A Gestalt Therapy

8/9/2019 A Gestalt Therapy

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Gestaltby

Legesse Sana Dana


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Major Theorist:y Fritz Perls

y Born in 1893 into a Jewish Berlin family

y Medicin WWI for Germany, MD in 1920y Trained as a psychoanalyst

y 1933, fled Germany to Holland & S Africa

y 1946, went to America


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Gestalt Therapyy Gestalt therapyis associated with Gestalt Psychology, a

schol of thought that stresses the perception ofcopleteness and wholeness. Infa

ct, the te

rm gestaltliterally translated means whole figure. Gestalt

therapy arose as a reaction to the reductionistemphasis in other schools ofconsleing andpsychotherapy, such as psychoanlysis andbehaviorism, which trid to break down the personalityorclient behaviours into explainable parts. In contrast,Gestalt therory emphasizes how people function intheir totality.


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Gestalt TherapyyWholeness & completeness

y Trust the inner wisdom of people

y Live integratively & productivelyy People are able to change and become responsible

y Persons are more than the sum of their parts


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Gestalt Therapyy Individuals are actors, not reactors

y The now is what matters

y Discovery of self occurs thru experience rather thantalk due to an overdependency on intellectualexperience

y Unfinished business earlier thoughts, feelings &

reactions that still affect personal functioning &interfere w/present


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Gestalt Therapyy No unconscious just a lack of awareness

y The more aware = more healthy

y Body signs = awareness of a need to change behaviorsy Needs are brought to the fore and then placed in the

background when a new need will come to the fore


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Gestalt TherapyDifficulties

y Lose contact w/environs & its resources

y Overinvolved w/environs = loss of touch with selfy Failing to put aside unfinished business

y People become fragmented & scattered in manydirections


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Gestalt Therapyy Conflict between top dog (what they think they should

do) and the underdog (what they want to do)

y Dichotomies of life are problematic: love/hate,pleasure/pain, masculinity/femininity

y Neurosis occurs when one does not take care of onesself fully or depend on others


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Gestalt Therapyy Counselors create an atmosphere that encourages

clients to explore growth

y Therefore, counselors are personallyinvolved w/clients& are honest

y Counselors are exciting, energetic and fully human

yAlways use the present tense

yAddress all conversations directly


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Gestalt TherapyFive layers of neuroses

y Phony layer pretending to be

y Phobic layer denying parts of ones selfy Impasse layer no sense of direction

y Implosive layer Feel vulnerable to feelings

y Explosive layer have intense feelings of joy, sorrow orpain


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Gestalt Therapyy Exercises are ready made techniques

y Experiments are made on the spot

y Dream work become parts of the dream, discoverwhat is missing in the dream

y Emptychair

y Confrontation point out incongruities

yAsking what & how, why leads to intellectualization


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Gestalt TherapyGroup techniques

y Making the rounds specific them is faced by each

group membery I take responsibility end statements with this phrase

y Exaggeration accentuate movements or gestures


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Gestalt Therapyy May I feed you a sentence? - having the client repeat a

certain sentence that makes the clients thoughts

speci

fic

y Making statements clients is not allowed to askquestions

Documents

A Gestalt Therapy