PSY343 - 4. Gestalt Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy

Question 1

History of Gestalt Therapy

Answer 1

Fritz + Laura Perls - 40s + 50s
Rejected psychoanalysis for phenomenology _ existentialism
Influenced by gestalt psychology: holism + field theory

Question 2

History of Gestalt Therapy

Answer 2

authenticity: state - defined by intrapersonal experience
way i wanna live based on beliefs + values
position myself in my experience
genuineness: interpersonal act
way you relate to the other

Question 3

History of Gestalt Therapy

Answer 3

synthesized phenomenology + humanistic approaches
integrative system
meant to work with patient’s awareness
gestalt: interested in subjective awareness
psychoanalysis: emphasis on unconscious interest in meta awareness

Question 4

Holism

Answer 4

Humans are inherently self-regulating, growth oriented + cannot be understood - client centred
can’t seperate context

Question 5

Field Theory

Answer 5

field consists of complete environment
Variables that contribute to shaping behaviour + experiences present in current field
how context influences what i’m experiencing in it

Question 6

Field Theory

Answer 6

no objective perspective on reality
heavy focus in here and now - reality relative to what’s happening in the field
memories are activated + present in my experience, now it’s in the present field

Question 7

Contact

Answer 7

being in touch with what is emerging in here + now, moment to moment
Through contact + contact boundaries, ppl connect to + separate from others, changing themselves + their experience of the world

Question 8

Contact Boundary

Answer 8

point of interaction betw person + environment

Ppl can make contact with each other + meet their psychological, emotional + physical needs

Question 9

Contact Boundary

Answer 9

Ppl also withdraw from contact in order to main own identity + regulate how much stimulation is received

Question 10

Boundary Disturbances

Answer 10

disruptions in contact or awareness

when disruption in contact with emergent experience

Question 11

Theory of Personality

Answer 11

cannot be considered apart from interactions with environment (other people)
Contact: being in touch with what is emerging in here + now, from moment-to-moment

Question 12

Theory of Personality

Answer 12

Contact Boundary: point of interaction betw person + environment; connects ppl, but also maintains separation
Effective self-regulation includes contact with awareness, + differentiating what is nourishing from what is harmful

Question 13

Theory of Personality

Answer 13

Creative adjustment: solve problems, ppl will find creative balance betw changing environment + adjusting to its current conditions
constantly in mutual negotiation with selves + with environment

Question 14

Theory of Personality

Answer 14

radical ecological theory

no meaningful way to consider person apart of interpersonal relationship

Question 15

Theory of Personality

Answer 15

self does not exist without the other
experience cannot exist without contact
field is differentiated by boundaries
aware of some aspects of experience, but not others

Question 16

Theory of Psychopathology

Answer 16

In healthy functioning, needs emerge, area attended to + satisfied + then fade into background again
point in cycle in which there is interruption
Psychopathology when need- satisfaction cycle interrupted

Question 17

Theory of Psychopathology

Answer 17

inability to identify with moment-to-moment experience, and/or respond to what emerges in awareness
boundary disturbance: interrupting contact

Question 18

Theory of Psychopathology

Answer 18

result of impoverished environment (nonresponsive/indulgent parents), or initial creative adjustment that has become habit

Question 19

Theory of Psychopathology

Answer 19

we developed creative adjustment strategies to fit environment (coping mechanisms), when field changes + it doesn’t fit, it just becomes a destructive habit - no longer adaptive

Question 20

Boundary Disturbances

Answer 20

Introjection: taking in ideas, identity, beliefs without awareness; “swallowing the whole” without integration
problem comes when introjection + no assimilation
swallow whole, without chewing = introjection
assimilation: process of taking in, sort through + keep important parts
accepting conditions of worth of parents without questioning it

Question 21

Boundary Disturbances

Answer 21

Projection: attributing aspects of self to another
avoid experience, placing it on them
Retroflection: caressing self or berating self instead of someone else
doing to oneself what one desires to do to another

Question 22

Boundary Disturbances

Answer 22

Deflection: being overinclusive or remaining vague, jumping around from topic to topic
away from experience, casting dispersions from moment to moment experience, hide experience
Confluence: losing separation betw self + others; enmeshment of boundary betw you and others

