Gestalt

Concepts

100

Phenomenological Method

What is: Studies the structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view The method comprises three steps: (1) the rule of epoché (suspension of judgment) (2) the rule of description (describe rather than explain) (3) the rule of horizontalization (each item described has equal value or significance)

200

Phenomenological Field

What are: They are the physical and environmental contexts in which we live and move. They might be the office in which one works, the house in which one lives, the city and country of which one is a citizen, and so forth.

300

Ontological Fields

What are: They are the objective reality that supports our physical existence. They are all mental and physical dynamics that contribute to a person’s sense of self, one’s subjective experience. These might be the memory of an uncle’s inappropriate affection, one’s color blindness, one’s sense of the social matrix in operation at the office in which one works, and so forth.

400

Paradoxical Theory of Change

What is: The paradox is that the more one attempts to be who one is not, the more one remains the same. Conversely, when people identify with their current experience, the conditions of wholeness and growth support change. Put another way, change comes about as a result of "full acceptance of what is, rather than a striving to be different".

500

Self Regulation

What is: Self-regulation is to varying degrees either Organismic which requires awareness of senses, emotions, observations, needs, wants, beliefs Shouldistic which is what one thinks should or should not be Most transactions are automatic, habitual modes, with minimal awareness. When awareness does not emerge as needed, psychotherapy increases awareness and meaningful choice and responsibility.

Techniques

100

Hot Seat

What is: It is used to confront a group member regarding interpersonal issues or resistance (perls, 1969) It is a technique to focus intensely on one member of the group at a time. The member sits opposite the group leader and dialogues on life problem with intermittent input from other members upon request by the group leader.

200

Unblocking

What is: The counseling intention is to provide a list of meaningful questions that will unblock an area. Unblocking is a list of keys that are useful to use in dialoguing to free up some kind of positive direction. The keys on the list are mostly factors that might inhibit a positive outcome: Holding back, obstacles, resources, attempts, failures, consequences, judgments, anxiety, mistakes, forgotten, inhibition, obsessions, suppressed. Out of each key concept, the therapist constructs a question, such as: “In regarding to ______ is there anything that you are holding back”? “Do you have any anxiety about _________?”

300

The Body as a Vehicle of Communication

What is: What are your hands saying Where is the pain Exaggerate symptoms

400

Making the Rounds

What is: Making the round is a Gestalt exercise that involves asking a person in a group to go up to other in the group and client speak to or do something with each. The purpose is to confront, to risk, to disclose the self, to experiment with new behavior, and to grow and change. For example, a group member might say: “I have been sitting here for a long time wanting to participate but holding back because I am afraid of trusting people in here. And besides, I do not think I am worth the time of the group any way”. Counselor would ask, “Are you willing to do something right now to get yourself more invested and to begin to work on gaining trust and self-confidence? If the person answers affirmatively, counselor suggestion could well be “Go around to each person and finish this sentence: ‘I don’t trust you because………..’ ”.

500

Two Chair Technique

What is: It is the variation of the empty chair technique. What happens here is that the client presumes himself in two roles, one of himself and the other of the person he has the conflict with. He will engage himself in a dialogue where he will sit on one chair and puts a question or a statement then will move to the other chair and will respond to that as if he or she were the projected feelings or the person. Besides catharses and confrontation it serves other purpose that is when the client sits on the chair opposite to him and adopts a role other than him he can objectively analyze his own feelings from other person’s perspective and understands the other person’s stance as well.

Concepts

100

I/Thou

What is: I/THOU [similar to Rogers premise of the therapeutic relationship – the space in which healing occurs] The client-counselor [I/thou contact] relationship is crucial in order for client change to occur. It is the mutual, holistic existence of two beings. The five senses, moving and dialogue foster contact The contact lacks structure and communicates no content. I/thou relationships in daily life: an observer and a cat, 2 strangers on a train, 2 lovers I/thou relationship can be described as an encounter, exchange, dialogue. One method counselors can use to understand where a client is in terms of being in contact and here-and-now is referred to as peeling the onion (differing degrees of contact).

200

Goals of Treatment

What are: Promote attention, clarity, and awareness Increase self-esteem, self-acceptance, and self-actualization Resolve unfinished business Reduce polarities Promote responsibility, appropriate choices, and self-sufficiency Help people have meaningful contact with themselves, with others, and their environments

300

Resistence

What is: Resistance is an expression of organism integrity It is the process of opposing the formation of a figure [a thought, feeling, impulse, or need] OR the imposition of the therapist’s figure [agenda] The opposed formation threatens to emerge in a context that is judged to be dangerous This could be expressed in holding back tears for fear of ridicule or thinking they were for the therapist

400

Boundary Disturbances

What are: Projection –experience something that is internal as external Retroflection – own a response meant for someone else Introjection- uncritically "swallowing whole" ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that you tell me to Confluence – no boundary or fuzzy boundary; “we” instead of I-thou

500

Eating and Digesting

What is: EATING AND DIGESTING are treated as metaphors for what we do with every dimension of experience. Do I bite into something, chew it up thoroughly, spit out what I don't like, and assimilate what I find nourishing and healthy, or do I "swallow whole" what others have told me to whether I like it or not? (The latter is the mechanism of introjection.)

