In case of emotional instability, the therapist may prescribe Gestalt therapy, the theory and principles of which are aimed at changing a person’s habitual behavior and eliminating his internal conflicts. The technique was founded many years ago, but still works today. By systematically performing exercises in Gestalt therapy, you can finally get rid of a number of psychological problems, regain your emotional balance.

What is Gestalt therapy

Interested in numerous areas of psychotherapy, many modern psychologists take Gestalt therapy as the basis for their practice. Its founder is the German psychoanalyst Frederick Perls, who in the middle of the last century officially patented a method that was innovative at that time. It immediately found its spread among the masses, since it is distinguished by its high efficiency and variety of methods, which are selected for clients on a purely individual basis.

The essence of Gestalt therapy

The most important gestaltist created an independent direction of psychotherapy, which includes the basics of bioenergy, psychodrama, and psychoanalysis. The main value of such therapy lies in the humanistic, existential approach to the personality of the patient who suffers mental disorders. The main goal treatment is the desire, the desire to change the characteristics of the client’s behavior, find a compromise with one’s inner self, and achieve harmony with oneself.

Main tasks of Gestalt therapeutic practice

Gestalt therapy helps the patient cure neuroses, get rid of internal fears, overcome panic attacks and seemingly habitual self-doubt, own strength. To achieve positive results in a given direction, the psychotherapist first tries to find the cause of psychological problems, evaluate, and justify his own behavior. Only after this come to the process of awareness and measures of therapeutic interaction. The main objectives of Gestalt therapy are:

1. Working with emotions. It is optimal to work with group psychotherapy in order to open up to communication, learn to recognize true feelings, and demonstrate them to others.
2. The ability to distinguish the past from the present. Understanding the significance of each life circumstance, it is important to work with it individually.
3. Analysis. For your own consciousness, you need to separate and completely let go of negative emotions, work to find out the reasons for their occurrence.
4. Attention to the body. The client imagines his own problems and equates them with his inner feelings. As a result, it gets worse general health, analysis is needed.

Who is Gestalt therapy suitable for?

To complete therapy, it is important to fully understand its objectives, principles and directions. Since it is based on the greater feminine principle, brute force is a problem psychological nature not solved. The client’s emotions, experiences, ability to recognize and accept the situation, change his own attitude towards it to feel inner harmony.

Women are more sensitive, and their main needs are to publicize the problem, understand it and discuss it, find the right path, and emotional balance. Men are more secretive and have clear boundaries of contact, so they are more likely to undergo counseling and get to know their own personality. In general, Gestalt therapy is suitable for everyone who is not fixated on their own problems, but is ready to solve them first on a spiritual level, then in practice.

Principles

Before learning Gestalt therapy techniques, it is important to understand the principles on which they are based. The approach is biological, that is, the interaction between man and his environment is taken into account. If something interferes with life, these circumstances must be adjusted. The basic principles of Gestalt therapy are:

1. Life is governed not by reason, but by emotions, as the basic need of the body.
2. Goals are achievable if they are your own and not imposed by society.
3. A person must strive for emotional balance, spiritual balance.
4. Body, mind and emotions must be closely connected.
5. A person independently chooses an environment in which he is comfortable.

The “Here and Now” principle

As a result of the interaction of the body and mind, a person can come to a feeling of inner harmony and cope with the prevailing mental disorders and fears. The “Here and Now” principle is considered fundamental, since with its extreme accessibility it provides an obvious result, radical changes in consciousness and worldview.

The Gestalt therapist insists that the patient live reality as the most important period own life. The past and memories of it are already a passed and irrevocable stage, while the future and the implementation of future plans may not come at all. It turns out that all the most important and fateful things in a person’s destiny happen “Here and now.” Therefore, it is important to take your own situation in the present time with utmost responsibility.

