Descriptive Essay : Empty Chair Method

The Gestalt approach to therapy emerged during the 1950’s and was developed by Frederick Perls (1893-1970). The aim of Gestalt therapy is to increase awareness, so that the client comes to resolution of unfinished business and the integration of the thinking, feeling and sensing processes. In Gestalt therapy the emphasis is placed on the present experience, the perception of the individual as a whole and the direct awareness of emotions and action. Gestalt therapists believe that the emotional problems and frustrations that are experienced by individuals are attributed to the lack of recognition and understanding of their own feelings. In addition to this Gestaltist believe that many individuals lose

Gestalt therapy is a therapeutic approach in psychology that helped foster the humanistic theories of the 1950s and 1960s and that was, in turn, influenced by them. In Gestalt philosophy, the patient is seen as having better insight into himself or herself than the therapist does. Thus, the therapist guides the person on a self-directed path to awareness and refrains from interpreting the patient’s behaviors. Awareness comprises recognition of one’s responsibility for choices, self-knowledge, and ability to solve problems.

It also enables therapists to experience therapy from the clients’ perspective and “ has a wide range of beneficial outcomes, the most important of which is the increased empathy for the client”.

Other than techniques, there are many concepts of this therapy style that fit my understanding of human nature. I really like how this therapy stresses the importance of becoming a fully functioning person. This best can be described as someone who is willing to open themselves up to new experiences and challenges (Allen 1994). A person who is fully functioning is not afraid to take risks, and is willing to fail along the way. These types of people are also highly motivated and resilient to the external world around them. They are autonomous and find their strength from within, instead of depending and relying on others for strength. It would seem like only a

I had the opportunity to experience a Gestalt technique with a therapist while in high school. I was having trouble committing to my studies and had a lot of anxiety about the imminent national School Certificate exams. My therapist brought out two chairs and asked me to sit in one and imagine that School Certificate was in the other chair and then let me dialogue my fears before swapping chairs and having me respond to myself as School Certificate. From my perspective, the best thing about this therapy is that by bringing the past or future problem into the current moment, it gives the client the opportunity to step into and experience both sides of the conflict. This gives them an

Gestalt is a fascinating approach to therapy with many unique techniques, interventions and goals that set it apart from other approaches. "Self-acceptance, knowledge of the environment, responsibility for choices, and the ability to make contact...are important awareness processes and goals, all of which are based on a here-and-now experiencing that is always changing" (Corey, 2009, p. 200).

Alternative Therapeutic Mode: Collaboration would have been another therapeutic mode that would have benefited the patient. Overall, though, it felt as though the therapist was using a mix of collaborative and a problem solving use of self. The best example of this was when he came to the conclusion with the help of the therapist that a new desk would be beneficial to protecting his back. It was also present when the patient determined that physical therapy was not realistic for him, but the other suggestions

This therapeutic modality induces deep states of relaxation and concentration in clients through the guidance of a trained professional. In this way the mind becomes more susceptible to alternative, new and healthier suggestions that increase awareness. To be effective, it requires that clients are motivated to change and agree to the therapist's suggestions.

Gestalt therapy, which was founded by Fritz and Laura Perls in the 1940s, teaches the therapists and their clients the phenomenological awareness method, where feeling, perceiving and acting are differentiated from interpreting and rearranging the pre-existing attitudes. Gestalt therapists and clients’ dialogue, thus communicating their phenomenological perspectives, and their differences in perceptions form the basis and focus of experimentation and continued dialogue. The desired outcome of the therapy process is for the client to become aware of their actions, how they are acting, and the ways they can change their actions and learn to accept and appreciate themselves. Here, the emphasis is mainly on the process rather

Instead of eye movement, some psychiatrists use other bilateral stimulation sets because patients can tolerate it much better. For patients to not be exposed to additional traumatic materials, longer sessions might be a necessity, but instead for them to “process and integrate material at the pace that they can tolerate and to restabilize them before concluding the session (Van der Hart et al.,

This approach can not correct the patient's behavior in general, but to mitigate some of the individual issues under the force of it. Psychosocial treatment with the use of emotional approach is to apply the therapy memories, "simulation of presence", sensory integration, validation therapy, supportive therapy. Therapy memories is to discuss them with patients experienced an event on an individual or group sessions with a therapist. Presence simulation is listening to a patient player with recorded voices of his relatives. Reduced cognitive deficits produced as a result of cognitive therapy. To the patient oriented in reality, it provides information about the current year, month, day, week, time. By stimulating methods include music therapy,

This case study illustrates Ruth being the client. This provides background information about Ruth includes the presenting problem, the history of presenting problem and the psychosocial history. The key concepts, the therapeutic process, the therapeutic relationship, therapist function and roll comes from the three theories Gestalt, Existential and Adlerian. The case identifies and describe goals that would be established for Ruth using all three theories. This case study applies detailed techniques from Gestalt and Adlerian also providing specific examples of Ruth participating in the different techniques. Such as advice, catching oneself, lifestyle assessment, encouraging, task setting and commitment, future projection, empty chair and

The antagonists in this book are his patient from whom he elicits permission before using them. The author uses scenarios from some of his therapy sessions to evoke alertness in his audience as well as to provide a practical framework with which they can relate or be guided as therapists or future therapists.

Therapy is the treatment of people who are suffering from the psychological problem and that situation, the therapist works in collaboration with the patient, to determine the cause. This paper seeks to explore the two types of therapy which person-centered therapy and gestalt therapy. The paper will also go into details by comparing and contrasting the two therapies and how they work.

Gestalt therapy is a type of therapy used to deepen our awareness of ourselves. According to O’Connor and Braverman, (2009) “Gestalt" implies wholeness. Gestalt can also be considered as the essence, or shape of a complete form. A theoretical opposite of structuralism, the entity constitutes more than the sum of its parts. Gestalt therapy is comprised of a complex psychological system that stresses the development of client self-awareness and personal responsibility through a process-oriented, experiential and phenomenological modality that addresses the totality of an individual in terms of senses, body, emotions and intellect.” In an active process, suppressed feelings can be explored in depth and through understanding of the how