Techniques

100

Projection of Feelings OR Playing the Projection

What is: This technique requires a dyad, here the clients are asked to close their eyes and imagine the face of the person they are closely attached to and then open up and look at the face of their partner and analyze their feelings, then again close their eyes, thinking of a neutral entity than opening their eyes and see if there is any difference in the feeling they had for their partner the two times they looked at him. The exercise is designed to address a common problem of the intrusion of our inner feelings into whatever is happening outside around us. Consider this example Nazia is feeling low someday, she left for the college after a hot argument with her mother and in the way to college she stumbles she stands up and is self-stating e.g. “this is all happens to me all the time, oh yes actually this is all my fate, my bad luck, it will continue to happen as my life is a dark journey heading towards failures, and disapproval from all the people I love or care for, I will remain stumbling like this in whatever I will try to do”. OR It is to gain a deeper awareness of one’s own projections from the perspective of others (Perls.1969) The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate how often we see clearly in others the quality or traits that we do not want to see or accept within ourselves. Group members are to make a direct statement to each person in their group, and then apply that statement to them. For example, one member might say to another member, “I think you are very manipulative” and then say “I think I am very manipulative.”

200

Attention to nonverbal and paralinguistic cues

What is: This particular technique pays attention to the linguistic e.g. nonverbal cues like body movements, facial expressions, or gestures. Paralinguistic cues include tone of voice, speech rate, and other such components of spoken language “often without realizing it, people use nonverbal or paralinguistic cues to negate their words with their hands or their eyes”. This is a very important point emphasized in Gestalt therapy that the therapist must observe these cues in order to determine what the client might be feeling. “What we say is mostly lies or bullshit. But the voice is there, the gesture, the posture, the facial expression.” (Perls, 1969, p. 54)

300

Mirror

What is: It is to be done to provide feedback to the client regarding hoe he or she is perceived by the group or one member. A technique employing role-playing: The role playing group member with the problem is asked to remove himself or herself from the group setting while a volunteer group member comes forth to imitate the role player and also to provide alternatives role played behavior. The original role-player observers as an objective, non participatory learner.

400

Guided Fantasy

What is: The visualization of an experience can bring awareness to the cause of the client's conflict. The counselor asks the client to close his eyes and imagine himself in the triggering event. The counselor encourages the client to share what he feels in that moment. This helps the client become aware of the causes of his feelings by recreating the triggering event.

500

Working through Unfinished Business

What is: Unfinished business or unexpressed feelings such as anger, sadness, loneliness, guilt, pain, or insecurity, though unexpressed, they are associated with distinct memories and fantasies. Its purpose is to understand “leftovers” from previous experiences (Perls, 1969). When experiencing a strong unwanted emotion, first, let go and feel the emotion full strength, no matter how unreasonable, dangerous, crazy it may be. Second, go looking for hidden emotions, asking “Do I also something else?. Third, investigate bodily sensations and emotions for more subtle additional feelings. Fourth, ask yourself “What do these current feelings and situation remind me of in the past? And “Have I been there before?” Relive the earlier experience repeatedly until the strong emotions are drained. Classic Examples of Intense Emotions: Crying hides anger Dependency suppresses anger Excessive smiles hide depression Physical complaints contradict anxiety Anger overshadows fears

Concepts

100

Here and Now

What is: The past is gone and the future is not here yet – Bring things into the moment

200

Self-Regulation

What is: Self-regulation is to varying degrees either Organismic which requires awareness of senses, emotions, observations, needs, wants, beliefs Shouldistic which is what one thinks should or should not be Most transactions are automatic, habitual modes, with minimal awareness. When awareness does not emerge as needed, psychotherapy increases awareness and meaningful choice and responsibility.

300

Figure and Ground

What is: We perceive in unified wholes We perceive through the phenomenon of contrast A figure of interest forms against a dull background The formation of a figure is a Gestalt A figure comes into the foreground where it can be fully experienced and dealt with so that then it can melt into the background (be forgotten or assimilated and integrated) and leave the foreground free for the next relevant Gestalt

400

Anxiety

What are: Anxiety is excitement minus support Concerned with the process of anxiety more than the content Anxiety comes from ‘futurizing’ – not remaining in the present Anxiety comes from unsupported breathing – with arousal there is an orgasmic need for oxygen

500

Gestalt Onion

What are: LEVELS OF CONTACT (LAYERS OF NEUROSIS) Phony- Games, assumed roles, stereotyped, unauthentic. Pretending. Phobic- Avoidance(of pain), hide real self, act out fears, feel vulnerable and helpless. Denying. Impasse- Appear stuck and unable to meet counseling goals. Directionless. Implosive- Become aware of ways they limit themselves. Experiment with change of unfinished business and move toward integration of fragmented parts. Vulnerable. Explosive- Experience re-integration of fragmented parts, wholeness, authentic, gain energy, express emotions, move toward actualization and authenticity. Intense expression. [Note blocks to energy: body tension, posture, closed, breathing, eye contact (cultural considerations)]