Gestalt therapy Introduction The history of Gestalt Therapy The beliefs on which it is based The important contributors or practitioners of the theory The theory of helping The relationship between the helper and the client Some techniques or approaches developed The kinds of problems addressed The populations on which the techniques are used Multicultural issues in using these approaches Research findings on the model or theory Theory of Helping Responsibility for themselves Express Fourfold expression differentiation affirmation choice and integration Gestalt therapy is concerned with how a client is experiencing life at the present point in time, and will have this as the basis of the therapeutic work. A Gestalt therapist, then, would help the client move into those feelings (or thoughts) in a way that allows a deep immersion into those experiences and the freedom to express what the client has previously feared to release. Once the client has moved through the impasse and experienced and expressed what was lying underneath, an insight usually occurs that helps the client understand what has kept him or her stuck  Gestalt therapy is helping individuals assume responsibility for themselves rather than relying on others to make decisions for them Gestalt therapy aims to challenge its clients to move from “environmental support” to “self-support,” in order to mobilize their own resources for dealing with the environment effectively and to make creative adjustments that permit the self to respond to environmental pressures and to inner needs. expression clients are encouraged to tell who they are as fully as possible, even becoming aware of gestures, breathing, voice tone, and facial expressions. In order to keep them in the “now” and maintain responsibility, clients are urged to preface their expressions with the phrase, “Now I am aware. . . .” differentiation, so that clients can differentiate among the parts of their inner conflict. They might be encouraged, for example, to exaggerate their facial expression and in so doing, they may become more aware of their “angry part.” affirmation, occurs when the client is encouraged to identify with “all the parts” that are emerging into awareness. It is here that the Gestalt therapist will allow clients to fully express their pent-up emotions. choice and integration, the client comes to say, “I am responsible for my frustration and resentment.” “responsibility is really response-ability, the ability to choose one’s reactions,” and it comes about only when we relinquish our defenses and allow ourselves to become aware of our true feelings and motivations. In this stage an internal integration brings a sense of peace and is a sign of a “completed gestalt.” 3 Therapist “like an artist bringing something out which is hidden,” -Frederick Solomon “Fritz” Perls Helper v. Client Helper (therapist) Not objective or neutral Relationship Empathy Respect Challenge a thera.

1. Gestalt therapy
Introduction
The history of Gestalt Therapy
The beliefs on which it is based
The important contributors or practitioners of the theory
The theory of helping
The relationship between the helper and the client
Some techniques or approaches developed
The kinds of problems addressed
The populations on which the techniques are used
Multicultural issues in using these approaches
Research findings on the model or theory
Theory of Helping
Responsibility for themselves
Express
Fourfold
expression
differentiation
affirmation
choice and integration
Gestalt therapy is concerned with how a client is

2. experiencing life at the present point in time, and will have this
as the basis of the therapeutic work.
A Gestalt therapist, then, would help the client move into those
feelings
(or thoughts) in a way that allows a deep immersion into those
experiences and the
freedom to express what the client has previously feared to
release. Once the client
has moved through the impasse and experienced and expressed
what was lying
underneath, an insight usually occurs that helps the client
understand what has kept
him or her stuck
Gestalt therapy is helping individuals assume responsibility for
themselves rather than relying on others to make decisions for
them
Gestalt therapy aims to challenge its clients to move from
“environmental support” to “self-support,” in order to mobilize
their own resources for dealing with the environment effectively
and to make creative adjustments that permit the self to respond
to environmental pressures and to inner needs.
expression clients are encouraged to tell who they are as fully
as possible, even becoming aware of gestures, breathing, voice
tone, and facial expressions. In order to keep them in the “now”
and maintain responsibility, clients are urged to preface their
expressions with the phrase, “Now I am aware. . . .”
differentiation, so that clients can differentiate among the parts
of their inner conflict. They might be encouraged, for example,
to exaggerate their facial expression and in so doing, they may
become more aware of their “angry part.”
affirmation, occurs when the client is encouraged to identify
with “all the parts” that are emerging into awareness. It is here

