Ray Bruce
The Gestalt Theory
Foundation Course in Psychotherapy and Counselling
Monday March 13th 2006
An essay submitted in partial fulfilment of the foundation course in psychotherapy and counselling.
In this essay I will be explaining the principles of the Gestalt Therapy. I will describe how the therapy works in general and from my own interest I will highlight the creative element to Gestalt.
The Founders of The Gestalt approach.
The two main founders of the gestalt approach were Frederick (Fritz) Perls ( 1893-1970) and his wife Laura Perls ( 1905-1992).
The Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt is a German word meaning "pattern". Although there's no easily translated term in English, it's meaning loosely translates into "the whole picture". This is one of the main purposes of the Gestalt Therapy in that it's aim is to get a sense of the client as being a "whole" or what the client is actually about.
Gestalt is an alternative humanistic approach, it focuses on the Existentialism and Phenomenological ideas of Psychotherapy.
The initial goal of the therapy is to promote self-awareness and personal growth. Therefore, focusing on the process of what is happening rather than what is being discussed. It emphasis on what is being done, thought and felt at the moment rather than on what was, might be, could be or should be.
Gestalt Therapy regards the client as an ever changing, self-adapting, human being who is in a process of continuous change and development. Gestalt Therapy is used for the natural change in the client through the constant interacting with others and everyday challenges, such as opportunities, possibilities and the inevitable problems that are put upon us. This leads to an assumption that human beings should not be theorized about in a way that suggests there is a separation between the inner and outer realms of existence. Basically, this means that the individual has to be seen as being in relation to themselves and their environment in which they live. Therefore, family, work colleagues, organisational and national life are classed as 'other', these are all part of the living experience and are in effect 'part of oneself'.
Therefore, the Gestalt perspective of the client is a holistic one, seeing the person as pole within a constantly changing field.
Gestalt Therapy does not involve lying on a couch and is practised in groups and individual therapy. It is a practical psychotherapy with an emphasis on communication between the client and the therapist. The therapist works with the client to be aware of their responses in the here and now. As the client talks about their experiences and personal material, they are encouraged to notice their physical and emotional responses.
The concept of what Perls calls unfinished situations is central to the Gestalt Theory.
Perls believed that our organism is so complicated that every time something happens to it
we are thrown out of balance and have to regain our balance to function successfully.
This disturbance of balance creates unfinished situations.
In a lecture entitled Finding Self through Gestalt Therapy Fritz Perls likened these unfinished situations to the symptom of insomnia.
Say you have revenge which you haven't carried out,...Somebody has hurt your self esteem. So you toss and ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
The concept of what Perls calls unfinished situations is central to the Gestalt Theory.
Perls believed that our organism is so complicated that every time something happens to it
we are thrown out of balance and have to regain our balance to function successfully.
This disturbance of balance creates unfinished situations.
In a lecture entitled Finding Self through Gestalt Therapy Fritz Perls likened these unfinished situations to the symptom of insomnia.
Say you have revenge which you haven't carried out,...Somebody has hurt your self esteem. So you toss and turn until you finally hit on the idea, "Ah this is what I would like to do to him." And then you get angry, not with the dog that is barking outside, but with the subject with whom you want to get angry. Then you can finish the situation either in reality or in fantasy. You might get enough emotional release to fall asleep and then you might have some dream wherein you actually finish him off.
Therefore by confronting the source of the anxiety it is possible to come to terms with the problem and find a personal solution.
Any unfinished past experiences that appear to repeat themselves during this process, as in the here and now, are tell tale signs of the root of the client's problems. Working this way, can bring an increased self-awareness and liveliness of responses. Therefore, while some therapist's use different styles, the onus is on tracking the clients experiences in the here and now, including the relationship between the therapist and the client.
The here and now concept of Gestalt Therapy brings forth all past experiences and thoughts of the client so that he/she can learn to stick with every moment and become totally involved with the situation long enough to feel confident to close it and move onto the next problem. However, to enable this shift the client must be made aware of their gestures such as breathing, emotions, their voice and changes in facial expressions as well as their thoughts. This will help them with the process of becoming aware of themselves, thus, helping them learn more about themselves.
As the client becomes more attuned to the ways in which they interrupt themselves, the 'now', they will start to experience and feel the self that they have interrupted. The therapist can pick up on body language such as a clenched fist as if to punch someone or a swinging leg as if to kick someone or by the client looking away when talking, this will pose a question in the therapist's mind, is the client aware of this. This can be used as a starting point in the therapy by asking the client if he/she is aware then the therapist can proceed by helping the client become aware of these interruptions. The more the client is aware of this the sooner they will be aware of what they are interrupting.
This fundamental ( and important starting point) process in Gestalt can be better put in practice by using experiments with the client to help them to engage with immediate environment.
The principles of these experiments were based on perception which emphasised the holistic, organism and biological theory of human functioning and growth ( Clarkson 1989). In order to make sense of life events, our perceptions are organised into Gestalts. Once a Gestalt is formed there is a focus of attention on a background of all immediate relevance. This is called 'Figure and Ground'. This is an important concept in Gestalt theory and was described many years ago by Kohler, Koffka and Worthier ( Zinker 1977). Figure and Ground is the difference between what we are visually experiencing at that moment, being the 'Figure' and everything else is around us is 'Ground'. As Zinker (1977) explains...... as I am looking at my notes, I see a page which says 'Energy'......this page is figure ........... The ground is the rest of my desk which appears to be cluttered with a number of things of secondary interest to me.
