GESTALT THERAPY:Fritz Perls, Causes of Human Difficulties

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Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

LESSON 29

GESTALT THERAPY

Link to Previous Lecture: Case Approach to Client Centered Counseling

The following case will be used to illustrate theoretical concepts of affective and cognitive-behavioral

approaches to counseling.

Case of Farzana (Source: Modified from Corey, 2001)

· Appearance:

Dresses meticulously, speaks rapidly, avoids eye contact

· Living Situation

43 years old housewife, middle class, Graduate, married, with 4 children (16-21 age range)

· Presenting Problems:

General dissatisfaction, symptoms of panic over reaching the age of 43; For 2 years has a

range of psychosomatic symptoms; cries over trivial matters; depressed; weight problem

· Psychosocial History:

Oldest of 4 children, father distant authoritarian and rigid; mother critical, difficult to

please; was told not to behave like "bad" girls; took care of younger siblings; felt socially

isolated by peers; wished to become a teacher

· History of Presenting Problems:

Graduated when children became adolescents; made her major career as a housewife and

mother until children were grown up.

Not sure what she wants to do; she would like to develop a sense of herself apart from the

expectations of others; concerned about "losing children"; feels unappreciated by them;

concerns over aging and losing her "looks"

Farzana's Autobiography

"I have become aware of recently that I have pretty much lived for others so far. I have been the

superwoman who gives and gives until there is little left to give"

"There are times when I wake up at night with my heart beating very fast, in a cold sweat, and

sometimes shaking"

"I feel a terrible sense of doom but I don't know what over. I read Qurran for comfort but I worry

about death-about my dying-a lot, about going to hell"

Farzana: A client-Centered Perception

The word "diagnose" is derived from a Greek word that means "to know" or "to discover", hence

the client's discovery of himself is more important than what the counselor knows about him.

Usually a client-centered counselor will neither use tests nor make a DSM-IV diagnosis. All

diagnosis are reductionist from a client-centered perspective that they reduce clients and their

symptoms to a list of symptoms. That is why no diagnosis will be made for Farzana, and

assessment of her will be an ongoing process.

A critical endeavor of this client is the definition (Who am I?) and redefinition of the self (Who am

I becoming?)

Key Issues:

Incongruence between the person she is and the selves that are "trying" to emerge

This incongruence results into anxiety and physical symptoms

Excited and afraid at the same time

Afraid that life is slipping by

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Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Therapeutic Process and Techniques:

Careful listening and accurate understanding for creating a supportive, trusting, safe and

encouraging atmosphere is required.

Counselor's ability to communicate his belief in her resourcefulness; Helping in becoming the

person she wishes to be

Use of techniques which will "fit"

Counselors will be himself/ herself in this relationship.

Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt Therapy drew from a number of sources, like Gestalt Psychology, Moreno's psychodrama and

existentialism. Therapy is associated with Gestalt psychology, a school of thought that stresses perception of

completeness and wholeness, and that when perceptions become abnormally inaccurate, they can lead to

psychopathology. Gestalt then emphasizes the importance of increasing an accurate perception of reality.

How people function in totality.

Fritz Perls

Frederick Salomon Perls was born in 1893 in Berlin into a middle class Jewish family. He had a younger and

an older sister. His parents fought bitterly and Perls disliked his older sister, yet he remembered his

childhood as happy. He loved to read and was a top student in grade school. His schooling was interrupted

by World War I, when he served as a medic with the German army.

Perls trained as a psychoanalyst in both Vienna and Berlin. Perls became associated with Kurt Goldstein,

from whom he learned to view humans as complete entities rather than individuals made of separate parts.

In 1936, Perls attended an international psychoanalytic congress in Czechoslovakia, where he met Freud. A

brief interchange with Freud left Perls feeling humiliated. Thereafter Perls, who had been humiliated

frequently by his father, dedicated himself to proving Freud and psychoanalysis wrong.

Perls immigrated to the United States in 1946. Although his ideas initially were not readily accepted, he

gained prominence through the publication of Gestalt Therapy (1951). He also established the Gestalt

Institutes and offered lectures and workshops at the Esalen Institute.

Association of Gestalt Therapy with Gestalt Psychology

It is a matter of controversy whether Gestalt therapy is based on Gestalt psychology or not. His biographer

wrote him as the "traditional gestaltist" but Perls maintained that "academic gestaltist never accepted me".

There are two different opinions in this reference as indicated below:

· "No one can understand Gestalt Therapy without an adequate background in Gestalt Psychology"

(Emerson & Smith, 1974)

· "Gestalt Therapy revolves around Perls' own personality" (Shane, 1999)

View of Human Nature

· Gestaltists believe that human being work for wholeness and completeness in life. Man is

composite of interrelated parts. None of these parts, body emotions, thoughts, sensations, and

perceptions can be understood outside the context of the whole person.

· The Gestaltists emphasize here and now. This emphasis on now has influenced other theories also,

for example, behavioral and cognitive approaches. It is important that the person attends the

current need (figure) and relegate the other needs to the background, and when the need is

accomplished or the gestalt is closed, then it is relegated to the background and another needs

becomes the figure. Hence, one must avoid fantasizing.

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Man is also part of his own environment. Each person has a self-actualizing tendency that emerges

through personal interaction with the environment and the beginning of self-awareness.

The Gestalt view of human nature places trust on the inner wisdom of people, much as person-

centered counseling does. Each person seeks to live interactively and productively striving to

coordinate the various parts of the person into a healthy unified whole.

The Gestalt view is antideterministic: each person is able to change and become responsible.

According to Gestalt therapy many troubled individuals have an over dependency on intellectual

experience. Such an emphasis diminishes the importance of emotions and the senses, limiting a

person's ability to respond to various situations.

Another common problem is the inability to identify and resolve unfinished business.

Gestaltists do not attribute either of these difficulties to any unconscious forces within persons.

Rather the focus is on awareness.

Healthy individuals are those who are most aware. Such people realize that body signs such as

headache or stomach pains, may indicate a need to change behavior. They are also aware of

personal limitations. For instance in conflicts with others one may be able to resolve the situation

or just have to dismiss.

Causes of Human Difficulties

According to Gestaltists, a person may experience difficulty in several ways:

· First he or she may lose contact with the environment and the resource in it.

· Second the person may become overinvolved with the environment and thus out of touch with the

self.

· Third he or she may fail to put aside unfinished business.

· Fourth he or she may become fragmented or scattered in many directions.

· Fifth the person may experience conflict between the top dog (what one thinks one should do) and

the underdog (what one wants to do). Conflicts involve opposing aspects of the personality.

Topdog contains the introjected "shoulds" analogous to Freud's superego and underdog as id.

Both roles are played in a dialogue to integrate these two

· Finally the person may have difficulty handing dichotomies of life. Such as love hate, masculinity,

and pleasure pain.

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