1. University of North Texas
Theoretical Models of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 3rd Edition Chapter 7: Gestalt Counseling
Mario De La Garza, M.Ed.
University of North Texas
adapted from
Cecili Greenwood

2. Founder’s Overview
Frederick “Fritz” Perls – born to a lower social class Jewish family in 1893
Early life filled with struggle and humiliation, particularly from his father
1940s – Worked with wife, Laura, and others on seminal writings which became Gestalt therapy
Rejected the original name – Existential Therapy – because of its negative association with Jean Paul Sartre and nihilism

3. Philosophical Underpinnings
Phenomenological perspective of immediate experience
Now=experience=awareness=reality
Holism – psyche is an integrated whole in which a person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual elements are intertwined and inseparable
Whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Example: Chocolate Chip Cookies

4. Philosophical Underpinnings
Field theory – Kurt Lewin
Field
Here and Now
Interaction between an organism and its environment
Contains the ground and the figure
Ground – all the perceived information
Figure – part of the ground that emerges and is of interest to the organism, often experienced as a need

5. Function of the Psyche
Organismic self-regulation – the ability of the organism to internally and spontaneously participate in need fulfillment in a natural free flowing manner
Need that dominates the now influences perception
Example: Food can be perceived differently by different people at different times (hungry vs. full)

6. Structure of the Psyche
Background (ground) of awareness
Foreground into which the current need (figure) emerges
Need is met or unmet
New need takes the foreground Another pressing need emerges
Original need recedes
into the ground
**** Represents one’s personality ****

7. Role of the Environment
Individuals are inextricably linked to the environment.
Individuals are acted upon by the environment and act upon the environment
INDIVIDUALS ENVIRONMENT
(me) contact boundary (not me)
(disturbances develop)

8. Self and Self-Concept Self-As-Process Self-As-Concept
Awareness of the contact points
Self is the organism’s system of contacts with the environment and it integrates all levels of needs
Observed through client’s verbal and nonverbal behavior
Self-As-Concept
Self-image
Collection of beliefs about oneself arranged in a hierarchical structure
Change is typically slow
Both may be targeted in Gestalt therapy

9. Gestalt Formation and Completion
Gestalt Principles
Gestalt Formation and Completion
Healthy formation is a continuous process of emerging figures and receding fields
Gestalt will disappear if it is divided, new gestalt is created
Individual is not separable from the formation of gestalten (verb form of gestalt)

10. Gestalt Principles Clarity of Gestalten
Clear perception of the immediate present leads to “good gestalten”
No unfinished business that interferes with clear perception of the present
Effective problem solving – cognitive or emotional nature – “Aha” experience

11. Awareness and Attention
Gestalt Principles
Awareness and Attention
Gestalt therapy focuses on the therapeutic validity of awareness
Awareness itself is curative
Attention- consciously effortful, directing perception toward a particular target
Awareness – not consciously effortful, signals gestalt formation
Good gestalt formation is accomplished
through spontaneous awareness

12. Gestalt Principles Closure
People tend to view incomplete visual information as being complete and meaningful
Zeigarnik effect – Individuals seek closure, what we really want and what we are looking for in our lives are
complete experiences

13. Polarization and Identification
Gestalt Principles
Polarization and Identification
Process that may help or hinder self-regulation
Process through which an individual organizes beliefs about self
Occurs when an individual identifies strongly with one end of a set of opposite characteristics

14. Differentiation and Integration
Gestalt Principles
Differentiation and Integration
Process of denying one end of the polarities to identify with the other end
Common for the person to experience an impasse
Self-organizing, self-regulating organisms find a balance by restoring parts that have been denied so long

15. Healthy Functioning Valuation of….. Actuality (living in the present)
Awareness and acceptance of experience
(awareness of self and how self relates to and interacts with the environment)
Wholeness or responsibility (life is a process designed to be experienced as developmental nature)