Methods

In modern psychology, the practice of Gestalt therapy is a new stage in personality development, providing the opportunity to painstakingly work with internal abilities, desires, and beliefs. Thus, already existing boundaries are violated, and the individual, on an intuitive level or by the method of internal analysis, must determine his attitude to everything that happens without high blood pressure from the outside. When choosing the practice of psychoanalysis, you need to consider the most rated methods of Gestalt therapy.

"Hot chair" and "empty chair"

Gestalt therapy is a well-known form of psychotherapy implemented in the process of interaction between emotion and mind. It is important to learn to understand yourself and voice your own problems. The “hot and empty chair” technique is of particular interest to Gestalt therapists from the Moscow Gestalt Institute, and is appropriate for implementation in group communities. The basic principles of this methodology are presented below:

This is a search for the “golden mean”. A person is accustomed to reacting to situations in his extreme emotional states. This has a bad effect on the psyche, state of mind, and worldview. It is necessary to learn to live in harmony with oneself, and to realize such aspirations not only in theory, but also in practice. The principle of the “Golden Mean” is the ability to vary in any situation, without driving yourself to extremes.

Working with dreams

In Gestalt therapy Special attention is given to night dreams, which are clues of human consciousness. If, after waking up, you remember what the dream was about, you can better understand yourself and find a compromise with your inner self. The main thing is to take this method seriously, and to decipher it, use only verified sources, but also your own intuition.

Exercises

This classic technique has been working successfully for more than a decade, and the main task of the psychotherapist’s patient is to select effective, accessible exercises to ensure emotional calm, effective treatment neuroses, panic attacks. So:

1. “Now I realize...” This is the basis of an exercise that helps you appreciate reality in a new way. It is important to look at the current crisis situation differently, to surprise yourself by analyzing it from several points of view.
2. Feedback. The psychotherapist plays the role of a so-called “mirror” so that the patient, voicing the problem, can look at himself from the outside. This will help him rethink the situation and find a solution to emotional instability.
3. "I'm fine". It is necessary to begin the upcoming analysis with this phrase, then optimistic thoughts will help you look at life differently, eliminate panic attacks and internal fears.

Video

Gestalt therapy is a method of practical psychology aimed at awareness and analysis by patients of everything unspoken, suppressed and incomplete in life, with the aim of getting rid of problems and harmonizing the personality.

The Gestalt approach is based on its own theoretical theses, the postulates of psychoanalysis, elements of psychodrama and bioenergetics.

The founder of this direction is the German scientist - Fritz Perls, he used the theory of psychoanalysis for its development, which he constantly supplemented with his own conclusions. The holistic approach (the unity of soul and body, feelings and emotions) in Gestalt therapy appeared thanks to the works of psychologists Wertheimer, Koehler, Kurt Goldstein. The development of bodily sensations was positioned by the researcher Reich, and introduced elements of psychodrama Jacob Moreno.

Having undergone Gestalt therapy, a person begins to see, feel and understand his own personality not as a set of individual character traits, qualities, desires, prohibitions and abilities, but as a whole as a single organism that he can control. During the treatment process, the therapist helps the patient “extract” “painful” memories, images, thoughts, feelings from the subconscious and “work” on them.

In the end it should be gestalt(internal image of the problem and barriers to expressing emotions). His step by step analysis allows people to build harmonious relationships with themselves, loved ones and the world around them so as to receive pleasure and positive emotions.

Changing the usual perception of oneself, one’s behavior, reviving sincerity and the ability to rejoice, rethinking actions and relationships - this is what Gestalt therapy is in simple terms.

In their consultations or group trainings, Gestalt therapists teach patients:

• always rely on your desires and needs, taking into account reality and circumstances;
• do not suppress your feelings and do not accumulate negativity;
• express oneself in communication, creativity, and activity.

The main provisions of the Gestalt approach are:

• developing an attentive attitude and quick response to any of your own emotions;
• enrichment, increase and preservation of internal energy;
• relaxed manifestation of bodily reactions;
• desire for authenticity (building harmonious relationships with one’s body).