Therefore, the figure and ground formation is called 'field theory' ( Clarkson 1977: 8 ). All aspects of field theory are based on the individual and their environment being interrelated so that the field forms their context. Each field is organised into a gestalt by the dominant need at that moment. Should either a personal or social need arises, a figure/ground formation develops and whatever is perceived as being able to meet the need becoming figure. This cycle of figure/ground, has been used in many different forms. One of the earliest models is a four-phase process called the "cycle of contact" ( Perls et al, 1973 ).
The first phase is "fore-contact" , this is where a need arises and the individual is aware of an imbalance in them or to their environment. It is the point at which the individual is lacking or has excess of something and has the urge to restore balance. At this stage, the need is figure and everything else is ground. The second stage is "contact" which is where the need is followed with excitement and mobilisation of the individuals own resources. The object-figure stimulates emotional or physiological feelings and becomes the focus for possibilities of satisfaction. The individual is now able to freely choose and implement from their surroundings, the appropriate action.
The third phase is "final-contact" which is where the need has been met by choosing and implementing the right cause of action physically and mentally. This phase of contact can be made with objects or aspects of nature or even with animals or those around us. If the contact is of quality then the individual will feel that the need has been met, however, the contact must be good and full for the individual to have a sense of fulfilment. This final phase sees the closure of a particular Gestalt. The good-contact enables the individual to engage fully in the newly discovered figure, therefore, aiding the course of change rather than trying to change.
The fourth and final phase is "post-contact", this is the sense of satisfaction and leads into the point of growth although the individual may not be aware of it. The gestalt closes and the balance is restored. It is at this stage that leads onto withdrawal into, what is referred to as, the "fertile-void", ready for the next need to arise.
Of course, the cycle of contact can be interrupted by fear or danger or frustration. This is where the individual doesn't make contact or experience with the original need and is prevented by using neurotic mechanisms that are briefly explained as the follows.
Projection- Inappropriate choices to fulfil the need or to disown parts of oneself onto others, preventing the person completing the need or sensation.
Introjection- being with thoughts and beliefs ('shoulds') that are not part of ones organism, for example past experiences of a abusive or neglectful parent.
Confluence- Not being able to let go of previous situations and moving straight into a new one. It is the fear of "being in the void" ( Clarkson 1989 ) and not waiting for a new and clear figure arises from themselves or the environment.
Retroflection- this comes in two forms, the first being when the person does to themselves what they want to do someone else. In extreme cases this may result in suicide. The other form is when you do to yourself what you want or wanted to have done for you by others.
Desensitisation- This often occurs when the person ignores sensations from the body, such as feeling pain or the need to have a drink.
One key feature of Gestalt Therapy is the use and implementation of experiments rather than through a theoretical setting. As John McLeod(1993) explains 'An essential feature of Gestalt Therapy as practiced by Fritz Perls was an extreme hostility to over-intellectualisation, or what he called 'bullshit'. (Page 162) These experiments involve the client verbalising and exploring the material that is to be enacted out. Before the experiment can be done the therapist must first set the sequence for the experiment to be effective. An understanding of the clients background is foremost followed by the respect on both sides so that the client doesn't feel alone in the experiment. Careful grading of the work by the therapist is also useful so that the client feels comfortable with the flow of the experiment and material being worked on and the awareness of the material of the therapist will be all major building blocks for an effective experiment.
Some experiments can be simply used to 'track' the awareness of what the client is saying. An example of this, as follows is illustrated in 'Handbook of Individual Therapy, Dryden (2002), a man reporting that he is 'fed up with working' may be hunching his shoulder as he says it. The therapist might invite him to exaggerate the posture of his body, or to stay in the hunched position to explore what it may represent. Alternately the experiment might be exploring an 'opposite' body position.
Gestalt Therapy employs a variation of these experiments that include dramatisations, dance or other forms of physical movements. Also, dialogue between parts of one self, working with dreams and exploring changes in behaviour have all proved to be effective.
Some experiments have become classics, as in the 'empty chair' experiment, in which a person speaks to someone with whom they have some un-finished business with or they may speak to another part of themselves, the weak side of the person may speak to the strong side. They may then move to the other chair and react from that position either being the other person or the other part of self. By giving the person the opportunity to confront this un-finished business helps them to communicate with the other person and come in contact with their own anger, feelings, and thoughts.
Therefore Gestalt Therapy is designed to heighten the awareness of how a person is operating in the present moment and aids the process to complete the un-finished business. With awareness comes relief and resolution to the un-finished business and a new integration of the personality.
Bibliography
Books
McLeod, John. (1993) An Introduction to Counselling, Third Edition.
Zinker, Joseph (1977) Creative Process in Gestalt Therapy
Clarkson, Petruska (1989) Gestalt counselling in Action
Dryden, Windy (2002) Handbook of Individual Therapy, Fourth Edition.
Websites.
Wysong, Joe, Finding Self Through Gestalt Therapy, www.gestalt.org/self.htm (06/02/06)