Deck 8: Gestalt Therapy

Question 1

The basic goal of Gestalt therapy is:

A) attaining awareness and contact with the environment.
B) to understand why we feel as we do.
C) to uncover repressed material.
D) to help clients develop better social skills.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Field theory asserts that:

A) the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
B) human beings have an innate capacity to self-regulate.
C) the organism must be seen in its environment, or in its context, as part of the constantly changing field.
D) phenomenological inquiry is the key to behaviour change.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A contribution of this therapeutic approach is:

A) it enables intense experiencing to occur over a long period of time.
B) it can be a relatively long therapy.
C) it stresses talking about problems, as opposed to doing and experiencing.
D) the exciting way in which the past is dealt with in a lively manner by bringing relevant aspects into the present.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Erving Polster believes that storytelling:

A) is always a form of resistance.
B) can be the heart of the therapeutic process.
C) is acceptable only if one's client is a writer.
D) is an indication that one's client is a pathological liar.

Question 5

It is essential that counsellors establish a relationship with their clients, so that the clients will:

A) be less open during an assessment.
B) be less focused on the here and now.
C) feel trusting enough to participate in the learning that can result from Gestalt experiments.
D) be more willing to be involved in process-oriented diagnosis.

Question 6

According to the Gestalt perspective, if people do not remember their dreams:

A) they may be refusing to face what is wrong with their lives.
B) that suggests they have no internal conflicts.
C) they are sound sleepers.
D) they lack creativity.

Question 7

Who among the following is not considered a relational Gestalt therapist?

A) Fritz Perls
B) Laura Perls
C) Miriam Polster
D) Erving Polster

Question 8

A Gestalt technique that is most useful when a person attempts to deny an aspect of his or her personality such as tenderness) is:

A) making the rounds.
B) the reversal exercise.
C) the rehearsal exercise.
D) the empty chair technique.

Question 9

Gestalt therapy is a form of:

A) Freudian psychoanalytic therapy.
B) neo-Freudian analytic therapy.
C) behaviour therapy.
D) existential therapy.

Question 10

According to Gestalt theory, people use avoidance in order to:

A) help assist them in facing unfinished business.
B) keep from feeling uncomfortable emotions.
C) help them work to change.
D) help express feelings openly.

Question 11

The paradoxical theory of behaviour change suggests that:

A) we change by setting future-oriented goals.
B) clients should pay particular attention to becoming the person they wish to be.
C) careful attention should devoted to changing behaviour in the moment it is happening.
D) authentic change occurs more from being who we are than from trying to be who we are not.

Question 12

According to Gestalt theory, all of the following are true about contact except:

A) contact is necessary for change and growth to occur.
B) one maintains a sense of individuality as a result of good contact.
C) withdrawal after a good contact experience indicates neurosis.
D) contact is made by seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and moving.

Question 13

Empirical support for Gestalt therapy is:

A) weak.
B) well developed.
C) becoming stronger.
D) unavailable.

Question 14

The Gestalt therapist:

A) freely makes interpretations for the client.
B) pays attention to the client's nonverbal language.
C) is mainly nondirective.
D) helps the client understand why he or she is behaving in self-defeating ways.

Question 15

A critical difference between early Gestalt therapy and relational Gestalt therapy is the:

A) emphasis on contact.
B) approach to confrontation.
C) use of techniques.
D) focus on the figure formation process.

Question 16

Maria tells her therapist, a Gestaltist, that she dreamt she got married to a dog and felt uneasy about telling her parents that she married a dog. When her parents discovered their son-in-law was a dog, they disowned her and suddenly became dogs themselves. In response to this dream, Maria's therapist:

A) may need to contact a psychiatric hospital and possibly an animal shelter) since it is likely Maria unconsciously desires to marry a dog.
B) should interpret the dream for her client.
C) should assist her client in reliving the dream as though it was happening in the now and have her become each part of the dream.
D) should encourage her client to forget the dream since it was meaningless.

Question 17

Requirements for good contact include all of the following except:

A) enthusiasm.
B) creativity.
C) imagination.
D) projection.

