Compiled by Khushali Adhiya, Assistant Prof., Dept.

of Psychology, Mithibai College (Autonomous)

GESTALT THERAPY

Source:
1. Gladding, S.T (2015). Counseling A comprehensive profession. Pearson Education
Inc.
2. Corey, G. (2009). Counseling & Psychotherapy. Cengage Learning India Pvt Ltd.
3. Nystul, M.S. (2003) Introduction to Counseling An Art & Science Perspective. Allyn
& Bacon
INTRODUCTION

• Stems from gestalt psychology : school of thought that stresses on perception

and wholeness
• It is an existential, phenomenological, process-based approach
• Founder: Frederick ‘Fritz’ Perls (1983-1970)
• Initially a student of psychoanalysis – moved to the United States and began to
develop Gestalt therapy
• He was popularized through his flamboyant personality and writings
• Two of his popular books include: Gestalt Therapy Verbatim and In and Out of the
Garbage Pail
• Other contemporaries of Gestalt therapy include:
o Laura Perls (his wife)
o Paul Goodman
o Joen Fagan
o Irma Lee Shepheard

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

• Gestaltists believe that human beings work for wholeness and

completeness in life
• Anti-deterministic view: each person is able to change and become
responsible.
• People are self-determined, striving for self-actualization and can be
best understood from a phenomenological approach.
• The self-actualizing tendency emerges through personal interaction with
the environment and the beginning of self-awareness.
• Self-actualization is centered in the present
• Places trust on the inner wisdom of people
• People strive to live integrative and productively, striving to coordinate
the various parts of the person into a healthy, unified whole.
• Persons are more than a sum of their parts

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Compiled by Khushali Adhiya, Assistant Prof., Dept. of Psychology, Mithibai College (Autonomous)

• The gestalt theory of change posits that the more we work at becoming
who or what we are not, the more we remain the same. Authentic
change occurs more from being who we are than from trying to be who
we are not.

KEY CONCEPTS OF GESTALT THERAPY

i. Holism : Gestalt is a German word that means whole or completion. All

of nature is seen as a unified and coherent whole, and the whole is
different from the sum of its parts. Gestalt therapists place no superior
value on a particular aspect of the individual; the attend to a client’s
thought, feelings, behaviour, body, memories and dreams as a whole.
Emphasis may be on the figure (aspects of individual’s experience that
are momentarily salient) or may be on the ground (Aspects of the
client’s experience that are often out of his/her awareness).
ii. Field Theory: Grounded on the principle that the organism must be
seen in its environment, or in its context, as part of the constantly
changing field. Everything is relational, in flux, interrelated and in
process. So Gestalt therapists pay attention and explore what is
occurring at the boundary between the person and the environment.
iii. The figure-formation process: Figure and ground phenomena. In
gestalt therapy, the field differentiates into a foreground and a
background. It tracks how some aspect f the environmental field
emerges from the background and becomes the focal point of an
individual’s attention and interest.
iv. Organismic self-regulation : The figure-formation process is inter-
wined with the principle of organismic self-regulation – process by
which equilibrium is ‘disturbed’ b the emergence of a need, sensation or
an interest. People do their best to regulate themselves, within their own
capabilities and resources from the environment.
v. The now: The now is what really matters. Focusing on the past and the
future can be a way to avoid coming to terms with the present. As
clients direct their energies in bemoaning the past mistakes or
ruminating about how life could and should have been different or
engaging in endless resolutions and plans for the future – the power of
the present diminishes. Phenomenological inquiry involves paying
attention to what is occurring now – therapists ask “what” and “how”
questions but rarely ask “why” questions. Dialogue in present tense is
encourages to bring awareness of the power of now.
vi. Unfinished business: When figures emerge from the background but
are not completed and resolved, individuals are left with unfinished

