Study Guide - Chapter 8

A. Theory - Gestalt Therapy

B. Key Figures and Major Focus
a. Fritz & Laura Perls – couple that developed this theory in the 1940s (Corey, 2005,
p. 192).
b. Fritz was the main originator - After working with soldiers post WW1, he began
seeing the importance of “viewing humans as a whole rather than as a sum of
discretely functioning parts” (Corey, 2005, p. 191).
C. Basic Assumptions
a. “An existential phenomenological approach based on the premise that
individuals must be understood in the context of their ongoing relationship with
the environment” (Corey, 2005, p. 192).
b. “The initial goal is for clients to gain awareness of what they are experiencing
and how they are doing it. Through this awareness change automatically occurs.
This approach is phenomenological because it focuses on the client's perceptions
of reality and existential because it is grounded in the notion that people are
always in the process of becoming, remaking, and rediscovering themselves”
(Corey, 2005, p. 192)
c. The approach “gives special attention to existence as individuals experience it
and affirms the human capacity for growth and healing through interpersonal
contact and insight” (Corey, 2005, p. 192)
d. Defined as a lively therapeutic approach – promotes direct experiencing (over
abstract-talking about situations) (Corey, 2005, p. 192)
e. Defined as experiential - “clients come to grips with what and how they are
thinking, feeling, and doing as they interact with the therapist” (Corey, 2005, p.
193)
f. Counselors believe in being fully present in sessions – growth comes from
genuine connection in therapeutic relationship
g. “Holistic approach to personality” - not mechanistic like Freud (Corey, 2005, p.
193)
h. “This approach focuses much more on process than on content. It emphasizes
what is being presently experienced rather than the content of what clients
reveal. Perls asserts that how individuals behave in the present moment is far
more crucial to self-understanding than why they behave as they do” (Corey,
2005, p. 193).
i. Therapist’s main role - “guide the phenomenological focus or to assist clients in
clarifying their awareness” (Corey, 2005, p. 193).
j. “Therapists devise experiments designed to increase clients’ self-awareness of
what they are doing and how they are doing it. Awareness includes insight, self-
acceptance, knowledge of the environment, responsibility for choices, and the
ability to make contact with others” (Corey, 2005, p. 193).
 k. Clients do their own interpreting – they don't wait for therapists to give insights
and answers
D. Key Concepts
a. View of Human Nature
i. Perls’ had two goals in therapy - “moving the client from environmental
support to self-support and reintegrating the disowned parts of
personality” (Corey, 2005, p. 193).
ii. Perls' wanted his clients to stand on their own & deal with their own
problems – leading to a confrontational style of therapy
iii. “In contrast to Perls' way of working, contemporary Gestalt therapy
stresses dialogue between client and therapist. The therapist has no
agenda, no desire to get anywhere, and understands that the essential
nature of the individual's relationship with the environment is
interdependence, not independence. This approach creates the ground
for contact and experiments that are spontaneous and organic to the
moment-to-moment experience of the therapeutic engagement” (Corey,
2005, p. 193).
iv. The Gestalt view of human nature – based in:
1. Existential philosophy
2. Phenomenology
3. Field theory
v. Therapy aims at “awareness and contact with the environment” (not
analysis) (Corey, 2005, p. 193).
vi. “The environment, or "field," consists of both the external and internal
worlds” (Corey, 2005, p. 193).
1. The quality of contact with the external (other people) and the
internal (disowned parts of the self) is observed in therapy (Corey,
2005, p. 194).
2. “The process of "reowning" parts of oneself that have been
disowned and the unification process proceed step by step until
clients become strong enough to carry on with their own personal
growth” (Corey, 2005, p. 194).
3. Clients grow in awareness allowing them to make informed
choices/have meaningful lives
4. “A basic assumption of Gestalt therapy is that individuals have the
capacity to "self-regulate" in their environment if they are fully
aware of what is happening in and around them” (Corey, 2005, p.
194).