Question 23

Goals of Therapy

Answer 23

AWARENESS

achieve greater awareness in particular areas + improve ability to bring automatic habits into awareness

Question 24

Goals of Therapy

Answer 24

“Awareness of awareness” ability to use skill with awareness to rectify disturbances in awareness process
need to be aware of how i block my awareness - so i gain insight in how to unblock awareness
independence of client - share with existentialism: responsibility

Question 25

Therapy Process

Answer 25

relationship betw patient + therapist is central therapist helps patient become aware of how they avoiding experimentation to see if client can get aware

Question 26

Three stages of therapy

Answer 26

Discovery – clients aware of situations they wish to change ppl may not know what they need help in process diagnostic

Question 27

Three stages of therapy

Answer 27

Accommodation – clients explore + experiment with diff ways of acting Assimilation – clients changes their behaviour, towards satisfying their needs integrate changes they’ve made

Question 28

Therapy Process

Answer 28

No specified treatment length | unstructured model

Question 29

Therapy Techniques

Answer 29

Focusing: focus their awareness + bring attention to immediate situation + observe how awareness changes from moment to moment clarify on what’s important in moment nonverbal indications of changes in awareness experimentation more than getting it right seeing how these changes experience

Question 30

Therapy Techniques

Answer 30

Enactment: putting thoughts or feelings into action (role plays, chair work, role reversal, creative expression) chair work: psychodrama, speak from significant other - talk to self

Question 31

Therapy Techniques

Answer 31

dialogue with parts of yourself that we are addressing creative expression: art, movement, poetry anything that facilitates contact and awareness

Question 32

Therapy Techniques

Answer 32

Body awareness: bringing attention to body language; exploring discrepancies betw body posture + verbal behaviour - confrontational aspect

Question 33

History of Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)

Answer 33

Leslie Greenberg + colleagues Theoretical + clinical research on EFT - York Combines client-centred empathic responding with directiveness of Gestalt

Question 34

History of Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)

Answer 34

therapist guides client toward certain emotion-processing activities result in new insights for client Change occurs through awareness, emotion regulation, reflection + transformation of emotion taking place in an empathically attuned relationship

Question 35

History of Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)

Answer 35

recognition of emotional experience + use to regulate behaviours emotions have a function to organize action essential to be connected to because they connect us to vital information for adaptive functioning - values, desires transform emotion

Question 36

Assumptions of EFT

Answer 36

incorporates humanistic + phenomenological principals: Experiencing basis of thought, feeling + action fundamentally free to choose how to construct their worlds

Question 37

Assumptions of EFT

Answer 37

function holistically while at same time made up of many parts, or self-organizations, each of which may be associated with quite distinctive thoughts, feelings + self-experiences

