Deck 8: Gestalt Therapy

Question 1

Requirements for good contact include all of the following except:

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

Answer 1

D

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Gestalt therapy is a form of:

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

Answer 3

D

Question 4

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 5

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 6

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 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

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 9

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 10

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.

Question 11

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 12

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 13

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 14

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.

Question 15

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 16

Empirical support for Gestalt therapy is:

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

Question 17

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 18

It is essential that counselors 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 19

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.

Question 20

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 21

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

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

Question 22

involves blurring the differentiation between the self and the environment.

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

Question 23

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 24

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 25

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 26

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 27

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 28

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 29

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 30

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 31

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 32

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

Question 33

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 34

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 35

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 36

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

Question 37

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 38

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

Question 39

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 40

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 41

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

Question 42

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

Question 43

Blocked energy is a form of defensive behaviour.

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

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

Question 46

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 47

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

Question 48

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

Question 49

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 50

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

Question 51

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

Question 52

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

Question 53

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

Question 54

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

Question 55

Gestalt therapy focuses on the cognitive aspects of therapy.

Question 56

Gestalt techniques can be considered experiments.

Question 57

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 58

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 59

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

Question 60

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

Question 61

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

Question 62

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

Question 63

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

Question 64

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

Question 65

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

Question 66

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

Question 67

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