BCU MAGC 205 – COUNSELING THEORIES, TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

LESSON D

GESTALT THERAPY

* FREDERICK “FRITZ” PERLS

- Main originator and developer of Gestalt Therapy
* LAURA PERLS
- Also made significant contributions to the development and maintenance of Gestalt
therapy movement

INTRODUCTION
- An existential, phenomenological, and process-based approach created on the premise
that individuals must be understood in the context of their ongoing relationship with the
environment. Cornerstones of practice are awareness, choice and responsibility
o Phenomenological because it focuses on the client’s perceptions of reality
o Existential because it is grounded in the notion that people are always in the
process of becoming, remaking and rediscovering themselves.
 In a nutshell, this approach focuses on the here and now, the what and how,
and the I/Thou of relating
- Relational Gestalt therapy
o Stresses dialogue and relationship between client and therapist.
o This model includes more support and increased sensitivity and compassion in
therapy as compared to the confrontational and dramatic style of Fritz Perls.

- Although Fritz Perls was influenced by psychoanalytic concepts, he took issue with
Freud’s theory on the following grounds:
Freud Perls
- View of human beings is basically - Stressed a holistic approach to
mechanistic personality
- Focused on repressed intrapsychic - Valued examining the present
conflicts from early childhood situation
- Gestalt approach focuses much more on process than on content
o Therapists devise experiments designed to increase clients’ awareness of what
they are doing and how they are doing it.
 The approach is experiential in that clients come to grips with what and how
they are thinking, feeling, and doing as they interact with the therapist.
o Perls asserted that how individuals behave in the present moment is far more
crucial to self-understanding than why they behave as they do.
- Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) developed by Leslie Greenberg is related to Gestalt
therapy. It entails the practice of therapy being informed by understanding the role of
emotion in psychotherapeutic change. It blends the relational aspects of the person-
centered approach with the active phenomenological awareness experiments of Gestalt
therapy.

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

- Clients have to grow up, stand on their own feet, and “deal with their life problems
themselves”
o Two personal agendas:
1. Moving the client from environmental support to self-support
2. Reintegrating the disowned parts of one’s personality
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 - Basic assumption: Individuals have the capacity to self-regulate when they are aware of
what is happening in and around them.
- Gestalt theory of change posits that the more we work at becoming who or what we are
not, the more we remain the same. Arnie Beisser suggested that authentic change occurs
more from being who we are than from trying to be who we are not. He called this tenet
the paradoxical theory of change.

SOME PRINCIPLES OF GESTALT THERAPY THEORY

* HOLISM
- Gestalt is a German word meaning a whole or completion. Because Gestalt therapists are
interested in the whole person, they place no superior value on a particular aspect of the
individual. Gestalt practice attends to a client’s thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body,
memories and dreams.
- Emphasis may be on a figure (those aspects of the individual’s experience that are most
salient at any moment) or the ground (those aspects of the client’s presentation that are
often out of his awareness).

* FIELD THEORY
- Asserts that the organism must be seen in its environment, or in its context, as part of the
constantly changing field. Therapists pay attention to and explore what is occurring at the
boundary between the person and the environment.

* THE FIGURE-FORMATION PROCESS

- Describes how the individual organizes experience from moment to moment.
- The field differentiates into a foreground (figure) and a background (ground). The figure-
formation process tracks how some aspect of the environmental field emerges from the
background and becomes the focal point of the individual’s attention and interest.
- The dominant needs of an individual at a given moment influence this process.

