How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

Gestalt Therapy

Introduction

LO1

Gestalt therapy was developed on the grounds that people must be understood in the context of their continuing relationship with the environment. It is an existential, phenomenological, and process-based approach. The pillars of practice are responsibility, awareness, and choice. The first objective is for clients to become more conscious of their current experiences. This understanding brings about transformation on its own. The method is existential because it is based on the idea that humans are constantly changing, reinventing, and rediscovering who they are, and phenomenological because it emphasizes the client’s perceptions of reality.

Gestalt therapy is an existential approach that places a focus on life as experienced by individuals and acknowledges the capacity of people to grow and heal through connection with others and understanding (Yontef, 1995). This approach, to put it briefly, emphasizes the present moment, the what and how of experiencing, the therapist’s sincerity, active dialogic inquiry and exploration, and the I/Thou of connection (Brown, 2007; Resnick, 2015; Wheeler & Axelsson, 2015; Yontef & Jacobs, 2014). How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

Gestalt therapy was primarily created and developed by Fritz Perls. Perls was affected by psychoanalytic ideas, yet he had several problems with Freud’s theory. Perls advocated a holistic approach to personality, in contrast to Freud’s mostly mechanistic theory of human nature. While Perls prioritized analyzing the present, Freud concentrated on repressed intrapsychic conflicts from early infancy. How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

The Gestalt method places a strong emphasis on process over content. Gestalt therapists engage in this process by immersing themselves as thoroughly as they can in the client’s experience while simultaneously maintaining a feeling of their own unique, independent presence. How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

To raise their clients’ awareness of what they are doing and how they are doing it in the present, therapists develop experiments. According to Perls, understanding one’s own behavior in the present is considerably more important than understanding why one acts the way they do. Gestalt therapists believe that awareness is considerably more than either insight or introspection, despite the fact that it frequently involves both. Paying attention to the flow of your experience and being in touch with what you are doing when you are doing it are two qualities that define awareness (Resnick, 2015).

Important awareness processes and goals, all of which are based on an ever-evolving here-and-now experience, include self-acceptance, environmental awareness, decision-making responsibility, and the capacity to connect with one’s field (a dynamic system of relationships) and the people who inhabit it. Instead of passively waiting for the therapist to offer them insights and solutions, clients are encouraged to actively engage in their own seeing, experiencing, perceiving, and interpreting. How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

Contemporary relational Gestalt therapy stresses dialogue and the I/Thou relationship between client and therapist. Therapists emphasize the therapeutic relationship and work collaboratively with clients in a search for understanding (Wheeler & Axelsson, 2015; Yontef & Schulz, 2013). Following the lead of Laura Perls and the “Cleveland school” when Erving and Miriam Polster and Joseph Zinker were on the faculty in the 1960s and 1970s, this model includes more support and increased sensitivity and compassion in therapy than the confrontational and dramatic style of Fritz Perls (Yontef, 1999). The majority of today’s Gestalt therapists emphasizes support, acceptance, empathy, respect, and dialogue as well as confrontation.

Gestalt therapy is lively and promotes direct experiencing rather than the abstractness of talking about situations. Gestalt therapy is an experiential approach in that clients come to grips with what and how they are thinking, feeling, and doing as they interact with the therapist. Gestalt practitioners value being fully present during the therapeutic encounter with the belief that growth occurs out of genuine contact between client and therapist. How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

Sample Paper

POST a response: I believe transference is a vital idea from psychoanalytic treatment that I may use in my counseling practice. I believe it will be beneficial to make an effort to evaluate when a client’s early patterns of relationships with significant others—the therapist acting as that significant other—come into the treatment session. This is crucial because it may give clients a chance to relive and reexperience these early emotions, which may not be available through other channels (p. 75). How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

The importance of pointing out the similarities between their current ways of interacting and behaving and how they did so in the past is that it helps them become aware of and understand these patterns, which enables them to change some ingrained behaviors and change their personalities when other approaches are less effective (p.76). How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

I believe that therapists could be perplexed and feel unfairly singled out when transference occurs if they lack the ability to understand it as a concept. The therapist can just become defensive or remain silent rather than viewing the transference process as a beneficial moment for interpretation to effect change and understanding. It is crucial to seize these chances to assist our clients in changing the patterns they have developed throughout the course of their life in the here and now.

The idea of transference can be quite useful when working with groups, as was indicated in the text. The group therapy participants can act out early habits of responding to significant persons, locating symbolic parents or siblings, and demonstrating how these patterns have continued over time (p. 76). As a result, they may have the chance to discuss these patterns in a group setting and transfer newer, more flexible patterns to their daily lives outside of treatment. How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

Resistance is another psychoanalytic idea that I believe will be helpful to utilize in my counseling work. This can be useful in figuring out when and why clients experience anxiety when bringing up sensitive topics and being vulnerable. It’s critical to recognize when resistance arises because it might act as a barrier to the kind of change that is most beneficial to therapy.

The client could be reluctant to share thoughts, viewpoints, or recollections that they have kept to themselves or others alone (p. 75). They have prevented themselves from becoming aware of the underlying influences or conflicts that underlie particular thoughts and behaviors in their lives by keeping the information buried. It is crucial to bring these feelings to the surface in order to make the person aware of the ideas and behaviors they would like to modify.

The client is pulled in two directions, as evidenced by the resistance they experience: they want to change but are terrified of the dangerous material this transformation will involve, and they want to stick with their current patterns because they are safe and comfortable (p. 75). I believe it is crucial to refrain from condemning or accusing a client of resisting because it might be a challenging process for them to go through. How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework

Maintaining a solid therapeutic relationship where the resistance is interpreted, examined, and shared seems like a more beneficial approach in my opinion. In contrast to the complacency and inertia of the earlier ways of thinking, acting, and interacting with others, this can give the client a sense of safety and confidence to proceed toward change. How can you as a therapist avoid becoming stuck in a particular theoretical framework