5. “Therapy provides the setting and opportunity for that awareness
and contacting process to be supported and restored” (Corey,
2005, p. 194).
 vii. The Gestalt theory of change - the more we try to be who we’re not, the
more we remain the same.
viii. Beisser’s paradoxical theory of change – we change when we realize
who/what we are (not when we try to be who we aren’t)
b. Principles of Gestalt Therapy Theory
i. Holism
1. “All of nature is seen as a unified and coherent whole, and the
whole is different from the sum of its parts” (Corey, 2005, p. 194)
2. Therefore - “We can only be understood to the extent that we
take into consideration all dimensions of human functioning”
(Corey, 2005, p. 194)
3. Gestalt therapists don’t focus on parts of a person but on the
person as a whole
a. Addressing a person’s thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body,
and dreams
4. “The emphasis is on integration, how the parts fit together, and
how the individual makes contact with the environment” (Corey,
2005, p. 194)
ii. Field Theory
1. Field theory - “Grounded on the principle that the organism must
be seen in its environment, or in its context, as part of the
constantly changing field” (Corey, 2005, p. 194)
2. Everything is “relational, in flux, interrelated, and in process”
(Corey, 2005, p. 194)
3. Gestalt therapists emphasize what is at the “boundary between
the person and the environment” (Corey, 2005, p. 194)
iii. The Figure-Formation Process
1. “The figure-formation process describes how the individual
organizes the environment from moment to moment” (Corey,
2005, p. 195)
2. The undifferentiated field = the background/ground
3. The emerging focus of attention= the figure
4. “The figure-formation process tracks how some aspect of the
environmental field emerges from the background and becomes
the focal point of the individual's attention and interest” (Corey,
2005, p. 195)
a. Influenced by the current dominant needs of the person
5. “Gestalt therapists direct the client's awareness to the figures that
emerge from the background during a therapy session and use
the figure-formation process as a guide for the focus of
therapeutic work” (Corey, 2005, p. 195)
 iv. Organismic Self-Regulation
1. “A process by which equilibrium is "disturbed" by the emergence
of a need, a sensation, or an interest” (intertwines with figure-
formation process) (Corey, 2005, p. 195)
2. “Individuals can take actions and make contacts that will restore
equilibrium or contribute to growth and change” (Corey, 2005, p.
195)
3. “In therapeutic work what emerges for the client is associated
with what is of interest or what the client needs to be able to
regain a sense of equilibrium” (Corey, 2005, p. 195)
c. The Now
i. Greatest emphasis is placed on the present in this form of therapy
ii. Main contribution - “learning to appreciate and fully experience the
present moment” - believing that “Focusing on the past can be a
way to avoid coming to terms with the present” (Corey, 2005, p. 195)
iii. Gestalt therapists focus on what and how questions (not why)
iv. They focus on “now” questions like - “What is happening now? What is
going on now? What are you experiencing as you sit there and attempt to
talk? What is your awareness at this moment? How are you experiencing
your fear? How are you attempting to withdraw at this moment?” (Corey,
2005, p. 195)
v. Example in therapy - “If a client begins to talk about sadness, pain, or
confusion, the therapist makes every attempt to have the client
experience that sadness, pain, or confusion now. As the client attends to
the present experience, the therapist gauges how much anxiety or
discomfort is present and chooses further interventions accordingly. The
therapist might choose to allow the client to flee from the present
moment, only to extend another invitation several minutes later. If a
feeling emerges, the therapist might suggest an experiment that would
help the client to become more aware of the feeling” (Corey, 2005, p.
196)
vi. “When the past seems to have a significant bearing on clients' present
attitudes or behavior, it is dealt with by bringing it into the present as
much as possible” (Corey, 2005, p. 196)
d. Unfinished Business
i. “When figures emerge from the background but are not completed and
resolved, individuals are left with unfinished business, which can be
manifest in unexpressed feelings such as resentment, rage, hatred, pain,
anxiety, grief, guilt, and abandonment” (Corey, 2005, p. 196)
ii. “The effects of unfinished business often show up in some blockage
within the body” (Corey, 2005, p. 196)
 1. “Gestalt therapists emphasize paying attention to the bodily
experience on the assumption that if feelings are unexpressed
they tend to result in some physical symptom” (Corey, 2005, p.
196)
iii. “The counselor assists clients by providing situations that encourage
them to fully experience their condition of being stuck. By completely
experiencing the impasse, they are able to get into contact with their
frustrations and accept whatever is, rather than wishing they were
different” (Corey, 2005, p. 197) - the impasse
iv. “Gestalt therapy is based on the notion that individuals have a striving
toward actualization and growth and that if they accept all aspects of
themselves without judging these dimensions they can begin to think,
feel, and act differently” (Corey, 2005, p. 197)
e. Contact and Resistances to Contact
i. Contact is necessary for change and growth
ii. Contact - seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and moving
iii. “Effective contact means interacting with nature and with other people
without losing one's sense of individuality” (Corey, 2005, p. 197).
iv. Miriam Polster - “contact is the lifeblood of growth” (Corey, 2005, p.
