GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

Angelica Solomon
Shana Mae Ngipol

A. GESTALT
 Gestalt is a German word which refers to the total shape of something
 A gestalt, or whole, both includes & transcends the sum of its parts.
 It cannot be understood simply as a sum of smaller, independent events.

B. MAJOR FIGURES, HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 Frederick “Fritz” S. Perls (1893-1970)

 Fritz Perls was the main originator and developer of Gestalt therapy
 Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst & Psychotherapist
 trained in psychoanalysis with Karen Horney & Wilhelm Reich

 Laura Perls(1905-1990)
 Pianist
 Studied with Paul Tillich & Martin Buber
 Psychoanalyst
 Attended law school
 Completed degree in Gestalt psychology
 Doctorate in Science

 SIGMUND FREUD VS. FRITZ PERLS

FREUD PERLS
Freud’s view of human beings is Perls stressed a holistic
basically mechanistic approach to personality
Freud focused on repressed Perls valued examining the
intrapsychic conflicts from early present situation.
childhood

C. GESTALT THERAPY
 Gestalt therapy is an existential, phenomenological, and process-based
approach created on the premise that individuals must be understood in
the context of their ongoing relationship with the environment
 This approach focuses on the here and now, the what and how of
experiencing, the authenticity of the therapist, active dialogic inquiry and
exploration, and the I/Thou of relating

CORNERSTONE of PRACTICE
1. Awareness The initial goal is for clients to expand their
2. Choice awareness of what they are experiencing in the
present moment.
3. Responsibility

Self-acceptance, knowledge of the environment, responsibility for choices, and the ability
to make contact with their field (a dynamic system of interrelationships) and the people in
it are important awareness processes and goals, all of which are based on a here-and-
now experiencing that is always changing.
D. CONTEMPORARY RELATIONAL GESTALT THERAPY
 stresses dialogue and the I/Thou relationship between client and
therapist. Therapists emphasize the therapeutic relationship and work
collaboratively with clients in a search for understanding.

 Following the lead of Laura Perls and the “Cleveland school” when Erving
and Miriam Polster and Joseph Zinker were on the faculty in the 1960s
and 1970s, this model includes more support and increased sensitivity
and compassion in therapy than the confrontational and dramatic style of
Fritz Perls.

 The majority of today’s Gestalt therapists emphasizes support,

acceptance, empathy, respect, and dialogue as well as confrontation.

E. KEY CONCEPTS
 View of human nature
 The Gestalt view of human nature is rooted in existential philosophy,
phenomenology, and field theory. Genuine knowledge is the product
of what is immediately evident in the experience of the perceiver.
 Therapy aims at awareness and contact with the environment, which
consists of both the external and internal worlds.
 The process of “reowning” parts of oneself that have been disowned
and the unification process proceed step by step until clients can carry
on with their own personal growth. By becoming aware, clients
become able to make informed choices and thus to live a more
meaningful existence.

 Some Principles of Gestalt Therapy Theory

 Holism - Gestalt is a German word meaning a whole or completion, or
a form that cannot be separated into parts without losing its essence.
All of nature is seen as a unified and coherent whole, and the whole is
different from the sum of its parts.

 Field Theory
 Gestalt therapy is based on field theory, which, simply put, asserts
that the organism must be seen in its environment, or in its
context, as part of the constantly changing field.
 Gestalt therapists pay attention to and explore what is occurring at
the boundary between the person and the environment.
 Emphasis may be on:
 a). figure (those aspects of the individual’s experience that are
most salient at any moment) or the
 b). ground (those aspects of the client’s presentation that are
often out of his or her awareness).

 The Figure-Formation Process

 Derived from the study of visual perception by a group of Gestalt
psychologists, the figure-formation process tracks how the
individual organizes experience from moment to moment as some
 aspect of the environmental field emerges from the background
and becomes the focal point of the individual’s attention and
interest.

 Organismic Self-Regulation
 The figure-formation process is intertwined with the principle of
organismic self-regulation, a process by which equilibrium is
“disturbed” by the emergence of a need, a sensation, or an
interest. Organisms will do their best to regulate themselves,
given their own capabilities and the resources of their
environment.

 Contact and Resistances to Contact

1. Contact - is made by seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and moving.
2. Introjection - is the tendency to uncritically accept others’ beliefs and standards
without assimilating them to make them congruent with who we are.
3. Projection - is the reverse of introjection. In projection we disown certain aspects
of ourselves by assigning them to the environment.
4. Deflection - is the process of distraction or veering off, so that it is difficult to maintain
a sustained sense of contact.

5. Deflection - involves blurring the differentiation between the self and the
environment.

Terms such as interruptions in contact or boundary disturbance refer to the

characteristic styles people employ in their attempts to control their
environment through one of these channels of resistance.