* ORGANISMIC SELF-REGULATION
- Intertwined with the figure-formation process. It is a process by which equilibrium is
“disturbed” by the emergence of a need, sensation, or an interest.
- Individuals can take actions and make contacts that will restore equilibrium or contribute
to growth and change

THE NOW
- One of the main contributions of the Gestalt approach is its emphasis on learning to
appreciate and fully experience the present moment. Focusing on the past and the future
can be a way to avoid coming to terms with the present.
- Phenomenological inquiry
o Involves paying attention to what is occurring now.
 To help the client make contact with the present moment, therapists ask
“what” and “how” questions, but rarely ask “why” questions
 Empower the present of client who diminish/lost the present or one
who dwells in the past e.g. past mistakes; or one who is pre-occupied
with the future e.g. makes resolutions, plans for the future that they
lose living in the present
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 o Also involves suspending any preconceived ideas, assumptions, or interpretations
concerning the meaning of a client’s experience.
 Help clients become aware of their present experience.
 For example, a client begins to talk about sadness, pain or confusion,
the therapist invites the client to experience his sadness, pain or
confusion now. As client attends to the present experience, the
therapist gauges how much anxiety or discomfort is present and
chooses further interventions accordingly.
o If a feeling, thought or idea emerges, the therapist might
suggest an experiment that would help the client to increase her
awareness of the feeling, thought or idea, such as exploring
where and how he experiences it.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
- Can be manifested in unexpressed feelings such as resentment, rage, hatred, pain,
anxiety, grief, guilt and abandonment; they linger in the background and are carried into
present life in ways that interfere with effective contact with oneself and others.
o seeks closure; unexpressed feelings can result to self-defeating behavior
o most common: unexpressed resentment which leads to guilt feelings
 case : man who feels unloved by mother, no maternal support --- feels
resentment towards his mother
result – he cannot experience real intimacy with a woman due to his
unfinished business
- Persists until the individual faces and deals with the unexpressed feelings.
- The effects of unfinished business often show up in some blockage within the body,
referred to also as weariness or blocked energy.
 e.g. sore throat – blocks creativity; blocks expressing oneself
cancer – accumulated resentment; unforgiveness
- The impasse or stuck point (unexpressed feelings have no outlet)
o Time when external support is not available.
o The therapist’s task is to accompany clients in experiencing the impasse without
rescuing or frustrating them.
 The counselor assist clients by providing situations that encourage them to
fully experience their condition of being stuck. By completely experiencing
the impasse, they are able to get into contact with their frustrations and
accept whatever is, rather than wishing they were different.
 Related to unfinished business
Characteristics:
 Person cannot support himself anymore so he seek external support to
the point of manipulating the environment
-- attempts to maneuver the environment by taking up the
“victim” role – self-absorbed, lives in misery, acts weak,
stupid, feelings of helplessness
Counselor – let the client experience the stuck point
-- there is change in the client if there is acceptance of who he is,
if he’s aware that he’s stucked and willing to move one

CONTACT AND RESISTANCES TO CONTACT

- Contact is 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 --- connected, at same time separate/individuated
o Pre-requisites for good contact are clear awareness, full energy and the ability to
express oneself.
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- Therapists also focus on interruptions, disturbances and resistances to contact, which

were developed as coping processes but often end up preventing us from experiencing the
present in a full and real way.

o 5 different kinds of contact boundary disturbances:

1. Introjection
 Tendency to uncritically accept others’ beliefs and standards without
assimilating them to make them congruent with who we are.
2. Projection
 The reverse of introjection. In projection we disown certain aspects of
ourselves by assigning them to the environment.
3. 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 to or for us.
4. Deflection
 The process of distraction or veering off, so that it is difficult to maintain a
sustained sense of contact.
5. Confluence
 Involves blurring the differentiation between the self and the environment.

ENERGY AND BLOCKS TO ENERGY

- Special attention is given to where energy is located, how it is used, and how it can be
blocked.
- Blocked energy is another form of defensive behavior. It can be manifested by tension in
some part of the body, by posture, breathing, way of looking and speaking.
e.g. keeping one’s body tight and closed by not breathing deeply;
by looking away from people when speaking to avoid contact;
by numbing feelings; speaking with a restricted voice
o Therapeutic endeavor involves finding the focus of interrupted energy and bringing
these sensations to the client’s awareness.