16. Unhealthy Functioning
Maladjustment
Individual restricts awareness, and patterns develop that fail to fulfill needs or are destructive to self or others
Contact boundary disturbances
Introjection- Individual takes in both nutritious and toxic material, sense of self is vulnerable
Projection- Individual perceives personal qualities in the people and things of the environment, sense of self is not contained

17. Unhealthy Functioning
Contact boundary disturbances (cont.)
Confluence- Individual does not distinguish between self and environment, especially other people, sense of self is scattered
Isolation/Retroflection- Individual might reject nutritious material from environment or self-enhancing actions are turned back on oneself

18. Unhealthy Functioning: Layers of Neurosis
1) Phony
2) Phobic
3) Impasse
4) Implosive
5) Explosive
Like peeling on onion, each layer worked through equals greater awareness.

19. Personality Change Process
Change is paradoxical – one can only change when one is truly oneself
Change occurs when a person moves toward a position of more self-trust, insight, and awareness
After gaining awareness, an individual must take steps to experiment with and experience new ways of fulfilling the need and completing the gestalt.

20. Client’s Role Attune oneself to the continuum of awareness
Commit to the here-and-now
Own everything
Commit to meaningful dialogue
Avoid questions
Take risks
Embrace personal responsibility

21. Counselor’s Role The therapist is a tool of change.
The therapist encourages immediate awareness in the client of the I-Thou relationship.
The therapist is both supportive and confrontational and continually gives the client feedback to foster awareness.
The therapist asks “How?” and avoids “Why?”

22. Gestalt Counseling I and thou, here and now relationships
Contact – spontaneous interfunctioning of you and your environment
Intrapersonal (contact between the client and aspects of himself or herself) and Interpersonal (contact between the client and perceived aspects of interactions with individuals or events from the past, present or future)

23. Gestalt Counseling
Affirmation and acknowledgement – “Yes, that’s true!”
Brings a cessation of conflict or confusion
Clarity after completion of a gestalt enables the client to make appropriate decisions and choices
Appropriate – client’s decision lies within
Interventions or responses made by therapist should be judged appropriate through contact with client
Respect – client is the authority
Therapist demonstrates respect for every aspect of the client’s systems
Experimentation – client is encouraged to experiment with experience that may generate awareness or remove blockages and complete the gestalt

24. Stages & Techniques WARNING: Gestalt is not a technique-only theory
Reversal – Counselor asks the client to express the polar opposite of any feeling, thought, or action
Dialogue – “Empty-Chair technique” – provides clarity to parts of self that are not in awareness or are not integrated in the self
Directed Awareness – Counselor and client strive to be open and aware of issues that surface in the here and now

25. Interface with Recent Developments in Mental Health
Nature/Nurture
Gestalt therapists acknowledge there is an interrelationship between self, biology, and environment
DSM 5 Diagnosis
Gestalt therapists view the use of diagnosis as not being static, change is possible
Pharmacotherapy
Gestalt therapists believe medication alone is not enough
Taking medication must be followed by processing issues in the present

26. Interface with Recent Developments in Mental Health
Managed Care and Brief Therapy
Gestalt therapy has no definite length
Technical Eclecticism
Gestalt therapists encourage pulling techniques from a wide array of schools of thought in order to facilitate the awareness

27. Interface with Recent Developments in Mental Health
Diversity Issues
Gestalt therapy is not interested in concrete specifics
Encompasses a wide variety of clientele perspectives
Spirituality
Role of spirituality reflects the evolving and phenomenological approach of the theory
Effectiveness of Psychotherapy
Limited research of Gestalt therapy with mixed results

28. Limitations & Contributions
lack of emphasis on cognitive aspect of existence
therapists grasp the use of techniques without understanding
Contributions
creativity
here-and-now
emphasis on emotional expression

29. References
Fall, K. A., Holden, J. M., & Marquis, A. (2016). Theoretical models of counseling and psychotherapy (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Korb, M.P., Gorrell, J., Van De Riet, V. (1989). Gestalt therapy practice and theory (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.