Title: Gestalt Therapy Frederick and Laura Perls
1Gestalt TherapyFrederick and Laura Perls
- The Field Theory Perspective
- The Phenomenological Perspective
- The Existential Perspective
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2Gestalt Personality Theory Concepts
- Gestalt psychology
- A psychological approach that studies the
organization of experience into patterns or
configurations. Gestalt psychologists believe
that the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts and study, among other issues, the
relationship of a figure to its background.
3Gestalt Personality Theory Concepts
- Ground The background that contrasts with the
figure in the perceptions of a field. - Figure That part of a field that stands out in
good contour clearly from the ground.
4The Field Theory Perspective
- The field is a whole in which the parts are in
immediate relationship and responsive to each
other and no part is uninfluenced by what goes on
elsewhere in the field. The field replaces the
notion of discrete, isolated particles. - No action is at a distance what has effect must
touch that which is affected in time and space. - Work is in the here and now, with sensitivity to
how the here and now includes residues of the
past, such as body posture, habits, and beliefs. - The phenomenological field is defined by the
observer and is meaningful only when one knows
the frame of reference of the observer.
5The Phenomenological Perspective
- A method of awareness, in which perceiving ,
feeling, and acting are distinguished from
interpreting and reshuffling pre-existing
attitudes. - Phenomenology is a discipline that helps people
stand aside from their usual way of thinking so
that they can tell the difference between what is
actually being perceived and felt in the current
situation and what is residue from the past
(Idhe, 1977).
6The Existential Perspective
- Existential phenomenologists focus on peoples
existence, relations with each other, joys and
suffering, etc., as directly experienced . - Most people operate in an unstated context of
conventional thought that obscures or avoids
acknowledging how the world is. - Self-deception is the basis of inauthenticity
living that is not based on the truth of oneself
in the world leads to feelings of dread, guilt,
and anxiety.
7Goal of Gestalt Therapy
- By becoming aware, one becomes able to choose
and/or organize ones own existence in a
meaningful manner. (Jacobs, 1978 Yontef, 1982,
1983).
8Gestalt Personality Theory Concepts
- CONCERNS RELATED TO CONTACT
- When there are disturbances in the contact
boundaries, several difficulties result.
Awareness of these disturbances is one focus of
Gestalt therapy.
9Contact
- The relationship between "me" and others. Contact
involves feeling a connection with others or the
world outside oneself while maintaining
separation from it.
10Levels of Contact (Neurosis) The Polarity of
Creating Adjustment
- 1. The Phony layer Reacting to others in
unauthentic or patterned ways every day, casual
interaction or small talk. - 2. The Phobic layer An avoidance of
psychological pain. Im fine, Im fine.
(Similar to Denial)
11Levels of Contact (Neurosis) The Polarity of
Creating Adjustment
- 3. Impasse Is the point at which we are afraid
to change or move. - An impasse is a situation in which external
support is not forthcoming and the person
believes he cannot support himself. - The individual attempts to manipulate the
environment to do his seeing, hearing, thinking,
feeling, and deciding for him.
12View of Health
- An self-regulating person takes responsibility
for what is done for self, what is done by others
for self, and what is done for others by self.
The person exchanges with the environment, but
the basic support for regulation of ones
existence is by self.
13View of Mental illness
- When the person does not know how to
self-regulate, external support becomes a
replacement for self-support rather than a source
of nourishment for the self. - In Gestalt therapy, clients get through the
impasse because of the emphasis on loving contact
without doing the clients work. (No
rescuing/infantilizing)
14Levels of Contact (Neurosis) The Polarity of
Creating Adjustment
- 4. At the implosive level, the client may
experience their feelings, start to become aware
of the real self, but may do little about the
feelings. - 5. Contact with the implosive level is authentic
and without pretense.
15Contact boundaries
- The boundaries that distinguish between one
person (or one aspect of a person) and an object,
another person, or another aspect of oneself.
Examples include body-boundaries,
value-boundaries, familiarity-boundaries, and
expressive-boundaries.
16CONTACT BOUNDARY DISTURBANCES
- Introjection This occurs when individuals accept
information or values from others with our
evaluating them or without assimilating them into
one's personality. - Projection When we ascribe aspects of ourselves
to others, such as when we attribute some of our
own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or behaviors
to friends, projection takes place.
17CONTACT BOUNDARY DISTURBANCES
- Retroflection When we do to ourselves what we
want to do to someone else or do things for
ourselves that we want others to do for us, then
we experience retroflection. - Deflection When individuals avoid meaningful
contact by being indirect or vague rather that
being direct, deflection occurs.
18CONTACT BOUNDARY DISTURBANCES
- Confluence When the separation between one's
self and others becomes muted or unclear, we
experience confluence. Thus, it can be difficult
to distinguish what is one's own perception or
values from those of another person.
19Awareness
- Attending to and observing what is happening in
the present. Types of awareness include
sensations and actions, feelings, wants, and
values or assessments.
20Unfinished business
- Unexpressed feelings from the past that occur in
the present and interfere with psychological
functioning. They may include feelings, memories,
or fantasies from earlier life (often childhood)
that can be dealt with in the present.
21FOUR CHARACTERISTICS OF GESTALT DIALOGUE
- Inclusion This is putting oneself fully as
possible into the experience of the other without
judging, analyzing, or interpreting while
simultaneously retaining a sense of ones
separate, autonomous presence. Inclusion provides
as environment of safety for the clients
phenomenological work and, by communicating an
understanding of the clients experience, helps
sharpen the clients self-awareness.
222. Presence
- The Gestalt therapist expresses herself to the
client. Regularly, judiciously, and with
discrimination she expresses observations,
feelings, personal experience, and thoughts,
modeling phenomenological reporting. If the
therapist relies on theory-derived
interpretation, rather than personal presence,
she leads the client into relying on phenomena
not in his/her own immediate experience as the
tool for raising awareness.
233. Commitment to Dialogue
- Contact is more than something two people do to
each other. Contact is something that happens
between people, something that arises from the
interaction between them. This is allowing the
contact to happen rather than manipulating,
making contact, and controlling the outcome.
244. Dialogue is lived
- Dialogue is something done rather than talked
about. Lived emphasizes the excitement and
immediacy of doing. The mode of dialogue can be
dancing, song, words, or any modality that
expresses and moves the energy between or among
participants, including the awareness of
nonverbal expressions.