Gestalt Therapy Flashcards
(56 cards)
0
Q
- We are then born-called an Organism
- The organism interacts in the context of Total Environment
- The organism responds to environment around it; there is no isolation for the organism (we are affected by our environment).
A
Structure of the Personality
1
Q
- People are born with needs : Biological, Social, Psychological
- Living is the progression of needs we seek to meet and resolve
A
Structure of Personality
2
Q
- The organsim can become aware of the self “I am the self, and here I am”
- The self exists in relation to others “I am me, you are you, that is a chair, etc”
A
Structure of the Personality
3
Q
*We inhibit a field-we are born into what we perceive as a field.
A
Structure of the Personality
4
Q
- Properties of things
- Variables of life
- Elements of the essence of life
- are things in life that we either pay attention to or we ignore
A
Fields
5
Q
*are experienced and perceived through the concept of figure/ground relationships.
A
Fields
6
Q
- An experienced whole; a complete pattern.
- Emerges as a figure dominates the field of impressions
- Meaning is made by relating that figure to the field (the background) by which it is perceived.
A
A Gestalt
7
Q
- The field is differentiated by different boundaries-think of it as a quilt
- The contact boundary is being in touch with the here and now.
- THERE IS NO EXPERIENCE WITHOUT CONTACT.
A
Structure of the Personality
8
Q
- The lifeblood of growth, the means for changing oneself, and one’s experience of the world.
- The relationship between me and others
- Involves feeling a connection with others or the world while remaining separate from it.
A
What is Contact?
9
Q
- Is the thing that distinguishes ones person or one aspect of that person from an object, another person or another aspect of oneself.
- Body boundaries, value boundaries, familiarity boundaries, and expressive boundaries.
A
A Contact Boundary
10
Q
- From the self and fields, we go to self and boundaries.
- The contact boundary is how the infant relates to the world (establishes identity).
- The self develops through how one experiences themselves in relation to the environment.
A
Structure of the Personality
11
Q
- We use contact boundaries to make connections but also to maintain Separateness.
- Connecting meets the needs we talked about in the first slide.
- Separateness creates autonomy.
- This is Balance!
A
Structure of the Personality
12
Q
*So, differentiated contact of connection and autonomy promotes healthy identity!
A
Structure of the Personality
13
Q
*We go through life seeking-needs, need reduction, need to be whole, need to be integrated and a NEED FOR CLOSURE.
A
Function of the Personality
14
Q
*Seeking balance and self regulation.
A
Function of the Personality
15
Q
- We try to address needs through an ordered process of experience.
- We self-regulate those needs and wants.
- These needs are in order of importance (a hierarchy).
- The primary need is addressed, then we move to the next one.
A
Function of the Personality
16
Q
- This process requires discrimination of needs
- WE must be aware; we identify and own what one senses, feels, observes, needs, wants, and believes- it must be in our AWARENESS.
A
Function of the Personality
17
Q
- Begins when an organism moves from a state of rest to a state of interest.
- Interest is a focused awareness of a need.
- WE perceive in unified wholes. Perception (a key word) occurs when a figure of interest emerges from the background.
- KEY: THE FIGURE MAY BE A WANT, FEELING, THOUGHT, SENSATION, ETC.
A
The Gestalt Cycle
18
Q
- Need is acted through contact. Through contact, the organism(person) satisfies the need.
- Organism takes in nourishing experiences, rejects that which is not.
- Then, rest, until next need surfaces
- Life is a continual succession of Gestalt Cycles
A
The Gestalt Cycle
19
Q
*The organism must be able to differentiate between the foreground and background. One must be present, aware, supported, and utilize creative adjustment.
A
Gestalt Cycle to be satisfying…
20
Q
- SUPPORT-both self support and environmental support.
- Resources and experiences in environment promote growth through support (they can block it too.)
- Anxiety is excitement minus support
- Only in the present can you get support
A
Function of the Personality
21
Q
- To form clear figures, discriminate needs, and provide resolution.
- Focus on immediate experience (cognitive, affective, etc.)
- Background is out of awareness
- Background reflects current conflicts
- Neurotic people relegate some important aspect to the background-unfinished business
A
Present Awareness
22
Q
- There is the “I” of the “I” “Thou” and the “I” of the “I” “It.”