197).
v. “After a contact experience there is typically a withdrawal to integrate
what has been learned” (Corey, 2005, p. 197).
vi. “Gestalt therapists talk about the boundary, which has two functions: to
connect and to separate. Both contact and withdrawal are necessary and
important to healthy functioning” (Corey, 2005, p. 197).
vii. “The Gestalt therapist also focuses on resistances to contact, which are
defenses we develop to prevent us from experiencing the present in a full
and real way” (Corey, 2005, p. 197).
viii. Five major channels of resistance challenged in Gestalt therapy:
1. “Introjection is the tendency to uncritically accept others' beliefs
and standards without assimilating them to make them congruent
with who we are” (Corey, 2005, p. 197).
2. Projection - “In projection we disown certain aspects of ourselves
by assigning them to the environment” (Corey, 2005, p. 198).
3. “Retroflection consists of turning back to ourselves what we
would like to do to someone else or doing to ourselves what we
would like someone else to do to us” (Corey, 2005, p. 198).
4. “Deflection is the process of distraction so that it is difficult to
maintain a sustained sense of contact. People who deflect
attempt to diffuse contact through the overuse of humor, abstract
 generalizations, and questions rather than statements” (Corey,
2005, p. 198).
5. “Confluence involves a blurring of the differentiation between the
self and the environment” (Corey, 2005, p. 198).
a. “The premise in Gestalt therapy is that contact is both
normal and healthy, and clients are encouraged to become
increasingly aware of their dominant style of blocking
contact” (Corey, 2005, p. 198).
f. Energy and Blocks to Energy
i. “Special attention is given to where energy is located, how it is used, and
how it can be blocked” (Corey, 2005, p. 199).
ii. Blocked energy =form of resistance.
1. “It can be manifested by tension in some part of the body, by
posture, by keeping one's body tight and closed, by not breathing
deeply, by looking away from people when speaking as a way to
avoid contact, by choking off sensations, by numbing feelings, and
by speaking with a restricted voice” etc. (Corey, 2005, p. 199).
iii. Therapist focused on “finding the focus of interrupted energy and
bringing these sensations to the client's awareness” (Corey, 2005, p. 199).
iv. “It is the therapist's job to help clients locate the ways in which they are
blocking energy and transform this blocked energy into more adaptive
behaviors” (Corey, 2005, p. 199).
E. Therapeutic Goals
a. Goal - attaining awareness & greater choice
i. “Awareness includes knowing the environment, knowing oneself,
accepting oneself, and being able to make contact” (Corey, 2005, p. 199).
ii. Increased awareness is curative
iii. “Without awareness clients do not possess the tools for personality
change. With awareness they have the capacity to face and accept
denied parts as well as to fully experience their subjectivity. They can
become unified and whole” (Corey, 2005, p. 199).
iv. “When clients stay with their awareness, important unfinished business
will always emerge so that it can be dealt within therapy” (Corey, 2005, p.
199).
b. Clients can -
i. “Move toward increased awareness of themselves,
ii. Gradually assume ownership of their experience (as opposed to making
others responsible for what they are thinking, feeling, and doing),
iii. Develop skills and acquire values that will allow them to satisfy their
needs without violating the rights of others
iv. Become more aware of all of their senses
 v. Learn to accept responsibility for what they do, including accepting the
consequences of their actions
vi. Move from outside support toward increasing internal support
vii. Be able to ask for and get help from others and be able to give to others”
(Corey, 2005, p. 200).
F. Therapeutic Relationship
c. Therapist's Function & Role
i. “Gestalt therapists assist clients in developing their own awareness and
experiencing how they are in the present moment” (Corey, 2005, p. 200).
ii. Therapist's job - “to invite clients into an active partnership where they
can learn about themselves by adopting an experimental attitude toward
life in which they try out new behaviors and notice what happens”
(Corey, 2005, p. 200).
iii. “The therapist's job is to encourage clients to attend to their sensor
awareness in the present moment” (Corey, 2005, p. 200).
iv. Therapist should “create a climate in which clients are likely to try out
new ways of being and behaving” (Corey, 2005, p. 200).
v. Don't use confrontation to force change but “work within a context of
Thou dialogue in a here-and-now framework” (Corey, 2005, p. 200).
vi. They pay attention to clients’ body language and nonverbal cues to look
for feelings clients aren’t aware of – they look for gaps between what
clients say and what they do with their bodies (Corey, 2005, p. 200).
vii. They also look at “the relationship between language patterns and
personality" - how clients talk shows their feelings/thoughts/attitudes
(Corey, 2005, p. 201).
