Gestalt therapy is a positive and humanistic therapy. It helps both clients and therapists to become responsible for their own experiences and to experiment with new ways of behaving and thinking. It also helps clients to become more genuine, open to transition or make change. On the other hand, gestalt therapy is flexible in many techniques and may be applied to different therapeutic issues such as anxiety, family problem, violent and so on. Gestalt therapy also incorporates all aspects of client’s life that integrate client’s self and self-image into a unified whole (Degeneffe, C. E., & Lynch, R. T., 2015). Counsellors can use any strategy such as empty chair that will help clients become more integrative. It approaches embraces the whole of a client’s life experience such as physical, psychological, intellectual, emotion, interpersonal and spiritual …show more content…
Gestalt therapy helps a client take the first step into the awareness which is understanding their inner self that lead to understand their actions, responds and behaviours so that they can appreciate and accept the life (Wagner-Moore, Laura E., 2004). Through a journey of self-discovery, this therapy also empowers a client with the skills necessary to face stressful situations. This will help clients become more accepting of themselves and others, which carries over into communication, decisions and relationships. Clients will feel more calmness, at peace and increase their self-confident during therapeutic session (Wagner-Moore, Laura E., 2004). Gestalt therapy is an effective approach for resolving addiction, depression, anxiety, tension, post-traumatic stress and it also help clients become more aware of their feelings about living with disability, as well as they can achieved greater happiness and fulfillment in the future (Wagner-Moore, Laura E.,
The purpose of this essay is to better illustrate Gestalt therapy, a counseling theory based on the principle of holism. Moreover, I will analyze how through Gestalt practices, clients, such as Helen, Blake, Suzanne and Marie become conscious of what they have deserted or are no longer aware of.
This approach emphasizes the importance of the potential of humans and sought to make up for the missing component of conscious in the psychodynamic approach. The humanistic approach oriented psychologist has the belief that human behavior is guided by intent and the individual’s set of values (Association, 2014). Those who subscribe to this orientation believe there are both an unconscious and a conscious element to determining behavior. The unconscious element is considered to be the individual’s application of learned norms and experience, while the conscious element is applied by making deliberate choices and decisions. A humanistic oriented practitioner will use differing types of therapy such as client-centered therapy, Gestalt therapy, or existential therapy (American Psychological, 2015). Client-centered therapy or person-centered therapy was developed by Carl Rogers and places the client as the leader of the therapy. This approach allows for the growth and better understanding of self within the individual, as they solve their own problems, while the therapist is there to provide empathetic support (Australian, 2010). Gestalt therapy focuses on the responsibility of the individual for their current situation and considers relationships, environment, and social experiences occurring, and influencing behavior (Polster & Polster, 2010). This process consists of the practitioner acting as a guide and offer advise in helping the client to deal with their current issue. Existential therapy consists of allowing an individual the ability to live with their issues within their own existence (Price, 2011). This means a therapist uses this type of therapy to assist clients with understanding what the present problem is and learning to deal with the consequences of that issue in their every day life. With
Both Gestalt theory and cognitive therapy are both anchored in phenomenology and are undogmatic in their attitude toward integration of elements from other therapeutic and scientific approaches, as long as such elements do not violate the phenomenological principles (Tonnesvang et al., 2010). Cognitive therapy has become increasingly respected and popular in academia where Gestalt therapy is lacking recognition in these areas. Better adaptability of cognitive therapy to training models for applied therapeutic approach compared to experiential models. Gestalt has been more or an oral tradition with a comparatively sparse production of written material and an almost nonproduction of traditional research.
Founded by Frederick (Fritz) and Laura Perls in the 1940's, Gestalt therapy is a phenomenological -- existential methodology which emphasizes experience and experimentation. Gestalt is a German term that means a "complete pattern or configuration" (p. 112). Though there are many modalities and styles in Gestalt therapy, it is holistic in its approach uniting mind, body, and feeling (p. 112). Some concepts at the core of Gestalt therapy are "the organism as a whole", emphasis on the "here and now", and "awareness" (pp. 223-225).
A gestalt typically has two or more parts that are combined together to be perceived as one. In gestalt therapy, self-awareness is important for the client to comprehend. It helps them achieve personal growth and also helps them develop their full potential. Gestalt counseling is a humanistic, process-oriented therapy that integrates dialogue and field theory (Lewin, 1951). Many gestalt therapist believe that self-actualization cannot fully be achieved if negative thought patterns and behaviors intrude their daily lives. A gestalt therapist focuses on five key concepts when counselling a client. The five concepts are respect, experience, creativity, responsibility, and relationship. In a session, the client is treated with upmost respect and warmness so that he or she will be open to talk. When speaking to a client, a therapist may put emphasis on reliving past experiences to come into terms with root conflictions that are the cause of their problems. Therapist also use various creative and flexible techniques to help a client to feel safe to talk. An emphasis on social responsibility is enforced by the therapist to the client. This emphasis on social responsibility helps the client to view the world as a whole rather than focusing on only their own factors in life. Having good relationships with other people is vital for the well-being of a client. A gestalt therapists acknowledges that their client has achieved whole well-being when the client has a good relationship with themselves and others (Counselling Directory, p.3). Typical methods and techniques for a client’s therapeutic process includes role play, the “open-chair” technique, authentic dialogue, dream interpretation, and attention to body language. Gestalt therapy values each client's unique context and diversity variables and strives to understand the client's experience from his or her perspective (Resnick,
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used by most counselors to change clients though process hoping that it changes the outcome of their situations and problems. CBT is used amongst most agencies.
