GESTALT THERAPY

INTRODUCTION

Frederick S. (Fritz)
Perls
[1893-1970]

- Born in Berlin in a
lower-middle class
family
- Worked with Kurt
Goldstein at the
Goldstein Institute for
Brain-Damaged
Soldiers
- Established the New
York Institute for
Gestalt Therapy in
1952

INTRODUCTION

Gestalt Therapy
(Fritz Perls and his wife Laura 1940s)
An existential/phenomenological approach based
on the premise that people must find their own
way in life and accept personal responsibility
if they hope to achieve maturity.

INTRODUCTION

Goal:
Make the clients
gain awareness
of what they are

I ca
cha n
ng
e!

.
m
I a s ib l e
n
po
res

experiencing
and doing

lfin
Se tand
ers
d
g
un

INTRODUCTION
Phenomenological
- Focuses on the clients perception of reality
Existential
- Grounded on the here and now and emphasizes
that each person is responsible for his or her own
destiny
Experiential
- Clients come to grip with what and how they are
thinking, feeling and doing as they interact with
therapist

INTRODUCTION
Freud

Perls

Mechanistic

Holistic approach

Repressed conflicts
from childhood

Present situation

Content

Process

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

Individuals can deal with their life

problems themselves, especially if they
are fully aware of what is happening in

and around them.

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

Gestalt Theory of Change:
The more we attempt to be who or what we are
not, the more we remain the same.

Beissers (1970) Paradoxical Theory of

Change:

We change when we become aware of what

we are, as opposed of trying to become
what we are not.

THE NOW
E. Polster and Polster (1973) Power is in the
present

Pas
t
Mistakes

What
could
have been
done

Future
Present

Resolutio
ns
Plans

THE NOW
Making contact with the present
- Gestalt therapists ask what and how
questions but rarely asks why questions
- Intensification of feelings
- Bringing the fantasy here

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Unexpressed feelings such as

resentment, rage, hatred, pain, anxiety,
grief, guilt, and abandonment.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

E. Polster and Polster (1973)

These incomplete directions do seek
completion and when they get powerful enough,
the individual is beset with preoccupation,

compulsive behavior, wariness, oppressive

energy, and much self-defeating behavior.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
According to Perls, resentment is the most frequent
and worst kind of unfinished business.
My
mother
doesnt
love me.

Resentment

Ia
ad m
e n
en qua ot
fo oug te
rh h
er
.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
I am
still
no
sati t
sfie
d.

Resentment

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Impasse or stuck point

is a situation which individuals believe that they
are unable to support themselves and thus
seek external support. They manipulate their
environment by playing roles of weakness,
helplessness, stupidity, and foolishness.

avoidance
This refers to the means people use
to keep themselves from facing
unfinished business and from
experiencing the uncomfortable
emotions associated with unfinished
situations.

Journaling
Therapy
Support groups
Pastoral counseling
A talk with a close friend

Layers of
Neurosis

LAYERS OF NEUROSIS
Phony layer
Phobic layer
Impasse layer
Implosive layer
Explosive layer

PHONY LAYER

stereotypical and inauthentic

pretend to be something we are not, play

games
consists of the roles that we play
we try to actualize a concept and try to be
something else because we dont like what we
are.
Top DogandUnder Dog

PHOBIC LAYER
fears keep us from seeing ourselves
avoid recognizing aspects of ourselves,
prefer to deny, fear of rejection,
humiliation
attempting to avoid the emotional pain
that is associated with seeing aspects of
ourselves that we would prefer to deny.

IMPASSE LAYER
we give up our power
we are stuck, dont think we can do
anything differently
most critical level
a stage of helplessness, "stuckness"
and confusion about how to proceed.

IMPLOSIVE LAYER
we fully experience our deadness
The individual recognizes aspects of
self-limitation and unfinished business
from the past.
Defenses
are
lowered,
ecrativity
emerges,
and
progress
towards
integration occurs.

EXPLOSIVE LAYER
we let go of phony roles
The indivdual experiences authentic
integration and wholeness
More capable of feeling and expressing
emotion; and can move with more
energy towards self-actualization.

CONTACT AND
RESISTANCES TO
CONTACT

 Contact is made by seeing, hearing,

smelling, touching, and moving.
Effective contact means interacting
with nature and with other people
without losing ones sense of
individuality.
Prerequisites for good contact are
clear awareness, full energy, and the
ability to express oneself (Zinker,
1978).

RESISTANCES TO
CONTACT

Introjection
Projection
Retroection
Deection
Conuence

Introjection
is the tendency to uncritically
accept
others
beliefs
and
standards without assimilating
them to make them congruent
with who we are.

Projection
is the reverse of introjection.
In projection we disown
certain aspects of ourselves
by assigning them to the
environment.

