Gestalt Therapy in a Group Setting

Kylie Overbey

Carrie Diaz

Ty Thompson

Amy Palmer

Lenee Knudson

• Developed by Fritz and Laura Perls
• Fritz was original a psychiatrist
• Fled Germany in 1933
• Moved to NY after WWII
• Ego, Hunger, and Aggression
• First Gestalt Therapy institute began in their New York apartment
• Institutions began to expand throughout the country
• Gestalt Therapy is in the forefront of the new integrative models of psychotherapy
• There are now more than 100 Gestalt institutes around the world.

• Many of the same underlying concepts from Gestalt theory apply in the group setting-Effectiveness comes from leader role.
• Concepts of Gestalt group therapy found appeared to focus largely on leader qualities.
• Involves the relationship between the leader and members as a “I/thou, dialogic relationship”.
• Shadow of the Leader
• Embrace humanity, but do not expect to master it.
• Expect failure, and allow it to happen.
• Group meetings are typically held in the leaders’ office.
• Democratic, egalitarian in form
• Theory is focused on the leader seeking therapeutic help in order to achieve continuous growth
• Family functioning system
• (Cole, 2013)

• Kaplan (1978) identified five modes of Gestalt group therapy
• The group as a supportive base for experience
• The group as an opportunity for awareness of here-and-now experience
• The group as a basis of current experience
• The action is within the individual’s personal dreams or fantasy and members adopt the roles needed to fulfill.
• The group as a kinetic, ever present process.

• Environment
• Burden-lifting
• Use of experiments, holistic view, and respect for individual allow for personal growth and thus change.
• 7 assumptions

1) As the individual participates in the therapy group, a critical turning point is when the individual becomes aware of their responsibility for their choices.

2) Therapeutic changes take place holistically

3) For an individual, change becomes possible at boundaries

4) A major leverage for significant change comes through paying attention to the moment, leading, when appropriate, to the use of the experiment. (Based on Dewey, 1915; which underlies Gestalt theory)

5) In the group situation, an effective process for change comes through vicarious therapy (Perls, 1967 as cited by Handlon & Fredericson, 1998)

6) Positive connections created between members of a group lead to the development of group cohesion.

7) For the individual, it is emotionally satisfying to be in a group where the individual has value.

1) To increase the individual’s awareness of the results of an interaction between their biogenetic and sociocultural systems leading to a block in her mobilization of energy.

2) To have new experiences at the interpersonal level, which challenges the individual’s old assumptions and expectations (projections) about other individual’s behavior.

3) To afford an opportunity to experiment with new behaviors that confront the individual’s introjects and to receive feedback on the behaviors from the group.

4) To receive acceptance and support from others after self-disclosure of a personal secret.

5) To obtain feedback from others, pointing out the negative and positive impact of the individual’s behavior.

6) To afford an opportunity for “vicarious therapy” to occur in the group because of increased awareness of the individual through observing another’s therapy work.

Info taken from (Handlon & Fredericson, 1998)

• Consciousness raising – focusing on the here and now; therapist is present-centered

• Catharsis – release of emotions, usually through the client expressing their inner experiences, such as dreams; client taking responsibility for continuing in therapy when they most want to run; therapist tries to facilitate conflict resolution and to block client resistance

Intrapersonal conflicts:

• Solution to anxiety is to live in the here and now
• Gestalt therapists instruct clients that they have inner strength
• Problems with decisions occur when people are not centered; little need for guilt in the Gestalt system; individuals should only accept responsibility for themselves and not others

Interpersonal conflicts:

• Intimate relationships begin with a commitment to ourselves and presenting ourselves as we are; differences are opportunities for growth not conflict; frustration is a stimulus for future growth
• Communication should be done in the form of direct demands, and should be done in “I” language
• Problems with hostility are boundary problems – aspects of the world we identify with are accepted openly but those experiences outside our boundaries are threatening
• Only with maturation and integration can people give up the constant struggle for control

Prochaska, J.O. & Norcross, J.C., (2010). Systems of psychotherapy. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Col

• In a Gestalt group-process-oriented experience, the leader is committed to working with both the individual and the group for the enhancement of both.
• The therapist functions as teacher of phenomenological process, and assists the client to identify how and in what ways awareness and energy are being blocked and how excitement and contact with the environment are being avoided.
• The therapist provides the client with some learning tools, namely Gestalt methods and techniques, and establishes a particular kind of learning environment not only by the way she/he uses these tools, but also by and through the emotional relationship that is established with the client.
• In groups, there are many clients present, and the interactional possibilities increase exponentially, particularly if conditions are such that the members can interact with each other as well as with the therapist. The therapist now has the opportunity of being a manager of a learning process, one in which the critical questions become:
• "How can I create the conditions that will enable these people to tap into each other as resources here?"
• "How can I help them create the kind of relationships that will provide the richest learning environment for all?"
• "How can I help them develop awareness of the polarities and choices between taking care of individuals and taking care of the group?"

• During this phase, the primary task of the leader is to set up relationships with the members and among the members as quickly as possible and to get some data generated around the three sets of questions the members are silently asking. Some of the activities that facilitate this task are:
• Contracting and setting boundaries.
• Encouraging interpersonal contact.
• Giving some messages about the approach we will be using.
• Legitimizing work on all systems levels.

• The major issues the individuals and the group must grapple with in this stage are those of influence, authority and control.
• At this stage, each member of the group is aware that she/he is being influenced by what is happening in the group and that certain implicit or explicit norms are operating which make it difficult to behave differently from what appears to be acceptable.
• Members may begin to challenge whatever norms are operating by interrupting, by expressing negative reactions to each other or to what is happening, or by directly taking on the leader and questioning her/his authority and competence. The priority tasks for the leader in this phase is to work for increasing differentiation, divergence and role flexibility among members. Leader activities that facilitate this task are as follows:
• Heightening awareness of the norms that are operating in the group.
• Encouraging challenge and open expression of difference and dissatisfaction.
• Differentiating roles from persons.

This is the stage at which real contact occurs within and among members of a group, as contrasted with the pseudo-intimacy which develops in the first stage when group members are discovering that they all belong to the human race and are feeling warm and cozy with one another.

• At this stage, members behave interdependently in the sense that they can depend on each other for understanding, support and challenge; also the relationships are reciprocal.
• The functions of the leader at this stage are as follows:
• 1) Maintain a consultant role to the group, and stay out of the way.
• 2) Help the group to arrive at some closure.
• 3) Acknowledge the unfinished business that could not be dealt with in this group.

Strengths

• Can be tailored to fit one’s perspective of their own culture
• Therapist has open dialogue with client about biases and views of culture
• Clients are able to express themselves in both verbal and non-verbal ways
• In group counseling clients can use other members to represent their families, feelings, etc.
• Views the relationship between the individual and the environment they live in

Shortcomings

• Recognize that confrontation isn’t acceptable in some cultures-even symbolically
• Client could become resistant if forced to act in an un-natural way
• Catharsis isn’t always necessary
• Be aware of what cultural norms are acceptable

Multicultural Considerations

Gestalt Therapy in groups

Stage Two: Influence and Counter dependence

Role and Function of the Group Leader

Mechanism of Change

Older View

Six Vehicles for Change

Stage Three: Intimacy and Interdependence

Stage One: Identity and Dependence

Techniques

Key Concepts

Development of Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt Focus:

Gestalt Therapy in a Group Setting