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Gestalt TherapyOverview Become aware of what they are doing Become aware of how they are doing it Learn how to change themselves Learn to accept and value themselves Emphasis is placed on what is being done, thought, and felt at the present time rather than what might have been, should have been, was, or might be. It focuses on what is happening instead of on the subject being discussed. The Phenomenological Perspective The basis of this concept is that it helps people develop a new way of thinking that is based on learning how to tell the difference between what is actually being perceived that is indicative of the current situation and felt and what is just leftover from the past. Awareness of “insight’ is the goal of Gestalt phenomenological exploration with insight being defined as a patterning of the perceptual field so that the significant realities become apparent. The basis of Gestalt therapy is the knowledge that insight is an understanding of the structure of the situation being studied in a clear and definitive way. The Field Theory Perspective This method of exploring describes the whole field of which the event is currently a part instead of analyzing it as part of a class to which it normally belongs. In the field theory perspective, what has effect must touch what is affected in time and space. Gestalt therapists work in terms of the present and are sensitive to how events in the present relate to events of the past including body parts, habits, and beliefs. Field approaches are descriptive with the emphasis being on observing, describing, and explicating the exact structure of the event or process being studied. Phenomenological focusing, experimenting, reporting, participant reporting, and dialogue study any data that is unavailable to direct observation by the therapist. The Existential Perspective Existential phenomenologists focus on the existence of people, the relationships to each other, as they are directly experienced. This perspective also holds that people are constantly either remaking or discovering themselves. No part of human nature is ever discovered in its finality. New horizons, problems, and opportunities always exist. In psychotherapy, the relationship between the client and the therapist is the most important aspect. An essential part of Gestalt therapy is existential dialogue, which becomes a manifestation of the existential perspective as it relates to relationships. Relationship grows as it directly relates to contact, and through contact people grow and form identities. Gestalt therapists feel that experiencing the patient in dialogue is a more effective means of therapy than therapeutic manipulation. Gestalt therapy assists clients in developing their own system of support or withdrawal with support being defined as anything that has the ability to make contact possible. Support mobilizes the resources that are needed to initialize the contact. In Gestalt therapy, the therapist engages the patient in dialogue instead of trying to manipulate him or her to a therapeutic goal. When the therapists moves the patient toward a therapeutic goal, the patient cannot be in charge of their own growth and self-support/ Through the use of dialogue, the patient experiences another person as he or she really is. The therapist says what he or she really means, and in turn, encourages the patient to do the same. Gestalt therapy emphasizes four characteristics of dialogue in the therapeutic relationship: To teach a patient to learn to look within himself or herself in order to become aware of the person who is within is an important and integral part of Gestalt Therapy. The dialogue that transpires between therapist and patient will reveal the reality of who the patient is and the person he or she is capable of becoming. |
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