Retroection
consists of turning back onto
ourselves what we would like to
do to someone else or doing to
ourselves what we would like
someone else to do to or for us.

Deection
is the process of distraction
or veering off, so that it is
difficult
to
maintain
a
sustained sense of contact.

Conuence

involves
blurring
the
differentiation between the
self and the environment.

Energy and
Blocks to
Energy

Blocked energy is another form of

defensive behavior.
It can be manifested by tension in some
part of the body, by posture, by keeping
ones body tight and closed, by not
breathing deeply, by looking away from
people when speaking to avoid contact, by
choking off sensations, by numbing
feelings, and by speaking with a restricted
voice, to mention only a few.

One of the tasks of the

help clients identify the
they are blocking energy
this blocked energy into
behaviors.

therapist is to
ways in which
and transform
more adaptive

Clients can be encouraged to recognize

how their resistance is being expressed in
their body.

C
I
T

U
Y
E
P
P A

A HER

T
T
ER
L
A

THE S T
G

A
O
G

LS

MAIN AIM
The basic goal of Gestalt therapy is attaining awareness and, with it,
greater choice and responsibility. This therapy helps clients note their own
awareness process so that they can be responsible and can selectively and
discriminatingly make choices.

Therapeutic Goals

Also, through a creative involvement in Gestalt

process, the clients will Zinker (1978):

move toward increased awareness of themselves

gradually assume ownership of their experience
develop skills and acquire values that will allow them to satisfy their
needs without violating the rights of others
become aware of all of their senses
learn to accept responsibility for what they do
move from outside support toward increasing internal support
be able to ask for and get help from others and to give to others

Therapeutic Goals

N
FU

S
'
T
S
I
P LE A P Y
A
R
E
R
O
E R TH
TH NDT A L T
AGES

O
I
CT

They focus on the client's feelings, awareness at the moment,

body messages, energy, avoidance, and blocks to awareness. The
therapist functions as a guide and a catalyst, presents experiments,
and shares observations. It is also his job to create a climate in
which the clients are likely to try out new ways of being.

Therapist's Function and

Role

An important function of the Gestalt therapist is paying attention

to the client's body language. These nonverbal cues provide rich
information. The therapist also places emphasis on the relationship
between language patterns and personality. Following are some
examples of the aspects of language that the Gestalt therapist might
focus on:

Therapist's Function and

Role

"It" talk
When clients say "it" instead of "I", they are using depersonalizing
language. The counselor may ask them to substitute personal pronouns for
impersonal ones so that they will assume an increased sense of
responsibility.
===

"You" talk
The counselor will point out generalized use of "you" and ask the client to
substitute "I" when this is what it meant.
===

Questions
counselors often ask clients to change their questions into statements.

Therapist's Function and

Role

Language that denies power

Some clients have a tendency to deny their personal power by adding
qualifiers or disclaimers to their statements such as "but". Often what
follows a "but" serves to discount the first part of the statement. The
counselor may point out to clients how certain qualifiers subtract from
their effectiveness.
===

Listening to a client's metaphors

by paying attention to metaphors, the therapist gets rich clues to a client's
internal struggles. The art of therapy consists of translating the meaning of
these metaphors into manifest content so that they can be dealt with in
therapy.

Therapist's Function and

Role

Listening for language that uncovers a story

Clients often use language that is elusive yet give significant clues to a story
that illustrates their life struggles. The therapist must learn to pick out a
small part of what someone says and then focus on and develop this
element.

Therapist's Function and

Role

CLIENT'S EXPERIENCE
IN THE THERAPY
Gestalt Therapy

Clients are active participants who make their

own interpretations and meanings. It is they
who increase awareness and decide what they
will or will not do with their personal
meaning.

THE CLIENT

THE CLIENT
Miriam Polster (1978) describes a three-stage

integration sequence that characterizes client growth in

therapy:
1. Discovery - clients are likely to reach a new
realization about themselves or to acquire a novel view of
an old situation
2. Accommodation - clients recognize that they have a
choice. They are not bound tightly to one course, but there
are alternative ways of behaving.
3. Assimilation - clients learn how to influence their
environment. They feel capable of dealing with the
surprises they encounter in everyday living.

RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THERAPIST
AND CLIENT

Therapist
do not interpret for
clients but assist
them in developing
the means to make
their own
interpretations
they give feedback,
particularly on what
clients are doing
with their body

Client
is expected to identify
and work on
unfinished business
from the past that
interferes with
current functioning
re-experiences past
traumatic situations
as though they were
occurring in the
present

Therapeutic Techniques and Procedures

APPLICATION

THE EXPERIMENT
Experiments encourage spontaneity and
inventiveness by bringing the possibilities for action
directly into the therapy session. These experiments
can take into many forms.

