Psych 406 Unit 10 Gestalt Therapy

Front 1

Fritz Perls 2 agendas

Back 1

a) Move client from environmental support to self support.
b) Reintegrate disowned parts of personality.

Front 2

xvi. Theory of change:

Back 2

a) The more we attempt to be who we are not, the more we remain the same.
Therapist not a change agent, but helper in finding awareness of part of self from which client is alienated.

Front 3

Time focus

Back 3

Here and now. Polster and Polster wrote "The New Ethos" power in present.

Front 4

Experiential focus

Back 4

Client sad? Help them feel in in the moment: now.

Front 5

Major Emphases

Back 5

The Here and now
Direct Experiencing
Awareness
Bring unfinished business from past to present
Dealing with impasses
Energy (within client) and blocks to it
Contact (lifeblood of growth) and resistances to it
Body work
Nonverbal cues

Front 6

Five major channels of resistance

Back 6

Introjection: uncritical acceptance of others beliefs
Projection: reverse of introjection. Assign aspects of self to environment/others
Retroflection: doing to self what we want to do to others, or we want someone elese to do to us.
Confluence: blurring between self/environment. Stay safe by blending in
Deflection: distraction to prevent sense of contact. Too much humor, abstract generalizations, questions instead of statements

Front 7

Basic principles

Back 7

Holism
Field theory
Figure formation process
Organismic self-regulation

Front 8

Holism

Back 8

all of nature is coherent whole, diff from sum of parts. Must see all dimensions of human functionng

Front 9

Field theory

Back 9

Organism must be seen in its invironment/context: part of changing field.
Everything is relational, in flux, interrelated and in process.
Look at boundary between person and environment.

Front 10

Figure formation process

Back 10

How individual organizes environment from moment to moment.
Undifferentiated field = background/ground
Emerging focus of attention is the figure.
Track how some aspects of environ. Field emerge from background to become focal point.

Front 11

Organismic self regulation

Back 11

Process which disturbed equilibrium by emergence of a need, sensation, or interest.
Individuals can make contacts to maintain/restore equilibrium/help growth.

Front 12

Goals of GT

Back 12

Attain awareness/greater choice. Know environment/self, accepting both, making contact.
Clients need awareness process to be responsible/choose for selves (comes from I/Thou relationship)
Recognize denied aspects of self.

Front 13

Therapist's role:

Back 13

I/thou relationship
Observe forground and background
Comfortable climate
Watch body language
Words/emotions match?
Gently challenge
Presence
Authentic dialogue
Gentleness
No interpretation: focus on what and how of behavior
Fritz: be a catalyst. Polsters: must be more than a catalyst. Must put your whole self into it.

Front 14

Language tools used

Back 14

It talk
You talk
Questions
Language that denies power
Client metaphors
Uncover stories
Be careful to not make them feel scrutinized

Front 15

It talk

Back 15

Depersonalizes. "It is hard" instead of "I have a hard time."

Front 16

You talk

Back 16

Generalizes the subject. Hides the person

Front 17

Questions

Back 17

Hides quesioner. Change Qs into statements. Client must assume responsibility for staements

Front 18

Language denying power:

Back 18

Eliminate "maybe, perhaps, sort of , I guess, etc." I can't implies I won't

Front 19

Listen to metaphors

Back 19

Good tool for finding internal struggles. ie. "This sesseion put me thru a meat grinder!" "What's it like going thru one of those?" "Who doing the grinding?"

Front 20

Uncover stories

Back 20

"Fleshing out a flash." Pick a small part and develop that element.

Front 21

Client's role

Back 21

Find truth thru experience with therapist, not interpretation

Front 22

Miriam Polster's three stage integration sequence

Back 22

a) Discovery: new realization about self.
b) Accommodation: recognize you have a choice. Try new behavior in office, then in the world. Often awkward
c) Assimilation: client learning how to influence environment: client feels capable of dealing with surprises. Now may take stands, improve, improvise. “Improvisation is confidence that comes from knowledge and skills.”

Front 23

Foreground

Back 23

Client experiences

Front 24

Background

Back 24

Therapist's experience

Front 25

Relationship b/w Client and therapist

Back 25

Person to person: therapist maintains presence, but does not manipulate.
Both are artistic participants in creating a new life.
Since Fritz death in 1970: softening. More focus on quality of relationship, dialogue, empathic attunement, tapping client wisdom, field theory and phenomenology.

Front 26

Paradoxical theory of change

Back 26

The more one tries to be who one is not, the more one stays the same. People must acknowledge their whole self, they must make contact with themselves and with their environment. Then ,we have all of our personal resources available to us for interaction with the environment and, if necessary, change.

Front 27

Experiment forms

Back 27

Setting up dialogue b/w blient and significant other,
assuming ID of key figure thru role playing,
reliving painful event,
exaggerating gesture, posture, or nonverbal mannerisms, or
dialogue between conflicting opinions of the client.

Front 28

Confrontation

Back 28

Fritz was highly confrontational. Now, "sustained empathic inquiry combined with crisp, lear and relevant awareness focusing."

Front 29

Three therapy styles (according to who?)

Back 29

Imposing: therapist has agenda. Expert, evaluate, diagnose, etc.
Competing stance: ethos of regged individualism. Dange of negotiation.
Confirming stance: therapist want to see whole being of client. Moment of confirmation: clients needs become center.