Question 18

Often Gretha, who struggles to feel good about herself, comes to sessions with slouched posture. In order to help Gretha gain a clearer understanding of the inner meaning of her slouched posture, a Gestalt therapist might:

A) ask Greta to exaggerate her poor posture, which is likely to intensify her feelings attached to it.
B) have Gretha undergo hypnosis.
C) ask Gretha to free associate to the words 'slouched posture'.
D) refer her to an orthopaedic surgeon to rule out scoliosis.

Question 19

In Gestalt theory, the experiment is:

A) a specific technique of therapy.
B) tailored to fit the client's unique needs and presented in an invitational manner.
C) a ready-made exercise used to achieve a behavioural goal.
D) a scientific procedure to assess the effectiveness of therapy.

Question 20

When a person experiences an internal conflict namely a conflict between top dog and underdog), which of the following techniques would be most appropriate?

A) Making the rounds
B) The reversal technique
C) The internal dialogue exercise
D) The rehearsal exercise

Question 21

Contemporary Gestalt therapists view client resistance as a:

A) way that clients avoid confrontation.
B) sign of poor motivation for therapeutic work.
C) therapy interfering force that needs to be overcome.
D) creative adjustment to a situation and something to be respected.

Question 22

involves blurring the differentiation between the self and the environment.

A) Confluence
B) Deflection
C) Retroflection
D) Projection

Question 23

The five different kinds of contact boundary disturbances include all of the following, except:

A) retroflection.
B) projection.
C) introjection.
D) introflection.

Question 24

Which of the following is not one of Miriam Polster's three stages in her integration sequence?

A) Reunification
B) Discovery
C) Assimilation
D) Accommodation

Question 25

Which technique takes an anticipated event and brings it into the present moment to act out?

A) Empty chair
B) Future projection
C) Internal dialogue
D) Making the rounds

Question 26

Which of the following is not true about Gestalt techniques?

A) 'Exercises' are readymade techniques.
B) 'Experiments' grow out of the interaction between therapist and client.
C) Clients need to be prepared for their involvement in Gestalt techniques.
D) Experiments are always carried out during the therapy session, rather than outside it.

Question 27

grow out of the interaction between client and therapist and emerge within this dialogic process.

A) Exercises
B) Figure-formations
C) Fantasies
D) Experiments

Question 28

Which of the following is not true about the Gestalt view of the role of confrontation in therapy?

A) It is not possible to be both confrontational and gentle with clients.
B) It is important to confront clients with the ways they are avoiding being fully alive.
C) Confrontation does not have to be aimed at negative traits.
D) Confrontation should be a genuine expression of caring.

Question 29

The empty chair technique:

A) assists clients in deciding what chair they like.
B) is a vehicle for the technique of role reversal.
C) allows clients to internalise a role and not share.
D) does not help resolve unfinished business.

Question 30

When a client recognises he or she has a choice describes which stage of Miriam Polster's three- stage integration sequence?

A) Discovery
B) Accommodation
C) Assimilation
D) Retroflection

Question 31

One of the main contributions of the Gestalt approach is its:

A) behavioural training models.
B) emphasis on learning to appreciate and fully experience the present moment.
C) attempt to remain focused on the past.
D) ability to allow the client to remain oblivious to his or her behaviour.

Question 32

are preplanned activities that can be used to elicit emotion, produce action, or achieve a specific goal.

A) Cathartic events
B) Faulty experiments
C) Exercises
D) Conflicting opinions

Question 33

Which of the following aspects of a client's use of language would a Gestalt therapist not focus on?

A) 'It' talk
B) 'You' talk
C) Questions
D) Semantics

Question 34

Which of the following Gestalt techniques involves asking one person in a group to speak to each of the other group members?

A) The rehearsal exercise
B) The reversal technique
C) Making the rounds
D) The exaggeration technique

Question 35

Which of the following is not one of the Gestalt group leader's roles?