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Compiled by Khushali Adhiya, Assistant Prof., Dept. of Psychology, Mithibai College (Autonomous)

business. It can manifest itself in unexpressed feelings such as

resentment, rage, hatred, pain, anxiety, grief, guilt and abandonment.
The most typical unfinished business in life is not forgiving one’s
parents for their mistakes. These unresolved unfinished feelings linger in
the present and interferes with effective contact with oneself and others.
Gestalt therapists do not attribute either of these difficulties to any
unconscious forces within a person. Rather the focus is on the
awareness. The unfinished business persists until the individual faces
and deals with the unexpressed feelings. The effects of the unfinished
business often show up in some blockage in the body – therefore, gestalt
therapists emphasize paying attention to the bodily experience on the
assumption that if feelings are unexpressed, they tend to result in some
physical sensations or problems. Such unacknowledged feelings create
unnecessary emotional debris that clutters person-centered awareness.
vii. Contact & Resistance: A person may experience difficulty in several
ways. First, he or she may lose contact with the environment and the
resources in it. In Gestalt therapy, contact is necessary if change and
growth are to occur. Contact is made by seeing, hearing, smelling,
touching and moving. Effective contact means interacting with nature
and with other people without losing one’s sense of individuality.
Second, the person may become overinvolved with the environment and
the out of touch with the self.
Third, he or she may fail to put aside unfinished business.
Fourth, he/she may become fragmented or scattered in many directions.
Fifth, the person may experience conflict between the top dog (what he
thinks he should do) and the under dog (what one wants to do).
Finally, the person may have difficulty in handling the dichotomies of
life (such as love/hate, masculinity/femininity, pleasure/pain, etc.)

viii. Energy and Blocks to Energy: Special attention is given to where the
energy is located and how it is used and how it is blocked. Blocked
energy is another form of defensive behaviour. It can be manifested by
tension in some part of the body, by posture, by keeping one’s body
tight and closed, by not breathing deeply, by looking away from people
when speaking to avoid eye contact, by choking of sensations, by
numbing feelings and by speaking with a restricted voice.

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Compiled by Khushali Adhiya, Assistant Prof., Dept. of Psychology, Mithibai College (Autonomous)

THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

F. ROLE OF COUNSELOR
• Create an atmosphere that promotes a client’s exploration of what is needed to
grow.
• Provide such an atmosphere by being intensely and personally involved with
clients and being honest.
• Counselors must be exciting, energetic, and fully human.
• Involvement occurs in the here and now – which is a continuing process
• The now often involves having the counsellors help a client focus on blocking
energy and using that energy in a positive and adaptive ways (Zinker, 1978)
• The ‘now’ also entails the counsellor’s help to the client to recognize patterns
in his/her own life.
• Therapists encourage clients to attend to their sensory awareness in the present
moment.
• Special attention is also paid to client’s non-verbal language – which represent
feelings of which the client is unaware.
• Therapist needs to be alert of the gaps in attention and awareness ad for
incongruities between verbalizations and their body language.

G. GOALS
• Emphasis on the here-and-now
• Recognition of the immediacy of experience
• Focus on both nonverbal and verbal expressions
• Focus on the concept that life includes making choices.
• Concentrate on helping a client resolve the past to become integrated
• Includes completion of mentally growing up – union of emotional, cognitive,
and behavioural aspects of a person.
• Primary focus – acceptance of polarities within the person.
• Emphasize on action, pushing their clients to experience feelings and
behaviours.
• Stress the meaning of the word now.
• Now = experience = awareness = reality
• The past is no more and the future is not yet. Only the now exists. (Perls,
1960)

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Compiled by Khushali Adhiya, Assistant Prof., Dept. of Psychology, Mithibai College (Autonomous)

H. TECHNIQUES
• Most innovative counselling techniques ever developed are found in Gestalt
therapy
• Two forms: exercises and experiments
(a) Exercises – ready made techniques; such as enactment of fantasies, role
playing, psychodrama – they are sometimes used to make something happen in
a therapy session or to achieve a goal. They are employed to evoke a certain
response from the client (such as anger or exploration).
(b) Experiments- activities that grow out of the interaction between counsellor and
client. They are not planned and what is learned is often a surprise to both the
client and the counsellor. Experiments are spontaneous – not designed always
to achieve a particular goal but occur in the context of the moment-to-moment
contacting process between the counsellor and the client. Polster (1995)
indicates that experiments are designed by the therapist and evolve from the
theme already developing through therapeutic engagements – such as client’s
report of needs, dreams, fantasies and body awareness.

