Gestalt Flashcards
What is contact?
The process of interacting with nature and others without losing oneself/sense of individuality
- it is necessary for change
- it is the lifeblood of growth
- requires clear awareness, full energy and ability to express oneself
What is Gestalt dream work?
The experiencing of dreams in the present by creating dialogue with each aspect of the dream, assuming each aspect is a projection of the self. Dreams are believed to provide an existential message, an opportunity to gain awareness and are the ‘royal road to integration’
What is the exaggeration exercise?
An experiment where the client is asked to exaggerate a physical aspect repeatedly for the purpose of intensifying the feelings attached to the movement and clarifying inner meaning; could be posture, movement, expression, tick, etc.
What is the exaggeration exercise?
An experiment where the client is asked to exaggerate a physical aspect repeatedly for the purpose of intensifying the feelings attached to the movement and clarifying inner meaning; could be posture, movement, expression, tick, etc.
What is the difference between an exercise and an experiment?
An exercise is a ready-made technique that can be used to make something happen or achieve a goal.
An experiment is a creative action designed by the therapist and borne out of the therapeutic relationship that occurs in the moment-to-moment contact process.
What is holism?
The foundational principle that states that a person is more than all of nature is a unified and coherent whole that is different than the sum of its parts
- all dimensions of human functioning must be considered to be understood and no one aspect is superior
What does holism emphasize?
Integration: how parts fit together and how the individual contacts the environment
What is I/thou dialogue?
It is the relationship essential for connecting the self to spirit and in doing achieves true dialogue. It involves the replacement of you/thou in place of it and comes from a place of the fully human self. It is the context of genuine meeting between the client and therapist and reflects the quality of presence.
What is the internal dialogue exercise?
It is the empty chair exercise that enables the client to externalize the introjected parts of themselves by experiencing and speaking as the underdog in one chair and the top dog in the other, giving potential for acceptance and integration of both fragmented sides.
What are the layers of neurosis?
They are the ways in which people avoid awareness:
- phony
- phobic
- impasse
- implosive
- explosive
What is making the rounds?
An exercise where the client interacts with others in a group for the purpose of confrontation and risk, disclosure of self, experimentation with new behaviour or for growth and change
What is the rehearsal exercise?
Where the client verbalizes their internal rehearsal to the therapist for the purpose gaining awareness re how one prepares to better their social role and to gain awareness re how they are trying to meet others’ expectations
What does resistance to contact mean?
The characteristic styles that people employ to control their environment and defences they develop to prevent them from experiencing the present in a full and real way
What are the 5 major channels of resistance?
- introjection: uncritically accepting others’ beliefs
- projection: reverse of introjection, disowning by assigning to others
- retroflection: treating ourselves how we want to treat others or how we want to be treated
- deflection: distraction to interfere with contact
- confluence: blurring of differentiation bw self and environment
What are the 5 major channels of resistance?
- introjection: uncritically accepting others’ beliefs
- projection: reverse of introjection, disowning by assigning to others
- retroflection: treating ourselves how we want to treat others or how we want to be treated
- deflection: distraction to interfere with contact
- confluence: blurring of differentiation bw self and environment