Gestalt therapy is most effective for women(due to their emotionality), for men such long-term attention and careful analysis of feelings may seem like an exaggeration; they are usually guided by the arguments of reason and easily ignore their desires and needs for the sake of achievements and success.

In addition, in society a man who is too emotional is considered weak, so it is not easy for many representatives of the stronger sex to talk about their problems, even when meeting with a psychotherapist.

Basic methods and techniques

The Gestalt approach uses:

• working with feelings;
• exercises to express your state with body movements;
• analysis of dreams and memories;
• working with fictional characters (playing out situations and feelings).

The therapy process is considered effective:

• if it lasts no more than 2 years;
• shows patients the strengths of their personality;
• promotes a positive perception of oneself in the world.

Stages of Gestalt therapy:

• searching for problems, obvious and “disguised” negativity among clients, weaknesses their personalities;
• analysis and “release” of detected obstacles;
• building trust in one’s own sphere of feelings and learning to freely express emotions (taking into account social norms and rules).

The main role in any Gestalt methods is given to emotions, the movements of the mind are considered secondary, they are taken into account if they do not suppress the sphere of feelings.

Task Gestalt therapist help the patient see how he “prevents” the satisfaction of his needs, what psychological blocks he puts up and together find acceptable ways to satisfy them.

Task client- reflection (awareness and expression) of one’s feelings and related actions.
The main strategy of Gestalt therapy is the development of the desire to accept oneself (personality change techniques are practically not used in it).

Therapists of the Gestalt approach use special terms in their work:

1. Interprojection. Substitution of real needs of people with imposed ones (by society, traditions, significant people).

2. Confluence (lack of boundaries between external environment and the body). The fusion of feelings and actions in order to obtain maximum satisfaction from life.

3. Retroflection. “Freezing” in the subconscious of your needs and desires.

4. Cycle contact. The process of forming an image of an obstacle in the client’s mind, expressing feelings regarding the problem, and destroying the gestalt.

5. Pre-contact. The stage of formation of a gestalt with a predominance of the sensations of its background (based on bodily sensations, an image of the dominant feeling arises).

6. Contacting. Free expression of feelings and overcoming emotional “clamps”.

7. Final contact. Identifying oneself with a gestalt image, awareness of the unity of feelings and actions.

8. Egotism. Self-interruption of the Gestalt therapy chain. Avoiding awareness of the need, preventing the transition to final contact and getting stuck in contacting.

9. Post-contact. Dissolution of the Gestalt figure into the background. Gaining and consolidating the experience of emotional and bodily expression of feelings.

Thus, the entire process of traditional Gestalt therapy is the formation of a figure and ground in the minds of patients and a step-by-step reflection of their internal work on psychological problems.

Here's what it is in simple words:

• awareness of your emotions in a state of rest;
• analysis of feelings and desires when a stimulus occurs;
• formation of a holistic image (gestalt) of the provoking factor and reaction to it;
• emotional response to it;
• catharsis (stress relief and satisfaction);
• return to a harmonious state

Exercises

Individual or group sessions with a Gestalt therapist allow
step by step, “expose” the emotional “trash” in the subconscious of clients, bring them to awareness of the problematic situation, teach them to express themselves according to their inner impulses and live in harmony with their body.

At the beginning of therapy, exercises are used to focus feelings and reflect them, then release techniques are used negative emotions. The doctor provides general guidance to the process of gestalt formation; he focuses patients’ attention on problematic issues, encouraging awareness of the need to freely express their emotions.

Examples of exercises:

1. “Hot chair.” The client sits in the center of the group (at trainings, participants usually sit in a circle) and is asked to talk about what worries him. After a dialogue with the patient in the “hot chair,” the trainer asks to express the feelings and sensations of other participants. They all must be in the center of the circle.

2. Awareness. Here patients talk about feelings and thoughts in the present moment.

3. Increased bodily manifestations during exercise. The therapist asks the training participants to exaggerate any non-verbal gestures, for example, turning finger tapping into a “drum roll”.