EXERCISES

(i) Dream Work – most common. Perls describes dreams as messages that
represent a person’s place at a certain time. They do not interpret the
dreams. Rather, clients present their dreams and are then directed to
experience what it is like to be each part of the dream – a type of
dramatized free association. In this way, client can get more in touch with
the multiple aspects of the self. The intent is to bring dreams back to life
and relive them as though they were happening now. It is acted out in the
present and the dreamer becomes a part of his/her dream. Each part of the
dream is assumed to be a projection of the self and the client creates scripts
for encounters between the various characters or parts.
(ii) Empty Chair Technique – Used to help clients work through conflicting
parts of the personality, such as in an approach-avoidance conflict. In this
procedure, clients talk to the various parts of their personality. Using two
chairs, the therapist asks the client to sit in one chair and be fully the top
dog (what he/she should be doing) and then shift to the other chair and
become the under dog (what he/she wants to do).
The client may either talk to the empty chair as a representative of his/her
part of personality or shift chairs. In this dialogue, both rational and
irrational parts of the client come into focus; the client not only sees these
sides but also becomes able to deal with the dichotomies within the self.
The aim is not to rid oneself of certain traits but to learn to accept and live

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Compiled by Khushali Adhiya, Assistant Prof., Dept. of Psychology, Mithibai College (Autonomous)

with these polarities. This method is not recommended for those who are
severely emotionally disturbed.
(iii) Confrontation – Most powerful gestalt technique. Counselors point out to
a client the incongruity between behaviours and feelings (such as client’s
smiling when admitting to nervousness). It can be done in a way that clients
cooperate, especially when they are invited to examine their behaviours,
attitudes and thoughts. Therapists can encourage clients to look at certain
incongruities, especially gaps between verbal and non-verbal expressions.
Clients can be challenged to recognize how they are blocking their
strengths. It involves asking clients what and how questions. The why
questions are avoided because they lead to intellectualization.
Some powerful Gestalt exercises that are individually oriented but often
used in GROUPS:
(iv) Making the rounds- Employed when the counsellor feels that a particular
theme or feeing expressed by a client should be faced by every person in the
group. The purpose is to confront, to risk, to disclose the self, to experiment
with the new behaviour and to grow and change. Example: Client says, “I
can’t stand anyone.” The client is then instructed to say this sentence to
each person in the group, adding some remarks about each group member.
The rounds exercise is flexible and may include nonverbal and positive
feelings too. It helps clients become more aware if their inner feelings.
(v) I take responsibility – Clients make statements about perceptions and close
each statement with the phrase “and I take responsibility for it”. The
exercise helps clients integrate and own perceptions and behaviours.
(vi) Exaggeration- Person is asked to exaggerate the movement or gesture
repeatedly which usually intensifies the feeling attached to the behaviour
and makes the inner meaning clearer. Example – trembling, slouched
posture, bent shoulders, clenched fists, tight frowning, etc. The aim is for
clients to become more aware of the subtle signals and cues they are
sending through body language.
(vii) May I feed you a sentence?- Counselor who is aware of the implicit
attitudes or messages implied in what the client is saying, asks whether the
client will say a certain sentence that makes the client’s thoughts more
explicit. If the counsellor is correct about the underlying message, the client
will gain insight as the sentence is repeated and explicitly told to him/her.
(viii) Reversal exercise, rehearsal exercise and staying with the feeling- Other
group Gestalt exercises.

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Compiled by Khushali Adhiya, Assistant Prof., Dept. of Psychology, Mithibai College (Autonomous)

STRENGTHS

1. Emphasizes helping people incorporate and accept all aspects of life –

understand a person within the context of a whole person who is choosing
to act on the environment in the present
2. Helps a client focus on resolving areas of unfinished business
3. Emphasis on doing rather than talking
4. Flexible and not limited to a few techniques
5. Appropriate for certain affective disorders, anxiety states, somatoform
disorders, adjustment disorders, occupational and interpersonal problems.
It’s versatile.

LIMITATIONS

1. Lacks strong theoretical base.

2. Deals strictly with the now and how of experience. Does not allow for
passive insight and change – which some clients are more likely to use.
3. Avoids diagnosis and testing.
4. Too concerned with individual development and criticized for its self
centeredness.

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