Gestalt therapy

Selecting a therapist can be challenging. You might not know which therapist is best for you when browsing profile after profile online, each one filled with varied psycho-babble that might not ring a bell. Wouldn’t it be helpful if these profiles included a glossary of all the therapy terms used? Gestalt therapy is a form of treatment you might encounter. This article will debunk any myths surrounding what Gestalt therapy might entail.

Focus on the present moment

You can anticipate that a Gestalt therapist will inquire about your current experience when you work with them. You will undoubtedly examine your past during therapy. Gestalt therapy, however, pay close attention to how their patients are feeling right now as it is developing. Gestalt therapy actually aims to increase the client’s awareness of their current experience. Despite the fact that it may seem paradoxical, paying close attention to what you are going through might help you gain insight into unhealthy patterns and change them.

To truly allow yourself to experience unpleasant or painful feelings as they arise may feel frightening. But pushing those emotions away will leave them frozen. When you enter the treatment room, a Gestalt psychotherapist might ask you one of the following questions, for example:

What are you currently aware of?

As you’re telling me about that date you went on, what was your experience like?

As you recount how your mother handled you in high school, what’s coming up for you?

Reduce speed

By assisting people to slow down, Gestalt therapy can help their patients notice their experience in the present moment. As we live in a culture that values a quick tempo and multitasking, this can be very difficult. Social media and cellphones regularly take our attention away. It can be challenging to sit with emotions, so we frequently “up up into our heads” to avoid the discomfort. By saying things like, “After you expressed that you miss your ex, I saw tears come up in your eyes, and I think your voice sounds sad,” a Gestalt therapist can encourage you to take it slower. Can you continue that for a moment? Instead, “The tale you’re telling me is extremely significant. I want you to take a moment right now to breathe deeply and pay attention to your awareness.

See how your body feels.

By encouraging their patients to become curious about the sensations in their body, Gestalt therapists can assist their patients in connecting with their emotions. Your somatic experience is what it is. Answering the question “How does that make you feel?” can occasionally be challenging or even overwhelming. When someone asks, “What do you notice in your body right now?” it can sometimes be easier to handle. You might detect a tightness in your chest, for instance.

You might be asked by a Gestalt therapist to place your hand on your chest and take a few breaths while observing the rise and fall of your hand. They might ask you to “speak from that region,” or what your chest would say.

When you gesture while describing something to your therapist, this is another way somatic experience can be used in Gestalt therapy. You might get interrupted by a Gestalt therapist who will observe your gesture and ask you to repeat it. You might even be asked to overdo it so they can allow you to observe how it feels to perform it with this extra awareness.
I have no notion what I’m feeling in my body at any particular time, you may be thinking as you read this section. Do not worry if that describes you. Not by yourself! It takes practice to become skilled at becoming aware of your bodily experience. You can refine this technique with the use of gestalt psychotherapy.

Consider the therapist-client connection

The majority of therapists think that the bond between a client and therapist is important, regardless of the strategy your therapist uses or their educational background. Gestalt therapists disagree with the notion that they are “blank slates” with no character or influence over their patients. In fact, they are of the opinion that the client’s experience is being inexorably impacted by their particular presence.

The same patterns that frequently appear in a client’s interactions with other people in their life can also be seen in their interactions with their therapist. Gestalt therapists employ their rapport with the patient as one of their therapeutic techniques. Relational therapy is another name for this approach of treatment. A client may find it easier to digest or communicate about things in other relationships when their therapist supports them in noticing what it’s like to do so in treatment.

A Gestalt therapist might say, “When you’re telling me about how lonely you felt as a child, I’m realizing that I feel sad right now,” to a client during a session as an example of how to make use of their relationship with the client. How does it sound that I just said that? or “How does sharing this with me feel today?” Maybe you could say, “I hear how deceived you’ve felt by women in the past. What’s it like discussing this with me given I’m a woman, I wonder?

Try things out in sessions

Gestalt practitioners do what they refer to as “experiments” with their patients. Just offering a client to try something new and then seeing the results constitutes this. Gestalt therapists never have a desired conclusion; instead, they always recommend experiments depending on what they see a client saying and doing. Constantly gaining awareness is the aim of Gestalt experiments. Hence, a “experiment that failed” does not exist. The following are some kinds of experiments a Gestalt therapist might recommend:

• Asking a client to repeat a certain line numerous times while experimenting with various voice tones or loudness.
• Requesting that the patient maintain eye contact with the therapist for a predetermined period of time. After then, look elsewhere and pay attention to what appears.
• Asking a client to communicate with a “younger part of themselves” they might imagine is present in the therapy session.

In order to assist you feel more prepared about what to anticipate from a Gestalt therapist and experiential treatment, I hope this blog has provided some specific information. Gestalt therapy is one of a vast number of powerful psychotherapy modalities. Finding a therapist and a method that work well for you is the most crucial step.

Gestalt therapy – Certified therapists who you can get in touch and book a therapy session with:

Sabine Bohlig-Bonaleten

Marcelo Matias

Lynda Pabari