4. Shuttle movement. Injecting the background into the figure. If the client reports loneliness, the therapist tries to “color” the background as negatively as possible, i.e. focuses on bodily manifestations (trembling, squeezing hands or feet, etc.).

5. “Empty chair.” In this center chair exercise, patients do not engage in dialogue with real person, but with the imaginary, the dead or oneself.

6. Making circles. All members of the group speak to each other in a circle.

Technical procedures

The main method of psychotherapeutic work in most therapeutic approaches is to conduct individual or group conversations in which patients talk about their problems, ailments, past events, themselves, and other people. In Gestalt therapy, a lot of attention and effort is given to transforming the story into action.

The features of this form of work are as follows. Firstly, this technique allows you to expand the range of specific behavior in a therapeutic situation by attracting many elements that are missing in the story. Secondly, it leads to a change in the object of concentration of attention and the way of experiencing one’s activity. When talking about something, a person is focused on his problems, on past situations and events. In Gestalt therapy, the patient focuses on himself as a subject, on what he does and how he experiences it in a specific therapeutic situation. This direction of concentration seems to be the most important, since the process of psychotherapy is aimed at changing the organization of human functioning, and the likely result of this change will be a change in the state of “affairs” and “problems” of the patient. The therapist suggests and stimulates the patient's actions, which take the form of active experimentation with himself. The patient, being the subject of experiments, has the opportunity to discover essential elements of the organization of his own functioning, experience actions that make changes in this area, and find support in himself.

Thus, Perls contrasts the causal approach to understanding experience with the functional approach. In other words, what is important is not “why” this or that action occurs, but “how” it occurs.

The technical procedures used in Gestalt therapy are grouped around two main areas of work. They are called principles and games. The principles are introduced in the initial phase of therapy, and there are not too many of them, and the number of games is not limited. The principles are not a collection of rigid instructions to which the patient must obey. They indicate preferred directions of behavior and conditions that are conducive to expanding awareness and the fullest contact with the environment and oneself.

Principles of Gestalt Therapy

1. The "now" principle or the idea of ​​focusing on the present moment, is the most important principle in Gestalt therapy. The therapist often asks the patient to determine what he is currently doing, feeling what is happening to him and around him at the moment. If in the course of work material appears related to any important aspects personality, efforts are directed towards the maximum possible transfer of this material into the present. If the patient talks about some events of the past, then he can be asked to transfer the action to the present with the help of fantasy and present the events as if they were playing out in this moment. In such cases, it is not difficult to notice how many people avoid contact with their present and tend to delve into memories of the past and fantasies about the future.

2. The "me and you" principle reflects the desire for open and direct contact between people. Patients (and not only patients) often direct their statements concerning other people to the wrong address, but “to the side” or “in the air,” revealing their fears and reluctance to speak directly and sincerely, avoiding direct contact with other people.

Fearful avoidance of contact, superficial and distorted communication with others support the patient’s feeling of isolation and loneliness. Therefore, the therapist encourages the participants in the psychotherapeutic group to make attempts at direct contact and communication, often asking them to address specific statements to specific persons those they concern should be addressed by name. In the first phase of the psychotherapeutic group, the therapist organizes situations for participants aimed at establishing contact between individuals through a series of short verbal and non-verbal exercises in twos and threes.

3. The principle of subjectivization of statements associated with the semantic aspects of patient responsibility and involvement. Quite often, people talk about their own body, feelings, thoughts and behavior from a certain distance, objectifying them. For example: “Something is pressing me”, “Something is preventing me from doing this”, etc. Often such a simple technique as a proposal to replace the form of the statement with a more subjective one (for example: “I am suppressing myself”, “I am stopping myself do this"), confronts the patient with significant problems of avoiding responsibility for himself. Paying attention to the form of the statement can help the patient see himself as an active subject, rather than a passive object with whom things are “done.” Of course, taking into account the semantic aspects of statements alone is not enough to change this fundamental position regarding oneself, especially since when subjectivizing statements, responsibility is often assumed for activities that are generally considered involuntary, for example: thinking, memories, fantasies, breathing pattern, voice timbre, etc. However, the application of this principle can help in initiating and conducting deeper searches and experiments aimed at increasing the ability to manage one's own functioning.

