Received 04/26/19

Revised 03/31/20
Accepted 04/10/20
DOI: 10.1002/johc.12145

Using Gestalt Techniques to

Promote Meaning Making
in Trauma Survivors
Laura CopLEy and JoLynn Carney

♦ ♦ ♦

Researchers traditionally focus on harmful effects of traumatic events without examining

potential transformative outcomes. We highlight posttraumatic growth (PTG) as an outcome,
aligning with a humanistic approach that embodies a strength-based perspective and nurtur-
ing of human capacity. We propose a trauma-informed framework using gestalt techniques
to promote correctional experiences and meaning making found in PTG.
Keywords: trauma, humanistic, meaning making, posttraumatic growth, gestalt
♦ ♦ ♦

A growing body of research on the detrimental effects of traumatic

experiences has led to escalating demands for trauma-informed counselors
who are both knowledgeable of appropriate treatment approaches and
effective in their ability to implement such interventions. Recognizing that
human connection is one experience that promotes comfort and direction
after a distressing experience, counselors are in a crucial position to offer
an interpersonal channel to help clients explore their suffering in a safe,
therapeutic way that nurtures positive transformation. Many counselors,
unfortunately, continue to provide treatment without a clear understanding
of these effective practices (Ogden et al., 2006). One reason behind this
limitation in the counseling profession is the reality that research on human
suffering and adversity has traditionally focused on the deleterious effects
of trauma to the exclusion of potential positive outcomes, such as meaning
and purpose. We propose that gestalt counseling could easily support the
concept of meaning making in trauma counseling, and we provide an
example framework of how to use gestalt techniques in a trauma-informed
way to address this limitation and encourage positive posttrauma outcomes.
Meaning making has been defined as the most powerful driving force
that inspires humans to find purpose in life (Marshall & Marshall, 2012).

Laura Copley, Aurora Counseling and Well-Being, Harrisonburg, Virginia; JoLynn Carney, Department
of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education, The Pennsylvania State University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Laura Copley, Aurora Counseling
and Well-Being, 57 South Main Street, Suite 412, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (email: LauraCopley@
aurora-counseling.com).

© 2020 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved.

Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59 201
It is built on the concept of logotherapy, an approach developed by Viktor
Frankl and influenced by his experiences surviving Holocaust concentration
camps. Frankl (1946/2006) developed his key theory and chronicled his
own experiences to demonstrate how humans can overcome trauma and
find purpose and meaning. Frankl explained that meaning can be cultivated
by creating work or doing a deed, by fully experiencing something or en-
countering someone, and by the attitude people take toward unavoidable
suffering. When suffering is inevitable, it is possible to find meaning in it
by recognizing how people can reclaim their sense of agency and respon-
sibility, and by facing the tension between who trauma survivors think
they are and what they can become (Bellin, 2017; Fisher, 2017). A gestalt
framework can include the experiential interventions necessary to promote
self-responsibility and self-agency, which are vital topics to explore when
cultivating posttraumatic growth (PTG; Clarkson & Cavicchia, 2014).

LITERATURE REVIEW

A powerful collective shift in mental health practice, research, and policy

occurred over recent decades (Wilson et al., 2015). Positive psychology became
a new paradigm to study identity formation constructs, such as flourishing,
happiness, and meaning. The science and practice of improving well-being
can be combined with trauma-informed care and interpersonal neurobiology
and considered collectively as a novel branch of scholarship (Lomas et al.,
2015). Including topics of well-being in the study of trauma-informed care
enhances the understanding of the neurobiological and psychosocial effects
trauma has on an individual’s sense of self (Nelson et al., 2014).
Trauma-informed care is a treatment framework that involves recognizing
and responding to the physical, psychological, and emotional outcomes of
traumatic experiences while helping survivors cultivate self-agency and
empowerment (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administra-
tion, 2014; Van der Kolk, 2003). Mental health professionals often focus on
identity as the origins of self-agency, the container of experience, and the
motivator of autonomy and invulnerability (Jordan, 2017). Approaching
identity in this way can, unfortunately, promote an identity of failure,
fear, or weakness in those who have been traumatized as they begin to
see others as having power over them. Trauma survivors begin perceiving
the external world and interpersonal relationships as unsafe, which con-
tributes to a disrupted worldview and loss of security and stability. They
often find themselves in a disorienting state in which the different parts
of their identity are fragmented and their sense of meaning is disrupted
(Van der Kolk, 2014).
The limitation of many traditional talk therapies is that they often focus
on verbally recounting the explicit and content-based components of trauma
instead of working with the internal disconnect and reactive patterns that
can keep the trauma alive. Talk therapies are often insufficient in integrating

