Gestalt Therapy

100 Key Points and Techniques

Dave Mann

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780415552936, 9780415552936
• eBook ISBN: 9781136930614
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Gestalt therapy offers a present-focused, relational approach, central to which is the fundamental belief that the client knows the best way of adjusting to their situation. By working to heighten awareness through dialogue and creative experimentation, gestalt therapists create the conditions for a client's personal journey to health.

Gestalt Therapy: 100 Key Pointsand Techniques provides a concise guide to this flexible and far-reaching approach. Topics discussed include:

• the theoretical assumptions underpinning gestalt therapy
• gestalt assessment and process diagnosis
• field theory, phenomenology and dialogue
• ethics and values
• evaluation and research.

As such this book will be essential reading for gestalt trainees, as well as all counsellors and psychotherapists wanting to learn more about the gestalt approach.

Part 1
MAPS FOR A GESTALT THERAPY JOURNEY: THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS UNDERPINNING THE APPROACH

1
What is gestalt?

Gestalt is a German word, a noun that has no direct English equivalent with its closest translation generally agreed to be pattern, form, shape or configuration. Yet it is more than any of these descriptions. In German it relates to the overall appearance of a person, their totality, where their energy is located. As is inevitably the case with any translation something is lost in the translation, and these terms do not fully convey its meaning. They are as close as those of us without an understanding of the German language can get. Indeed, even if we had an intimate understanding of the language each of us would create a slightly different picture from the word; such is the nature of language. In that sense I begin this book with the conundrum that faces every gestalt therapist as they face fellow human beings in the therapy room. That in our individual uniqueness we can only ever get experience near to another, we can never completely and utterly comprehend the other’s experience. To gain the best understanding possible of the other we need to appreciate the way they configure themselves in relation to their environment, the patterns they paint as they relate to their world and those they meet in their world, the way they form and shape their experience. How the individual forms and then moves on from one experience to another.

Many say that the word ‘gestalt’ should be capitalized just as any other German noun. However, gestalt therapy did not arrive in the English-speaking world yesterday. It has been here since the founders published their seminal work ‘Gestalt Therapy’ in 1951. One of its roots, Gestalt psychology was in existence for fifty years prior to this. It is clear to me, as Bloom, Spagnuolo-Lobb and Staemmler assert, ‘it is no longer the proper name of a new modality. Gestalt therapy is one of many accepted approaches … and all are common name. Gestalt therapy appropriately has earned a lower case’ (2008: 7). The German noun argument does not hold any water with me either as, ‘gestalt is as English a word as frankfurter or sauerkraut’ (ibid). So, throughout this book gestalt will appear in lower case ¹ just as any reference to psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy would. Gestalt therapy has come of age.

To explain what gestalt therapy is in just a few words is a difficult task. I would summarise it as a relational therapy that synthesizes three key philosophies that have been described as the ‘pillars of gestalt’ (Yontef, 1999: 11), these being:

1. Field Theory: the person’s experience is explored in the context of their situation or field (I will use the terms situation and field interchangeably).

2. Phenomenology: the search for understanding through what is obvious and/or revealed, rather than through what is interpreted by the observer.

3. Dialogue: a specific form of contacting (not just talking) that is concerned with the between of the relationship and what emerges in that between.

In the gestalt therapist’s work these philosophies weave in and out of one another and the relational perspective is at the core of each of these three philosophies. Consequently, I see gestalt as a truly integrative psychotherapy. If any one of these ‘pillars’ is not being practised then gestalt therapy is not being practised. Gestalt is an experiential therapy and as such experimentation is key to the approach. The mind/body split so prevalent in Western culture is actively discouraged within gestalt’s holistic view of the individual/environmental fields that are seen as co-dependent. The approach’s radical view of self as process, rather than seeing self as something belonging to the individual sets it apart from virtually all other psychotherapies. As I said, to give a concise and adequate explanation to the question ‘What is gestalt?’ is not an easy task. The nature of the theory is such that it is not open to a fixed and rigid definition. Being rooted in field theory, dialogue and phenomenology that are all concerned with individual perception, it is not too extreme to suggest that there could be as

¹ Exceptions will be where I am quoting others who capitalize ‘gestalt’.

many definitions of ‘gestalt’ as there are gestalt therapists, quite simply because we all have our unique ways of reaching out and making sense of our world.

I see gestalt therapy as a voyage of discovery. We are exploring how a person reaches out to their world, how they respond to their situation and how past and present situations impact upon their (and our) process of reaching out in the here and now. We do so whilst actively engaging in the relationship with the client as part of their situation, paying careful attention to what happens in the dynamic interchange between us. We aim to increase awareness through embracing the totality of everything the person before us is, was and can become. Gestalt is exciting, vibrant and energetic. Over the coming pages, backed by the ground of gestalt’s substantial history, this gestalt therapist will continue to give his unique view of what gestalt is. So our journey begins!

2
What is a gestalt?

Simply stated a gestalt is the completion of what the founders ² of the approach referred to as an organismic need (PHG, 1951), so named to emphasize the lived quality of the experience. A gestalt represents a whole experience that can span varying periods of time depending upon the need that is being addressed. A need to satisfy hunger may be met over a few minutes, or in the case of a gourmet meal may be lingered over, whereas a need to satisfy a ‘hunger’ for a fulfilling career may span many years. We human beings are inherently relational, it follows that these whole experiences are always formed in relationship with our environment. There is always, ‘an interdependency of the organism and its environment’ (Perls, 1947: 34). The diner and the meal inter-relate and one changes the other. When a need is met the gestalt is completed and the individual is free to move on to addressing new needs as space is created for these to surface.

