Gestalt Group

Therapy

Chapter 11, Theory &

Practice of Group
Counseling, by Gerald Corey
Presented by Jeanine
Goodwin
In the Beginning…

 Fritz & Laura Perls

 Established in the 1940’s
 Focused on person-centered awareness,
and addressing the client’s unresolved
issues
 Quickly known for its confrontational,
“hot seat” approach
 Originally designed for one-on-one
therapy
 The group aspect was indirect (one-on-
one therapy in front of an audience)
The Revised Standard
Version
 Referred to as relational Gestalt therapy
 Introduced by Erving and Miriam Polster
 Less confrontational
 More supportive, accepting, and
challenging
 Little use of the “empty chair” technique
 Focuses on the client-therapist
relationship, empathy, dialogue, and
helping the client tap into his/her own
wisdom and resources
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7cwa5X
6zgk
Therapeutic Goals
 AWARENESS!!!
 Integration of polarities
 Achieving contact with self and
others
 Learning how to clearly state wants
or needs
 Learning how to support one another
 Learning how to make use of the
resources within the group versus
using the therapist as a resource.
Key Concepts and
Principles
 Awareness
 Holism (“The whole is greater than the sum of
its parts”)
 Field Theory
 Figure-Formation
 Organismic Self-Regulation
 Here-and-Now
 Unfinished Business
 Contact and Disturbances to Contact
 Energy and Blocks to Energy
Group Leader Role and
Function
 Creates experiments to help members tap their
resources
 Focuses on awareness, contact, and experimentation
 Actively engaged with group members and frequently
self-discloses
 Creates an atmosphere and structure conducive to
the members’ creativity and innovation
 Less emphasis on technique, more emphasis on direct
self-expression, presence, authentic dialogue, and the
client-therapist relationship
 Contacts with group members on an “I/Thou” basis
 Serves as an “artist involved in creating new life”
according to Polster and Polster (1973) (Corey, 2008,
p. 290).
 Uses his/her own experience as an essential
component of the therapy process.
Stages of Group
Therapy
 First Stage
 Identity and Dependence

 Group members (with the therapist’s help) explore questions

they have about their identity within the group

 Second Stage
 Influence and Counterdependence

 Group members grapple with issues of influence, authority,

and control

 Third Stage
 Intimacy and Interdependence

 Real contact occurs within and among the group members.

 Members are helped to recognize their unfinished business not

worked through in the group.

 Group leader no longer the ultimate authority, but serves as a

resource or consultant.
Techniques &
Procedures
 Experiments
 Attention to Language
 Nonverbal Language
 Internal Dialogue Experiments
 Making the Rounds
 Fantasy Approaches
 Rehearsal
 Exaggeration Experiment
 Dream Work
Gestalt in School
Groups
 Emphasis on building quality
therapeutic relationships
 Art & Storytelling
 Empty Chair
 Topdog-Underdog
 Techniques are limited within some
adolescent groups (p. 306)
 Here and Now
 Dream Work
Gestalt in
Multicultural Groups

 World View
 Phenomenological
 Emphasis on non-verbal expression
 Use of imagery and fantasy*
 Speak in native tongue

 Solid understanding of the

limitations of Gestalt techniques
in dealing with diverse populations
Strengths

 Quality of contact
 Authentic relationship and dialogue
 Emphasis on field theory,
phenomenology, and awareness
 Creativity and spontaneity
 Integration of theory, practice, and
research
 Present-centered methodology
 Focus on the body (affect, non-verbals)
Limitations
 Elicitation of emotions
 Misuse of power
 Competency of the therapist or group
leader
 Rigidity and Pushiness in therapy
 Misapplication of methodology
References

 Corey, G. (2008). Theory and Practice of

Group Counseling, 7 th ed. Belmont, CA:
Thomson Brooks/Cole.
 Polster, E. & Polster, M. (1973). Gestalt
Therapy Integrated: Contours of theory
and practice. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
 Yontef, G.M. (1993). Awareness,
Dialogue, & Process: Essays on Gestalt
therapy. Gouldsboro, ME: The Gestalt
Journal Press