202 Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59

the survivors’ narrative experiences to their body-felt, emotional sensations
that happen during counseling in a way that is strength based and ground-
ing for the client (Ogden et al., 2006). Using talk therapy to focus solely
on the content of the trauma and on establishing power, autonomy, and
desensitization toward others can easily instill a paranoid expectation in
traumatized clients, reinforcing the thought that the world is unsafe, that
relationships are dangerous, and that they must have power over others
to prevent being exploited (Ogden et al., 2006).
Several effective evidence-based approaches for working with trauma,
including somatic experiencing, sensorimotor psychotherapy, internal
family systems, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, all
incorporate experiential interventions that address the internal disconnect
and reactive patterns trauma survivors often express (Ogden et al., 2006;
Payne et al., 2015; Schwartz, 2013; Shapiro & Laliotis, 2010). Although
experiential and body-oriented interventions are vital in trauma-informed
care, trauma survivors may also need to eventually cultivate ways to move
beyond the body’s reactions and explore potential positive posttrauma
outcomes. Using a gestalt framework, which can include the necessary
experiential interventions while also incorporating topics such as meaning
and purpose, can possibly promote PTG in trauma survivors.
Jordan (2017) indicated that therapeutic work on the self should explore
how individuals encounter other people, experience engagement and
interactional activity, and move toward their potential for deep personal
change. Professionals using humanistic approaches (i.e., gestalt) can take
on such an empowering perspective by emphasizing people’s innate po-
tential for growth and their ability to reestablish meaning in their lives
(Schacter et al., 2011). Such a holistic approach can improve resilience by
addressing the link between cognitive thought and body sensation, with
the objective of improving all dimensions of personal wellness (Mynatt
et al., 2014). It is in this therapeutic space that a client can begin moving
from a fragmented worldview to a more integrated sense of self through
the process of meaning making.

The Fragmented Self

Complex interpersonal trauma, such as repeated abuse or maltreatment

by another individual, violates people’s natural inclination to form
healthy connections with others (Van der Kolk, 2014). The compounded
psychological and physiological effects of repeated trauma exposure can
lead to emotional, behavioral, physiological, and perceptual problems
throughout one’s life, including problems with dissociation, memory
integration, and relationship isolation (Christopher, 2004; Kliethermes
& Wamser, 2012; Mikulincer et al., 2014). Survivors of trauma can report
fragmenting experiences, including a flooding of thoughts, somatizations,
and emotions, or a sense of being unaware of the environment and not

Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59 203

being present in their bodies (Ferentz, 2014; Wilkinson, 2003). The result
is that individuals may develop co-occurring mood disorders and/or poor
coping strategies to deal with their symptoms (Ferentz, 2014; Fisher, 2017).
With the multilevel negative impacts of trauma clearly demonstrated in
many trauma survivors, it is not surprising that the literature and practice
of trauma-informed care have given heavy emphasis to trauma pathology
and the fragmented self. An essential shift in trauma literature has recently
occurred, however, around the concept of transformative growth as a post-
trauma outcome (Bayer et al., 2007; Calhoun & Tedeschi 2004; Zeligman
et al., 2017). PTG is the phenomenon of creating meaning from traumatic
suffering and making positive, transformational changes to the emotional
and cognitive conceptualizations of one’s identity, life trajectory, and the
world in which one lives (Janoff-Bulman, 2006).
On the basis of empirical investigations and clinical experience on PTG,
Tedeschi and Calhoun (2004) developed the functional-descriptive model
(FDM) to understand how traumatic events disrupt individuals’ life trajec-
tories, causing emotional distress and forcing a reconceptualization of their
identity, purpose, connection with others, and value systems. Researchers
have studied the pathways to PTG and reported several key findings. Trauma
survivors, for example, can develop strength through suffering, thereby
increasing their ability to initiate existential reevaluation and experience
psychological preparedness (Janoff-Bulman, 2006). They search for meaning
through mastery and control over the events in their lives, which supports
improved self-esteem. Engaging in cognitive processing for reconstructing
core beliefs appears to also be a key (Tedeschi & McNally, 2011).
Despite being the most empirically supported model to describe posi-
tive posttrauma outcomes (Joseph & Linley, 2006), the FDM (Tedeschi &
Calhoun, 1996, 2004) fails to adequately address the role of new corrective
learning experiences that promote meaning. The clinical counseling profes-
sion continues to expand its understanding of the implications of trauma
on human beings (Ferentz, 2014; Van der Kolk, 2014); however, studies
have yet to adequately establish the mechanisms that contribute most to
the development of PTG (Zeligman et al., 2017).

