Case Study of Gestalt Play Therapy Essay - 3194 Words

Gestalt therapy is a type of therapy used to deepen our awareness of ourselves. According to O’Connor and Braverman, (2009) â€Å"Gestalt implies wholeness. Gestalt can also be considered as the essence, or shape of a complete form. A theoretical opposite of structuralism, the entity constitutes more than the sum of its parts. Gestalt therapy is comprised of a complex psychological system that stresses the development of client self-awareness and personal responsibility through a process-oriented, experiential and phenomenological modality that addresses the totality of an individual in terms of senses, body, emotions and intellect.† In an active process, suppressed feelings can be explored in depth and through understanding of the how†¦show more content†¦According to Blom, (2006) â€Å"The integration of polarities is a prerequisite for a dynamic and healthy life process.† Therefore, all techniques and modalities from gestalt theory focus on dir ect experience and experimentation. From this perspective, direct experience is the only way that learning can take place. The therapist should avoid counseling and interpretation during therapy and focus on creating an atmosphere where the client can discover what is important and they can react to the information as it is important to them. The therapist is primarily a catalyst in the process of therapy. Oaklander (1994) posits that any interpretation by the therapist must be verified with the child. The primary aim of the gestalt play therapist is to help children become aware of their unique process. The focus is on the experience of the process, what children do and how they do it, which they are, what they feel and what they want. Acceptance of this leads to the realization that they can personally make choices and experiment with new behavior. Gestalt play therapy focuses on children’s direct experience in the here and now. The therapist’s goal is to facilitate the client’s awareness of their process. (Corey, 2000) In working through negative, the child can realize negative behavior patterns that may have become ingrained deeply beneath their awareness andShow MoreRelatedThe Theory, Existential And Adlerian1742 Words   |  7 PagesThis case study illustrates Ruth being the client. This provides background information about Ruth includes the presenting problem, the history of presenting problem and the psychosocial history. The key concepts, the therapeutic process, the therapeutic relationship, therapist function and roll comes from the three theories Gestalt, Existential and Adlerian. The case identifies and describe goals that would be established for Ruth using all three theories. This case study applies detailed techniquesRead MoreHumor in Gestalt Psychotherapy: Two Article Reviews2723 Words   |  11 Pagesboth international journals as humour). I will examine humor in the first article as a construct. 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According to O’Connor and Braverman, (2009) â€Å"Gestalt implies wholeness. â€Å"Gestalt therapy is a process-oriented, experiential therap y that is concerned with the integrated functioning of all aspects of the person: senses, body, emotions and intellect.† Gestalt therapy can help shed light on suppressed feelings by helping us to focus our awareness on our feelings in the â€Å"here and now.† Once recognizedRead MoreGestalt Therapy with Children and a Comparative Therapy3937 Words   |  16 PagesIntroduction Gestalt therapy, which was founded by Fritz and Laura Perls in the 1940s, teaches the therapists and their clients the phenomenological awareness method, where feeling, perceiving and acting are differentiated from interpreting and rearranging the pre-existing attitudes. Gestalt therapists and clients’ dialogue, thus communicating their phenomenological perspectives, and their differences in perceptions form the basis and focus of experimentation and continued dialogue. 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