Gestalt Therapy Practice: Theory and Experiential Learning

✍ Scribed by Gro Skottun, Åshild Krüger

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 335
• Series: Gestalt Therapy Book Series)
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This essential new book gives the reader an introduction to the fundamental concepts of gestalt therapy in a stimulating and accessible style. It supports the study and practice of gestalt therapy for clinicians of all backgrounds, reflecting a practice-based pedagogy that emphasises experiential learning.

The content in this book builds on the curriculum taught at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute University College (NGI). The material is divided into four main sections. In the first section, the theoretical basis for gestalt therapy is presented with references to gestalt psychology, field theory, phenomenology, and existential philosophy. In the later parts, central theoretical terms and practical models are discussed, such as the paradoxical theory of change, creative adjustment, self, contact, contact forms, awareness, polarities, and process models. Clinical examples illustrate the therapy form’s emphasis on the relational meeting between therapist and client.

Detailed description of gestalt therapy theory from the time of the gestalt psychologists to today, with abundant examples from clinical practice, distinguishes this book from other texts. It will be of great value to therapists, coaches, and students of gestalt therapy.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Preface to the English edition
Introduction
Part 1 The basis of gestalt therapy
1 Gestalt psychology and field theory
The roots of the term ‘gestalt’
A historical retrospect
The discovery of the phi phenomenon (motion illusion)
Perception of gestalts
The law of prägnanz
The principle of figure-ground
The ‘aha’ experience and problem-solving learning
Summary of gestalt psychology and perception
Field theory
The organism and its environment
The field
The principle of the interdependence of field forces
Here and now in the field
The importance of needs for regulation in the field
The Zeigarnik effect
Field theory summarised
2 Phenomenology and existentialism
From phenomenology
A historical retrospect
Exploring phenomena
From existential phenomenology
The body’s sensation of the other
Meeting the other
From French existentialism
The fundamental values of gestalt therapy
Fundamental values in practice
Finality
Solitude
Responsibility
Imperfection
Some last thoughts
3 The founders of gestalt therapy
Personal and professional development
Influences from contemporary currents
Ideas from contemporary theory and philosophy
Interlude in South Africa
To the United States
Gestalt therapy is born
Gestalt therapy in development: the pros and cons
A new day, a new paradigm
Gestalt therapy training and research
Gestalt therapy today
Summary
Part 2 Fundamental terminology and concepts
4 The field in practice
The therapist as co-creator in the field
The therapist contributes to the organisation of the field
Here and now
Defining the field
Summary of key elements of the field in practice
The field in practice summarised
5 The theory of change
Spontaneous insight
Paradoxical change
Seeing things as they are
Fritz Perls’ understanding of paradoxical change and impasse
To accept what is: suffering, pain, and resistance
Finding one’s footing
Supporting clients in therapy
Summary
6 Creative adjustment
The theory of creative adjustment
Creative adjustment and the law of prägnanz
Self-regulation
Is all adjustment creative and ‘the best we can do’?
Unfinished business
There and then, here and now
Creative adjustment and traumatic events
Creative adjustment in the therapy room
Summary
7 The theory of self in gestalt therapy
The theory of self
Aspects of self: id, ego, and personality
Three functions of self: impulse, personality, and I-function
Creating and being shaped by the situation—together
Self and creative adjustment
Conflicting needs in the situation
The theory of self in clinical practice
Choosing who I am in the therapy room
When the I-function is lacking
Working with the personality function
When impulse control is lacking
Summary
8 Awareness
To be aware
From awareness to consciousness: the awareness–consciousness continuum
History of the term ‘awareness’
Words and concepts with different or overlapping meanings
Being aware and attentive in the therapy room
When awareness becomes conscious thought
Practicing awareness and attention
Awareness zones
The outer zone
The inner zone
The middle zone
The three zones in practice
