Gestalt therapy

Gestalt therapy emphasizes what it calls "organismic holism," the importance of

being aware of the here and now and accepting responsibility for yourself.
Existential therapy focuses on free will, self-determination and the search for
meaning.
Originated in Frankfurt ,Germany
• Gestalt theory emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than
the sum of its parts. That is, the attributes of the whole are not
deducible from analysis of the parts in isolation. The word Gestalt is
used in modern German to mean the way a thing has been “placed,”
or “put together.” There is no exact equivalent in English.
Postulates of Gestalt
• The whole is primary and has properties different from sum of its
parts
• The whole dominates the part and is the primary reality.
• The whole is not the sum, product or even a simple function of its
parts but whose character depends upon itself .
• Personality – P=T+F+B
• Detailed organization and inter-relationship of things
• Centralistic, importance of organization in memory
• Accepted introspection but changed its character .
 Features of Gestalt therapy
• Laws of science were laws of systems.
• The whole in psychology like physics or chemistry required laws of its own.
Psychology needs to do the same.
• Phenomenological - phenomenology is the study of “phenomena”:
appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways
we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience.
Phenomenology studies conscious experience as experienced from the
subjective or first person point of view .
• Overuse of past experience as an explanatory concept or therapeutic change
of a person
• Learning and problem solving as restructuring of the perceptual field
The key concepts of gestalt therapy
• Figure and ground – person and behavior are separate. Position and
behavior
• Balance and polarities – splits within, with others or between wants
• Awareness – partial vs total. What is happening now? What do you
experience as I say this
• Present ‐ centeredness
• Unfinished business – with significant others , with yourself
• Personal responsibility
• Internal processing occurs through focusing inwards .
• Gestalt therapy seeks to resolve the conflicts and ambiguities that
result from the failure to integrate features of the personality. The
goal of Gestalt therapy is to teach people to become aware of
significant sensations within themselves and their environment so
that they respond fully and reasonably to situations.
• Gestalt Therapy rejects the dualities of mind and body, body and soul,
thinking and feeling, and feeling and action. According to Perls,
people are not made up of separate components, this is, mind, body
and soul, rather human beings function as a whole.
Essentials concepts of a gestalt session
• Therapeutic contract
• Owning an aspect of the self you haven’t accepted /owned /are not
aware of
• Top dog / underdog are trying to compete within and see the
contradiction within
• Take personal responsibility – from it to I
• Role of imagination - role reversal
• Exaggeration makes you see the absurdity of the situation
• Comfort and discomfort
• Gestalt's theory of change is known as the paradoxical theory of
change because it is based on the apparently paradoxical premise that
people change by becoming more fully themselves not by trying to
make themselves be something or someone they are not: 'Change
occurs when one becomes what he is, not when he tries to be
someone else .
What is unfinished business in psychology?

• in therapy and counseling, the personal experiences that have been

blocked or tasks that have been avoided because of feared emotional
or interpersonal effects.
• In Gestalt psychology when any aspect of one’s life is left hanging it is
called unfinished business. Some common experiences that are
attached to unfinished business are abuse suffered at the hands of
primary caregivers, difficult endings of romantic relationships, and
deaths of important people.
• I am the younger daughter of my father.
• My father died suddenly six years ago. He and I had a disturbing
relationship. He always wanted a boy and never stopped telling me that. I
tried being a boy for him but never succeeded .
• He always preferred my sister over me.
• He has left his property to her but I don’t care and won’t fight her.
• My mother always tried to assure me I am wrong in thinking like this but I
know in my heart I was right. She also died recently but her death is not so
painful
• I am filled with pain and anger as I am filled with these thoughts as to how
my father discriminated against me all his life.
• What can she do to bring closure in this relationship?
• My ex boyfriend moved away suddenly three years ago. We had dated for
five years. I supported him through his education.
• He left me for who was my best friend. She lived in Canada and when he
went there on a business trip, he met her and they told me they have
become a couple. He only said sorry once.
• I lost three things. My best friends and my trust in the world.
• I have painful thoughts of them even now.
• They are married and haven’t tried to contact me. She only once asked
me to move on in life.
• How can I find closure from my painful thoughts?
• Take total responsibility for yourself. It's ultimately up to you to take
the necessary actions to help move you forward.
• Grieve the loss. Take plenty of time to do this.
• Gather your strengths.
• Make a plan for the immediate future. Determine what's most
important for you moving forward.
• Create a ritual.