- Some Blocks to Energy Reflected in Somatization Disorders (with psychological roots)

stomach – for nourishment
joints – for ease of movement
shoulder – to carry joy
chest/heart – center of love and security long standing emotional pain
neck – for flexibility
throat – venue of expression;
channel of creativity
headaches
upper back
skin rashes
Blocks
inability to assimilate something new
direction in life
burdens
stubbornness; refusal to see other side
swallowed anger; refusal to change
self-criticism; invalidating the self
lack of emotional support; holding back
love; feeling unloved
irritation, anxiety, fear

THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

* THERAPEUTIC GOALS
 Initial goal is for clients to expand their awareness of what they are experiencing in the
present moment. Through this awareness, change automatically occurs.
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 Awareness usually involves insight and sometimes introspection, but for gestalt
approach, self-acceptance, knowledge of the environment, responsibility for choices, and
the ability to make contact with their field (a dynamic system of interrelationships) and
the people in it are important awareness processes and goals, all of which are based on a
here-and-now experiencing that is always changing.
o Clients are expected to do their own seeing, feeling, sensing, and interpreting, as
opposed to waiting passively for the therapist to provide them with insights and
answers.

* THERAPIST’S FUNCTION AND ROLE

 ROLE: To invite clients into an active partnership where they can learn about
themselves by adapting an experiential attitude toward life in which they try out new
behaviors and notice what happens.
– allow client to experiment/try out new behavior
o Therapists use active methods and personal engagement with clients to increase
their awareness, freedom and self-regulation rather than directing them toward
preset goals.
o Therapists value self-discovery and assume that clients can discover for themselves
the ways in which they block or interrupt their awareness and experience.
 FUNCTION: Paying attention to clients’ body language. These nonverbal cues provide
rich information as they often represent feelings of which the client is unaware.
– focus on client’s feelings, body language, verbalizations
“body dialogue” – pain in the body may be telling something about him/her

o Places emphasis on the relationship between language patterns and personality.

Clients’ speech patterns are often an expression of their feelings, thoughts and
attitudes.
 Examples of aspects of language that Gestalt therapists might focus on
(pp 221 – 222)
 “It” talk
 “You” talk
 Questions
 Language that denies power
 Listening to clients’ metaphors
 Listening for language that uncovers a story

Example: “It” talk ‘It is difficult to make friends’

- ask the client to substitute “I” to “It”
‘I have difficulty making friends’
Role of Counselor :
-analyze whether language patterns of clients make them
detach to their feelings, and encourage them to rephrase it

* CLIENT’S EXPERIENCE IN THERAPY

 Clients are active participants who make their own interpretations and meanings. It is
they who increase awareness and decide what they will or will not do with their personal
meaning.
3-Stage Integration Sequence that characterizes client growth in therapy
 1st stage – Discovery
o Reach new realization about themselves
  acquire a new look at an old situation or may take a new
look at some significant person in their lives
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 2nd stage – Accommodation

o Involves clients’ recognizing that they have a choice
 begin by trying out new behaviors in the supportive
environment of the therapy office – gain skill in coping
with negative situations

 3rd stage – Assimilation

o Involves clients’ learning how to influence their environment
 clients feel capable of dealing with the surprises they
encounter in everyday living
e.g. a stand on a critical issue

* RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THERAPIST AND CLIENT

 Therapist are responsible for the quality of their presence, for knowing themselves and
the client, and for remaining open to the client.
 They are also responsible for establishing and maintaining a therapeutic atmosphere that
will foster a spirit of work on the client’s part.
 Therapists share their personal experience and stories in relevant and appropriate ways.
Further, they give feedback that allows clients to develop an awareness of what they are
actually doing.
o Importance of therapists knowing themselves and being therapeutic instruments; to
use their own experiences as essential ingredients in the therapy process. Like
artists who need to be in touch with what they are painting, therapists are artistic
participants in the creation of new life.

* THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES

 THE EXPERIEMENT IN GESTALT THERAPY
o Exercises – ready-made techniques that are sometimes used to make something
happen in a therapy session or to achieve a goal.

o Experiments – grow out of interaction between client and therapists and they
emerge within this dialogue process.
 Gestalt therapy are considered experiments and clients hear the message,
“try this out and see what it is like for you”.
 Gestalt experiments are a creative adventure and a way in which
clients can express themselves behaviorally.
 It is a collaborative process with full participation of the client.
 It is aimed at facilitating a client’s ability to work through the stuck
points of his or her life.
 Experiments bring struggles to life by inviting clients to enact them in
the present. It is crucial that experiments be tailored to each
individual and used in a timely and appropriate manner.

