1. Practice of Gestalt Therapy
Introduction
*Gestalt therapy was founded in the 1940’s by the psychologists and
creative psychologists Frederick and Laura perls.
*Focus on immediate perceptual and sensory experience
*Goal is for the client to become aware of what he is doing and how
he is doing it rather than concentrating one the why.
*Gestalt therapy is a humanistic or existential approch to counselling
psychotherapy
2. The goal of Gestalt Therapy
• Awareness of how one is in the world enables
free choices.
• Take responsibility for how they are in the
world ,which is usually both painful and an
exciting process
• Acknowledge how they respond, what
contributes to respond and that they can take
responsibility to do things differently.
3. Theroy of change
• Gestalt therapy based on a paradoxical theory
of change by Beisser,A.(1970).
• The Gestalt theory of change maintains that
change occurs when the person become who
they are, not when they try to become who
they are not.
• Change based on the reality of human
existence
4. Dealing with unfinished business
• Unfinished business may interfere with the
person’s full contact with self, others and
around them.
• Gestalt therapy, experience is valued as more
important than simply acquiring intellectual
understanding.
• Create ability to ‘form clear figures’ and aware
of our needs in the present
5. Employing techniques in the service of
awareness
• Therapeutic core of Gestalt therpy is
increasing awareness.
• Technique is to facilitate awareness to enable
clients to find their own direction
• The client is supported to experiment with
experience that may facilitate awareness and
create to self –regulation.
6. Language exercises
• Individual clients are encouraged to convert
impersonal language to personal languge
• Clients frequently ask questions rather make
statements.
• Take responsibility rather than blaming others
or attempting to manipulate them to take
control.
• Facilitate clients to become aware of their
body sensations and name the feelings.
7. Experimentation
• Experiment with new way of approaching a
situation or experience with a view to
increasing the awareness of a wider range of
possibilities and choices.
• Transforms talking into doing, theorising into
being fully here with all one’s imagination,
energy and excitement.
8. Working with dreams
• Dreams are royal road to uncoscious(Sigmund
Freud)
• Drawing on the wide range of techniques,
encourage clients to work on a dream until
the meaning became apparent to them.
9. Conclusion
• Gestalt therapy is potentially suitable for a
wide range of client groups.
• Depending on the experience, the level of
training and the knowledge of the therapist,
helps clients to reassess their way of being in
the world.
• To be able to manage the process ,clients
need to draw on their own resources without
undue personality fragmentation.
