Course of Therapy

In Gestalt therapy, two kinds of changes are assumed: change within the person in attitudes, feelings, behaviors, demands, or expectations, and change in the environment. The counselor gets the client to use the resources that they possess to get the feelings that they are feeling out in the open. Only the client knows, right here and now, how they are feeling and need to become aware of how those feelings affect the reactions. For example, take two women that are married and the husband calls and states that he is bringing a partner home for dinner. The first woman is able to look around the home and see it is a mess and looks at the time and calmly straightens the home, cook dinner, and prepares herself for company. In contrast, take the second woman who gets the same message but instead of evaluating the situation and perform tasks that needs to be done, she get anxiety and panic attacks, nauseous, and headaches; her end result is that dinner is not prepared. The woman that is experiences attacks seeks counseling and she needs to express her feelings. This is where the empty chair techniques comes in; the woman will be prompted to act as though her husband is in the chair and be able to let out any emotions (rage, guilt, loneliness) in order to get to the bottom of her outcomes when her environment is compromised. At times, the therapist will need other factors that may contribute to the negative gestalt such as dreams, childhood experiences, or current experiences and the client will be prompted or probed to share. One will never hear of a Gestaltist asking a client “why?”