Gestalt Philosophy. Values and Meanings In Real Life

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Any school of psychotherapy is based on philosophical concepts. Now I clearly see that immersed in the process of studying gestalt therapy, my life has changed. Then I noticed that this new vision was in part brought in by Gestalt philosophy. Here I want to describe the main worldview positions of gestalt therapy and their impact on real life.

1. Here and now

This is my favorite category. I'm sure Gestalt is mostly known by this expression. But everyone interprets it for himself in his own way. For me, "here and now" is about a lot. Thanks to this phrase, I constantly return to myself responsibility for my own life. Thanks to her, I do not so often plunge into the past and I am not so carried away by the future. It is this phrase that brings me back to the real me every time and makes it possible to feel that I am living in this moment, what feelings and desires overwhelm me. It is she who reminds me of the finiteness of life and the realization that each of us has only this moment and we live only here and now. Not in the past, not in the future, but only in the present.

2. Boundary of contact

The boundary of contact is a kind of phenomenon that provides us with interaction with the outside world. It is in this zone that the very process of interaction takes place, and it is in this zone that the process of change takes place. This is the zone where the exchange of thoughts, actions, energy takes place and something else is born that can change what requires change. Therefore, in gestalt therapy, much attention is paid to the client-therapist contact. Moreover, it is precisely the exit to the border of contact with the environment that provides us with the transition to the next, no less important principle of gestalt therapy.

3 The principle of realism

There is what is. Only feedback can provide this knowledge. When we come into contact with the world around us, we usually get feedback. It can be different. It can hurt, it can hurt, but it can also please. But it is she who gives us the opportunity to navigate how realistic our judgments, actions, fantasies are. Fear of self-presentation gives rise to a huge number of fantasies on this topic. They can be either adequate or inadequate. All this requires verification, and verification is possible only when leaving the comfort zone to the border of contact.

4 No negative emotions

This discovery literally turned my life upside down. After all, our society is used to living in a dichotomy system: good-bad, yes-no, black-white. The impression was created (erroneously) that joy, for example, is good, and anger, in contrast, is bad. But, since no one wants to be “bad,” then getting angry is not good. Then you know. So that's it. There are no negative emotions. Yes, in fact, and positive, too, if we move away from polar thinking. There are feelings and emotions that you are experiencing at this moment. Dot. And yes. You have the right to experience them. You have a right to every emotion you have. Allowing yourself to feel and express your varied range of emotions (in a safe environment, for starters) can help you feel relieved. Firstly, because the ban was finally lifted. Secondly, because they made it possible for something that had been ousted for so long. Only the next stage will be what need your emotion or feeling is hiding, and then what to do with it, since living in society and being in affect, showing your emotions excessively, is not a good idea. Therefore, gestalt therapy also works to find the most adaptive way to interact with the environment, without crowding out one's true feelings. Moreover, it works quite successfully.

5 Holism

A very close idea to me is that thoughts, feelings, emotions and bodily manifestations are one system. The idea of holism is the idea of one organism. Therefore, in gestalt therapy, it is very difficult to consider one problem in isolation from all other processes occurring in the body as a whole. Psychosomatics is the first confirmation of this. After all, psychosomatic manifestations are mainly associated with the malfunctioning of some of the systems. The psychosomatics of an organ is when the organ is healthy and its function is impaired. Why? Due to the non-solution of some problem at the mental, mental, behavioral, sensory level, the problem is transferred to the body. Pain is always a signal that you need to work with the psyche. (Of course, I'm now talking about psychosomatic spectrum diseases).

But the philosophy of gestalt went further.

6 field theory

This is a very interesting theory, which was developed by Kurt Lewin, by the way, a mathematician. He argued that all the processes that occur in a person's life, not only in his head and body, are interconnected. The idea is that it is we who, with our thoughts, experiences, actions, form our present, and this present, in turn, forms us. Hence the pair organism - environment. That is, we cannot consider some phenomena occurring in our psyche without taking into account the environment in which they appear. Every element of the environment is invaluable and must be taken into account in the course of therapy. Equally important is the value of this or that element for the client. That is, in your value system, let's say, some event will not be taken into account, but in the value system of another person it will be key.

And hence the following conclusion

7. Phenomenology

This is the meaning and the meaning that a particular person gives to certain events in his life. This is very important not only in therapy. It turns out that this is very important in life. The art of hearing another and clarifying what exactly he means saves me from ambiguous situations, this ability makes life easier, because I can clarify for myself as many details as possible and not fantasize for myself that which is not in sight. Also, thanks to this skill, I can notice that, it turns out, the meaning that I give to words is different for everyone. At the beginning, it's amazing, but then it gets interesting. Indeed, for me the phenomenon of loneliness, for example, is when I am physically alone, and the other constantly feels loneliness next to relatives. Or, for me, respect is a respectful attitude to the boundaries of another, and for another person, respect means care and unquestioning obedience. Therefore, it is very important to get acquainted with the phenomenology of a person in order to understand what exactly he wants to say. And first of all, it is important that he understands this himself. Sometimes, I feel like a translator between consciousness and the unconscious part of a person. Sometimes we interpret signals together.

