Gestalt Therapy Flashcards
Field theory suggests that:
everything in human experience is relational & in constant flux
A critical difference between early Gestalt therapy & relational Gestalt therapy is:
the approach to confrontation
Gestalt therapy is an
existential-phenomenological approach
When a person experiences an internal conflict (namely a conflict between top dog & underdog), which of the following techniques would be most appropriate?
the internal dialogue exercise
A Gestalt technique that is most useful when a person attempts to deny an aspect of his/her personality (such as tenderness) is:
the reversal exercise
Which of the following is NOT true about Gestalt techniques?
experiments are always carried out during the therapy session, rather than outside it
Which of the following aspects of a client’s use of language would a Gestalt therapist NOT focus on?
semantics
B/c of his need to be liked, Jose makes careful efforts to get along with everyone & minimize interpersonal conflicts. Which boundary disturbance is Jose exhibiting?
confluence
Contemporary Gestalt therapists view client resistance as:
an element of therapy that needs to be respected
Therapists pay attention to clients’
body language and watch for incongruities between verbal and nonverbal cues
Examples of Gestalt language aspects:
“It” Talk: person says “it” instead of “I”
“You” Talk: person says “you” instead of “I”
Avoidance is used to
keep from facing unfinished business, feeling uncomfortable emotions, and from having to change
Empty-Chair Technique:
have client role play a dialogue of the Top Dog vs. Underdog, which helps the client feel the emotional fully. It allows the client to re-own different pieces of their personality, to resolve unfinished business, to externalize and introject, and to balance internal polarities
Techniques can be tailored to fit
the unique way in which an individual perceives and interprets his or her culture
Gestalt therapy is a form of:
existential therapy
