Final Exam - Gestalt Flashcards
view of human nature in gestalt therapy
individuals have the capacity to “self-regulate“ in their environment if they are fully aware of what is happening in and around them.
We change when we become aware of what we are as opposed to trying to become what we are not.
Holism
Attending to clients thoughts, feelings, behaviours, body and dreams
How does Gestalt deal with the past?
What and How questions, not why questions.
Bringing it into the present and remaining connected with the now.
Exercises / Techniques
Techniques used to make something happen or to acheive a goal
Now Ethos
Power is in the present.
Deal with the past by bringing it into the present.
Directing power to the past diminishes power.
Contact
Interacting with nature and others without losing the sense of individuality
Experiments
Procedures to bring about possibilities, for clients to try out new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving
Unfinished business
Unexpressed feelings from childhood that interfere with current psychological functioning
Goals of gestalt therapy
- awareness of environment, self
- reintegrate self
- make contact
Role of the Gestalt therapist
- i/thou relationship
- Assists client in experiencing and interpreting feelings
Dream Work
- Relive dreams as though they are happening in the here and now
- Reveals missing parts and methods of avoidance
- It is the road to integration
Resistances to contact
Defenses to prevent experiencing the present
- integration
- projection
- retroflection
- deflection
- confluence
Exaggeration Exercise
- exaggerate movements nad jestures repeatedly to intensify emotion and make inner meaning clear
- increase awareness of subtle clues and signals
Making the rounds
Group exercise where the person speaks / does something to each member of the group
Designed to confront, risk, experiment with new behaviours, grow and change
Empty Chair / internal Dialogue Exercise
Client plays out both roles to better integrate polarities of personality that have been disowned or denied
Rehearsal Exercise
Sharing the internal rehearsal aloud to increase awareness of how client:
- meets expectations
- need to approval
Staying with the feeling
Response to unpleasant feelings in order to confront, unblock and have new growth.
Reversal technique
Asking client to do something they’ve never done before or that is completely out of character.
Clients connect with anxiety and make contact with other parts of self
Field Theory
attention to exploring what occurs at the boundary of person and the environment.
What is gestalt therapy
- person centered
- focuses on present
- taking responsibility rather than placing blame
- therapist holds space for clients to share their truth
- improve self-awareness