* PREPARING CLIENTS FOR GESTALT EXPERIMENTS

 It is important for counselors to personally experience the power of gestalt experiments
and to feel comfortable suggesting them to clients.
 It is also essential to establish a relationship with their clients so that clients will feel
trusting enough to participate in the learning that can result from the experiments.
  Gestalt experiments work best when the therapist is respectful of the client’s cultural
background and is in good contact with the person.
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 Therapists need to understand that for clients with a long history of containing their
feelings, they will most likely be reluctant to participate in experiments that are likely to
bring their emotions to the surface.
 Gestalt experiments are designed to expand their clients’ awareness and to help them try
out new modes of behavior.

THE ROLE OF CONFRONTATION

* Does not have to be viewed as a harsh attack
o Can be done in such a way that clients cooperate, especially when they are invited
to examine their behaviors, attitudes and thoughts.
o Does not have to be aimed at weaknesses or negative traits, clients can be
challenged to recognize how they are blocking their strengths.

GESTALT THERAPY INTERVENTION/METHODS

1. THE INTERNAL DIALOGUE EXERCISE
o Topdog versus Underdog
Examples:
very righteous victim role, defensive, weak,
authoritarian, critical, bossy always helpless, apologetic
impulsive one in you versus responsible one in you
 these ought to have a dialogue through an “empty chair” technique
-given a chance to express2 sides of himself

2. MAKING THE ROUNDS

o Involves asking a person in a group to go up to others in the group and either speak
or to do something with each person
o The purpose is to confront, to risk, to disclose the self, to experiment with new
behavior, and to grow and change.
o Any number of exercises could be invented to help individuals involve themselves
and choose to work on the things that keep them frozen in fear.
Example:
Go around and say to each one “I don’t trust you because …

3. THE REVERSAL EXERCISE

o 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.
Examples:
 One is “excessively timid”
Reverse: the person will act like an exhibitionist
 One is “sugary sweet”
Reverse typical behavior and act as negative as he should be

4. THE REHEARSAL EXERCISE

o Oftentimes we get stuck rehearsing silently to ourselves so that we will gain
acceptance
 Example:
 Conflict in the past – client replay /rehearse it
 Allows client to be more assertive, courage to do
what he/she wants to do
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5. THE EXAGGERATION EXERCISE

o Aim is for clients to become more aware of the subtle signals and cues they are
sending though body language
o Movements, gestures, postures are exaggerated
Examples:
 Trembling (to express fear)
 Slouching (to express boredom)

6. STAYING WITH THE FEELING

o Therapist may urge clients to stay with their feeling and encourage them to go
deeper into the feeling or behavior they wish to avoid
Examples:
 Loneliness – client will tend to avoid this feeling
 Counselor – ask him to : feel lonely” (stay with the feeling)

7. DREAMWORK
o Does not interpret and analyze dreams
 The intent is to bring dreams back to life and relive them as though they
were happening now
 Instruct client that each element of the dream will have a dialogue/scripts for
encounters between the various characters or parts
 Element in the dream – projected part of self
 Allowed to be alive during the session
o It may represent an unfinished situation
o Every dream consist of existential messages about oneself and current existence

APPLICATION TO GROUP COUNSELING

 Gestalt therapy is well suited for a group context
o Encourages direct experience and actions as opposed to merely talking about
conflicts, problems and feelings.
o If members have anxieties pertaining to some future event, they can enact these
future concerns in the present.
o Moving from talking about the action is often done by the use of experiments in a
group.

SOME CAUTIONS
o Therapists may use powerful techniques to stir up feelings and open up problems
clients have kept from full awareness, only to abandon the clients once they have
managed to have a dramatic catharsis. Such a failure to stay with clients and help
them work through what they have experienced and bring some closure to the
experience can be detrimental and could be considered as unethical practice.
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