Gestalt Group
Therapy
Chapter 11, Theory &
Practice of Group
Counseling, by Gerald Corey
Presented by Jeanine
Goodwin
In the Beginning…

Fritz & Laura Perls

Established in the 1940’s

Focused on person-centered awareness,
and addressing the client’s unresolved
issues

Quickly known for its confrontational,
“hot seat” approach

Originally designed for one-on-one
therapy

The group aspect was indirect (one-onone therapy in front of an audience)
The Revised Standard
Version

Referred to as relational Gestalt therapy

Introduced by Erving and Miriam Polster

Less confrontational

More supportive, accepting, and
challenging

Little use of the “empty chair” technique

Focuses on the client-therapist
relationship, empathy, dialogue, and
helping the client tap into his/her own
wisdom and resources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7cwa5X
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Therapeutic Goals

AWARENESS!!!

Integration of polarities

Achieving contact with self and
others

Learning how to clearly state wants
or needs

Learning how to support one another

Learning how to make use of the
resources within the group versus
using the therapist as a resource.
Key Concepts and
Principles

Awareness

Holism (“The whole is greater than the sum of
its parts”)

Field Theory

Figure-Formation

Organismic Self-Regulation

Here-and-Now

Unfinished Business

Contact and Disturbances to Contact

Energy and Blocks to Energy
Group Leader Role and
Function

Creates experiments to help members tap their
resources

Focuses on awareness, contact, and experimentation

Actively engaged with group members and frequently
self-discloses

Creates an atmosphere and structure conducive to
the members’ creativity and innovation

Less emphasis on technique, more emphasis on direct
self-expression, presence, authentic dialogue, and the
client-therapist relationship

Contacts with group members on an “I/Thou” basis

Serves as an “artist involved in creating new life”
according to Polster and Polster (1973) (Corey, 2008,
p. 290).

Uses his/her own experience as an essential
component of the therapy process.
Stages of Group
Therapy

First Stage

Identity and Dependence


Group members (with the therapist’s help) explore questions
they have about their identity within the group
Second Stage

Influence and Counterdependence


Group members grapple with issues of influence, authority,
and control
Third Stage

Intimacy and Interdependence

Real contact occurs within and among the group members.

Members are helped to recognize their unfinished business not
worked through in the group.

Group leader no longer the ultimate authority, but serves as a
resource or consultant.
Techniques &
Procedures

Experiments

Attention to Language

Nonverbal Language

Internal Dialogue Experiments

Making the Rounds

Fantasy Approaches

Rehearsal

Exaggeration Experiment

Dream Work
Gestalt in School
Groups

Emphasis on building quality
therapeutic relationships

Art & Storytelling

Empty Chair

Topdog-Underdog

Techniques are limited within some
adolescent groups (p. 306)

Here and Now

Dream Work
Gestalt in
Multicultural Groups

World View

Phenomenological

Emphasis on non-verbal expression

Use of imagery and fantasy*


Speak in native tongue
Solid understanding of the
limitations of Gestalt techniques
in dealing with diverse populations
Strengths

Quality of contact

Authentic relationship and dialogue

Emphasis on field theory,
phenomenology, and awareness

Creativity and spontaneity

Integration of theory, practice, and
research

Present-centered methodology

Focus on the body (affect, non-verbals)
Limitations


Elicitation of emotions
Misuse of power

Competency of the therapist or group
leader

Rigidity and Pushiness in therapy

Misapplication of methodology
References

Corey, G. (2008). Theory and Practice of
Group Counseling, 7 th ed. Belmont, CA:
Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Polster, E. & Polster, M. (1973). Gestalt

Yontef, G.M. (1993). Awareness,
Therapy Integrated: Contours of theory
and practice. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Dialogue, & Process: Essays on Gestalt
therapy. Gouldsboro, ME: The Gestalt
Journal Press