1. Incongruencies are gently challenged by the counselor
a. “By focusing on language, clients are able to increase their
awareness of what they are experiencing in the present
moment and of how they are avoiding coming into contact
with this here-and-now experience” (Corey, 2005, p. 201).
i. Depersonalizing language – it vs I/ generalized
“you” vs I
ii. Questions – counselors ask clients to change their
questions into personal statements so they take
responsibility for their words
iii. Pointing out qualifiers/disclaimers like
maybe/perhaps/sort of/etc. and even “I can’t” in
order to remove language that denies their
personal power
 1. Goal is to increase awareness of what the
client is truly saying with this verbiage
(Corey, 2005, p. 201).
iv. Paying attention to client metaphors - to look for
unfinished business or reactions to the present
(Corey, 2005, p. 202).
v. Listening for language that uncovers a story
1. Polster - says storytelling can be the heart
of therapy
2. “...People are storytelling beings. The
therapist's task is to assist clients in telling
their story in a lively way” (Corey, 2005, p.
202).
d. Client’s Experience
e. “The general orientation of Gestalt therapy is toward dialogue” (Corey, 2005, p.
202).
f. “Whereas Fritz Perls would have said that clients must be confronted about how
they avoid accepting responsibility, the dialogue attitude carried into Gestalt
therapy originally by Laura Perls creates the ground for a meeting place between
client and therapist” (Corey, 2005, p. 203).
g. “Other issues that can become the focal point of therapy include the client
therapist relationship and the similarities in the ways clients relate to the
therapist and to others in their environment” (Corey, 2005, p. 203).
h. Therapist doesn’t make interpretations or tell the clients why they act a certain
way – truth/answers are found in the experience between the therapist and
client
i. “Clients in Gestalt therapy are active participants who make their own
interpretations are meanings” (Corey, 2005, p. 203).
j. Three-stage integration sequence that characterizes client growth in therapy -
i. Discovery - “Clients are likely to reach a new realization about themselves
or to acquire a novel view of an old situation, or they may take a new
look at some significant person in their lives” (Corey, 2005, p. 203).
ii. Accommodation - “Involves clients' recognizing that they have a choice.
Clients begin by trying out new behaviors in the supportive environment
of the therapy office, and then they expand their awareness of the world”
(Corey, 2005, p. 203).
iii. Assimilation - “Involves clients' learning how to influence their
environment. Eventually, clients develop confidence in their ability to
improve and improvise” (Corey, 2005, p. 203).
1. “Clients are able to make choices that will result in getting what
they want. The therapist points out that something has been
 accomplished and acknowledges the changes that have taken
place...clients have learned what they can do to maximize their
chances of getting what is needed from their environment”
(Corey, 2005, p. 203).
k. Relationship Between Therapist and Client
i. “Person-to-person relationship between therapist and client” (Corey,
2005, p. 203).
ii. “Therapists are responsible for the quality of their presence, for knowing
themselves and the client, and for remaining open to the client” (Corey,
2005, p. 203).
iii. “Responsible for establishing and maintaining a therapeutic atmosphere
that will foster a spirit of work on the clients part” (Corey, 2005, p. 203).
iv. Therapists should “allow themselves to be affected by their clients and
that they actively share their own present perceptions and experiences as
they encounter clients” (Corey, 2005, p. 204).
1. “They are willing to express their reactions and observations, they
share their personal experience and stories in relevant and
appropriate ways, and they do not manipulate clients” (Corey,
2005, p. 204).
2. Give feedback for clients to deepen awareness of what they’re
doing
3. “The therapist must encounter clients with honest and immediate
reactions and explore with them their fears, catastrophic
expectations, blockages, and resistances” (Corey, 2005, p. 204).