3. that the Gestalt therapist will allow clients to fully express their
pent-up emotions.
choice and integration, the client comes to say, “I am
responsible for my frustration and resentment.” “responsibility
is really response-ability, the ability to choose one’s reactions,”
and it comes about only when we relinquish our defenses and
allow ourselves to become aware of our true feelings and
motivations. In this stage an internal integration brings a sense
of peace and is a sign of a “completed gestalt.”
3
Therapist
“like an artist bringing something out which is hidden,”
-Frederick Solomon “Fritz” Perls
Helper v. Client
Helper (therapist)
Not objective or neutral
Relationship
Empathy
Respect
Challenge
a therapist is not objective or neutral, and does not
take a detached, or analytical approach, but invests herself in a
relationship with the client - interacting rather as equals. A
Gestalt therapist will typically have empathy and understanding
and respect for the client's situation, but will also be able
to challenge the client's thoughts and feelings so that the

4. client can gain new insights to what he or she is
struggling with.
5
Kinds of problems addressed
Identifying the client’s behavior
The environment
Offer a solution
Rewards
The behavioral theory of helping others addresses issues such as
identifying the client’s behavior, in most cases the bad
behavior. Apart from identifying the bad behavior, the root
cause of the behavior is established so as to offer a solution. Of
paramount importance in this theory is that all behavior is
learned and that no one just naturally behaves the way they do;
they must have learned it from somewhere. There are many
areas one can learn behavior. The environment around a person
influences their behavior and the people whom one interacts
with. Behavior is also influenced by the childhood that someone
had.
Rewards are set to enhance good behavior while punishments
are stipulated for bad behavior. It is human nature to react
towards rewards; rewards tend to make people work hard or
behave in a certain way so as to get them. The behaviors to be
observed should be measurable so that one can be helped. For
instance if one is consuming alcohol on average how many
bottles do they consume daily? The behavioral theory of helping
therefore focuses on reinforcement, both positive and negative
reinforcement.
6

5. The populations on the techniques
Counseling
rehabilitated through punishments
is only limited to
The behavioral theory is very appropriate in counseling and
helping children, and in particular juvenile delinquents. This is
because juvenile delinquents need to be rehabilitated through
punishments of bad behavior and be taught good behavior. In
other words, juvenile delinquents need to unlearn the bad
behavior say stealing, and relearn a good behavior that they
violated e.g. obeying the law. According to Sage Publishers,
behavioral theory; “positively reinforces desired behaviors and
negatively reinforce undesired behaviors”.
However, it would be wrong to assume that behavioral
theory is only limited to juvenile delinquents. Adult offenders,
addicts, and others struggling with bad behavior can be
counseled using the same theory. In adults, the rewards and
punishments of behaving in a certain way are put on the table so
as to lure the client adopt good behavior. For instance a client
who is an alcoholic is told the benefits of quitting alcohol
against the negative effects of alcoholism; using practical
examples will be good to provide emphasize of points. Based on
the undesirable effects of alcohol, the client will chose to adapt
an alcohol-free behavior. This is because behavioral theory;
“applies principles of learning to resolution of specific
behavioral disorder (alcoholism”) (Grant, CSUN).
7
Multicultural issues

6. Freudian’s psychoanalytic theory
The behavioral theory is a constructed from Freudian’s
psychoanalytic theory, a theory that was developed based on the
European culture of the theorist. As such the behavioral theory
poses cultural insensitivity to clients from other cultures, and
ethnicities. For example inhabitation of sexuality was greatly
valued during Freudian’s time (Victorian era); as such it would
not be very fit in a revolutionized era like ours where we have
cultures that oppose certain behaviors. In addition, “many of the
classical theories may fit privileged individuals—or at least
middle-class individuals who are from the dominant
American/Western European culture—very well, especially
men.” Where does that leave the other cultures? it is difficult to
come up with a theory that would be effective for every
individual.
8
Helper v. Client
Client
Awareness (insight)
What they are doing
How
Self examine
Raise clients awareness on how they are functioning in their