Although a gestalt is a representation of a single unit of experience, I do not want to give the impression that gestalt theory suggests that we live our lives moving staccato fashion from one unit of experience to another. Gestalts are intricately woven in and out of each other. For example, as I am typing this an itch on my nose stands out and I move to satisfy that need by scratching my nose before reaching for my coffee to satisfy a need for a comforting warm drink (and caffeine). As I drink my coffee I project into the future thinking about what will follow this section of the book, before returning to the sense of my fingers to the keyboard. You will notice from this account that each gestalt is journeyed through in the present either through enactment or

² Fritz Perls has often been credited as being the sole founder of gestalt therapy. Although there is no doubt that he was a major contributor in founding the approach, the contributions made by his wife Laura Perls and Paul Goodman were also considerable and they are seen as co-founders.

imagination. The person’s past, their expectations, the influences that are exerted by the situation faced and the cultural ground upon which the individual stands will all shape the way the individual forms and moves from one gestalt to another.

This process of an emerging need journeying through to completion has been described in a number of stages that have been elaborated and modified over the years since the founders described their conceptualization of a gestalt as journeying through four phases which they called fore-contact, contact, final contact, post-contact (PHG, 1951) – see Point 13. Many phased maps have since been developed and diagrammatically represented in an attempt to illustrate the completion of an experience (a gestalt). Two such examples are those devised by Zinker (1977) and Clarkson (1989) that have become commonly known as the Gestalt Cycle or the Cycle of Experience – see Point 14.

3
Creative adjustment

Imagine that you are on a hike in the mountains on a bright sunny day. Your attention is with the smells and the scenery as you amble up the gentle incline. The terrain then becomes steeper, more precarious as you walk across a narrow ridge. The wind begins to gust, clouds gather, the weather turns stormy. You adjust to these changing conditions by increasing your concentration, taking smaller steps. Your attention is no longer with the smells or the scenery but with carefully feeling your way forwards, anticipating the gusts of wind, leaning into it to maintain balance. You might assess the conditions as too dangerous and turn back. The situation is reviewed and reassessed.

As the situation above changes, adjustments are made in relation to the changing environmental conditions. Although we are not constantly climbing mountains, we are constantly adjusting throughout our lives in relation to our ever-changing environment. In gestalt we call these creative adjustments to signify the active nature of the movement as we create new ways of being in response to new situations. All healthy creative adjustments require making contact with what is now, rather than relating to a past picture of how things were. We take in the new information and form a new gestalt, rather than reacting to a changed situation with outdated responses. ‘All contact is creative adjustment of the person and the environment’ (PHG, 1951: 230).

Human beings possess an extraordinary ability to adapt to an infinite number of life situations. As we journey through phases of development from infancy to old age, we find the best solution to the situation into which we are ‘thrown’ (Heidegger, 1962). It is not that we learn to be creative, our creativity is a given. How we use our creativity depends upon our relationship with our environment; what encouragement there is, what permission to experiment, what restrictions are imposed. In essence, our ability to creatively adjust fluidly and healthily to changing situations will depend upon how supportive our environment has been in the past and is here and now. Other approaches describe symptoms, disorders or conditions. Although such terms may be used in gestalt we take the view that these are creative adjustments to a field that lacked or lacks support. We are always in relationship with our environment.

Every situation we encounter provides us with the possibility of finding the best balance between our needs and the environmental resources. Growth will occur as our capacity to renew and revise our responses when encountering novel experiences increases. Growth needs to be encouraged by the environmental conditions – a daffodil does not grow at 10,000 feet! Equally, a child does not thrive in an environment starved of stimulation or affection. Under such conditions the child may creatively adjust by compensating for what is lacking in the environment. For example, a child who is not held may comfort herself by holding herself; a child who is not stimulated may escape into a fantasy world. The child self-regulates in relation to their environment. The process of self-regulation through creative adjustment may be the best available choice for the child at the time, but may restrict the adult that the child becomes when they enter a relationship where support is available for a different way of being. New creative adjustments require the de-structuring of the old creative adjustments.

Problems occur when the creative adjustments made by the client that have been useful in the past lose fluidity in relation to the client’s present situation and become rigid ways of being. They may become outdated and habitual, what are termed fixed gestalts, in response to a perceived lack of support and choice from the present environment. The present situation may not have been assimilated.

The process of creative adjustment is far from being merely a psychological manoeuvre. Our history of creative adjustments is carried in our bodies, elements of our client’s histories will present on the surface of their being-in-the-world. A client who is over-reliant on environmental support, due perhaps to a psychologically suffocating upbringing, may collapse into the furniture whilst reaching out with bulging eyes and hang on the therapist’s every word. Conversely, a client who is overly self-supporting may present as armoured in their body, not fully breathe in the environment and hold a self-supporting posture with muscular tension.

There are as many different creative adjustments as there are artist’s brushstrokes or poet’s stanzas but, just as in art and poetry, patterns and styles of creative adjustments emerge. The founders of gestalt identified different families of processes used to creatively adjust to one’s environment. Collectively these processes were originally referred to as resistances (PHG, 1951). They have since undergone revision by contemporary gestalt ...

Table of contents

• 100 Key Points
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Part 1 MAPS FOR A GESTALT THERAPY JOURNEY: THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS UNDERPINNING THE APPROACH
• Part 2 BEGINNING THE THERAPY JOURNEY: PREPARATIONS AND SETTING OFF
• Part 3 THE THERAPY JOURNEY
• Part 4 BECOMING: TRANSITIONS ALONG THE JOURNEY
• Part 5 ETHICS AND VALUES: KEY SIGNPOSTS FOR ALL JOURNEYS
• Part 6 RESEARCH AND EVALUATING THE APPROACH: DESTINATION AND LOOKING BACK
• References