From the middle zone to the outer zone and back to the middle zone
From the middle zone to the inner zone
Exploring activity in the middle zone
Summary
Examples of awareness questions related to the zones
9 Contact
Contact in gestalt therapy
Contact as an interpersonal phenomenon
Contact with oneself
Contact in the therapy room
Contact functions
Sensations and interpretations
Working with contact functions in couples’ therapy
Working with contacts functions in therapy
Summary
10 Polarities
Polarities and needs in the field
The desire–fear model
Polarities and conflicting needs
Discovering opposite polarities
Developing flexible polarities
Discovering oneself in the other
Topdog–underdog
Topdog–underdog in therapy
Polarities and existential themes in therapy
Summary
11 Experiments
The experiment’s place in therapy
Phases in experimentation
Action research
Grading experiments
Various forms of experiments
Classical awareness experiments
Role-playing
Chair work
Imagination and visualisation
Metaphor
Dream work
Creative aids
Movement and bodily expression in therapy
Summary
Part 3 Contact forms
Form and creative adjustment
Contact forms and their polarities
12 Confluence
Flowing together
Confluence and empathy
Polarities to ‘flowing together’
To resist or flow together
To flow with one’s own thoughts and feelings
Confluence in therapy
To flow along with in therapy
Feeling helpless as a therapist
To confront with the heart
Differentiation through movement
Summary
13 Introjection
Integrating feedback
Swallowing, spitting out, or processing
Giving and receiving expectations: a field phenomenon
The gestalt therapist and introjection
Introjection in the therapy room
Introjection, body movement, and anger
Exploring choices
Expectations in the coaching room
Expectations and creativity
Introjection and learning
Summary
14 Projection
Definition of projection
From us to you and me
Projection and its opposing polarity
Exploring projection in therapy
Projection and introjection
Seeing things as they are
Projection and seeing what is
The projection chair
Projection as a creative method
‘Playing the client’ in supervision
Visualisation
Summary
15 Retroflection
Inner conversations turned outwards
Retroflection—introjection and projection
Coming out and holding back
The inner critic
Retroflection’s opposing polarity
The contact between us
Doing to oneself rather than to the other
Working with retroflection in the therapy room
Working with bodily reactions in the therapy room
Withheld emotions
Exploring retroflection and projection
Guilt and shame
When retroflection is lacking
A lack of knowledge—a lack of awareness
Unrealistic beliefs about oneself
Summary
16 Self-monitoring
Self-monitoring and contact with the outside world
Self-monitoring, egotism, and egoism
Self-monitoring and other forms of contact
Being in one’s own bubble
Self-monitoring’s opposing polarity
Self-monitoring and therapy
Talking more with oneself than with the therapist
Self-monitoring as a contact form in supervision
Summary
17 Deflection
Definition of deflection
Deflection and its opposing polarity
Deflection and focusing alone or together
Working with deflection in therapy
Being sent to therapy
Using ‘you’ instead of ‘I’
Deflection and bodily unrest
Turning away instead of standing firm
Summary
Part 4 Process models
Many diverse needs to be met
Process and change
Three process models
Adapting to the environment
18 The process of contact
Phases in a contact process
An example of a contact process
Contacting phase
Final-contact
Post-contact
Transitions between phases
Contact processes in the therapy room
The contact process described as circle, spiral, or sequences
Silence in a therapy group
Creative adjustment
Summary
19 The process of experience
Phases in the process of experience
Sensation
Awareness
Mobilisation
Action
Contact
Withdrawal
Challenges in the various phases
From the therapy room: becoming aware of the body
Challenges in mobilisation
The action phase
Contact and challenges in the withdrawal phase
Reduction of excitement, withdrawal, and rest
Completion and unfinished situations
The experience process: a model of waves, arcs, or sequences?
Summary
20 The process of change
First phase: stagnation
Exploration here and now
Different needs and conditions during the stagnation phase
The transition to the polarisation phase
Theme and underlying needs
Second phase: polarisation
The transition to the diffusion phase
Third phase: diffusion
The transition to the contraction phase
Fourth phase: contraction
Fifth phase: expansion
Change and time
The therapist’s role and function
When the process of change is too demanding
Summary
Index