Healthy people experience fluctuations in their general mood, behavior, and attitudes from day to day in different situations. Therefore, it is ordinary for people with psychological problems to be influenced by external events, even if some cases only require a change in perspective. The personality and behavioral change may result from mental or physical health problems. For example, people who take illicit drugs may experience hallucinations, and individuals with personality disorders may develop delusions. Psychotherapy explores feelings, thoughts, and behaviors to deal with issues or attain higher functioning levels (Bourque & Sherlock, 2016). However, most counselors deviate from these psychotherapy purposes by focusing on ways to change the actions or behaviors of their clients by instructing them on what they should do. Thus, counselors should consider using a different approach such as Gestalt therapy. Gestalt principles and therapeutic practices provide the most effective methodological framework for counseling due to its focus on mindfulness and self-awareness, where no specific external action is needed.
Problems of Conventional Counseling
Psychotherapy is a concept that refers to the use of psychological methods, especially when based on regular individual interaction, to assist a person in changing or overcoming problems in appealing ways. Individuals who experience significant variations in behavior and personality that are wildly unrelated to inciting events like losing a loved one or taking drugs may have a psychological problem. Therefore, the primary purpose of psychotherapy is to increase the well-being of patients with such problems. However, many counselors put little concentration on the fundamental causes of the psychological issues, lowering the overall results and effectiveness of the counseling sessions (Lobb, 2018). Instead, they may need to concentrate on the underlying causes and triggers to find better calming and relaxation techniques to improve patients’ symptoms.
Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt Psychotherapy is an experiential, humanistic approach that utilizes the body as a basis for the moment-to-moment encounter. The Gestalt method focuses on an individual’s experience in the current situation, the connection between the patient and therapist, and the social and environmental contexts in the patient’s life (Lobb, 2018). Indeed, concentration on the present rather than the past or future may improve excessive anxiety or depression symptoms because it removes unnecessary thoughts and ideas about what did or may happen.
Diagnosis in Counseling
Two types of diagnosis with regards to a therapeutic connection are known. The first is known as a map diagnosis or extrinsic, and the second is intrinsic or aesthetic (Roubal et al., 2017). The former arises from a contrast between a phenomenon model and the phenomenon itself, and the latter is the primary method used in Gestalt Psychotherapy (Roubal et al., 2017). Furthermore, the extrinsic diagnosis emerges when the therapist intentionally concentrates on describing the meaning of the circumstances. However, extrinsic diagnosis focuses on “the particular way the field of the therapeutic situation has organized itself … not … on being with the client for the moment” (Roubal et al., 2017, p. 80). Indeed, when speaking to the client, the therapists cannot regularly pause for a short time to contemplate how the client is feeling about the session. Instead, counselors may follow up with the patient after finishing the session and ask for feedback and check progress.
Aesthetic Diagnosis
The essence of intrinsic or aesthetic diagnosis is to help the counselor connect with the client through verbal and non-verbal methods. According to Lobb (2018), “the act of going through one’s own pain, while seeing beauty in it, brings the therapist into contact with the client without relying on external diagnostic models” (p. 65). In fact, therapists often provide instant responses during their one-on-one dialogue with their clients. They respond by blinking an eye, a word, or a gesture. Various guidelines help therapists in directing these responses to their clients. Therapists achieve these guidelines by being wholly involved in the interaction between them and their patients.
Resonance and Empathy
Therapists should possess two essential competencies that are resonance and empathy. Furthermore, the description of esthetic relational knowledge is usually done in two ways. Firstly, it is a lens through which therapists look at their clients’ issues and the feeling these therapists experience. Secondly, it is an instrument used by therapists to resonate with clients in their sessions. Therefore, the act of perceiving or sensing by a therapist is not only identifying with the client’s experience and empathy but also resonance: a sensitive and personal response to the field in the client’s attendance. Resonance and empathy are the two effective ways to reflect on a client’s experiences to make one feel understood (Roubal et al., 2017). Through resonance, therapists can see the harmony, grace, and beauty in which their clients have encountered challenging situations while maintaining contact intentionality with other people’s reactions. As a result of this therapist-client resonance, clients go through their pain while not noticing the spectacle, building a relationship without depending on external diagnostic models.
Gestalt Therapy in Practice
Gestalt psychotherapy tools are convenient for helping social workers in their endeavors to provide support to patients with challenging situations in their lives. The non-authoritarian, creative Gestalt approach delicately directs the patient to a peaceful attitude towards their current circumstances from the first diagnosis through all stages of confusion, grief, despair, and worry (Bourque & Sherlock, 2016). The noise of overlaying concerns discloses the present-centered modifications based on the perspective of strength and awareness of the body. Moreover, a genuine contact between the patient and the social worker builds a relational connection whereby the patient receives comfort, and the social worker obtains adequate satisfaction. The core value instilled in clients during Gestalt therapy is awareness. Instead of talking and sitting still, clients try to participate in different activities such as role-playing enthusiastically and using props to assist in understanding and communication.
Gestalt Therapy in Mediation
Current practices in mediation do not have a coherent theory of various psychological factors underlying interpersonal conflict and their resolution. Different models describe diverse ways of conducting the mediation, yet there is inadequate psychology explaining how and why these models primarily work and other times do not. Relational Gestalt theory mainly focuses on conflict as an interpersonal relationship failure and roots around gestalt theory principles (Talbot, 2018). When comparing the relational Gestalt approach with various models of extant mediation, the applicability of relational-Gestalt theory is often considered for distinct levels and types of disputes. Therefore, the practice of mediation would profit from a higher relational knowledge, particularly Gestalt theory.
Conclusion
Modern counseling methods focus on changing the external features of human actions and behavior. However, changing a client’s perception is a more effective and practical method that guarantees their well-being. Although awareness includes feeling and thinking, it is rooted in present perceptions of the ongoing situation. Mindfulness constitutes some directionality and intention of one-self to the world. On the other hand, consciousness has a safety role that tries to use up the inner anxieties by separating the boundary and keeping away from contacts such as through illusions or dreams. In Gestalt therapy, there are various experiential exercises in which clients participate. The theoretical principles of Gestalt therapy should be implemented in professional counseling because they promote self-awareness and mindfulness among patients. Overall, increasing awareness makes Gestalt therapy more productive since it relies less on external changes.
References
Bourque, N., & Sherlock, E. (2016). Integrating Gestalt psychotherapy into social work practice with adult oncology patients. Social Work in Mental Health, 15(2), 143-158. Web.
Lobb, M. S. (2018). Aesthetic relational knowledge of the field: A revised concept of awareness in Gestalt therapy and contemporary psychiatry. Gestalt Review, 22(1), 50-68. Web.
Roubal, J., Francesetti, G., & Gecele, M. (2017). Aesthetic diagnosis in Gestalt Therapy. Behavioral Sciences, 7(4), 70-83. Web.
Talbot, M. (2018). Gestalt psychotherapy, conflict, and resolution. European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy, 8, 43-53. Web.