I am not at all claiming that this applies to Gestalt therapy. Today, there are many currents in Gestalt therapy within itself, Fritz Perls died a long time ago, and there is no reason to say where the correct Gestalt is and where the self-taught is. It is enough that I have heard the position stated in the article more than once from therapists who called themselves followers of Perls. If they call themselves Gestalt therapists, I will refer to them as such.
So, from their point of view, there should be harmony between reason and feelings, while feelings play a major role. The best option is to rely on signals from the inside in your life, but take into account external realities when performing certain actions. Creatively adapt to the world, satisfying their internal needs in socially appropriate ways.
This is theory. How is this implemented in practice?
People often find themselves in a situation where emotions are surging, and it is not clear what to do with them. And the more incomprehensible, the more new disorders. A counseling psychologist can help if he takes into account the following circumstances.
When people do not know what to do, they get angry or upset (angry with themselves or upset themselves), and the more they are angry with themselves and their emotions, the more negative emotions they have in their soul. The sooner they stop being angry at themselves and their emotions, the better.
People are reassured by simple, understandable instructions, while our clients, as a rule, are negative, they like to argue and argue with all outsiders.
Our clients do not like to take responsibility, in principle they do not really like to think with their own heads, but they really like to listen to themselves and delve into themselves.
Gestalt therapists give the following creative answer to this situation:
Your unconscious is wiser than you, the task of your head is not to think independently, but to listen to your feelings and emotions as messengers of the unconscious and its wisdom.
All your energy is in your feelings and emotions. Until they bring you energy, you yourself cannot do anything.
Your feelings and emotions are alive (treat them with interest and care) and you are taken care of (they carry important messages for you).
Before, when you had emotions, you were often at a loss and did not know what to do with it, sometimes you were angry with your emotions, that is, with yourself. Now we give you simple recipes: find out your emotion (out of the six main ones, find yours — can you handle it?) And look at the decoding: most likely it will suit you. Specify according to your situation and — go ahead!
In total, the Gestalt therapist had simple, downright primitive recommendations for clients on what to do in a given situation. But to give them from oneself or to offer the client to turn on his head himself — no, this is not deep and the client may not obey. But if you put an intermediary between yourself and the client — his unconscious, namely his emotions and feelings, then it seems that it’s not the therapist who now speaks to the client, but that type he already understands. In reality, he takes one of the six templates that the therapist has prepared for him in advance. Six primitive tips for six typical situations — sold!
How might this work in practice?
A client came, angry at his wife that she teamed up with her mother against him. The coach would ask, “So what are you going to do now?”, to which the client might get angry: “You should tell me!”. The Gestalt therapist will act more therapeutically. He will tell the whole theory about the six basic emotions and that each emotion is alive and takes care of a person, carrying a message to him. After that, they will jointly determine that the client’s anger, apparently, is a complex emotion and relates to two main ones: aggression and resentment. Accordingly, according to the cheat sheet, they will determine that his emotions carry two messages to him: “It’s time to start doing something!” and «You yourself are responsible for what happens in your relationship with your wife.» Who can object if it’s not like the therapist told him, but his own emotions tell him? Everything, the client begins to think in the right direction.
A client came in depressed because her mother had died and now she has no strength to live. The Gestalt therapist will help the client decipher that depression is actually sadness, which means that if she looks deeper into herself, her feelings tell her that she is looking back at what has already gone … Perhaps this will already be enough for the client: she will finally will realize that he is looking in the wrong direction, and will begin to look ahead. If that doesn’t work, the therapist will quickly discover repressed aggression in the client, after which the client will discover a message from her unconscious: it’s time to end the depression, it’s time to start doing something, start living.
It is very reminiscent of the wizard Goodwin from the Emerald City, who spoke with the voices of dummy characters. And after all deal spoke!
Of course, there may be other solutions. You can restore the client’s faith in himself, remind him that he is a completely adult, thinking and successful person, and he should not pretend to be a helpless Victim. Emotions flare up when we do not have a suitable plan of action and we attract the attention of others. As children, when we were angry or upset, mom and dad did whatever we wanted them to do. Our current emotions are our childhood habits, and in this regard, yes, it is our unconscious. If we have a good plan of action, our emotions will also go away. So what should we do, what is our plan?
You see, we have come to the same conclusion: you need to turn on your head, make decisions and start doing something. True, we did without a bunch of intermediaries, we did not immerse ourselves in feelings, but immediately got down to business.
Maybe this approach is close to you?