Gestalt therapy for dummies

As a child, I was attracted to books from the “Everything about everything” series. In them, the authors contained concentrates of knowledge about a variety of things. The simplified and superficial level of immersion in the topic did not bother me: even now I appreciate this format when getting acquainted with non-core, but areas of interest to me. This is a great opportunity to quickly navigate the issue, to understand what it is about in principle.

I will try to describe the key theses in the work of a Gestalt therapist as simply and clearly as possible, in a popular encyclopedic format. Any psychotherapeutic approach is based on the idea of ​​psychological health, the criteria for the healthy functioning of a person.

Health in Gestalt therapy is the harmonious and holistic functioning of human life systems, the ability to self-regulate both in physical and psychological aspects.

If we are cold, the body increases muscle activity, trembling appears. It helps us keep warm. If it is hot, the body sweats, cooling the body temperature. If the body is tired, it requires rest, we want to sleep. A self-regulating system is impossible without contact with the external environment. When we are hungry, we cannot satisfy our need for food without interacting with the world. The needs for love, recognition, respect, communication are also satisfied only through contact with the environment.

We live, we need something, we want something, we strive for something. Ideally, we satisfy our needs, close gestalts. If the need is not satisfied for a long time, we have internal tension – what is known as “incomplete gestalts.”

Each need goes through several stages of development:

• Formation and awareness.
• Contact of the organism with the environment in order to find an object and a way to satisfy the need.
• Need satisfaction.
• Reflection on the experience gained.

At any of these stages, contact with the environment may be interrupted, which means that the need will remain unsatisfied. This happens as a result of the action of four mechanisms: projection, introjection, confluence and retroflection.

1. Projection

You are walking in a park at night and you see a noisy group of young people ahead. You get the idea to deviate from the route so as not to meet strangers. This is how the projection mechanism manifests itself.

Based on your experience, you are projecting that young people will be aggressive and the meeting may not be safe. The projective mechanism, like any other means of interrupting needs, is initially useful to us.

But here’s another example. A young man wants to meet a girl on the street. He stops himself, assuming that she will refuse acquaintance: she will not like him, she does not meet on the street, she is married, and so on. In this case, instead of a useful protective function, the projection mechanism stops the satisfaction of the young person’s real need: to get to know each other, to start a relationship.

The task of the Gestalt therapist is to help the client recognize the need, see how he handles it, and help find appropriate ways to satisfy it.

One more example. A client approached a therapist with a request to help mend his relationship with his wife. A man is jealous of her with or without cause, which leads to family conflicts and scandals.

Jealousy in this case is a projective mechanism. The husband projects his suspicions of infidelity onto his wife, suggests that she is no longer interested in him. Claims lead to aggravation of the conflict and constant scandals. At the same time, the real need of the husband for intimacy, love is not satisfied.

When the client has realized the true needs, the Gestalt therapist helps him find ways to satisfy them. Instead of the usual accusations “Where have you been again? You don’t need me!” husband tries to behave in a new way. For example, accusations can be replaced with such phrases: “I worry when you are late, I value our relationship, our closeness is important to me.”

2. Introjection

Once at a party, an acquaintance started a conversation about the fact that many people think that it is impossible to divide by zero. “Of course not!” – emotionally supported the majority of participants in the discussion. We were taught this at school, and if you try to divide by zero on a calculator, the display will show “E” – which means an error. We can’t all be wrong.

However, the friend did not let up: “Why can’t you divide by zero?” None of those present had an answer to this question. More precisely, the answer was: “Because it is impossible. Dot”. Here’s an example of a classic introject.

Introjection is a mechanism when we swallow, without chewing, new information, attitudes, ideas. We remember this information, we consider it obvious and correct, but we do not have time to appropriate it. That is why it is difficult for us to answer the question why it is impossible to divide by zero. We simply swallowed this knowledge and cannot substantiate our answer.