In existential the focus is on assisting individuals on becoming authors of their own lives with the philosophical framework of what it means to be human. Psychodrama allows individuals to explore problems through role play to develop new behavioral skills. Gestalt therapy warrants the here-and-now, bringing unfinished business to the present, allowing individuals to deal with those problems now. Person-centered approach concentrates on self-exploration, learning to accept one’s self, and determining avenues to take to change. Collectively, I found the most valuable and meaningful aspects of experiential and relationship oriented approaches to be self-exploration and bringing unfinished business to the present to help individuals deal with those problems
The rapport and friendship built throughout this movie is vital to the success of the therapy exhibited here. This is a great example of Gestalt therapeutic approach and helps to identify most of the techniques incorporated. The techniques and ways of gently confronting but pushing a client all the way through are very beneficial to each viewer of this film.
I am choosing to write about gestalt therapy. Gestalt’s founding theorists were Frederick (Fritz) S. Perls and Laura Posner Perls. In 1952 Fritz and Laura and other associates established the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy. Gestalt theory is an existential, phenomenological and process-based theory made on the basis that people must be understood in the setting of their ongoing relationships with their atmosphere. Awareness, choice, and responsibility are the base fundamentals of the theory. Contemporary gestalt therapy is sometimes called relational gestalt therapy which stresses a dialogue and relationship between a client and a therapist must be had. Fritz is often seen in one of two ways, either people are in awe of him or find him tough and aggressively confrontational. Today’s gestalt therapists seek to be more supportive, accepting, respectful, dialogical, and empathic and challenging (Corey, 2013).
The Existential Approach stands for respect for the person, for exploring new aspects of human behavior, and for divergent methods of understanding people (Corey, 2013). Existentialists do not focus on instinctive drives or internalized others but on the person's unavoidable confrontation with the givens of the human condition. Yalom (1980) described those givens as death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness. (Bauman, & Waldo, 1998).
Gestalt therapy can be described as process active, experiential work and can help shed light on suppressed feelings by helping us focus our awareness on feelings in the present. In working through negative the client can realize negative behavior patterns that may have become ingrained. Understanding the relationship between what we tell ourselves (bad gestalts) and negative thought processes and can become a part of the healing process. Through this form of therapeutic process, individuals can become better equipped to understand themselves and make better or healthier choices, creating a unity of mind, body and spirit.
Gestalt and TA concept have been widely recognized for their role in psychotherapy. In this context, they provide the therapist with a framework which can be used to help their patients overcome mental problems and issues. As result, personal growth and development is likely to be attained. Their significance is illuminated by the fact that both of them encourage the patient’s ‘here and now’ awareness, which is fundamental in personal development (Brenner 2000).
Through the psychoanalytic therapeutic approach, the counselor analyses the client and the occurring problem as well as teach the client how to comprehend the behavior and how it is related to the client’s past experiences. Focusing on the Adlerian approach, the counselor’s role becomes to create mutual trust and respect as well as identifying previous mistaken goals as well as teaching and encouraging the client to a brighter future. The client-therapist relationship becomes mutual towards determining goals and is built on equality. The role of the counselor with the focus of CBT is as a teacher. The counselor teaches the client to change his or her cognition to create a better cognitive schema and a more positive view in the future. However, the relationship is collaborative, meaning that the counselor helps the client identifying the problem and how to solve it. Lastly, the postmodern approaches, creates a collaborative partnership. However, the client-therapist relationship is different in the postmodern approaches compared to psychoanalytic therapy, Adlerian therapy, and CBT, where it is a teaching environment, with the counselor being the expert. In the postmodern approaches, the client is the expert on his or her life and takes control over developing a future-oriented goal with assistance from the counselor. Creating an
Manuel is a client that has been depressed for the past two months. He has lost his construction job, because he missed too much from the effects of drinking heavily and using drugs. His use of drugs and alcohol became a daily routine and was close to killing himself several times. He would be in his apartment all day watching T.V. and drinking and isolated from his family. Also thought of death a lot. His girlfriend left him and became even more depressed because he was alone. He used more to feel better but it made him feel more depressed. He did go see a doctor and prescribed him medication for his depression but he didn’t disclose that he was using drugs.
Several decades ago, communications philosopher Marshall McLuhan spoke about the development of the Global Village and how the evolution of new technologies would help connect people on opposite sides of the world, creating online communities that would break boundaries and borders. While this change has been recognized, so too has the idea explored by his successors in which while individuals were expected to look at others in the world through a telescope, they have alternatively developed the tendency to look at themselves through a microscope. As the era of worldwide connectivity began, so did the era of ‘me, me, me’. Both the hardware and the software of the new millennium, inclusive of the iPhone’s forward-facing camera, and apps that allow one to fix blemishes and whiten teeth, have adapted to allow this change to an inward focus. While this has certainly caught on, it has also begun to cause a lot of problems. The act of posting about the self began to be seen as a negatively self-centered one when Facebook NewsFeeds were filled with egotistic stories and ‘Selfies,’ photos of the self. Shortly after, the application Instagram was created, where the occurrence of the Selfie was magnified to a greater degree. This intensive focus inward, and the way these pieces of media are shared, have made some individuals reliant on the positive expressions of others for self-confidence and social approval. When self-esteem is intertwined with how many ‘likes’ a photo gets on a mobile application, we start to see a shift in how self-awareness is formed, what people will do for this approval, and how some will react to a lack of attention.