Chapter 8: Gestalt Therapy Flashcards
TRUE OR FALSE: Gestalt therapy focuses on past experiences of a client.
FALSE.
It focuses on the here and now, and the clients’ own awareness of what they are doing and how they are experiencing things from moment to moment.
Who is the main originator and developer of Gestalt therapy?
Fritz Perls.
What is the term for a dynamic system of interrelationships?
Field.
TRUE OR FALSE: Perls asserted that HOW individuals behave is more important than WHY.
True.
What type of therapy stresses dialogue and the I/Thou relationship between client and therapist?
Contemporary relational Gestalt therapy.
What tenet suggests that authentic change occurs more from being who we are than from trying to be who are not?
The paradoxical theory of change, by Anne Beisser (1970)
What does “Gestalt” mean?
It is a German word meaning a whole or a completion, or a form that cannot be separated into parts without losing its essence.
Which theory asserts that the organism must be seen in its environmen, or in its context, as part of the constantly changing field?
Field theory.
What is the term for the aspects of the individual’s experience that are most salient at any moment?
Figure
What is the term for the aspects of the client’s presentation that are often out of his or her awareness?
Ground.
What process helps contemporary Gestalt therapists facilitate the client’s movement toward and away from a figure of interest?
Figure-formation process.
What principle highlights what is of the interest to the client or what the client needs to gain equilibrium or to change?
Organismic self-regulation.
What is considered effective contact?
Interacting with nature and with other people without losing one’s sense of individuality.
TRUE OR FALSE: In Gestalt therapy, contact is necessary for change and growth to occur.
TRUE.
What are the prereqs for good contact?
Clear awareness, full energy, and the ability to express oneself.
T or F: Resistances to contact may result is dysfunctional behavior.
TRUE. These are also called “contact boundary phenomena” by Gestalt therapists.
What CBP has us passively incorporate what the environment provides rather than clearly identifying what we want or need?
Introjection.
Which CBP has us refuse acknowledgment of qualities we have in ourselves which we see in the environment and thus has us avoid taking responsibility for our own feelings and who we are?
Projection. People who use this as a pattern tend to feel they are victims of circumstances and believe that people have hidden meaning behind what they say.
What CBP consists of turning back onto ourselves what we would like do to someone else, or doing to ourselves what we would like someone else to do for us?
Retroflection.
What CBP has ourselves diffusing contact through the overuse of humor, abstract generalizations, and questions rather than statements?
Deflection.
This results in emotional depletion due to engaging the environment in an inconsistent and inconsequential basis.
What CBP involves blurring the differentiation between the self and the environment?
Confluence.
Individuals who have this have a high need to be liked and accepted, and it makes genuine contact extremely difficult.
TRUE OR FALSE: The contact boundary phenomena is often given a cursory overview.
FALSE.
Gestalt therapists acknowledge that these resistances served an important function function in the past. The therapists approach each interruptive style with respect and take them seriously, knowing how important it is to know what these CBP’s are protecting them from, and what it keeps them from experiencing.
What is the term for paying attention to what is occurring in the here or now?
Phenomenological inquiry.
TRUE OR FALSE:
One aim of Gestalt therapy is to help clients to become increasingly aware of their present experience.
TRUE.
