Gestalt Therapy

Existential & Phenomenological ~ it is grounded in the client’s "here and now"

Initial goal is for clients to gain awareness of what they are experiencing and doing now

Promotes direct experiencing rather than the abstractness of talking about situations

Rather than talk about a childhood trauma the client is encouraged to become the hurt child

The Now

Our "power is in the present"

Nothing exists except the "now"

The past is gone and the future has not yet arrived

For many people the power of the present is lost

They may focus on their past mistakes or engage in endless resolutions

and plans for the future

Unfinished Business

Feelings about the past are unexpressed

These feelings are associated with distinct memories and fantasies

Feelings not fully experienced linger in the background and interfere with effective contact

Result:

Preoccupation, compulsive behavior, wariness oppressive energy and self-defeating behavior

Layers of Neurosis

Perls likens the unfolding of adult personality to the peeling of an onion

Phony layer ~ stereotypical and inauthentic

Phobic layer ~ fears keep us from seeing ourselves

Impasse layer ~ we give up our power

Implosive layer ~ we fully experience our deadness

Explosive layer ~ we let go of phony roles

Contact and Resistances to Contact

CONTACT ~ interacting with nature and with other people without losing one’s individuality

RESISTANCE TO CONTACT ~ the defenses we develop to prevent us from experiencing the present fully

Five major channels of resistance:

Introjection • Deflection

Projection • Confluence

Retroflection

Therapeutic Techniques

The experiment in Gestalt Therapy

Preparing clients for experiments

Internal dialogue exercise

Rehearsal exercise

Reversal technique

Exaggeration exercise