises - ready-made techniques for specific purposes. E.g. Making the rounds in a group empty chair - dialogue role - reversals 2. Experiments - spontaneous, one-of-a-kind, and evolving from the interaction in the moment, intended to bring out some kind of internal conflict, and/or figure - formation process

Confrontation - PG 212
Your mother wears combat boots

OR
I wont laugh when you tell me something sad. OR???

CONFRONTATION - owned awareness

related to perceived discrepancies. It is anything that invites awareness that is blocked.

The Internal Dialogue - PG 213

The goal is to promote a higher level of integration between the polarities and conflicts that exist in everyone. Some examples are those on page 214.

Making the Round - PG 214

The goal is, once again , increased awareness that comes from saying something involving blocked awareness aloud (often repeatedly) to another person. Good example on page 214 related to trust.

The Reversal Technique

This exercise is sometimes useful when a person has attempted to deny or disown a side of his or her personality. For example, one who plays the role of tough guy may be covering up a gentle side. Or one who is always excessively nice may be trying to deny or disown negative feelings toward others.

The Rehearsal Technique

Much of our thinking is rehearsing. It is almost as though we rehearse, in fantasy, performances we think we are expected to play. In this exercise select some situation where you might typically be rehearsing all kinds of pros and cons. The rehearse out loud. Act out all the things that you might experience inwardly. Ham it up a bit. Try to get the feel of the exercise. For example, you might consider such situations as volunteering for something, asking a person for a date, applying for a job, or facing someone you are afraid of.

The Exaggeration Exercise PG 215

The goal is to become more aware of subtle signals and cues that are sent through body language. This is especially helpful in indicating descrepentcies, e.g. saying youre not angry but clinching your fist.

Staying with the feeling - a way of confronting the

blocks to awareness. It is an invitation.

Gestalt Dream Work - ask the client to become app

parts of the dream, looking for those most energetically alive. The client then interprets the meaning of the symbols in their dreams.