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26 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Founders of Gestalt Therapy: |
-Fritz and Laura Perls |
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Basic philosophies of Gestalt Therapy: |
-the person strives for wholeness and integration of thinking, feeling, and behaving -the view is nondeterministic: person is viewed as having the capacity to recognize how earlier influences are related to present difficulties -it is an experiential approach that is grounded in the here-and-now and emphasizes personal choice and responsibility |
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The emphasis of Gestalt therapy is: |
-on the "what" and the "how" of experiencing in the here-and-now to help clients accept all aspects of themselves |
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Key principles include: |
-holism -field theory -the figure-formation process -organismic self-regulation -awareness -unfinished business and avoidance -contact -energy |
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What is holism? |
-a foundational principle of Gestalt therapy -all of nature is seen as a unified and coherent whole and the whole is different from the sum of its parts -people can only be understood to the extent that all dimensions of human functioning are taken into consideration -involves attending to a client's thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body, and dreams and the emphasis is on integration of these within the individual |
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What is field theory? |
-it is grounded on the principle that the organism must be seen in its environment, or in its context, as part of the constantly changing field -principle that everything is relational, in flux, interrelated, and in process -involves paying attention to what is occurring at the boundary between person and environment |
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What is the figure-formation process? |
-it describes how the ind. organizes the env. from moment to moment -it tracks how some aspect of the environmental field emerges from the background (the undifferentiated field) and becomes the focal point of the individual's attention (the figure) and interest; the dominant needs of the ind. at any given moment influence this process -is used as a guide for the focus of therapeutic work |
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What is organismic self-regulation? |
-the process by which equilibrium is "disturbed" by the emergence of a need, a sensation, or an interest -in therapy, what emerges for the client is associated with what is of interest or what the client needs to be able to regain a sense of equilibrium |
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The _______is the most significant tense in Gestalt therapy. |
present, "now" |
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What is unfinished business? |
-when figures emerge from the background but are nto completed and resolved -can manifest itself in unexpressed feelings such as resentment, rage, hatred, pain, anxiety, grief, guilt, and abandonment -it persists until the person faces and deals with the unexpressed feelings |
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What is an impasse, or "stuck point"? |
-the time when external support is not available or the customary way of being does not work -the therapist's task is to accompany the client in experiencing this impass without rescuing or frustrating the client |
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Gestalt therapy is based on the notion that |
-individuals have a striving toward actualization and growth and if they accept all aspects of themselves without judging these dimenstions they can begin to think, feel, and act differently |
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What is contact in Gestalt therapy? |
-it is made by seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and moving -effectively, it means interacting with nature and with other people w/out losing one's sense of individuality -it involves clear awareness, full energy, and the ability to express onself |
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The five major channels of resistance to contact dealt with in Gestalt therapy are: |
1. introjection: tendency to uncritically accept others' beliefs and standards w/out assimilating them to make them congruent with who we are 2. projection: when we disown certain aspects of ourselves by assigning them to the environment 3. retroflection: consists of turning back to ourselves what we would like to do to someone else or doing to ourselves what we would like someone else to do to us 4. confluence: blurring of the differentiation between self and environment 5. deflection: process of distraction so that it is difficult to maintain a sustained sense of contact using overuse of humor, abstract generalizations, and questions vs. statements |
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Resistance to contact or boundary disturbance: |
-refers to the characteristic styles people employ in their attempts to control their environment -clients are encouraged to become increasingly aware of their dominant style of blocking contact in therapy |
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Goals of Gestalt therapy: |
-to assist clients in gaining awareness of moment-to-moment experiencing -to expand the capacity to make choices -integration, not analysis, is the aim |
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Therapeutic relationship: |
-central importance is given to the I/thou relationship and the quality of the therapist's presence -therapist attitudes & behaviors are more important than techniques -therapist assists clients in developing the means to make own interpretations rather than making interpretations for the clients -clients work on unfinished business from the past that interferes with current functioning |
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Therapeutic techniques include: |
-experiments -confrontation -internal dialogue exercise -making the rounds -the reversal exercise -the rehearsal exercise -the exaggeration exercise -staying with the feeling -Gestalt approach to dream work |
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What is an experiment in Gestalt therapy? |
-it is fundamental to contemporary Gestalt therapy -it is a creative adventure and a way in which clients can express themselves behaviorally -it is spontaneous, one-of-a-kind, and relevant to a particular moment and a particular dev. of a figure-formation process -it is aimed at facilitating a client's ability to work through the stuck points of his or her life |
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The internal dialogue exercise: |
-aimed at bringing to light the conflict between two opposing poles of the personality, the top dog and underdog, that are rooted in the mechanism of introjection, which involves incorporating aspects of the others into one's ego system -the empty chair technique is one way of doing this |
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What is the empty chair technique? |
-the therapist has the client first sit in one chair to play the role of his/her "topdog" and then in the other chair to play the role if his/her "underdog" -this exercise helps clients get in touch with a feeling or a side of themselves that they may be denying |
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What is "making the rounds"? |
-involves asking a person in a group to go up to others in the group and speak or do something with each person -purpose is to confront, to risk, to disclose the self, to experiment with new behavior, and to grow and change |
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What is the reversal exercise? |
-client is asked to do the opposite of something they claim they do/cannot do -e.g. a person who says they are shy is asked to play a role of being more of an exhibitionist |
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What is the rehearsal exercise? |
-client is asked to share their internal rehearsals with their therapist out loud |
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What is the exaggeration exercise? |
-client is asked to exaggerate a symptom or behavior, which inadvertently usually leads to an exaggeration of the feeling behind it |
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What is "staying with the feeling"? |
-client is asked to delve deeper into a feeling brought up in therapy by facing, confronting, and/or talking about the meaning behind the feeling |
