Emotional & mental health clinic
3- Energy and blocks to energy
Gestalt therapists often focus on where energy is in the body, how it is used, and how it may be causing a blockage (Corey, 2005). Blocked energy is a form of resistance, for example, tension in a part of the body, not breathing deeply, or avoiding eye contact. GT is about finding and releasing the blockages that may be inhibiting awareness.
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5- Unfinished business
Unfinished business refers to people who do not finish things in their lives and is often related to people with a “growth disorder” (Seligman, 2006). People with unfinished business often resent the past and because of this are unable to focus on the here and now. One of the major goals of GT is to help people work through their unfinished business and bring about closure.
THE "WHOLESTIC"
PRESPECTIVE
9 AM - 9 PM M-F, 11AM - 2PM Sat & Sun - Online Therapy Available.
4- Growth Disorders
Growth disorders refer to emotional problems that are caused by people who lack awareness and do not interact with their environment completely. In doing so, people are unable to cope with the changes in their lives successfully and, instead deal with the problems in a defensive manner (Seligman, 2006).
2- Awareness
Awareness is one of the most important elements in GT as it is seen as a “hallmark of the healthy person and a goal of treatment” (Seligman, 2006). When individuals are “aware”, they are able to self-regulate in their environment.
References:
Corey, C. (2005). Theory and practice of counseling & psychotherapy. (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning.
Gestalt Psychology (2017), The History and Systems of Psychology, 2017. Gestalt School of Psychology. https://psychhistoryandsystems.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/gestalt-psychology/.
Paterson, C. H. (1986). Theories of counselling and psychotherapy. New York, NY: Harper &Row.
Seligman, L. (2006). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy: Systems, strategies, and skills. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Ltd.
KEY THERAPEUTIC CONCEPTS:
1- Wholeness and Integration
Wholeness refers to the whole person or the individual’s mind and body as a unit rather than as separate parts (Seligman, 2006). Integration refers to how these parts fit together and how the individual integrates into the environment. Often people who come to therapy do not have these parts fitting together in their environment, GT is about facilitating clients to integrate themselves as whole persons and help restore balance in their environment.
HUMAN BEINGS FUNCTION AS A “WHOLE”
People are not made up of separate components, rather human beings function as a whole. Gestalt therapy (GT) rejects the dualities of mind and body, body and soul, thinking and feeling, and feeling and action. The word “Gestalt” (of German origin) refers to a “whole, configuration, integration, pattern or form”. (Patterson, 1986).
GT is part of humanistic-experiential approach (also including Person-centered therapy, Existential therapy, Psychodrama, Emotion-focused Therapy, Experiential therapy, Transactional analysis, process-experiential therapy) that considers the person as a complex self-organizing system, the growth tendency of human functioning, and the human capacity for reflective consciousness. (Gestalt Psychology, 2017).