THE EXPERIMENT
imagining a threatening future encounter
setting up a dialogue between a client and a significant
person in his life
dramatizing the memory of a painful event
reliving a particularly profound early experience in the
present
assuming the identity of one's mother or father through
role playing
focusing on gestures, posture, and other nonverbal
signs of inner expression
carrying a dialogue between two conflicting aspects
within the person

GUIDELINES
Counselors should be sensitive enough to know
when to leave the client alone.
The counselor must be sensitive in introducing
Gestalt experiments at the right time.
The nature of the experiment depends on the
individual's problems, experience, and the life
experiences that both the client and the therapist
bring to the session.

GUIDELINES
Experiments require the client's active role in selfexploration.
The therapist must be respectful of the client's
cultural background and is in good contact with the
person.
If counselors meet with hesitation, it is a good idea
to explore its meaning for the client.
It is important that counselors be flexible in using
techniques.

GUIDELINES
Counselors should be ready to scale down tasks so
that the clients have a good chance to succeed in
their efforts.
The counselor must learn which experiments can
be best practiced in the session itself and which can
best be performed outside.

THE ROLE OF
CONFRONTATION
Confrontation in Gestalt Therapy can be done in
such a way that clients cooperate, especially
when they are invited to examine their behaviors,

does not have to

be aimed at weaknesses or negative
traits; clients can be challenged to recognize the
attitudes, and thoughts. It

ways in which they are blocking their strengths and

are not fully living as fully as they might.

TECHNIQUES OF
GESTALT THERAPY

THE DIALOGUE EXERCISE

Gestalt therapists
pay close attention
to splits in
personality
function. A main
division is between
the "top dog" and
the "underdog".
empty-chair
technique

MAKING THE ROUNDS

asking a person in
a group to go up to
others in the group
and either speak to
or do something
with each
to confront, to
risk, to disclose the
self, to experiment
with new behavior,
and to grow and
change.

"I TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR..."

The therapist
may ask the
client to make a
statement and
then add, "and I
take
responsibility for
it".
Clients recognize
and accept their
feelings.

PLAYING THE PROJECTION

The therapist asks
the person who
says "I can't trust
you" to play the
role of the
unworthy personthat is to become
the other-in order
to discover the
degree in which
the distrust is an
inner confl ict.

THE REVERSAL TECHNIQUE

The therapist could
ask a person who
claims to suff er
from severe
inhibitions and
excessive timidity
to play the role of
an exhibitionist.
to accept certain
personal attributes
that they have

THE REHEARSAL EXERCISE

We rehearse in
fantasy for the role
we think we are
expected to play in
the society.
Clients become
more aware of how
they try to meet the
expectations of
others, of the degree
to which they want
to be approved,
accepted, and liked.

THE EXAGGERATION EXERCISE

Client is asked to
exaggerate the
movement or
gesture
repeatedly, which
usually intensifi es
the feeling
attached to the
behavior and
makes the inner
meaning clearer.

STAYING WITH THE FEELING

At key moments
when a client
refers to a feeling
or a mood that is
unpleasant and
from which he or
she has a great
urge to fl ee, the
therapist urges the
client to stay with,
or retain the
feeling.

APPROACH TO DREAM WORK

does not
interpret and
analyze the
dream
brings the dream
back to life and
relive it as
though it was
happening now

Contributions of Gestalt
Therapy

Contributions
Clients are able to increase their

awareness of what they are

experiencing in the present moment.
Clients discover new facets of
themselves
Exciting way in which the past is dealt
with in a lively manner by bringing
relevant aspects into the present

Contributions
Practitioners challenge clients in the

creative ways to become aware of and

work with issues.
Paying attention to the obvious verbal and
nonverbal leads provided by the client in
the useful way to approach a counseling
session.
Practitioners can assist people heightening
their present- centred awareness of what
they are thinking and feeling.

Limitations of Gestalt Therapy

Limitations
A few practitioners and
theorists view Gestalt
therapy as being limited in
relation to more serious
forms of psychological
dysfunction, known as the
psychoses and those troubles
which are explained as
personality disorders. On
the other hand, others, take
a contrasting position and
declare that Gestalt therapy
is chiefly helpful for treating
personality disorders.

Limitations
Another most important limitation is

associated to the fact that a Gestalt

therapist uses his/her own person as a
therapeutic medium for change.
The eagerness of a Gestalt therapist to
be available during the therapeutic
contact needs strong individual
dedication to put up with to the theory
of Gestalt therapy and a greater level of
personal perception.

Prepared by:
Balasoto, Rosellnica
Gongon, Noli Spencer
Lagac, Jeremiah
Raiz, Kristine Kaye
Salonga, Sharleen Faye
Sisayan, Desiree
III-9 BS Psychology