Gestalt Therapy Flashcards
Who are the founders of Gestalt Theory?
Fritz and Laura Perls
What freelance intellectual co-authored Gestalt Therapy with the Perls?
Paul Goodman
Term: view in which the individual is a self-regulating entity
Holism
Term: view that the individual must be understood within the environmental context
Holism
Term: People cannot be understood without understanding their field or context
Holism
Term: movement toward balance; a dynamic process between the person and environment
Homeostasis
The field is composed of mutually ___________ elements.
Interdependent
Term: boundary within the field that connects people with one another, as well as maintains separation
Contact Boundary
Term: being in touch with what is emerging in the here and now, moment to moment (Gestalt)
Contact
Term: focusing attention on what one is in touch with in situations requiring this attention
Conscious Awareness
What is the main goal in Gestalt Therapy?
Awareness and Meta-Awareness
Technique within Gestalt Therapy focused on trying something new in order to increase awareness
Experimentation
What two terms in Gestalt Theory replace the concepts of conscious and unconscious?
Figure and Ground
The Gestalt term for conscious
Figure
The Gestalt term for unconscious
Ground
Components of pathology according to Gestalt Theory
1: Inability to form clear figures of interest and be aware
2: Failure/Inability to respond when aware
3: Lack of fluidity between polarities
4: Boundary disturbances
Gestalt Pathology: connection is repeatedly blocked, contact needs are not attended to
Isolation
Gestalt Pathology: the ability to withdraw from connection is blocked and one loses their experience of separate identity
Confluence
Gestalt Pathology: things are taken in without awareness, so are not integrated into organismic functioning
Introjection
Gestalt Pathology: occurs when something within oneself is falsely attributed to another in order to avoid awareness
Projection
Gestalt Pathology: intolerance of one’s own desires, so turn against the self
Retroflection
Term: in direct contrast to boundary disturbances (Gestalt)
Assimilation
Term: experiencing what is taken in, deconstructing it, keeping what is useful to the self, and discarding what is not useful
Assimilation
Define a good gestalt
The perceptual field is organized with clarity and good form, so that meaning is clear in the relationship between the figure and ground