4. Continuum of awareness as the basis of therapeutic work means deliberate concentration on the spontaneous flow of the content of experiences, self-report of what and how is happening at a given moment. The continuum of awareness is an integral part of all technical procedures, but it is also applied autonomously, often leading to unexpected and significant results for the patient. This is a method of leading an individual to own experience and to the rejection of endless verbalizations, clarifications and interpretations. Awareness of feelings, bodily sensations and observations represents the most definite part of our cognition and creates the basis for a person’s orientation in himself and in his connections with the environment.

The application of the continuum of awareness is well illustrated by the following dialogue.

Therapist. What are you realizing now?

Patient. I'm aware that I'm talking to you, I'm aware of the other people in the room, I'm aware that it's spinning, I'm aware of the tension in my shoulders, I'm aware of the anxiety that comes over me as I talk about it.

Therapist. How do you cope with your anxiety?

Therapist. Are you aware of what your eyes are doing?

Patient. Yes, now I am aware that my eyes are looking somewhere to the side.

Therapist. Can you explain this responsibly?

Patient....I try not to look at you.

Using the awareness continuum helps shift the focus of therapeutic work away from the question “why?” to know “what and how” happens. This is one of the significant differences between Gestalt therapy and other psychotherapeutic approaches in which the search for the cause of certain behavior is considered the most essential part of the therapeutic work. However, closer observation of the many lengthy conversations and reflections aimed at trying to establish Why someone doing this and not otherwise shows that even receiving reasonable answers to this question does not lead to changes in behavior itself and often these conversations are nothing more than fruitless intellectual exercises. The benefits obtained from such psychotherapeutic conversations are often the result of incidental factors that are of secondary relevance to the main topic of the conversation, such as the atmosphere of the conversation, the influence of the therapist, or the state of relief after an emotional response. Therefore, Gestalt therapy tends to focus on the features and process of specific actions performed by the patient (“what and how”), since their awareness and experience create more immediate prerequisites for both understanding them and attempting to control them.

Therapist. What are you feeling now?

Patient. I'm afraid.

Therapist. How do you experience your fear, how does it manifest itself now?

Patient. I can't see you clearly, my palms are sweating.

Therapist. What else are you doing now?

Patient. I can imagine what you think about me.

Therapist. How do you imagine this?

Patient. I... you think I'm a coward.

Therapist. And now?

Patient. Your image is completely blurred, I see it as if through a fog. My heart hurts.

Therapist. What do you imagine now?

Patient. I don’t know... now I see my father. Yes, he looks at me and says. He always said this: “You are a coward and will remain one.”

Therapist. What are you feeling now?

Patient. There is some kind of confusion inside, something is bothering me.

Therapist. Try to be responsible for what you do now.

Patient. It’s me who’s hindering myself now, I’m refraining... I’m not allowing myself...

Therapist. What are you trying to hinder yourself in now?

Patient. Don't know…

Therapist. You've been clenching and unclenching your fingers for several minutes now.

Patient. I don’t allow myself... to tell him that I hate him and am afraid.

Therapist. And now?

Patient. I'm a little less stressed and breathe easier. My heart is beating fast, as if I’m preparing for something.

Therapist. What would you like to do and say now?

Patient. I wish I could finally say something to him without being a coward.

Therapist. What do you realize now?

Patient. Why am I saying these words to myself?

Therapist. Do you want to say it loudly, as if your father was sitting here and listening to what you say to him?

Patient. Yes... father... you had no right to consider me like that, it was inhuman, terrible, I cannot forgive you for this, I hated you (in Tears appear in his eyes, he continues to speak with a childish sob)...you did so much evil to me, but I... never stopped loving you.

