Application of gestalt

therapy in counseling
Gestalt counselors main function is to
facilitate the client’s awareness in the “now”.
Awareness – capacity to focus, to attend,
and to be in touch with the present.
Counselor is an aggressive therapist who
frustrates the learner’s attempt to break out
of the awareness of here and now. Client’s
attempts to retreat to the past or jump into
the future is stopped by the counselor.
Perls – the founder of gestalt therapy often
used sarcasm, humor, drama, and shock to
rouse people from neurosis. Gestalt therapy
was a search for a workable solution in the
present. Counselor assists the client in
experimenting with authentic new behaviors,
rather, rather than to explain and maintain
the unhelpful or harmful behaviors of the
past.
Gestalt techniques
To maintain the present-time orientation of
the counseling interview the counselor uses
several language, game, and fantasy
methods.
“I” language – encourage use of the word I
when the client uses a generalized you
when talking.
Substituting Won’t for Can’t – the client tries
on the “shoes” for comfort, substituting “I
won’t pass math” for “ I can’t pass math”.
Substituting what and how for why – e.g.
“How do you feel about what you are
doing?” “What are you doing with your foot
as we talk about your behavior?”
No gossiping – if the client must talk about
someone who is not present in the room, let
the talk, all in the present, be directed to an
empty chair e.g. a student might say, “I think
you treat me unfairly, Ms Clark. I wish you
would be as nice to me as you are to the
other kids.”
The student can then move to the other
chair and answer for Ms Clark, “Joan, I
would find it easier to like you if you would
be more helpful to me during the day.” this
dialogue would continue until the student
finished her complaint and the anticipated
responses from her teacher.
Changing questions into statements – by
doing this the client will be more authentic
and direct in expressing his/her thoughts
and feelings.
Taking responsibility – clients are asked to
fill in sentence blanks as another way of
examining personal responsibility for the
way they manage their lives e.g. “Right now
I’m feeling _______, and I take ______
percent responsibility for how I feel.”
Incomplete sentences – through this clients
can become aware of how they help and
hurt themselves e.g. “I help myself when I
_______, or “I block or hurt myself when I
______.”
Bipolarities – Perl applies the term differential
thinking to the concept of thinking in terms of
opposites. An example of competing polarities is
“I should” versus “I want.”
Top dog versus underdog – one of the most
common bipolarities is what Perls (1969) labeled
top dog and underdog. The top dog is righteous,
authoritarian, and knows best. The top dog is a
bully and works with “you should” and “you
should not”. The underdog manipulates by being
defensive or apologetic, wheedling, playing
crybaby.
Underdog works with “I want” and make excuses
such as “I try hard” and “I have good intentions.”
The underdog position appeals to the pleasure-
seeking side of our personality.
Two chairs can be used to help the client resolve
“I want” versus “I should.” One chair is labeled
the top dog (I should) and the other the
underdog (I want). Clients are asked to present
their best “I should” argument while sitting in the
top dog chair and facing the empty underdog
chair.
After completing the presentation of the first
I should argument points, the client moves
to the underdog chair to counter with “I
want” argument. Debate continues back and
forth until the client completes all arguments
from both points of view. The best outcomes
from the top dog-underdog debate occur
when clients can identify areas in their lives
where the shoulds and wants agree; e.g. “I
love to read and I should read.”
The empty chair technique.
It is used to resolve conflict between people
or within a person. The client sits in one
chair; playing his or her part; then the client
can sit in the other chair, playing out the
projection of what the other person is saying
or doing in response. Similarly, the client
may sit in one chair to discuss the pros of
making a decision, and then argue the cons
of the decision while sitting in the opposite
chair.
My greatest weakness.
Clients are asked to name their greatest
weakness and write a short paragraph on
how this weakness is really their greatest
strength. The counselor made the client
realize that he/she control the weakness
rather than vice versa.
Resent, demand, and appreciate: the integration
of opposing thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
The client is made to list three people to whom
they are closest and, for each of them, write one
thing he/she resent about the person, one thing
he/she demand, and one thing he/she
appreciate. This exercise makes the client more
aware of the mixed feelings he/she has about
others, how it is possible to resent and
appreciate a person at the same time, and how
opposing thoughts and feelings can be
integrated.
Fantasy games for creating awareness.
These can be great fun for children of all ages
while enabling them to become aware of their
present feelings. It is carried out as a group
activity where the children choose an animal
they would like to be, and move around as they
think this animal would. Then they sit in pairs
and discuss what they would feel if they were
this particular animal. They will write stories
about how they would feel, think, and behave if
they were actually the animal.
Dreamwork.
Dreaming is a way of becoming aware of the
world in the here and now; the content of dreams
always relates to one’s survival, well-being, and
growth. Through this technique, the counselor
helped the clients overcome impasses in their
lives. Gestalt approach is concerned with
integration rather than analysis of dreams.
Integration involves consciously reliving a dream,
taking responsibility for being the objects and
people in the dream, and becoming aware of the
messages the dream holds.
THANK YOU