- Life is relational
- Conceptualize the “I” in its reaction to its environment.
- Perceive the environment through the eyes of the “I”
A
Role of the Environment
23
Q
- Infants have self-regulation
- Adjust internal needs to changes in environment
- People can develop as fully as the environment will allow. When one feels safe and supported, one can increase awareness and address and resolve in the present.
A
Role of the Environment
24
* Awareness of self and boundaries-to be in contact
| * To be in the present!
Healthy Functioning
25
* Phony. Pattered responses.
Unhealthy Functioning Layer 1
26
* Phobic layer-an avoidance of psychological pain.
| * We may not want to admit that a relationship is over.
Unhealthy Functioning (Layer 2)
27
* Afraid to change.
* Marriage where there is no more love.
* Little Support
Unhealthy Functioning-Impasse-stuck
28
*swallowing what is given, no review
Unhealthy Functioning-Contact Boundary Disturbances (Introjection)
29
*disown aspects of ourselves by giving them to others
Unhealthy Functioning-Contact Boundary Disturbances (Projection)
30
*doing to ourselves what we want to do to another
Unhealthy Functioning-Contact Boundary Disturbances (Retroflection)
31
*avoidance of contact-person who does not get to the point, overly polite, talking polite, talking constantly
Unhealthy Functioning-Contact Boundary Disturbances (Deflection)
32
*When boundary with oneself and others becomes muted, happens with strong need to be accepted
Unhealthy Functioning-Contact Boundary Disturbances (Confluence)
33
* When one becomes what he or she is, not when they try to become what they are not.
* Explore client's wishes
How Change Occurs
34
*A view of themselves or an old problem
How Change Occurs (Discovery)
35
*Learn there are choices
How Change Occurs (Accommodation)
36
*Try out the new options
How Change Occurs (Assimilation)
37
*experience our feelings, and start to become aware of the real self, but do little with the feelings
How Change Occurs (Implosive Level)
38
*Authentic and without pretense. This is to be truly alive and without pretense.
How Change Occurs (Explosive Layer)
39
* Client/Therapist both in the present, and fully present.
* Want to change
* Boundary problems...open to feedback
* Non-defensive
Conditions Necessary for Change
40
* To become more aware
* To be ready to learn
* Support the self
* Contact with sensations
Role of the Client
41
*Appropriate for individuals who are inhibited. (Overly socialized or feel restrained or constricted in some way)
Capacity for Change
42
* Comfortable in old ways
* Turned off by the therapist
* FEAR
Source of Resistance
43
* Fully present
* Aware of Boundaries
* Aware of the Layers...
* Try exercises
Role of the Counselor
44
* To grow
* Self-responsibility
* Self-actualization
* AWARENESS- of the body, feelings, wants, values, mind, experiences, sensations, experience power (STOP WHINING!)
* RESPONSIBILITY
Goals of Counseling
45
* Good therapeutic relationship
* Attuned to the client's experience
* Genuine/Understanding
* Supportive to the client and supportive to the self
Relationship with the Client
46
*What are you aware of now?
Specific Techniques (Awareness Statements)
47
*Repeat a behavior-notice behavior; exaggeration
Specific Techniques (Emphasizing Awareness)
48
*Redirecting you and it to I
Specific Techniques (Awareness through Language)
49
*Expression of a person at a given moment; more attuned to what they are saying; spontaneous; they match people who are integrated
Specific Techniques (Awareness through Non-verbal Behavior)
50
*becoming the other person; take on feelings and affect
Specific Techniques (Awareness of Self and Others)
51
*Discover what it is that is important in the environment
Specific Techniques (Enhancing Awareness of Feelings)
52
*That which is not integrated (two chair method)
Specific Techniques (Awareness through Self-dialogue)
53
*Dramatizing some part of the client's existence is the basis (feel like a dog, act like a dog)
Specific Techniques (Awareness through Enactment)
54
*Relive the dream, reenact it.
Specific Techniques (Awareness through Dreams)
55
*Put individuals in an area that prevents blocking
Specific Techniques (Homework)