If we are “introjected” with attitudes, rules and knowledge, it does not say anything about whether they are wrong or right. But we cannot consciously use them. Our behavior and reactions are rigid, which can interfere with the satisfaction of needs.

When raising children, we cannot do without the mechanism of introjection. We will not offer the child to “appropriate” the knowledge that you can not put your fingers in the socket. And it will be a useful introject. If the introjected knowledge for the child is not weighty enough to take the word, be sure – he will check.

After checking and “chewing”, the attitudes are either appropriated and become learned, or rejected as false. By the way, it turned out that it is theoretically possible to divide by zero. An operation that is considered impossible in algebra can be performed in other areas of mathematical knowledge.

The psychotherapist regularly encounters client attitudes: “you need to build a career”, “a man should earn more than a woman”, “a woman should not take the initiative when meeting men”, “I need to get married” and so on.

The Gestalt therapist checks how these attitudes relate to the real needs of the client, whether these are really his attitudes or whether they are introjects that block the development and satisfaction of true needs.

For example, a woman complains about unsuccessful attempts to build relationships with men. At the same time, she relies on her idea of ​​what a man should be like: loving, faithful, with a higher education, a decent income … The therapist helps her realize the “ideal man” introject and her true needs, which, most likely, do not correspond to him.

3. Confluence (fusion)

How do romantic relationships usually develop in a couple? At the first stage, a man and a woman seem to merge together, they say “we” instead of “I”. It is difficult for them to leave even for a moment.

Such interaction brings both pleasure. In Gestalt therapy, this mechanism is called confluence (fusion). And in this example, the manifestation of confluence is appropriate and pleasant.

Another example is a newborn baby. In the first months of life, he is in maximum merger with his mother, and this is the only way to survive, because he still cannot independently realize and satisfy his needs. However, over time, the child learns to separate from the parents. He begins to understand what he wants and looks for ways to get it.

Another example is co-dependent family relationships. A wife may not be aware of her personal needs and boundaries, merge with her husband, his desires, needs, feelings, live his life. At the same time, both partners feel unhappy.

When working with codependency, the Gestalt therapist helps the client learn to notice and build boundaries, to recognize and satisfy their own needs, to separate. The client learns that there are personal spaces and needs that confluence restricts, and there are shared territories and pastimes where fusion is appropriate and beneficial.

4. Retroflexion

Imagine that your boss is chastising you. You are angry: your fists are clenched, your jaws are playing. You want to express aggression, but you hold yourself back. This is how the mechanism of retroflection manifests itself: you want to react, express feelings, perform some action, but as if you are closing the need for yourself.

Your impulse to express resentment to your boss remains within you. Feelings are not expressed, but they do not disappear either. Unexpressed emotions begin to “eat” you from the inside, aggression can turn into auto-aggression.

Retroflection, like all the mechanisms described above, also has a useful function. Expressing feelings and taking actions is not always and everywhere appropriate and safe. However, it is easy not to notice that retroflection has become a habit and has begun to carry a destructive function.

Let’s continue with the example of the critical boss. If you regularly restrain yourself, do not express dissatisfaction, emotions will accumulate, and sooner or later the cup will overflow. Aggression will pour out at the wrong time, in the wrong place and in the wrong quantities, and your behavior will look inadequate to the situation. In addition, it can lead to the development of psychosomatic diseases.

The Gestalt therapist helps clients find ways to get out of the “automatic mode” and satisfy their needs by contacting the environment, people, and not lock the development of the need within themselves.

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The presence of all these interruption mechanisms is a necessary condition for the healthy functioning of the body. The Gestalt therapist does not struggle with them – he, together with the client, explores situations in which these mechanisms begin to fail, and restores the ability for holistic and harmonious functioning, self-regulation, and contact with the environment.

Perhaps, while reading the article, you remembered and realized how your own interruption mechanisms manifest themselves, and you can take a step towards liberation from their destructive manifestations.