4. “Since Perls's death in 1970, the practice of Gestalt therapy has
softened and shifted its emphases toward the quality of the
therapist-client relationship, dialogue, empathic attunement,
tapping the client's wisdom and resources, an expansion of
therapeutic styles, and development of theory, especially field
theory and phenomenology" (Corey, 2005, p. 204).
a. Contemporary emphasis on “presence, authentic dialogue,
gentleness, more direct self-expression by the therapist,
decreased use of stereotypic exercises, and greater trust in
the client's experiencing” (Corey, 2005, p. 204).
5. “A Gestalt therapist does not use techniques; he applies himself in
and to a situation with whatever professional skill and life
experience he has accumulated and integrated” (Corey, 2005, p.
204).
6. Therapy is seen as “a two-way engagement that changes both the
client and the therapist” (Corey, 2005, p. 205).
G. Techniques and Procedures
a. The Experiment in Gestalt Therapy (fundamental concept)
i. Exercises (or techniques) vs experiments -
ii. “Exercises are ready-made techniques that are sometimes used to make
something happen in a therapy session or to achieve a goal. They can be
catalysts for individual work or for promoting interaction among
members of a therapy group” (Corey, 2005, p. 205).
iii. “Experiments, in contrast, grow out of the interaction between client and
therapist. They can be considered the very cornerstone of experiential
learning” (Corey, 2005, p. 205).
1. “Experiments are spontaneous, one-of-a-kind, and relevant to a
particular moment and a particular development of a figure-
formation process” (Corey, 2005, p. 206)
2. “Designed by the therapist and evolve from the theme already
developing in therapy” (Corey, 2005, p. 206)
3. “Experiments bring struggles to life by inviting clients to enact
them in
the present” (Corey, 2005, p. 206) - Experiments help clients work
through stuck points/ personal conflicts/etc. by actually
experiencing feelings towards these in real time
iv. Preparing Clients for Gestalt Experiments –
1. Counselors must build a relationship of trust with their clients in
order for them to feel ready to try experiments in therapy
2. Clients may resist experiments – their style of resistance shows
more about their personality/way of being in the world - “The
therapist's aim is not to eliminate clients' defenses but to meet
clients wherever they are” (Corey, 2005, p. 207).
3. “The essence of current Gestalt therapy involves honoring and
respecting resistance and supporting the client to become more
aware of his or her experience” (Corey, 2005, p. 208).
4. "Gestalt experiments are designed to expand clients' awareness
and to help them try out new modes of behavior” (Corey, 2005, p.
208). - leads to greater awareness of functioning and greater self-
understanding
5. Guidelines to prepare clients for experiments -
a. "The practitioner must be sensitive to introducing them at
the right time and in an appropriate manner” (Corey,
2005, p. 208).
b. “The nature of the experiment depends on the individuals
problems, what the person is experiencing, and the life
experiences that both the client and the therapist bring to
the session” (Corey, 2005, p. 208).
 c. “Experiments require the client's active role in self-
exploration" (Corey, 2005, p. 208).
d. “Gestalt experiments work best when the therapist is
respectful of the client's cultural background and is in good
contact with the person” (Corey, 2005, p. 208).
e. “If the therapist meets with hesitation, it is a good idea to
explore its meaning for the client” (Corey, 2005, p. 208).
f. “It is important that the therapist be flexible in using
techniques, paying particular attention to how the client is
responding” (Corey, 2005, p. 208).
g. “The therapist needs to learn which experiments can best
be practiced in the session itself and which can best be
performed outside” (Corey, 2005, p. 208).
b. The Role of Confrontation
i. The newer version of gestalt therapy is less harsh than Perls’ version – it's
called "relational Gestalt therapy" & includes
support/kindness/compassion in therapy (Corey, 2005, p. 209).
ii. “Although there is now less emphasis on confrontation in Gestalt
practice, this should not be taken to mean that confrontation is absent”
(Corey, 2005, p. 209)
iii. Three therapy styles
1. Imposing - “The therapist is less concerned with understanding
and respecting the client's experience than in meeting his or her
own agenda for the client. The therapist is the expert...It is a
position of power and control, with little attention paid to what
the client wants from the therapist” (Corey, 2005, p. 209)
2. Competing - “the therapist promotes the ethos of rugged
individualism. In the competing environment there is a dance of
negotiation, compromise, and a process of give and take” (Corey,
2005, p. 209)
3. Confirming - "The therapist is interested in acknowledging the
whole being of the client... the client's needs and experience
become the center of the relationship...demands curiosity and
patience, restraint and trust, and compassion and confidence...By
staying with the client's awareness, the therapist provides the
ground for freer functioning and change” (Corey, 2005, p. 209)
iv. Confrontation- “Therapists can encourage clients to look at certain
incongruities, especially gaps between their verbal and nonverbal
expression” (Corey, 2005, p. 210).
