A Sense of Doubt blog post #3811 - THEORIES CLASS - Counseling - Gestalt Therapy

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3811 - THEORIES CLASS - Counseling - Gestalt Therapy

I was writing a huge research project on this day, Friday, but now it's Monday the 28th, and I am done.

Catching up.

Last, for now, in this series from my theories class.

Thanks for tuning in.

Week Four - Main Discussion - COUN6722

Humanistic Theories: Existential or Gestalt

Chris Tower

 

Case Conceptualization

 

Theory: Gestalt - Case of Deidre

 

Presenting Problem: Deidre’s medical doctor referred her due to symptoms of anxiety and with no physical cause discernible for her chronic headaches. Deidre is a 21-year-old college sophomore of African American and Latinx heritage. She has no siblings. She works part-time as a barista and lives in a dormitory in upstate New York. Deidre’s parents divorced when she was 11; she has described her mother as “emotionally unpredictable,” which is a source of ongoing conflict between them. Deidre feels that her mother drove away her father with her [the mother’s] negativity and moods. Her father died suddenly six years ago. Deidre remembers ways in which her father coped with her mother’s moods, and she misses the calm household she visited in the summers between the divorce and his death. Known for being quiet and reserved in high school, Deidre maintained a few close friendships, but now, in college, she reports not having many friends, missing her father, and confused about what career path to choose. Three years ago, she became pregnant during a party at a friend’s house, and not knowing who the father was, she chose to have an abortion. She often has dreams about this decision and wonders how different her life might have been if she had become a mother. Deidre feels lost and alone and worries that she has no hope for having a good life.

 

Hypothesis: Deidre has withdrawn from her community and culture due to unhealthy confluence, having introjected and internalized her mother’s negativity, the emotional unpredictability that she believes drove her father away; she fears becoming like her mother, which has her closing off from healthy confluence (deep connections with loved ones) because of fear of how others see her due to how she sees her mother and herself – guilt over the abortion (Haley et al., 2022, pp. 171). In examining Frederick Fritz Perls’ six factors that lead to psychological distress in Gestalt Theory, Deidre’s situation fits all six: a lack of contact (no social support), unhealthy confluence, inability to gain closure due to unfinished business, fragmented and/or denial of self, conflict between values and expectations (winner/loser), and inability to see gray areas (polarity) (Haley et al., 2022, pp. 166). Without relationships in which she can place her trust, regrets about the abortion, continued grief over losing her father, Deidre has a negative view of her self and the world around her and limited self-awareness that may be manifesting in her symptoms of anxiety and chronic headaches.

 

Goals: Because the only goal of Gestalt therapy is awareness (Taylor, 2020), the primary goal for Deidre as described by Haley et al. (2022) “is autonomy and growth... through increased awareness” (pp. 184). Through Gestalt theory’s methods, the counselor will form a “genuine, trusting relationship” with Deidre. Feeling “safe and supported,” Deidre can explore her emotions and the pain she carries within; thus, she will be able to “grow in a positive direction” and develop a positive sense of self, which may reduce her anxiety, sense of feeling lost, and chronic headaches (Haley et al., 2022, pp. 185). Through this greater awareness, Deidre can form new relationships with classmates or co-workers, cope better with the relationship with her mother and loss of her father, and find career direction in her studies.

 

Interventions: Gestalt therapy is often used to help people cope with the grief following death of a loved one. It can help people to enhance self-awareness in regards to thoughts and feelings about death and help people learn to express themselves in more positive ways while coping with trauma (Alexander & Harman, 1988, pp.283).

 

Empty-Chair Technique: With Deidre’s approval, the counselor will have Deidre sit across from an empty chair and speak both parts (herself and the imagined other) to “express repressed and avoided feelings” (Haley et al., 2022, pp. 186). Deidre can choose who sits in the other chair, but likely candidates are her mother, her father, whomever got her pregnant, the mother she would be if she had the baby, or even the baby that she aborted. Several of these choices will move Deidre out of her “safety zone” as she imagines what any of these candidates for the other chair would say in response to her, “referring to her feelings in the past and bring her emotions into the present” (Haley et al., 2022, pp. 186). Continuing to maintain a safe and supported environment, the counselor can help Deidre to grow in a positive direction. Because “Gestalt is inherently creative” (Taylor, 2020), the counselor and Deidre will dynamically and imaginatively explore and unpack this two-chair experience.

 

Unfinished Business: The empty chair intervention will also allow Deidre to complete her unfinished business with as many people or feelings as she wants to confront. Like Haley et al. (2022) explain about this intervention: “it’s a powerful experiment and should prove useful in alleviating [Deidre’s] symptoms of depression, [anxiety], and diminishing her bad dreams” (pp. 186). Deidre needs to establish closure with her “incomplete gestalts” and help her to move past “stuck points.” Much like the Clarita case that Haley et al. describe, Deidre needs to live in the present rather than being stuck in the past. In so doing, she can create a “more positive future for herself” (Haley et al., 2022, pp. 186). In the exploration of unfinished business through the two-chair technique and other verbal games, the therapist will pay attention to the non-verbal level of the client’s expression

for the “relevant gestalt to emerge” as the non-verbal is less subject to “self-deception than [the] verbal, pseudo self-expression” (Creative Caption & Video, n.d., 3:41-4:02). In Gestalt, “personality may, in one sense, be defined as a structure of speech habits” and personal growth and self-awareness to cope and adjust to situations will emerge through speech habits, largely in HOW a story is told as opposed to WHAT is told (Alban & Groman, 1976, pp. 393).

 

Expected Outcome: A central tenet of Gestalt theory is that “individuals can cope with their life problems” (Haley et al., 2022, pp. 169) because when people are born they inherently possess all that they need to thrive and have fulfilling relationships, but sometimes that natural process becomes blocked (Taylor, 2020). As such, through the counseling sessions and interventions, Deidre can be re-directed for increased self-awareness and oriented in a positive direction. The goals will be achieved holisitically according to Stevenson (2016) “through the confluence of mind, body, past, present, inner and outer worlds, and the co-constructed understanding of being in those worlds” (as cited in Haley et al., 2022, pp. 169). Gestalt theory mandates that an individual be understood in a social and historical context and not in isolation. Exploring Deidre’s current issues through cultural and familial context offers the best opportunity for self-awareness and positive growth and is most likely to alleviate her headaches, nightmares, withdrawal, and anxiety.

 

References

 

Alban, L.S. & Groman W.D. (1976). Neurotic Anxiety, Pronoun Usage, and Stress. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 32(1). 393-399. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4679(197604)32:2<393::AID-JCLP2270320240>3.0.CO;2-W.

 

Alexander, J. A. C., & Harman, R. L. (1988). One Counselor’s Intervention in the Aftermath of a Middle School Student’s Suicide: A Case Study. Journal of Counseling & Development, 66(6), 283. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.1988.tb00869.

 

Creative Caption & Video (n.d.) Fritz Perls and Gloria-counseling 1965 full session-Gestalt therapy-captioned [Video].

 

Haley, M., Riley, P. G., & Greenan, G. (2022). Gestalt theory. In D. Capuzzi & M. D. Stauffer (Eds.), Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions (7th ed., pp. 165-192). American Counseling Association. 

 

Taylor, Tanis. (2020). What is Gestalt Therapy? Welldoing Psychotherapy & Counseling. YouTube. https://youtu.be/i4AZYpLe9GU?si=3_pnQ0f6XwLSrfnq.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2507.25 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3676 days ago & DAD = 330 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.