 The Now
 Phenomenological inquiry
 involves paying attention to what is occurring now.
 Instead of experiencing their feelings in the here and now, clients
often talk about their feelings, almost as if their feelings were
detached from their present experiencing.
 To help the client make contact with the present moment, Gestalt
therapists ask “what” and “how” questions, but rarely ask “why”
questions.

 Unfinished Business
 Feelings about the past are unexpressed
 For Example: hatred, pain, anxiety, grief etc. These feelings are
associated with distinct memories & fantasies

F. THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

 Therapeutic Goals
  Gestalt therapy does not ascribe to a “goal-oriented” methodology per
se, but therapists clearly attend to a basic goal—namely, assisting the
client to attain greater awareness, and with it, greater choice.
 Through a creative involvement in Gestalt process, Zinker (1978)
expects clients will do the following:
 Move towards 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 more aware of all of their senses
 Learn to accept responsibility for what they do, including
accepting the consequences of their actions
 Move from outside support toward increasing internal support
 Be able to ask for and get help from others and to give to others

 The Therapist’s Functions and Roles

 Therapist encourages the present time, Bring the past into the present
by re-enacting it in the present.
 Therapist should focus on the “what” & “how” of a person without
asking the “why” questions. This is to promote an awareness of the
moment
 Questions such as “What is happening now?” or “What are you feeling
in this moment?” are used to intensify the experience of the present &
create awareness
 “Why” questions lead only toward rationalizations and “selfdeceptions”
away from the immediacy of the moment
 Pay attention to the client's body language.
 Focus on the language
 “It” talk. When clients say “it” instead of “I,” they are using
depersonalizing language.
 “You” talk. Global and impersonal language tends to keep the
person hidden. The therapist often points out generalized uses of
“you” and invites the client to experiment with substituting “I” when
this is what is meant.
 Questions. Questions have a tendency to keep the questioner
hidden, safe, and unknown. Gestalt therapists often ask clients to
experiment with changing their questions into statements.
 Language that denies power. Some clients have a tendency to
deny their personal power by adding qualifiers or disclaimers to
their statements.
 Listening to clients’ metaphors. In his workshops, Erv Polster
(1995) emphasizes the importance of a therapist learning how to
listen to the metaphors of clients. By tuning into metaphors, the
therapist gets rich clues to clients’ internal struggles.
 Listening for language that uncovers a story. Polster (1995) also
teaches the value of what he calls “fleshing out a flash.” He reports that
clients often use language that is elusive yet gives significant clues to a
story that illustrates their life struggles.

 Client’s Experience in Therapy

  Miriam Polster (1987) described a three-stage integration sequence
that characterizes client growth in therapy.
 Discovery. Clients are likely to reach a new realization about
themselves or to acquire a novel view of an old situation, or they
may take a new look at some significant person in their lives.
Such discoveries often come as a surprise to them.
 Accommodation. Which involves clients’ recognizing that they
have a choice. Clients begin by trying out new behaviors in the
supportive environment of the therapy office, and then they
expand their awareness of the world.
 Assimilation. which involves clients’ learning how to influence their
environment.

 Relationship between client and therapist

 As an existential brand of therapy, Gestalt practice involves a person-
to-person relationship between therapist and client. Therapists are
responsible for the quality of their presence, for knowing themselves
and the client, and for remaining open to the client.
 Gestalt therapists not only allow their clients to be who they are but
also remain themselves and do not get lost in a role.

G. APPLICATION: THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES

 The Experiment in Gestalt Therapy

 Exercises are ready-made techniques that are sometimes used to
make something happen in a therapy session or to achieve a goal.
 Experiments, in contrast, grow out of the interaction between client
and therapist, and they emerge within this dialogic process. They can
be considered the very cornerstone of experiential learning.

 Preparing Clients for Gestalt Experiments

 Trust and Willingness of Client is important.

 The Role of Confrontation

 Confrontation is set up in a way that invites clients to examine their
behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts. Therapists can encourage clients
to look at certain incongruities, especially gaps between their verbal
and nonverbal expression. Further, confrontation does not have to be
aimed at weaknesses or negative traits; clients can be challenged to
recognize how they are blocking their strengths.

 GESTALT THERAPY AND INTERVENTION

 The Internal Dialogue Exercise
 One goal of Gestalt therapy is to bring about integrated
functioning and acceptance of aspects of one’s personality that
have been disowned and denied. Gestalt therapists pay close
attention to splits in personality function.
 Topdog - is righteous, authoritarian, moralistic, demanding,
bossy, and manipulative. This is the “critical parent” that
 badgers with “shoulds” and “oughts” and manipulates with
threats of catastrophe.
 Underdog - manipulates by playing the role of victim: by
being defensive, apologetic, helpless, and weak and by
feigning powerlessness. This is the passive side, the one
without responsibility, and the one that finds excuses.