Connection With Humanism and Identity

The experiential nature of humanistic theory provides the helpful and hopeful
theoretical foundation from which to understand and treat trauma in order
to facilitate PTG. The core beliefs of humanistic counseling are grounded in
the concepts of personal meaning and well-being and a universal ideology
that all beings have purpose in the world (Gerig, 2013; Vereen et al., 2014,
2017). The problem-focused, pathological trend in mental health research
is a concern for humanist scholars whose foundational principles are cen-
tered around subjective experiences and human potential. Hansen et al.
(2014) called for more profound humanistic scholarship and theoretically
influenced, innovative counseling methods to address this concern.

204 Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59

 Researchers who focus on the subjective human experience should by
no means aim to eliminate reductive practices and objective data science
(Dewell & Foose, 2017). The aim instead is to improve and build on scien-
tific inquiry that currently is unable to adequately capture psychological
phenomena (Dewell & Foose, 2017; McLaughlin, 2019). For example, hu-
manistic topics such as meaning in life are empirically supported constructs
that improve overall well-being and deserve future examination (Siegel
& Solomon, 2013). We respond to this call by integrating a humanistic
framework in trauma-informed care, specifically by using the therapeutic
relationship as a corrective experience and adopting creative techniques
from gestalt counseling as a means of inspiring meaning making as a posi-
tive posttrauma outcome.
Corrective experiences. Castonguay and Hill (2012) defined corrective experi-
ences as the events that challenge a client’s fear and expectations and result
in new outcomes. Clients often experience these events as breakthroughs
in their efforts to learn new behaviors, connect to others in healthier ways,
adopt a more positive view of self, and accept emotions that they once
perceived as unacceptable. Originally used as a strategy by psychoanalysts
to deliberately alter clients’ perception by providing a purposeful contrast-
ing experience to their expectations (Alexander & French, 1946), corrective
experiences now play a central role in transformative processes fostered in
different forms of psychotherapy.
Corrective experiences are new, interoceptive events organically gener-
ated within the context of a safe relationship that physically and emotion-
ally contradict traumatic experiences of fear, helplessness, and feeling
overwhelmed (Payne et al., 2015). The therapeutic relationship is deemed
the most influential feature in humanistic counseling that can promote
understanding of such subjective contexts (Bohart & Watson, 2011; Scholl
et al., 2012; Wampold, 2001). The therapeutic relationship can also be a
channel to initiate the meaning-making process needed for PTG. It is the
responsibility of humanistic counselors to recognize and value the individual
identities unique to each client, including the client’s strengths, needs, sense
of purpose, cultural ways of coping, and innate ability to seek resilience
(Goodman & Calderon, 2012; Scholl et al., 2014). Traumatized clients, in
particular, need this alliance to safely engage trauma-informed treatment,
freely explore their present-moment internal experiences, and reveal the
deep emotional and cognitive effects of the trauma.
Gestalt counseling. Using a humanistic therapeutic approach that focuses
on emotional and cognitive processes enhances the likelihood of creating a
corrective interpersonal experience while moving the client toward PTG and
meaning making. Gestalt counseling originated in the existential-humanistic
tradition; the German word “gestalt” roughly translates to “the whole form”
and can be used to conceptualize a useful pattern or configuration (Clarkson
& Cavicchia, 2014). Counselors who utilize gestalt techniques give focus
to aspects of client experiences, such as bringing present-moment aware-
ness to thoughts and feelings connected to memories while simultaneously

Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59 205

recognizing that clients are more than these individual experiences (Taylor,
2014). Clients learn to create a whole identity that combines their internal
and external experiences in the presence of a newly forming therapeutic
relationship. Processing these isolated experiences from a more integrated
perspective provides a corrective experience helpful in healing the frag-
mented self and enhances the possibility of self-actualization (Clarkson &
Cavicchia, 2014).
Helping clients learn ways to move flexibly and creatively between experi-
ences and the whole self is at the core of gestalt work (Taylor, 2004). Gestalt
counselors incorporate strategies to encourage awareness of the whole
self and the human capacity for self-actualization that empower clients
to make healthy choices for their lives and move forward with purpose
(Kramer et al., 2014). The process emphasizes clients’ innate potential to
determine their own abilities and actualize their goals in life (Scholl et al.,
2012). Clarkson and Cavicchia (2014) described this process as a means of
gaining natural completion and insight into the relationship between the
past and the future.
The derived meaning of gestalt offers a sense that one’s life is a web of
reactions, insights, and connections that matter (Siegel & Solomon, 2013).
Current emotional and cognitive patterns make sense to trauma survivors
once they gain insight into how their needs were unmet in the past. Finally,
the powerful meaning making of one’s interpersonal reactions and patterns
can lead to resolution of the incongruences of the present and potential
future (Clarkson & Cavicchia, 2014; Kramer et al., 2014).
A gestalt-inspired approach provides a holistic and positive conceptual-
ization of development of the self, a view that is specifically beneficial in
understanding the complex experiences of traumatized clients. Perceptions
and interactions are changed by deepening and revealing alternative ways
of thinking and experiencing (Stevenson, 2016). Trauma survivors need these
experiential strategies in counseling to engage in conscious noticing of the
present-moment trauma patterns and alternative ways of self-expression
that augment the trauma-informed talk-therapy approaches (Daitch, 2007).
Incorporating gestalt concepts with the multilevel neurobiological and
psychosocial considerations of trauma-informed care creates a necessary
integrative-humanistic trauma framework to help treat the disconnection
and fragmentation experienced by trauma survivors (Fisher, 2017). This
approach emphasizes the body-felt and relational aspects of PTG and
meaning making of which all humans are capable. We provide a four-stage
trauma counseling framework that identifies evidence-based tasks within
each stage to produce an example of trauma-informed considerations using
gestalt counseling:

Stage 1: Discover one’s emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and relational

patterns as they relate to a specific memory or event.
Stage 2: Process how these patterns are still present and being used in
one’s current life.

206 Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59

 Stage 3: Identify the ways in which these more authentic internal ex-
periences can be channeled in a healthier way and integrated into
one’s identity.
Stage 4: Explore how one can fully accept who one is as a complex and
resilient human being and embrace the potential of who he or she
can become.

GESTALT COUNSELING FOR PTG

Humans have an inherent ability to find solutions to life problems while

constantly learning and self-actualizing (Rogers et al., 2013). Self-awareness
is the gateway to this process. Gestalt counseling can bring attention to
the present moment, help clients take personal responsibility for their life,
and address the unfinished business that disrupts their life today. Gestalt
counselors use a variety of effective strategies and exercises to help clients
gain new perspectives on their life and enhance self-awareness (Clarkson
& Cavicchia, 2014; Taylor, 2014).
The four-stage trauma counseling framework we provide as an example
of how to use gestalt counseling in trauma-informed care nurtures the
corrective experiences clients need to attain meaning making as a positive
posttrauma outcome. The exercises addressed within each stage are heavily
inspired by gestalt counseling and help to increase one’s self-awareness
by bringing internal conflicts to the surface and moving the client forward
with intentionality and purpose.

Stage 1

Stage 1 involves discovering one’s emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and

relational patterns as they relate to a specific memory or event. Trauma
survivors often see their life in two separate parts: (a) an idealized version
before the traumatic event and (b) their seemingly hopeless and dangerous
existence after the traumatic event (Kasiram & Khosa, 2008). Traumatic
events can be so horrifying and threatening that they may temporarily or
permanently alter one’s emotional coping skills and biological threat per-
ceptions (Levine, 2010). It is not uncommon for clients to isolate themselves
socially, report a sense of constant fear, or refuse to engage in activities
that once brought them joy. For trauma clients, the stable world they once
knew becomes unsafe, filled with stressors and triggers that could prompt
flashbacks and highly charged emotional memories (Ferentz, 2014). New
emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and relational patterns emerge as a con-
sequence of trauma. Greenberg (2010) recommended bringing awareness to
these trauma patterns by increasing one’s capacity to intentionally access,
experience, and express one’s emotional and cognitive reactions.
Dialoguing. Identifying and exploring the emergence of the problem at the
cognitive, affective, behavioral, and relational level can be done in a variety
of ways using gestalt approaches (Simkin, 1976). Dialoguing involves more