8. Figure-background

For me, this combination is closely related to the organism-environment pair. But this is not quite the same thing, or rather, it is not at all the same thing. The figure represents the actual need with which we will work in the session. Background - those needs that have gone to the periphery at a particular moment in time, but in no case have lost their relevance in life as a whole. They can come out of the fog at any moment and become key.

So this is how I work with it in real life. I try to find out exactly what I want, and at what point in my life is the maximum amount of energy. The figure can arise spontaneously, that is, unplanned. And yes, it can be diffuse, because energy cannot arise according to plan. That is why gestalt therapy differs from other areas, for example, from CBT.

In gestalt, there is no clear plan of action. We always follow the actual need. And an actual need can be provoked by the external environment, by some event, automatic thoughts, whatever.

Why does gestalt therapy follow energy and not work according to plan? There is a deep philosophical idea in this place. Everything in our world is energy. Energy is primary, and all logical structures that the brain generates are secondary. The brain interprets the information it receives from the primary system - the system of perception of the world - sensation, smell, touch, auditory system. And it is the responses of the primary system that are then interpreted in the brain. And they are often interpreted incorrectly, since there are a huge number of irrational thoughts, patterns and cognitive distortions. Therefore, if we go according to plan, then we will maintain the logical structure that may be wrong. And therefore, proceeding from the fact that everything in our world is energy and it is precisely by following his desires and needs that a person can “move mountains”, the work of a gestalt therapist consists in revealing these needs and desires. The indicator is energy. Inspiration. Interest. Curiosity. Excitation. Bodily manifestations. We go in our work for energy. And yes. We do not know where she will take us. We don't know at first. We first get the experience of the experience and only then we interpret and interpret it. We do not know exactly what this or that experience will mean for you. First you need to experience it, and then draw conclusions.

And here we come to the next thought.

9. Experience is primary. Interpretations are secondary

Gestalt therapy is famous for its experimentation, manifestation of feelings, role-playing, supporting response, merging with the client and experiencing deep emotions with him. Of course, if you support the manifestation of emotions without further transferring them to the zone of awareness, then this experience can be meaningless. Well, they supported the reaction of emotions, well, they drained the energy, and what happens next is unknown. On the good, very important work is being carried out further. Got the experience of experiencing, and now let's figure out how you feel, what it meant to you, what other experiences arose in you, what thoughts surfaced, what images arose. That is, primarily - experiencing and living the experience, gaining experience, and then - work on awareness, on assimilation (digestion) of what has been experienced.

10. Tolerance to uncertainty

Another incredibly important experience or state that is the foundation of gestalt therapy. It is resilience to uncertainty. Once upon a time one phrase responded to me: "A psychologically healthy person can be called one who can be in a state of uncertainty for the longest possible time, that is, withstand it." The process of therapy is always associated with uncertainty, in general, how life is, how it turns out later. The ability to withstand this state and the ability to create a space where something new can be born, a necessary skill for the therapist. You need to know that internal changes do not happen according to plan, they happen when the client is ready for it. Not when the therapist has a plan, and not when the therapist wants to. This is the ability not to push the client, but to follow him at his pace. This is the ability to inhibit one's own reactions and interpretations of events, and to give place to what will happen in the therapeutic space, initiated by the client himself. After all, he is looking for himself, and his capabilities will cope with difficulties. Therefore, the therapist must be able to withstand his own experiences of uncertainty with the client.

And here we come to one more position.

11. Naming, awareness, clarification

When we experience a flurry of emotions on some issue and give them space, at first it is very difficult to get ahead of what exactly we are experiencing and what exactly is happening. Then the question arises why. So the gestalt therapist supports the process of being aware of what is happening and naming it.

Let's say:

T: - What do you feel when they look at you from under the forehead?

K: - I feel embarrassed, angry, irritated.

This is awareness and naming of experiences and feelings. Then we go ahead and ask.

T: - Why?

This is the next stage - clarification.

K: - Because it seems to me that when this person looks at me like that, he hates me.

It is good to work on such things in a group, since we have the opportunity to ask this person how he relates to the client, and we ask:

T: - Vitaly (for example), do you have feelings of hatred towards the client?

Q: -No. I don't think about him. I do not care.

In the beginning, this leads the client to a dead end, as his neurotic patterns collapse, since he was sure that this look meant hate. Several processes took place here: naming, awareness, clarification. But this is only the beginning of the process.

What else can be very difficult.

12. Ambivalence

For me at one time it was a discovery. I have always mistakenly believed that you can feel either joy or sadness, but consistently, or love or hate consistently. And to experience these feelings at the same time - there is no way - this is a cognitive dissonance. How can you feel love and hate for one object at the same time. And it turned out that this is possible. And it turned out that unawareness of this process introduces many problems into people's lives. Yes, feelings are chaotic and diffuse, and they can arise simultaneously, quickly replacing each other, thereby creating a "glitch" of the system. By accepting yourself in such a way that can be different in a unit of time, you open up the opportunity to be aware of these states and manage them, and, accordingly, to be what you choose. You take your own personality and remove a huge amount of blocks and clamps. Yes, some processes in your psyche do not occur linearly, but paradoxically. It happens. Understanding this unusual system is the task of the gestalt therapist.