v. “Clients can be challenged to recognize how they are blocking their
strengths and are not living as fully as they might” (Corey, 2005, p. 210).
 vi. Foundation of healthy confrontation – respect for the client
c. Gestalt Therapy Interventions
i. “EXPIREMENTS can be useful tools to help the client gain fuller
awareness, experience internal conflicts, resolve inconsistencies and
dichotomies, and work through an impasse that is preventing completion
of unfinished business” (Corey, 2005, p. 210).
ii. THE INTERNAL DIALOGUE EXERCISE -
1. “One goal of Gestalt therapy is to bring about integrated
functioning and acceptance of aspects of one's personality that
have been disowned and denied” (Corey, 2005, p. 210)
2. “Gestalt therapists pay close attention to splits in personality
function. A main division is between the "top dog" and the
"underdog," and therapy often focuses on the war between the
two” (Corey, 2005, p. 210)
a. Top dog - “Righteous, authoritarian, moralistic,
demanding, bossy, and manipulative. This is the "critical
parent" that badgers with "shoulds" and "oughts" and
manipulates with threats of catastrophe” (Corey, 2005, p.
210)
b. “Underdog manipulates by playing the role of victim: by
being defensive, apologetic, helpless, and weak and by
feigning powerlessness. This is the passive side, the one
without responsibility, and the one that finds excuses”
(Corey, 2005, p. 210)
i. “The conflict between the two opposing poles in
the personality is rooted in the mechanism of
introjection, which involves incorporating aspects
of others, usually parents, into one's ego system”
(Corey, 2005, p. 210)
ii. EMPTY CHAIR TECHNIQUE helps externalize the
introject & “promote a higher level of integration
between the polarities and conflicts that exist in
everyone” (Corey, 2005, p. 211)
iii. MAKING THE ROUNDS -
1. "Exercise that involves asking a person in a group to go up to
others in the group and either speak to or do something with each
person. The purpose is to confront, to risk, to disclose the self, to
experiment with new behavior, and to grow and change” (Corey,
2005, p. 211)
iv. THE REVERSAL EXERCISE
 1. “Certain symptoms and behaviors often represent reversals of
underlying or latent impulses” (Corey, 2005, p. 211)
2. “The theory underling the reversal technique is that clients take
the plunge into the very thing that is fraught with anxiety and
make contact with those parts of themselves that have been
submerged and denied” (Corey, 2005, p. 211) during the reversal
– which helps them accept parts of themselves they’ve denied
v. THE REHEARSAL EXERCISE
1. “Oftentimes we get stuck rehearsing silently to ourselves so that
we will gain acceptance...When clients share their rehearsals out
loud with a therapist, they become more aware of the many
preparatory means they use in bolstering their social roles. They
also become increasingly aware of how they try to meet the
expectations of others, of the degree to which they want to be
approved, accepted, and liked, and of the extent to which they go
to attain acceptance” (Corey, 2005, p. 212).
vi. THE EXAGGERATION EXERCISE
1. One aim of Gestalt therapy is for clients to become more aware of
the subtle signals and cues they are sending through body
language... In this exercise the person is asked to exaggerate the
movement or gesture repeatedly, which usually intensifies the
feeling attached to the behavior and makes the inner meaning
clearer” (Corey, 2005, p. 212).
vii. STAYING WITH THE FEELING
1. “Most clients desire to escape from fearful stimuli and to avoid
unpleasant feelings...At key moments when clients refer to a
feeling or a mood that is unpleasant and from which they have a
great urge to flee, the therapist may urge the clients to stay with
their feeling” (Corey, 2005, p. 212) or go deeper into it
viii. THE GESTALT APPROACH TO DREAM WORK
1. “The Gestalt approach does not interpret and analyze dreams.
