REBT, Gestalt, and Existential Flashcards
Name the first 3 propositions of REBT
- People are born with a potential to be rational (self-constructive) as well as irrational (self-defeating).
- People’s tendency to irrational thinking, self-damaging habituations, wishful thinking, and intolerance is frequently exacerbated by their culture and their family group.
- Humans perceive, think, emote, and behave simultaneously.
Psychopathology occurs when
individuals demand that their wishes be satisfied, that they succeed and be approved, that others treat them fairly, etc.
What is the most “elegant” solution to irrational demandingness?
To help individuals become less demanding through minimization of demandingness.
What are inelegant solutions to emotional trouble?
- Distraction - a therapist can try to divert a patient into activities such as sports, a political cause, yoga, etc.
- Satisfaction of demands: satisfy clients needs so they feel better (i.e., therapist gives their love or approval to the client).
- Magic and mysticism: therapist is some kind of magician who will take their problem away.
(True or False) REBT therapists make sure to get an accurate depiction of the client’s history and be reflective while the client story tells.
False.
Describe the ABC’s of REBT
A - adverse event
B- beliefs about adverse event
C- emotional consequences
D - dispute the irrational beliefs
E - effective new philosophy
Describe the paradoxical theory of change
The more one tries to become who one is not, the more one stays the same. Knowing and accepting the truth of one’s feelings, beliefs, situation, and behavior builds wholeness and supports growth.
When one knows, senses, and feels one’s self here and now, including the possibilities for change, one can be fully present, accepting or changing what is not satisfying.
Describe the three main concepts emphasized in gestalt therapy
- Contact - being in touch with what is emerging here and now, moment to moment.
- Conscious awareness - primary therapeutic tool along with dialogue. Being in touch with what is.
- Experimentation - the act of trying something new to increase understanding. (i.e., role-playing, two-chair work)
What is the second order of awareness? (Gestalt)
The awareness of one’s awareness process
Name 2 similarities and 2 differences between Gestalt therapy and client-centered therapy
- Both believe in the potential for human growth.
- Both believe that growth results from a relationship in which the therapist is experienced as warm and authentic (congruent).
- Gestalt therapy has a more active and experimental phenomenological approach (similar to behavior techniques, but designed to clarify the patient’s awareness rather than control her or his behavior)
- Gestalt therapist is more inclined to self-disclose about his or her own feelings or experience.
What does gestalt therapy focus on?
1) helping patients become aware of how they avoid learning from experience
2) how their self-regulatory processes may be close ended rather than open-ended
3) how problems in current awareness limit one’s ability to experiment to broaden awareness.
Goal of Gestalt therapy
Awareness
Discuss how gestalt therapy is done
Gestalt therapy is an exploration rather than a direct attempt to change behavior. Gestalt therapy prioritizes an active relationship and active methods to help patients gain the self-support necessary to solve problems.
What is the primary tool in Gestalt therapy?
Direct experience. Focus is always on the here and now. Therapist focuses on what the patient does and how the patient does it.
Nonverbal subtext is the most important form of contact in the gestalt therapy session (true or false).
True
Gestalt therapy probably has a greater range of styles and modalities than any other system. (true or false)
True
Describe the mechanism of focusing (gestalt)?
Helping patient focus on his awareness. “What are you aware of, or experiencing, right here and now?”
Name other gestalt interventions
Enactments, mental experiments, guided fantasy, body awareness, two chair work
What is the existential dilemma?
The reality that although we want to live on and persist in our being, we will eventually die. We alone are thrown into existence without a predestined life structure or destiny that each of us must choose how to live fully, happily, and ethically.
What model does existential psychotherapy borrow from?
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality: personality is a system of forces that are in conflict with each other.
What is the ultimate existential concern?
Death
Existential therapy is a comprehensive psychotherapeutic system (True or False)
Fales. It is not a comprehensive psychotherapeutic system, but rather, a paradigm by which a therapist views and understands a client’s suffering.
How does an existential therapist view the past?
The past is important only insofar as it is part of one’s current existence and how it has contributed to one’s current concerns.
The existential therapist strives to eliminate anxiety (True or False)
False. The existential therapist strives to reduce crippling levels of anxiety, but not to eliminate it. The therapist’s task is to use the anxiety constructively.
Name two essential mechanisms in the therapist-client realtionship
- a focus on the here and now
- viewing the therapist-patient relationship as one of fellow travelers
Through _______ and _________ , the therapist strives to counter __________ and ____________ (existential).
Through authenticity and presence, the therapist strives to counter avoidance and withdrawal.
__________ is the most powerful tool we have in our efforts to connect with other people. (existential)
Empathy
________ are a profoundly important access road to the inner life of patients. (existential)
Dreams
There is no distinction between the client (“the afflicted”) and the therapist (“the healer”). Both are humans authentically meeting. (existential) (True or False)
True
In existential therapy, the therapist tries to be as authentic and genuine as possible. (True or False)
True
Disclosure by the therapist doesn’t always facilitate therapy. (existential)
False. Disclosure does facilitate therapy, but the therapist still needs to be mindful of boundaries.
Existential therapy can only be applied individually. (True or False)
False. Although existential therapy primarily has its applications in individual therapy, existential themes and insights can be successfully applied in group therapy, couples therapy, family therapy and so forth.
All humans, regardless of cultural background share the problems of existence and must come to terms with freedom, isolation, meaninglessness, and death (True or False).
True