Front 30

Interventions (Exercises)

Back 30

Internal Dialogue Exercise
Making the rounds
The Reversal Exercise
The Rehearsal Exercise
The Exaggeration Exercise
Staying with the Feeling
The Gestalt Approach to Dream Work

Front 31

Internal Dialogue approach

Back 31

Splits in personality function: focus on war between top dog and underdog.
Top dog: righteous, authoritatriant, moralistic, bossy, etc.
Underdog manipulates: plays role of victim: defensive, apologetic, helpless, etc
Roots in introjection: incorporating aspects of others in one’s ego system. Clients must become aware of these.
Empty chair technique: two chairs. Sit in one and be the top dog. Sit in the other and be the underdog. Client plays all parts. Introjects can surface
Objective: accept and live with the polarities

Front 32

Making the Rounds

Back 32

Speak to or do something with each person in the group. Confront, risk, disclose self, experiemtn, grow and change.
Example: “I can’t trust the rest of the group.” “Are you willing to do something right now to get self more invested and gain trust/self-0confidence?” Yes?” “Go around to each person and finish this sentence: ‘What makes it hard for me to trust you is . . . “

Front 33

Reversal Exercise

Back 33

Someone who is always sugary sweet could try reversing her typical style and be as negative as possible.
Make contact with parts of self that are submerged and denied.

Front 34

The Rehearsal Exercise

Back 34

Share internal rehearsals out loud with a therapist. Become aware of trying to bolster social roles, attempts to meet expectations of others, etc.

Front 35

Exaggeration Exercise

Back 35

Body language. Exaggerate movement repeatedly. Intensifies the feeling, helps identify the meaning.

Front 36

Staying with the Feeling

Back 36

Urge clients to stay with unvomfortable feelings
Go deeper
Attempt to unblock self and make way for new levels of growth.

Front 37

Gestalt Dream Work

Back 37

Dream acted out in present. Dreamer becomes a part of his or her dream.
List details, remember each person, event, mood, etc. Become each of these parts.
Projection: according to Perls, every object in the dream reps projected aspect of dreamer.
Dreams are “royal road to integration”
Fritz: dream is most spontaneous expression of existence of the human being. Represents unfinished situation, but also existential message regarding self and current struggle.

Front 38

contact

Back 38

Proces of interacting with nature and others without loosing sense of individuality. Made by seeing, hearing, semlling, touching and moving.

Front 39

dream work

Back 39

Dreams acted out in present. Dreamer becomes part of his or her dreams. List details, remember each person, event, mood, etc. Become and act out each of those parts. According to Perls, every object in the dream represernts a projected aspect of the dreamer. Freud said dreams are "royal road to the unconscious." Fritz said "royal road to integration." Dreams rep unfinished situation, and existential message regarding self and current struggle.

Front 40

exaggeration exercise

Back 40

Notice body language, then exaggerate it repeatedly. Itensifies the feeling, helps identify the meaning.

Front 41

exercises (techniques) versus experiments

Back 41

Exercises are ready made techniques designed to act as catalysts (ie. Exaggeration exercise). Experiements grow spontaneously from interaction between client and therapist.

Front 42

field theory

Back 42

Organism must be seen in its environment and context: part of an ever changing field. Everything is relationship, in flux, interrelated and in proces. Look at boundary between the person and the environment.

Front 43

holism

Back 43

Al of nature seen as coherent whole, different from the sum of its parts. Consider all dimensions of human functioning. No aspect of a person is more important than another.

Front 44

I/Thou dialogue

Back 44

I/it is relationship to time and space. I/Thou is relationship allowing connection of self to spirit. The relationship then, is a paradigm of the human self. Includes direct, meaningful, present interaction.

Front 45

internal dialogue exercise (empty chair technique)

Back 45

Two chairs: client sits in one to be the top do. Sits in the other to be the underdog. Plays all parts. Objective is to get introjections to surface, to recognize, accept, and live with polarities.. Top do is righteous, authoritarian, moralistic, bossy, etc. Underdog manipulates: plays role of citim, defensive, apologetic, helpless, etc.

Front 46

layers of neurosis

Back 46

I DON'T REMEMBER THIS FROM ANYWHERE IN THE TEXT

Front 47

making the rounds

Back 47

Speak to or do something with each person in the group. Confront, risk, disclose self, experiment, grow and change.

Front 48

rehearsal exercise

Back 48

Share internal rehearsals out lout with therapist.Become aware of what they are doing (ie. Bolstering social roles, attempts to meet expectations of others, etc).

Front 49

resistances to contact

Back 49

5 major channels: introjection, projection, retroflection, confluence, deflection

Front 50

reversal technique

Back 50

Reverse typical roles. E.g. Someone who is always sugary sweet invited to be as negative as possible for a while, so as to recognize, accept, and live with both sides of themselves.

Front 51

staying with the feeling

Back 51

Encouraging clients to stick with uncomfortable feelings that they mention. Invite them to go deeper, wrestle with it, and ultimately attempt to unblock themselves and make way for new levels of growth

Front 52

the “now ethos”

Back 52

Polsters: power is in present. Focus on past or future drains from present moment. Talk about what happening now, how experiencing emotions in the moment. Therapist helps to make contact with this "now" experience more vividly. Client sad? Help them reexperience sadness now. Experiemtns help become more aware of feelings. If unfinished business in the past that is relevant, bring it into present "bring the fantasy here." Client therapist relationship key.

Front 53

unfinished business

Back 53

Manifest through unexpressed feelings like resentment, rage, hatred, etc lingering in the background, interfering with effective contact with self and others. Must be dealt with. Oft appear with blockage in the body. UB seeks completion, can cause preoccupation, compulsive behavior, wariness, oppressive energy and self defeating behavior.

Front 54

Experiential therapy

Back 54

clients grip what they think, feel and do as interacting with therapist.

Front 55

Client/ther relationship

Back 55

Growth through I/Thou relationship, not techniques.

Front 56

From EXISTENTIAL THERAPY, NOT GESTALT: Existential Guilt

Back 56

awareness of having chosen not to choose. We are not what we could be.