A) Designing experiments for group members
B) Evoking group catharsis
C) Engaging in self-disclosure
D) Facilitating contact in the group setting

Question 36

When a client learns how to influence his or her environment describes which stage of Miriam Polster's three-stage integration sequence?

A) Discovery
B) Accommodation
C) Assimilation
D) Retroflection

Question 37

A teenage girl is angry with her parents and cuts on her arm. In Gestalt terms, she is probably engaging in:

A) introjection.
B) projection.
C) retroflection.
D) confluence.

Question 38

In Gestalt therapy, the relationship between client and counsellor is seen as:

A) the heart of therapy.
B) a place for the therapist to work on personal issues.
C) not being an I/Thou interaction.
D) technique bound.

Question 39

Which of the following is not true about Fritz Perls?

A) He was the main originator and developer of Gestalt therapy.
B) During his childhood, he was a model student.
C) He was influenced by psychoanalytic concepts.
D) He took issue with Freud's theory on a number of grounds.

Question 40

Because of his need to be liked, Jacob makes careful efforts to get along with everyone and minimise interpersonal conflicts. Which boundary disturbance is Jacob exhibiting?

A) Introjection
B) Projection
C) Retroflection
D) Confluence

Question 41

According to Perls, awareness of and by itself is not sufficient to lead to change; clients must also put their experiences into some type of cognitive framework if change is to happen.

Question 42

Blocked energy is a form of defensive behaviour.

Question 43

The goal of Gestalt therapy is to solve basic problems, to resolve the individual's polarities, and to help the individual to adjust to his or her environment.

Question 44

One of the contributions of Gestalt therapy is the vast empirical research that has been done to validate the specific techniques used.

Question 45

Gestalt therapy is designed for individual counselling, and it typically does not work well in groups.

Question 46

Since Gestalt therapists believe that questions have a tendency to keep the questioner hidden, safe, and unknown, they often ask clients to change their questions into statements.

Question 47

Gestaltists typically ask why questions in the attempt to get clients to think about the source of their problems.

Question 48

Therapy is based upon the successful resolution of the transference relationship.

Question 49

Part of success in using Gestalt techniques depends upon preparing clients for these techniques.

Question 50

The Gestalt approach to dream work consists of the therapist interpreting the meaning of the symbols in the dream.

Question 51

In the Gestaltist view, unfinished business is best explored in the present.

Question 52

A Gestalt therapist pays attention to ways the client uses language.

Question 53

Gestalt therapy makes use of a wide variety of techniques that are designed to increase the client's awareness of his or her present experiencing.

Question 54

Gestalt therapies view a client's avoidance behaviour as related to unfinished business.

Question 55

Gestalt therapy focuses on the cognitive aspects of therapy.

Question 56

Both contact and withdrawal are necessary and important to healthy functioning.

Question 57

The Gestalt therapist typically uses diagnosis and interpretation as a basic part of the therapeutic process.

Question 58

Gestalt techniques can be considered experiments.

Question 59

Gestalt theory is best considered as a form of psychoanalytic therapy.

Question 60

Most of the Gestalt techniques are designed to intensify the individual's experiencing.

Question 61

Genuine knowledge is the product of what the person understands of the situation of another.

Question 62

Retroflection involves doing to others what we would like them to do to us.

Question 63

Gestalt group therapists use experiments to encourage clients to move from talking about action to taking action.

Question 64

Gestalt therapy is lively and promotes direct experiencing rather than the abstractness of talking about situations.

Question 65

Although Perls used a highly confrontational approach in dealing with client avoidance and resistance, the confrontational model is not representative of contemporary Gestalt therapy.

Question 66

People who rely on retroflection tend to inhibit themselves from taking action out of fear of embarrassment, guilt, and resentment.

Question 67

In Gestalt terms, awareness refers to our connectedness to our external and internal worlds.

Question 68

In Gestalt therapy, a client's resistance is welcomed and used to deepen their therapeutic work.

Question 69

Since Gestalt therapy focuses on the here-and-now, the past is neither explored nor given
emphasis.

Question 70

A current trend in Gestalt therapy is toward greater emphasis on the client/therapist relationship rather than on techniques.