Gestalt Therapy Flashcards
Gestalt therapy is the root of __________ therapy
EFT
Gestalt Psychology
Wertheimer and Tillich were studying HUMAN PERCEPTIOn. The human brain perceives a cluster of sensory stimuli by organizing it into a gestalt.
Gestalt= form, whole or configuration.
Figure=object of focus. Ground=background, recedes
- Gestalt consists of a figure that emerges from and is framed by the whole background, or “ground” The figure is the aspect of the environment that stands out to the perceiver. The ground is the backdrop from which figures emerge.
- focusing on the present and expanding awareness of self IN RELATION to environment that clients could identify their true wants and needs and initiate contact w/ the environment to satisfy those wnats and needs
Lewin’s field theory–the field is a dynamic, interrelated system of relationships, each part of which influences the other part. (ex: global warming. one country cant exist w/out another so it matters to all of us if china is doing xyz)
Roots of Gestalt Therapy
-Founded in the 1940s by Fritz and Laura Perls
-The Perls’ had rejected psychoanalysis bc they disagreed w/ its focus on clients’ pasts and its lack of focus on the client’s environment or the context/culture from which they live
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phenomenology
adapted from Heidegger-description of data available to the senses, what is given and evident in any immediate experience. A method of inquiry and a system by which meaning is derived. Suspend any preconceived notions about the client, rather seek to understand from the client’s perspective. Ex: I see a tear in your eye, not ‘ you are sad.’ only a client knows what their tear means and phenomenology means u dont impose meaning on the client
I-Thou Dialogue
Buber-Rather than having an I-It you have a I-Thou dialogue. Ex: Noticing the person who is bagging your groceries. In an I-thou dialogue you are present, experiencing the we.
Individuals have two modes of relating to one another
I-It: Most Common-involves intentions, task completion, goals and doing business
I-Thou: rare: involves no agenda and seeks sense of connection w/ other
Figure:ground
Basically: people perceive and organize the environment by focusing on one aspect of the environment at a time. The object of focus is the figure and everything else is the background.
Ex: a midnight snacker with a yen for leftover turkey, the fridge is the focus and everything else in the kitchen is the ground.
The object of focus is the figure and anything else is the background. Gestalt therapy extended the figure formation and destruction concept ebyond visual perceptions. For counseling, it is defined as an ongoing process in which individuals become aware of a need or interest and make contact w/ some aspect of the environment in a way thath satisfies or destroys that figure, allowing it to recede into the background.
Organismic Self-Regulation
Humans are inherently self-regulating.
We seek to maintain an overall sense of well-being, or equilibrium.
When our equilibrium is disrupted, we move into the environment to restore it.
Ex: if we are cold, we turn up the heat
figure formation and destruction
Gestalt THERAPY taking the concept from gestalt PSYCHOLOGY beyond visual perception.
An ongoing process in which individuals become aware of a need or interest and make contact w/ some aspect of the environment in a way that satisfies or “destroys” That figure, allowing it to recede into the background.
Some aspect of your internal experience becomes figural. This figure represents a need or interest and becomes salient to the individual. As the figure is sharpened or clarified, the individual begins to look out toward the environment and at this point certain aspects of the environment related to the need or interest will stand out from the background. An action is taken and if the need is satisfied, it recedes into the background, making way for a new figure to emerge.
The end point of figure formation and destruction=closure
If a need is not completely satisfied, it lingers in the form of rumination or regret
Awareness
Awareness=the process of directing your attention tno the most salient aspect of the individual/environmental field at the PRESENT moment.
Healthy functioning requires awareness of self and environment
Meaningful connection with self and environment
Contact
Meaningful connection with self and environment
Cycle of awareness and contact
Figure 7.3
Model of the ongoing process of self-regulation or individual-environment interaction
Homeostasis, sensation, awareness/clarification of need/interest, ENERGY EXCITEMENT, scan the environment, action, contact, closure
Creative adjustment
An accomodation made by individuals who are striking a balance between getting a need met and fitting into the dominant field conditions that have power and control over their well-being. Basically, solutions to problems we all face when the current environment cannot or will not respond to our need for contact. Children leran to restrict their awareness of certain feelings and attempts and cotnact w/ the environment in order to adjust to a set of field conditions they have no power to change. Healthy response. This continues into adulthood even when new, more forgiving field conditions may exist. Therefore, interruption in the cycle of awareness and contact occur
What can go wrong in gestalt therapy?
Disruptions in awareness of self and environment
Contact functions:
-Connect w/ environment or aspects of the self in a meaningful way
-Involves connection and withdrawal
-Can go wrong when we are losing connection w/ environment and self, means you lose awareness.
How does change happen in Gestalt?
-Therapists attend to client’s feelings, thoughts, behaviors as they move into the client’s foreground.
Gestalt Paradoxical Theory of Change :
You change more by being present with what IS instead of trying to get what is NOT.
Effect client change by:
- Helping to restore a client’s awareness
- Increasing quantity and quality of a client’s contact w/ the environment
- Illuminating contact boundary disturbances (the contact boundary is when contact occurs between an individual and the environment or another individual. Meeting point between self and other. ex where the sand meets the sea.)
The experiment as key technique:
Method: Shift focus of counseling from topic to an activity that will heighten client awareness and contact
- One of a kind (they emerge organically and seamlessly in the moment-to-moment contact between a counselor and client, and they are discovered within that dialogic process. These moments never occur more than once)
- A good experiment remains true to figure of interest. Creates edge of excitement or anxiety on that figure
Gestalt Therapy today
- Has become less influential over the years
- Because of the way Fritz Perls practiced it (confrontational, technique driven, culturally insesnsitive) there are challenges and widespread misperceptions about the approach