Instead, the intent is to bring dreams back to life as though they
were happening now. The dream is acted out and the client
becomes a part of his or her dream” (Corey, 2005, p. 213)
2. “Each part of the dream is assumed to be a projection of the self
and the client creates scripts for encounters between the various
characters or parts, All of the different parts of a dream are
expressions of the client's own contradictory and inconsistent
sides, and, by engaging in a dialogue between these opposing
sides, the client gradually becomes more aware of the range of his
or her own feelings” (Corey, 2005, p. 213)
 3. “Perls concept of projection is central in his theory of dream
formation” (Corey, 2005, p. 213)
a. “Every person and every object in the dream represents a
projected aspect of the dreamer” (Corey, 2005, p. 213)
b. Perls says dreams are the "royal road to integration"
(Corey, 2005, p. 213)
c. “It represents an unfinished situation, but every
dream also contains an existential message regarding
oneself and one's current struggle” (Corey, 2005, p. 213)
H. Applications
a. Referenced for both individual and group therapy
b. “A key strength of Gestalt therapy is the attempt to integrate theory, practice,
and research” (Corey, 2005, p. 219).
i. Significant findings based on outcome research:
1. “Outcome studies have demonstrated Gestalt therapy to be equal
to or greater than other therapies for various disorders;
2. More recent studies have shown that Gestalt therapy has a
beneficial impact with personality disturbances, psychosomatic
problems, and substance addictions;
3. The effects of therapy tend to be stable in follow-up studies 1 to 3
years after the termination of treatment;
4. Gestalt therapy has demonstrated effectiveness in treating a
variety of psychological disorders” (Corey, 2005, p. 219).
ii. “Ethical practice depends on adequate training and supervision of
therapists, and the most immediate limitation of Gestalt or any other
therapy is the skill, training, experience, and judgment of the therapist”
(Corey, 2005, p. 220).
iii. “Proper training in Gestalt therapy involves reading and learning the
theory, hours of supervised practice, observing Gestalt therapists at
work, and experiencing one's own personal therapy” (Corey, 2005, p.
220).
iv. “Gestalt therapists must learn to blend “phenomenological and dialogic
approach, which is inherently respectful to the client, with well-timed
experiments” (Corey, 2005, p. 220).
I. Multicultural Perspectives
a. “One of the advantages of drawing on Gestalt experiments is that they can be
tailored
to fit the unique way in which an individual perceives and interprets his or
her culture. Gestalt therapists approach each client in an open way and with-
out preconceptions” (Corey, 2005, p. 215).
 b. “Gestalt therapy is particularly effective in helping people integrate the po-
larities within themselves. Many bicultural clients experience an ongoing
struggle to reconcile what appear to be diverse aspects of the two cultures in
which they live” (Corey, 2005, p. 215).
c. “In cultures where indirect speech is the norm, nonverbal behaviors may
emphasize the unspoken content of verbal communication...Gestalt therapists
may ask clients to focus
on their gestures, facial expressions, and what they are experiencing within
their own body” (Corey, 2005, p. 216).
d. “Gestalt experiments can be tailored to fit the unique way in which an individual
perceives and interprets his or her culture” (Corey, 2005, p. 216).
e. "Gestalt therapists attempt to fully understand the backyard of their client's
culture. They are concerned about how much and which aspect of this
background become central or figural for their clients and what meaning clients
place on these figures” (Corey, 2005, p. 217).
J. Contributions to the profession
a. “The past is dealt with in a lively manner by bringing relevant aspects into the
present. Therapists challenge clients in creative ways to become aware of and
work with issues that are obstructing current functioning” (Corey, 2005, p. 218)
b. “Through the skillful and sensitive use of Gestalt interventions, practitioners can
assist clients in heightening their present-centered awareness of what they are
thinking and feeling as well as what they are doing” (Corey, 2005, p. 218)
c. Most significant contributions -
i. “The critical importance of contact with oneself, others, and the
environment,
ii. The central role of authentic relationship and dialogue in therapy,
iii. The emphasis on field theory, phenomenology, and awareness,
iv. The therapeutic focus on the present, the here-and-now experiencing of
the client, &
v. The creative and spontaneous use of active experiments as a pathway to
experiential learning” (Corey, 2005, p. 218).
K. Spiritual Implications
a. One of the key concepts of Gestalt therapy is the concept of holism - “We can
only be understood to the extent that we take into consideration all dimensions
of human functioning” (Corey, 2005, p. 194)
b. Gestalt therapists don’t focus on parts of a person but on the person - & they
help clients reintegrate their disowned parts of self (Corey, 2005, p. 194)
c. These concepts of holism and integration relate to the spiritual understanding
that we are integrated beings – made up of spirit, soul, and body – and we must
care for ourselves as whole people, valuing all of these parts of our integrated
self that are made in the image of God