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In the Gestalt approach, dreams are seen as projections of the dreamer's personality, of his experiential field; they are parts of their experience that are alienated or not assimilated and that are manifested in dream images as existential messages. All the elements of the dream, whether they represent other people, ideas that are not our own or places that we do not know, are linked to our experience; They must be seen as something of our own, as our own expressions, which belong to us, but which are detached from us.
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In Guestáltica Therapy, basically three kinds of techniques are used: Suppressive T. The Expressive T. and The Integrative T. 1. Suppressive Techniques: They basically aim to avoid or suppress the customer's attempts to avoid the here / now and their experience; that is, it is intended that the subject experience what he does not want or what is hidden in order to facilitate his realization
Among the Principal Suppressives we have: Experiencing nothingness or emptiness, trying to make the "sterile emptiness become a fertile emptiness"; not flee from the feeling of emptiness, integrate it into oneself, live it and see what arises from it. Avoid "talking about" as a way of escaping what is. Speaking must be replaced by experiencing. Detecting the "shoulds" and rather than suppressing them it is better to try to determine what may be behind them. The "shoulds" as well as the "talk about" are a way of not seeing what one is.
Detect the various forms of manipulation and "as if" games or roles that are performed in therapy. Also, rather than suppressing them, it is better to experience them, to make the subject aware of them and the role they play in his life. Among the main forms of manipulation we can find: questions, answers, asking for permission and demands.
Expressive Techniques: It is sought that the subject externalizes the internal, that he realizes things that he possibly carried in himself all his life but that he did not perceive. Three things are sought basically: Express the unexpressed. Finish or complete the expression. Find the address and make the direct expression. Express the unspoken:
- Maximize expression, giving the subject an unstructured context to confront himself and take responsibility for what he is. It is possible to work with imaginary inductions of unknown or rare situations, so that fears, inconclusive situations arise. Non-expressive action can also be minimized.
- Ask the client to express what they are feeling.
- Do the round, that the subject expresses what he wants to each member of the group or is given a phrase to repeat to each one and experience what he feels.
Finish or complete the expression: Here we seek to detect unfinished situations, things that were not said but could be said or done and that now weigh on the client's life. One of the best known techniques is the "empty chair", that is, to work in an imaginary way the problems that the subject has with living or dead people using role play. Imaginary inductions can also be used to reconstruct the situation and live it again in a healthier way, expressing and experiencing everything that was avoided the first time. Find the address and make the direct expression:
- Repetition: The intention of this technique is to make the subject aware of some action or phrase that could be of importance and to realize its meaning. Examples: "repeat the phrase again", "do that gesture again", etc.
- Exaggeration and development: It is going beyond simple repetition, trying to get the subject to put more emphasis on what he says or does, charging it emotionally and increasing its meaning until he is aware of it. Also, from a simple repetition the subject can continue to develop his expression with other things to facilitate awareness.
- Translate: It consists of taking some non-verbal behavior to the verbal level, expressing in words what is done. "What does your hand mean", "If your nose spoke what would it say", "Let your genitals speak".
- Performance and identification: It is the opposite of translating. It is intended that the subject "act" his feelings, emotions, thoughts and fantasies; that you put them into practice so that you identify with them and integrate them into your personality. It is very useful in dream work.
Integrative Techniques: It is sought with these techniques that the subject incorporates or reintegrates his alienated parts, his holes, into his personality. Although suppressive and expressive techniques are also integrative in some way, more emphasis is placed here on incorporating experience. a.The intrapersonal encounter: It consists of the subject maintaining an explicit, living dialogue with the various parts of his being; between the various intrapsychic subsides. For example, between the "I should" and the "I want", his feminine side with the masculine, his passive side with the active, the smiling and the serious, the top dog with the bottom dog, etc.
The "empty chair" can be used as a technique, exchanging roles until both parties in conflict are integrated. b) Assimilation of projections: The aim here is for the subject to recognize the projections it emits as its own. For this, he may be asked to pretend that he lives what is projected, to experience his projection as if it were really his. Example: Q: "My mother hates me." T: "Imagine that you are the one who hates your mother; how do you feel about that feeling? Can you honestly admit that that feeling is really yours?" It is important to remember that these procedures or techniques are only a support to achieve the therapeutic objectives, but that they do not constitute Gestalt Therapy.
What is important, what is really therapeutic, is the "gestatic attitude" that is adopted, the recognition of the importance of the process, and the respect for the individual rhythm of the client. Don't push the river, let it be. Neither apply the techniques stereotypically, they are to assimilate the philosophy implicit in the Gestalt Approach.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We must be careful not to confuse Gestalt therapy with an easy-to-learn and easy-to-do approach; as if it were a therapy in which the desire and "spontaneity" are enough to be a good therapist. A similar perception led Gestalt therapy to a serious crisis in the 1960s and 1970s, when many believed that by attending a couple of workshops they could already consider themselves Gestalt therapists. We do not want Gestalt to appear to other currents or approaches as something not very serious, proper for people without training and without clinical experience> Next: Psychodrama
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