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than prompting clients to regurgitate the content of their trauma narrative
as in traditional talk therapy. Gestalt counselors incorporate creative expres-
sion in their dialogues, such as singing, dancing, laughing together, and
working with creative physical material. Becoming aware of one’s needs
through these outlets is considered the healing path in gestalt counseling
(Greenberg & Rice, 1997). Having multiple outlets for self-expression helps
clients gain a different perspective of their story while experiencing the
present moment more fully. Through dialoguing, the trauma survivor and
the counselor create a cathartic opportunity to safely establish a new con-
nection with another and reexperience the trauma in a more grounded way.
There is empirical support from measured patterns of brain activity that
a warm, genuine, and attentive therapeutic relationship promotes positive
changes in a client after a traumatic experience (Myers & Young, 2012).
Initiating this connection through unique and creative dialoguing with a
client provides the opportunity to express thoughts and feelings in a new
way (Wagner-Moore, 2004). This dialoguing through creative expression
and engagement helps trauma survivors put their body-felt experiences
into movements and words to become more aware of and better manage
their feelings, recognize and validate their thoughts, and facilitate
adaptive action.
Exaggeration. Gestures, facial expressions, and reactive posturing can
reflect the emotions attached to a thought or memory. Gestalt counselors
recognize body language as one of the best ways to grasp the impact trauma
has on a client’s life. A common gestalt strategy is to focus on the body-felt
sense of what is happening in the body (Lilienfeld, 2007). It is important to
recognize, however, that clients with trauma histories may be especially at
risk for becoming emotionally flooded. The dilemma for counselors is how
to safely access the sensory information around a trauma without overly
stimulating or flooding the client’s system.
The body stores a wealth of information that is expressed as body-felt
sensations (Levine, 2010). The gestalt technique of exaggeration is one
method that can be used to help clients safely explore these sensations
in a controlled way. For traumatic memories to be transformed into a
meaning-making narrative, one’s emotional sensations and cognitive
interpretations of the event need to be activated and experientially
accessed (Foa et al., 2010). Guiding the client to safe exposure to feared
stimuli can be achieved by exaggerating bodily sensations through
elaborated facial expressions and gestures in a controlled therapeutic
environment (Cozolino, 2017; Davis et al., 2015). To bring deeper self-
awareness of these experiences and body language to the client, the
gestalt counselor prompts the client to repeatedly perform the observed
nonverbal gesture in an exaggerated manner. Clients can then use this
intensified expression to acknowledge their internal reexperiencing
of emotions, impulses, and perceptions connected to past traumas
(Greenberg, 2010). The counselor and client work together to discover
what this particular behavior is communicating.

208 Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59

 The full expression of a thought or emotion through an exaggeration
exercise aids in accessing one’s true interpretations and the personal impact
of a trauma (Payne et al., 2015). Elliott et al. (2004) indicated that emotions
are the primary motivational system activated during the forming and
rupturing of attachment bonds. Counselors can use this knowledge to
implement techniques that eventually desensitize clients enough to safely
and confidently explore the impact of the trauma and validate their internal
struggle and needs. This information can help counselors lead clients into
the next state of their own unique adaptive functioning, helping them take
actions to resolve unfinished business (Taylor, 2014) and create personal
meaning of their experiences.

Stage 2

In Stage 2, clients process how the patterns in Stage 1 are still present and
being used in their current life. Phenomenology of meaning in gestalt
counseling is found within the relation between the figure and background,
specifically what stands out to an individual and the context of the obser-
vation (Wagner-Moore, 2004). This phenomenological pattern, when born
of a traumatic past, emphasizes an individual’s need to survive a situation
wherein limited resources existed (Novack et al., 2013). It is not uncommon
for individuals with traumatic histories to develop reactive patterns that
trigger stimuli in their current life that can affect them both physiologically
and psychologically, even if they are not in any immediate threat (Taylor,
2014). Patterns of trauma reactivity can include flashbacks, heightened
outbursts, physical distress, dissociation, and avoidance behaviors (Fisher,
2017), all of which serve important functions in the trauma survivor’s life.
It is imperative that counselors address the ways in which these patterns
are manifesting in the client’s life and how these patterns may be both
serving and sabotaging the client.
Orientation to the here-and-now. Gestalt counseling is unique compared
with many other forms of counseling because it does not focus on one’s
traumatic past directly to treat trauma symptoms. The primary aim of
gestalt counseling is to focus on the process of counseling and the relation-
ships being created, specifically what is happening between the client and
counselor in the present moment (Yontef & Simkin, 1989). Maintaining a
present-moment focus can help the counselor and client attend to both
the client’s lived experience and the counselor’s reactions to the client
(Novack et al., 2013).
Traumatized individuals traditionally struggle with accessing, expressing,
or discussing emotions because they have developed defense mechanisms
and coping skills to protect themselves from reliving certain vulnerable
memories (Taylor, 2014). Clients learn to observe and identify trauma pat-
terns through the guidance of counselors and explore how these trauma
patterns affect the process of interacting with the world around them in the
here-and-now (Wagner-Moore, 2004). A counselor who is not present and

Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59 209

not aware of the clients’ experiences in the counseling room or his or her
own responses to the clients would be unlikely to uncover vital information
about how clients approach the world around them and interact in other
relationships (Yontef, 2007).
Reversal. Trauma survivors often experience disruptions in their ability to
achieve emotional awareness, emotional regulation, and emotional trans-
formation or resolution (Mikulincer et al., 2014). Highly developed defense
mechanisms and survival instincts that in many ways have protected a
client from revisiting disturbing traumatic memories are also keeping a
client stuck in their trauma patterns (Schwartz, 2013). Counselors who
use a gestalt approach often find role-play interventions helpful in under-
standing how and why trauma patterns are present in a client’s life and
how to bring awareness to emotions (Wagner-Moore, 2004). The gestalt
technique of reversal involves facing something that is causing distress
or keeping one in a triggered state. The counselor identifies the trauma
patterns within the therapeutic relationship and then prompts the client
to act out the behaviors or traits that are the exact opposite of what the
automatic response has typically been.
Creative gestalt interventions, such as the reversal strategy, have been
shown to help clients become more fully aware of what they have been
denying or avoiding (Greenberg & Rice, 1997). Clients are now given per-
mission to safely explore and release a different, possibly more authentic
response by reversing the patterns that have often blocked or prevented
sensations, thoughts, or resolutions from being expressed in the past.
Reversal helps the client practice an alternative way of experiencing the
stimuli, trigger, and response pattern.
Instead of avoiding internal experiences, trauma clients are often
encouraged to explore uncomfortable or unpleasant emotions in the
moment to identify how these feelings affect their daily lives (Schwartz,
2013). Gestalt counselors help clients safely explore their trauma emotions
by prompting them to stay with and explore the undesirable feeling (Taylor,
2014). This may be a new and threatening concept to trauma survivors who
have learned to escape such sensory experiences. Clients can ultimately
learn to observe what is happening in a more controlled and curious way,
allowing for deeper reflection to promote growth and change. Experiencing
uncomfortable emotions while simultaneously knowing one is safe in a
therapeutic setting reassures clients that having awareness of their emotions
and bodily sensations is not inherently dangerous.

Stage 3

Stage 3 involves identifying ways in which more authentic internal experi-

ences can be integrated into one’s identity in a healthier and more helpful
way. Part of the human experience is learning how to integrate one’s emo-
tional experiences, cognitive perceptions, motivational needs, and belief
systems. A healthy self-identity can incorporate multiple parts that are

210 Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59

dialectically constructed through the development of continuously changing
and adapting schemas (Elliott et al., 2004). It can be a challenge for trauma
survivors to understand the multiplicity of their parts, and it can be a struggle
to organize their schemas flexibly and adaptively (Schwartz, 2013). Becom-
ing reacquainted with their sensory experiences sets the stage to learning
new ways to emotionally regulate a once fragmented traumatized system.
A trauma-informed framework would be incomplete without address-
ing the potential feelings of shame and loss. The presence of shame and
loss is an indicator that there is unfinished business in the processing and
resolution of traumatic experiences (Cloitre et al., 2012). Trauma survivors
often have internal polarities resulting from past incomplete experiences in
which they were unable to resolve or escape a traumatic event. Revisiting
unfinished experiences in counseling addresses an integral gestalt principle
that significant unmet needs replay in various patterns in other relationships
and, therefore, do not completely recede from one’s awareness.
Trauma survivors can both long for and fear close, intimate connections
at the same time (Siegel, 2017). This internal conflict frequently prevents
deep relationships from being formed, thus increasing the likelihood of
experiencing shame and unfinished business. Rehearsing a new way to
handle interpersonal dynamics that can bring closure to old trauma pat-
terns increases control over one’s own perspectives, roles, and expectations
of one’s current life.
The empty-chair technique is a powerful gestalt exercise that evokes meaning-
ful reflection of potential unfinished business stemming from traumatizing
attachment wounds (Wagner-Moore, 2004). Trauma survivors visualize an
individual or object in the opposite chair that represents an unresolved dy-
namic. Examples could include someone from a client’s life, a past or future
version of one’s self, or an aspect of one’s own personality. By alternating
dialogue between one’s self and taking on the reverse role as the opposing
entity, the trauma survivor is able to process the unresolved issues, express
unspoken thoughts and feelings, and bring resolution to a disrupted dynamic.
Working with the empty chair often reveals emotions or personality traits
that one has denied or attempted to disown (Taylor, 2014).
Gestalt counselors often work with polarities as a way of processing con-
flicting struggles and enhancing emotional regulation. Trauma survivors
often experience polarities in fragmented ways and struggle to reconcile
their internal experiences, which ultimately lead to a dysregulated state
(Fisher, 2017). Gestalt counselors take the stance that opposing emotions or
thoughts are equally valid and worth exploring. Exploration of the duality
of a situation gives recognition to both parts and how each part can provide
valuable information needed to handle the circumstance.