 The Empty-chair technique

 The empty chair is a vehicle for the technique of role reversal,
which is useful in bringing into consciousness the fantasies of
what the “other” might be thinking or feeling.
 Essentially, this is a role-playing technique in which all the parts
are played by the client.
 Application: Using two chairs, the therapist asks the client to sit
in one chair and be fully the top dog and then shift to the other
chair and become the underdog. The dialogue can continue
between both sides of the client. The conflict can be resolved by
the client’s acceptance and integration of both sides.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ4Uyf5X6Sw

 Future Projection Technique

 In future projection, an anticipated event is brought into the
present moment and acted out. This technique, often associated
with psychodrama, is designed to help clients express and clarify
concerns they have about the future. These concerns may include
wishes and hopes, dreaded fears of tomorrow, or goals that
provide some direction to life.
 Clients may act out either a version of the way they hope a given
situation will ideally unfold or their version of a feared outcome.
Once clients clarify their hopes for a particular outcome, they are
in a better position to take specific steps that will enable them to
achieve the future they desire.

 Making the rounds

 Making the rounds is a Gestalt exercise that involves asking a
person in a group to go up to others in the group and either speak
to or do something with each person. The purpose is to confront,
to risk, to disclose the self, to experiment with new behavior, and
to grow and change.

 The Reversal Exercise

 Certain symptoms and behaviors often represent reversals of
underlying or latent impulses. Thus, the therapist could ask a
person who claims to suffer from severe inhibitions and excessive
timidity to play the role of an exhibitionist.
 The theory underlying the reversal technique is that clients take
the plunge into the very thing that is fraught with anxiety and make
contact with those parts of themselves that have been submerged
and denied. This technique can help clients begin to accept
certain personal attributes that they have tried to deny.
  The Rehearsal Exercise
 When clients share their rehearsals
out loud with a therapist, they become more aware of the many
preparatory means they use in bolstering their social roles. They
also become increasingly aware of how they try to meet the
expectations of others, of the degree to which they want to be
approved, accepted, and liked, and of the extent to which they go
to attain acceptance.

 The Exaggeration Exercise

 In this exercise the person is asked to exaggerate the movement
or gesture repeatedly, which usually intensifies the feeling
attached to the behavior and makes the inner meaning clearer.

 Staying With the Feeling

 Most people want to escape from fearful stimuli and avoid
unpleasant feelings. At key moments when clients refer to a
feeling or a mood that is unpleasant and from which they have a
great desire to flee, the therapist may urge clients to stay with
their feeling and encourage them to go deeper into the feeling or
behavior they wish to avoid.

 The Gestalt Approach to Dream Work

 PERLS
 stated that dreams were the royal road to integration
(1969:71) – the most spontaneous expression of the
existence of the human being.
 Dreams contains an existential message or statement
 Represent unfinished business
 Are projections of some aspects of the dreamer
 Different parts of the dream are expressions of the client’s
inconsistent and conflicting sides.
 GESTALT THERAPISTS:
 Do not interpret or analyze dreams
 Help the client to re-own aspects of the self that have been
projected on to people or objects in the dream by:
 Allowing the client relive the dream in the here and now
 Becoming each part of the dream
 Engaging in dialogue between the different parts or
characters in the dream
 As common themes emerge, the client awareness is
sharpened and they may experience an aha moment (Joyce P
& Sills C: 177)

H. APPLICATION TO GROUP COUNSELING

 A main goal of the Gestalt group is to heighten awareness and self-
regulation through interactions with one another and the group.
 Gestalt therapy encourages direct experience and actions as opposed
to merely talking about conflicts, problems, and feelings.
  Gestalt therapy encourages direct experience and actions as opposed
to merely talking about conflicts, problems, and feelings. If members
have anxieties pertaining to some future event, they can enact these
future concerns in the present. This here-and-now focus enlivens the
group and assists members in vividly exploring their concerns. Moving
from talking about to action is often done by the use of experiments in
a group.

I. GESTALT THERAPY FROM A MULTICULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Strengths From a Diversity Shortcomings From a Diversity
Perspective Perspective
 One of the advantages of drawing  Gestalt methods can lead to a
on Gestalt experiments is that high level of intense feelings.
they can be tailored to fit the
unique way in which an individual  Effectiveness of the confronting
perceives and interprets his or and theatrical techniques of
her culture. Gestalt Therapy is limited and
has not been well established.
 Gestalt Therapy is equal to or
greater than other therapies in  Potential danger for therapists to
treating various disorders, Gestalt abuse the power they have with
Therapy has a beneficial impact clients.
with personality disorders, and
the effects of therapy are stable.

 Versatile and flexible in its

approach to therapy. It has many
techniques and may be applied to
different therapeutic issues.

THANK YOU!!!