7. own environment, Initial goal is for clients to gain awareness of
what they are experiencing & doing now,
– Promotes direct experiencing rather than the abstractness of
talking about situations
– Rather than talk about a childhood trauma the client is
encouraged to become the hurt child
clients become aware of what they are doing, how they are
doing it, and how they change themselves, and at the same time,
learn to accept and value themselves.
Clients are expected to do their own seeing, feeling, sensing, &
interpreting
Individuals, according to this approach, define, develop, and
learn about themselves in relationship to others, and that they
are constantly changing.
9
Techniques
Experiments
Role of Confrontation
Empty-Chair Technique
Gestalt therapy is not verbal, but primarily experiential; it is
about doing rather than saying. Because the focus is on the here

8. and now, Gestalt therapy is particularly intent on providing
opportunities for “creative experimentation,” and some of
counseling’s most innovative techniques emerge from out of a
therapeutic approach
Experiment
Dramatizing the memory of a painful event
Setting up a dialogue between client & some significant person
in their life
Role of Confrontation
It is important to be direct and confrontational
It can be done in an inviting manner and not harshly
Empty-Chair Technique
When client speaks to an empty chair as if it were another
person or another part of the client
Used to help the client get in touch with other views or other
aspects of self
10
References
Grant, S. (n.d.). models of helping. psychology counseling 460
& interviewing . Retrieved, from
http://www.csun.edu/~hcpsy002/Psy460_Ch01_Handout_p
Models of helping. (2007, November 27). Models of helping.
Retrieved, from http://www.sagepub.com/upm
Aleqab 1
Mees Aleqab
English 113B

9. Rebecca Lawson
29th September 2013
The Impact of Culture on Education
Nowadays the opportunity to get a valuable education is an
important issue in people's life studies. However, whether you
are disabled, normal or having a limited language, everyone
should get the opportunity in having a valuable education. In
addition, we all know that without education, a person will not
get the chance to live a proper life that will suit him in living a
good life and finding a better future job to support his needs.
Therefore, people with disabilities should live a normal life as a
normal person and that is usually depends on their culture.
Therefore, the way a culture behaves and responds to people
with disabilities can have a huge impact on their ability to gain
a valuable education. I will discuss the differences between the
ways American society and Kuwaiti society responded to
disabilities such as deafness, limited language, and blindness.
The more Kuwaiti and American culture shows respect and
appreciation, the more people with hearing impaired feel
comfortable and earn an education easily. Since I was studying
in Kuwait high school, I had never seen disabilities such as
hearing impaired student. Somehow, later I figured that Kuwaiti
culture offers a special deafness high school and it is a private
school where all students with disability studies together. I was
wondering why they were having their own school and could not
get the opportunity to study with us as any normal student in
public high school. In addition, the way Kuwaiti culture offers a
private school for the hearing impaired student is actually not a
good idea, which I completely disagree with. From my own
perspective, this because it will let normal people feel that they
are different than the hearing impaired students and that is the
way I felt from the beginning, until I meet my friend Talya who
lives in the United State. She was a senior who soon graduate
from high school, she was talking about her deaf friend who was
studying with her, and how they were in a good relationship.

10. Actually, I was shocked the way Talya talked about her friend
who was hearing impaired maybe because in my home country I
have never gotten the chance to meet people with disabilities
such as Talya's friend. Moreover, Talya has changed my mind
about disabled people and suddenly let me reconsider their
situation. Moreover, I like the way of United States culture and
how people in society deal with hearing impaired people in a
respectful and a behavioral way. In addition, I think that the
American society has given the chance for disabled people to
feel comfortable to study with others as normal people, which
will not let them feel different and can help both normal and
disabled people in education for example, they can exchange
ideas and opinions about their life studies which could help
improve both sides education.
Language is one of the important aspects of one's life, therefore
Kuwaiti and American society has to deal with people who do
not have the opportunity to get a higher education in their
language skill in order to push them forward toward their life
studies. For instance, in the Article "Mother Tongue", Tan
illustrates how her mother was suffering from her limited
language and how people treated her. We can see that when Tan
mentioned that the people "at banks, and at restaurants did not
take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not
to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her"
(257). This shows us how people can treat those who do not
have the opportunity to have an excellent language in an
impolite way that might make them feel unexpected in their
society. Also, it will not only make them unfortunately feel
disappointed but will not motivate them to study and improve
their language skills. I disagree with people who treated Tan's
mother while she was trying to communicate with them and
express her needs. From my own personal experience, when I
used to study in Boulder, Colorado at the International English
Center, I noticed that some people in class usually laughed at
the Chinese and Japanese who were coming to study English
and that is because of their limited English language.