Question 38

Assumptions of EFT

Answer 38

``` function best + best helped by therapist who is psychologically present + establishes an interpersonal environment that is empathic, unconditionally accepting, + authentic People grow + develop to best of their abilities in supportive environments ```

Question 39

Types of Emotional Response

Answer 39

Primary emotions person’s most fundamental, direct initial reactions to a situation Secondary emotional responses: emotional reactions to primary emotional experiences (shame in response to fear) habitual ways of responding blocking experience of primary emotion

Question 40

Types of Emotional Response

Answer 40

Maladaptive emotions: old, familiar feelings that occur repeatedly + do not change in response to changing circumstances; do not provide adaptive directions for problem solving

Question 41

Types of Emotional Response

Answer 41

Instrumental emotion responses: used to influence + control others (using anger displays to intimidate, or sadness displays to elicit help) can feel very real at the moment

Question 42

Types of Emotional Response

Answer 42

holistic: made up of diff experiences, even competing ones, but they make up the entire experience

Question 43

Theory of Psychopathology

Answer 43

experience psychological difficulty when problems symbolizing own experience putting language to what they’re feeling

Question 44

Theory of Psychopathology

Answer 44

Pathology results from activation of dysfunctional emotion (maladaptive primary or secondary emotions)

Question 45

Goals of Therapy

Answer 45

help client deepen experience + symbolize it accurately in awareness emphasis on narrating experience what makes sense? what is meaningful?

Question 46

Principles of Emotional Change

Answer 46

Awareness: know what we feel, we connect to needs being signaled by emotion + motivated to meet those needs process of making meaning, assimilating

Question 47

Principles of Emotional Change

Answer 47

Regulation: when we can regulate emotional experience, learn that we have control over intensity + expression modulate emotion in a way that’s healthy

Question 48

Principles of Emotional Change

Answer 48

Reflection: explore + reflect upon emotional experiences, we create meaning of the experience what we make of emotion makes up who we are, self construction

Question 49

Principles of Emotional Change

Answer 49

Transformation: when we undo maladaptive states by activating other, more adaptive emotional states we are transforming emotion by emotion

Question 50

Therapy Process: Three-step process

Answer 50

Bonding + awareness – From first session therapist holds therapeutic attitude of empathy + positive regard Emotional evocation + exploration - Emotions are evoked, and if necessary, intensified

Question 51

Therapy Process

Answer 51

Transformation + generation of alternatives - Having arrived at a core emotion emphasis shifts to construction of alternative ways of responding emotionally, cognitively + behaviourally change ways i respond to this feeling (beliefs about it, behaving differently)

Question 52

Therapy Process

Answer 52

Client markers: indicate type of intervention to use + client’s current readiness to work on this problem identifiable by markers that signal affective problem indicate underlying process is activated

Question 53

Therapy Process

Answer 53

trained to identify and intervene in ways that are suited for each problem Tasks: models of actual process of change that acts as a map to guide the therapist intervention for each marker, there is a task that will address problem

Question 54

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 54

Problematic reactions expressed through puzzlement about emotional or behavioural responses to particular situations

Question 55

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 55

Task: Systematic evocative unfolding is vivid reconstructions of experience to promote re-experiencing + make sense of the reaction Resolution: New understanding of self-functioning (outside awareness shame)

Question 56

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 56

Unclear felt sense: unable to get clear sense of experience Task: Focusing helps person mindfully accept embodied aspects of experience + approach these with curiosity + willingness to experience them + put words to bodily felt sense Resolution: bodily felt shift + creation of meaning

Question 57

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 57

Conflict splits: aspect of the self is critical or coercive towards another aspect Task: Two-chair work where two parts of self put into dialogue with each other Resolution: integration between diff parts of self, including self-acceptance

Question 58

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 58

Self-interruptive splits: part of the self interrupts or constricts emotional experience + expression Task: Two-chair enactment make interrupting part of self explicit Resolution: expression of previously blocked experience

Question 59

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 59

Unfinished business: statement of lingering unresolved feeling toward a significant other Task: Empty chair intervention to activate client’s internal view of significant other + experience + express their unresolved feelings + needs

Question 60

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 60

Resolution: Holding other accountable or understanding or forgiving the other Vulnerability: state in which self feels fragile, deeply ashamed, or insecure

Question 61

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 61

Task: affirming empathic validation to validate + normalize client’s experience of vulnerability Resolution: strengthened sense of self that results from empathic attunement to affect

Question 62

Marker-Driven Tasks and Resolutions

Answer 62

task is intervention create contact between diff parts of emotional experience sometimes it’s the appraisal that is problematic, not the feeling itself

Question 63

Video of EFT

Answer 63

unclear felt sense focus on embodied experience of emotions where in the body is he feeling it relationship: directive, collaborative

Question 64

Psychotherapy Research on Humanistic-Experiential Therapies

Answer 64

Large pre-post client change at treatment termination Post-therapy gains maintained over early + late follow-ups Large gains relative to clients who receive no therapy Clinically + statistically equivalent to other therapies

Question 65

Psychotherapy Research on Humanistic-Experiential Therapies

Answer 65

Process research established that therapist empathy, clients’ emotional productivity, experiencing + manner of personal narrative disclosures significantly contribute to good outcomes in HEP treatments, providing convergent validity for key HP theoretical assumptions and practice principles