Stage 4

In Stage 4, clients explore how they can fully accept who they are as com-
plex and resilient human beings and embrace the potential of who they

Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59 211

can become. The word “gestalt” refers to a whole pattern or configuration
(Paterson, 1986). Gestalt counselors aim to reconstruct the perceived du-
alities of mind and body, body and soul, thinking and feeling, and feeling
and action. According to psychiatrist and psychotherapist Fritz Perls (see
Novack et al., 2013; Seligman, 2006; Stevenson, 2016), people are not simply
made up of these separate components but ultimately function as a whole.
Incorporating this idea into a trauma-informed framework allows trauma
survivors to define their sense of self by how they implement boundaries
and choose to respond to environmental interactions.
Exploring and accepting one’s reactive, protective, and survival parts
that developed over years of social learning and attachment injuries is
vital to self-actualizing as a complex and resilient human being. Trauma
survivors learn to live intentionally and resourcefully by accepting how
these dynamic aspects help them manage relationships and survive the
world around them (Schwartz, 2013). The goal of wholeness and integra-
tion is center to trauma-informed care and gestalt counseling. Wholeness
represents the entire experience of thought and emotion as a unit that works
together rather than as separate parts (Seligman, 2006).
Awareness. One achieves a sense of wholeness through the process of
integration, recognizing how aspects of one’s self fit together and serve a
function. Trauma survivors often experience a more fragmented reality and
seek mental health treatment to help better navigate the fragmented parts
as an integrated whole (Schwartz, 2013). Counselors guide clients toward
a restored internal balance and relationship to their external environment
through development of their sensations, impulses, and navigating beliefs.
A hallmark of healthy individuals and goal of treatment is the ability for
individuals to become aware of their thoughts and emotional reactions
and how these aspects of the self may interact with the world around them
(Seligman, 2006).
Trauma survivors may find themselves in such an emotional storm that
they may perceive their feeling as out of control. As important as emotions
are in providing individuals with valuable information and intimately con-
necting with others, emotions can also lead individuals down destructive
paths. Gestalt counselors help clients slow down their cognitive, emotional,
and action patterns through mindful awareness (Taylor, 2014). Clients may
ask themselves: What is this sensation asking me to do? How is this im-
pulse serving me? How could this emotion lead to a sabotaging behavior?
Is there an alternative way I can express what I need that will be more
effective? Awareness helps individuals become conscious of their internal
state, helping them self-regulate and approach life in a more grounded way.
Integration of parts. One can live more meaningfully by living intention-
ally. Meaning in life is an empirically validated psychological construct
that enhances well-being (Bellin, 2013, 2017). The process of examining
and understanding one’s reactions sets the foundation to live a more
present and intentional life. Gestalt strategies that focus on experiential
interventions and awareness of parts can help clients experience emotions

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and sensations in a way that is tolerable and manageable. Counselors can
facilitate the integration of various parts of the self by helping trauma
survivors examine and experience both the limitations and the benefits of
their reactive instincts and impulses (Schwartz, 2013). Trauma survivors
who experience a more holistic and integrated sense of self will develop
more freedom and choice in their life.
Freedom from one’s past and choice for one’s future are goals the gestalt
counselor has for the client (Novack et al., 2013). Trauma can be the cata-
lyst to learning new ways of coping that can be important and meaningful
to one’s identity. Integration allows trauma survivors to maintain their
coping skills and survival instincts while increasing the likelihood that
trauma survivors will use their skills and instincts intentionally instead
of reflexively reacting from a traumatic trigger.
A newfound sense of control and self-agency is inspired when one inte-
grates the parts (Davis et al., 2015; Fisher, 2017). Clients often report that
traumatic experiences from the past feel more manageable and less engrained
in their day-to-day life. It is not uncommon for clients to eventually realize
that the trauma is something that happened to them and no longer defines
them. Clients also recognize how their learned behaviors can be channeled
in a valuable way (Schwartz, 2013). This is a crucial moment when clients
unlock the ability to make positive changes. Gestalt counseling can be used
to access this sense of power and motivation and direct it toward creating
a more satisfying life with new patterns that correct and heal old trauma
cycles (Novack et al., 2013; Stevenson, 2016).