Therapist. What happens now?

Patient. I feel a flow of warmth, I’m all hot, touched, I’m no longer afraid... What I’m doing now is something important, I would like to go further.

It is not difficult to notice that the main steps taken by the patient in the dramatically developing therapeutic situation were mainly the result of concentration on alternately conscious content elements and actions.

5. In addition to the above basic principles, A. Levitski and F. Perls describe more specific principles, or more precisely, preferred forms of behavior in the therapeutic group:

1) patients are encouraged to form relationships that exclude gossip or discussion of someone present without his participation;

2) the technique of attracting attention to the patient is often used, who manipulates questions, wanting to secretly provoke certain reactions of others under the guise of seeking information. In these cases, the therapist can invite such a patient to say directly what he specifically wants to communicate;

3) Another form of communication that patients are sometimes encouraged to do is autoexpression- the utterance of a certain content mainly or exclusively for the purpose of obtaining satisfaction caused by the very fact of the utterance. For many patients, this is a completely new experience, helping to increase self-respect and reduce dependence on the reaction of the environment.

To understand the essence of Gestalt therapy, let us consider the basic principles, which, unlike other principles of this kind, do not represent a collection of rigid, directive instructions. They merely provide preliminary directions of behavior and conditions that are conducive or not to the expansion of awareness of the situation and the fullest contact with the environment and oneself.

The principle of “now” or “here and now”. The “now” principle, or focusing on the present moment, is perhaps the most important principle of Gestalt therapy. It originates in the traditions of Zen Buddhism and a number of other eastern practices, which were studied by Perls with the inherent care and thoroughness. The essence of this principle is that during the session the therapist often asks to determine what the patient is currently doing, feeling, what is happening to him and around him at the moment. If material related to any important aspects of the personality appears during the work, the therapist makes efforts to transfer this material to the present. For example, if the patient is talking about some events of the past, then he can be asked to transfer the action to the present with the help of fantasy and present the events as if they were happening at the moment. In such cases, it is often revealed how many people avoid contact with their present and tend to delve into memories of the past and fantasies about the future.

The "me and you" principle reflects the desire for open and direct contact between people. Patients very often misdirect their statements regarding others, thereby revealing their fears and reluctance to speak directly and unambiguously.

Fear of contact, its avoidance, superficial or distorted communication with others support the patient’s feeling of isolation and loneliness. Therefore, during the session, the therapist encourages participants to make attempts at direct contact and communication, insisting that specific statements be addressed to specific individuals whom they concern already in the first phase of work. At the same time, direct situations are organized aimed at establishing contact between individuals through a series of short verbal and non-verbal exercises in pairs and trios.

The principle of subjectivization of statements. This principle is associated with the responsibility and involvement of the patient in what is happening. Quite often people talk about their own body, feelings, thoughts and behavior from a certain distance, as if on the sidelines. For example: “This is preventing me from making a career,” “They have been bothering me for a long time.” Often in such a situation, the therapist suggests that the patient replace the form of the statement with a more objective one, for example, “I can’t do it myself,” “I’m preventing myself from solving this problem.” That is, a conflict is artificially created between the patient and his significant problems of avoiding responsibility for own solution, and ultimately for yourself. Paying attention to the form of the statement can help the patient see himself as a subject, and not a passive, distant or alienated object, with which various things that do not relate to him are “done” or “happened.”

Continuity of Awareness. Awareness as the basis of therapeutic work means deliberate concentration on the spontaneous flow of the content of experiences, complete control over what and how is happening at a given moment. This method brings the individual to his own experience and the refusal of endless verbalizations, clarifications and interpretations of the situation. Awareness of feelings, bodily sensations and observations represent the most definite part of our cognition, which creates the basis for a person’s orientation in his inner world and in the connections of the “I” with the environment.

Using awareness helps shift the focus from the question “why” to the question “what” and “how” is happening. Since each action can have many reasons, finding out all these reasons leads further and further from understanding the essence of the action itself.