11. Back then, I used to have a Chinese classmate who left the class
because of those students who laughed at her; therefore, she was
not having a motivation for people to complete her study and to
improve her language skill, which affects her education. The
difference between Kuwaiti and the United State society dealing
with peoples such as Tan's mother and my Chinese classmate is
that Kuwait gains people who have a limited language with
motivation so that they can feel that they are accepted in their
culture and they are free to participate in their society.
In addition, Kuwait offers a special school for those who need
help to improve their language and it doesn't matter whether
their old age or citizens from other countries. On the other
hand, some people do not have the opportunity to get a chance
to attend school and get a valuable education, and improve their
language. In fact, it was not a big deal for them for example, I
was with my mother in the mall back then in Kuwait, and I saw
a woman in the restaurant. She was trying to talk with the server
and express her need and the server was trying to understand
what she wants add to that he was so helpful to her, which is
opposite to way, that Tan's mother got treat. This can show that
even though people with limited language does not have the
chance to improve their language skill, dealing with people in
their society can help them to gain language.
In my opinion, Kuwaiti society has gained those people the
feeling of being as normal and got their need as everyone else
in the country. This shows culture respect and behaviors for one
with limited language and without culture appreciation those
people will never get the chance to feel free to express their
needs or even to feel comfortable, get accepted in their society
and help them to succeed with their education. However, the
more they talk to others in society the more they will gain
language and get the chance to let their limited English to grow
and improve.
Visually impaired has their own life and the way of
communication with each other, and culture as Kuwaiti and
American has to deal with those people. In Kuwait I used to see

12. in malls, cafes, and gardens blind people with others who might
be their friends or relatives or family helping and guiding them
around. Since I was born until I graduated from high school, I
did not know that visually impaired people have their own
language. Later on, my personal experience in the United State
has changed my mind about them. One of those incidents was
when I was standing with people and we were waiting for the
traffic light to light so we could cross the street and I was
heading to the university then I saw a visually impaired man
alone was holding a long stick. He wanted to cross the street
and I was wondering how he could do this if he could not see
the traffic light. Suddenly, the traffic light made a sound. At
first. I didn’t know why it made that sound, but then I found out
that it was built that way especially for visually impaired people
to help them navigate through the streets by hearing that sound
and by following it. Also, in my complex's hallway I saw an
unfamiliar shape written on my door where the apartment's
number is. However, I asked the office of the building about it
and they told me that it is Braille language, written for those
who are visually impaired. The difference between both
American and Kuwaiti society is that American society has let
those people walk individually which will give them more self-
dependence in their life and that shows the culture respect and
behaves toward people with visually impaired which will help
them reach success in their education.
In conclusion, behaviors and respectfulness are very important
aspects of culture and society. Somehow, it does not only
improves and motivates people's studies, but also provides
success in both Kuwaiti and American societies. For instance,
those manners in both Kuwaiti and United State culture can
show other people from different countries how they see that
even though you have a disability it doesn't mean that the world
is going to end or you don't have a goal in life, but by helping
them and motivating them, they could get over these thoughts
and live a happy normal life, just like normal people. Also, it
will help other societies and open their eyes more about these

13. people and could help build a better developed country with an
amazing culture and society, which will help these people
achieve their dreams and reach successes after having a better
education. Also, it might let other society and countries get
benefits from these learnings, get new ideas, and opinions that
can help visually impaired, hearing impaired and those who
have a limited language to gain a valuable education in different
cultures.
Work Cited
Tan, Amy. "Mother Tongue". Models for writers: Brief Essays
for Composition. Rosa, Alfred and Paul Eschholx. Boston and
New York: Bedford/St, Matin's, 2012.254-
261.Print.