DISCUSSION

The trauma-informed framework guided by gestalt counseling focuses on

creating new meaning in life through the process of identifying trauma pat-
terns, observing trauma patterns in action, channeling internal experiences
and reactions in a healthier and more intentional way, and transforming
into a more integrated and self-actualized being. Miller and Thoresen (2006)
acknowledged that this transformation process is a dialectically immersive
and transcendent experience. It can occur through intentional acts of creating
opportunity as well as through accidental discoveries of meaning. Gestalt
counseling serves as a framework to intentionally guide clients through
stages of transformation by integrating opportunities for deep experien-
tial exercises that evoke profound change, reflection, and meaning. It also
nurtures the development of meaning making by encouraging clients to
find hope in their future and a sense of connection in the here and now, a
dichotomy identified by Bellin (2013).
Integrating gestalt counseling into trauma-informed care provides clients
opportunities to reflect on their experiences in new ways and initiates
valuable direction toward integration and wholeness. A richer awareness
of being occurs in this holistic state. Trauma clients will have a more solid
sense of who they are, what they overcame, and what they are capable of.

Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59 213

Meaning can, therefore, be achieved as clients now have the wisdom to
use their experiences and internal resources intentionally, channeling their
parts in a more resilient and transformed way.
Bellin (2017) found that meaning is not simply what clients aim to
accomplish, but a deeper reminder from their worldly experience that
they are fully alive. Trauma survivors demonstrate this revelation as PTG
advances, clarifying their values, using their voice to express them, and
changing the way they live their life. For example, trauma survivors might
acknowledge that what is meaningful to their being is the importance of
using their voice to express their boundaries, ask for what they want,
and speak out against mistreatment. Meaning making as a result of deep
reflection, encountering trauma parts, and channeling the self from an
integrating state connects individuals to their own being, leading to a
clearer and intentional sense of purpose.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The experiential and phenomenological nature of gestalt counseling pro-

motes the mind-body, present-moment awareness known to help clients
integrate their psychological and biological experiences in a safe way
(Odgen et al., 2006; Payne et al., 2015). There is some empirical research to
support gestalt counseling and its techniques in treating various disorders.
Some findings suggest that gestalt counseling is equal to or more effective
than other therapies with long-term stable effects (Corsini & Wedding,
2000). Greater focus is needed, however, on the trauma population and
the phenomenon of PTG.
It remains unclear to researchers how to explicitly understand the internal
disruption and fragmentation born out of unresolved trauma that affects
the development of meaning making. Current research and clinical prac-
tice have not adequately established the empirical effectiveness of using
a gestalt-inspired approach in nurturing PTG despite theoretical support.
More evidence is needed to support how corrective experiences can promote
new possibilities and meaning making in trauma survivors (Castonguay &
Hill, 2012). It is also important to honor the distinct experiences and needs
of various diverse groups in regard to therapeutic approaches and how
these groups conceptualize meaning in life.
Many future research considerations are needed to study gestalt therapy
as an approach to PTG. Meaning making as a positive posttrauma outcome
specifically requires quantitative and qualitative investigation. Research
can enhance understanding of the factors that contribute to positive change
in clients with a trauma history. The phenomenon of PTG can be studied
among various demographics through evaluation measurements to uncover
possible factors that contribute to the development of PTSD or PTG.
Exploring how relationships can be corrective experiences that promote
PTG could yield important findings in both quantitative and qualitative
research. Researchers could also study the immediate in-session or

214 Journal of HUMANISTIC COUNSELING ◆ October 2020 ◆ Volume 59

postsession effects of integrating the mentioned gestalt interventions in
counseling along with other experimental techniques typical in gestalt
counseling. There is a clear need for outcome studies with trauma
survivors who have participated in experiential counseling, including
gestalt counseling. Knowing the therapeutic trajectory and outcomes to
be expected from working with PTG and meaning-making factors might
prove valuable for a trauma-informed counselor.

CONCLUSION

In this article, we offered a theoretical link between corrective experiences

cultivated through a gestalt-inspired approach and meaning making for
positive posttrauma outcomes. The dynamic and creative nature of gestalt
counseling provides an opportunity for individuals to process relational
patterns and practice new skills, allowing survivors of interpersonal
trauma to confront and explore their wounds in new ways. Clients can
encounter necessary corrective experiences with their counselors that offer
deep reparation and meaning making. The value in conceptualizing mean-
ing making through a humanistic theoretical orientation is that it allows
trauma to be explored and experienced through a multidimensional lens
(Cavazos et al., 2017), which is required for trauma-informed care because
trauma affects the formation of the self and the personal narrative of one’s
multifaceted identity.

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