THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUE AND

PROCEDURE

GESTALT APPROACH

TO COUNSELIN

G

EXERCISES are ready-made techniques that are sometimes used to make something happen in a therapy session or to achieve goal. It serves as catalyst for individual work or for promoting interaction among members of the therapy group (Corey, 2009).

EXERCISE AND EXPIREMENT

EXPERIMENT grows out of the interaction between the client and therapist in a dialogic process; cornerstone of dialogic process.

It heightens the client’s awareness and understanding through experience (Frew, 2008)

An EXERCISE or technique is a performed experiment with specific learning goals….An EXPERIMENT, on the other hand, flows directly from psychotherapy theory and is crafted to fit the individual as he or she exist in the here and now (Melnick and Nevis, 2005).

EXPERIMENT

Avenue for clients to live experientiallyA creative adventure where clients can

themselves behaviorallyInvites clients to engage in experiments that

lead to fresh emotional experience and new insight (Strumpfel & Goldman, 2002)

Determines what does or does not fit for the client through their own awareness (Yontef, 1993)

It brings out some kind of internal conflict by making the struggle an actual process (Polster, 1987)

FORMS OF GESTALT EXPERIMENT ACCORDING TO POLSTER

Imagining a future encounter

Setting up a dialogue between a client and some significant person in his/her life

Dramatizing the memory of a painful event

Reliving a particularly profound early experience in the present

Assuming the identity of ones mother or father through role playing

Focusing on gestures, postures, and other non verbal signs of inner expression

Carrying on a dialogue between two conflicting aspects within the person

GUIDELINES IN PREPARING FOR GESTALT APPROACH

PASSON (1975) & ZINKER (1978)

To be sensitive enough to know when to leave the client alone

To derive maximum benefit from Gestalt experiment, the practitioner must be sensitive to introducing them at the right time and in a appropriate manner

The nature of the experiment depends on the individual’s problems, what the person is experiencing, and the life experiences that both the client and the therapist bring the session

Experiments require the client’s active role in self-exploration

Gestalt experiment work best when the therapist is respectful of the client’s cultural background and is in good contact with the person

If the therapist meets with hesitation, it is good idea to explore its meaning for the client

It is important that the therapist be flexible in using technique, paying particular attention to how the client is responding

The counselor should be ready to scale down tasks so that the client has a good chance to succeed in his/her effort

The therapist needs to learn which experiment can be best be practiced in the session itself and which can best be performed outside

GESTALT THERAPY INTERVENTIONS

To bring about integrated functioning and acceptance of aspects of one’s personality that have been disowned and denied

INTERNAL DIALOGUE EXERCISE

EMPTY-CHAIR TECHNIQUE

one way of getting the client externalize the introject

helps the client to get in touch with a feeling or a side of themselves that they may be denying

it discourages clients from disassociating the feeling

involves asking a person in a group to go up to others in the group and either speak to or do something with each person.

to confront, to risk, to disclose the self, to experiment with new behavior, and to grow and change.

MAKING THE ROUNDS

to represent reversals of underlying and latent impulses

“plunging the client into the part of themselves that have been submerged and denied”

to help clients accept certain personal attributes that they try to deny

THE REVERSAL EXERCISE

Prepares the client to in their social role

Increases awareness on how they try to meet the expectation of others, of the degree to which they want to be approved, accepted, and like, and of the extent to which they go attain acceptance

THE REHEARSAL EXERCISE

Aims the client to become more aware of the subtle signals and cues they are sending through boy language.

EXAGGERATION EXERCISE

urges the client to stay with their feelings and encourage them to go deeper into the feeling or behavior they wish to avoid

STAYING WITH THE FEELING

It brings back the dream to life and relieve them as though they are happening now.

The dream is acted out in the present, and the dreamer becomes part of his/her own dream.

GESTALT APPROACH TO DREAM WORK

GESTALT THERAPYSTRENGTH AND CONTRIBUTION

Emphasizes helping people incorporate and accept all aspects of life.

Helps client focus on resolving areas of unfinished business.

The approach is flexible and not limited to a few technique.

Primary emphasizes on doing rather than talking

Appropriate for certain affective disorder, anxiety states, somatoform disorder, etc. Gestalt is versatile.