Today, Gest alt therapy is one of the most popular trends in psychology. Usually, this term means the ability of a person to independently complete complicated cases, for example, get rid of love addiction or let go of resentment. Gest alt therapy is known for its effectiveness and variety of methods. Everyone who is not indifferent to the quality of their life should learn about it.
What is this
This therapy should be understood as a method of practical psychology. The mechanisms of Gest alt therapy are aimed at analyzing and understanding by a person everything that is suppressed, unspoken and incomplete in life, which further contributes to the harmonization of the personality and getting rid of problems. In the process of work, the specialist helps the client to “extract” from the subconscious those feelings, thoughts, images and memories that “pull” a person down and interfere with a full life. This method of practical psychology is aimed at identifying, analyzing and eliminating those problems and situations that are deep in the subconscious. Psychotherapist or psychologisthelp the patient learn to understand the motives of their actions and desires.
History of the origin of the method
The emergence of this therapy falls on the middle of the last century. The method has become a kind of alternative to psychoanalysis. In contrast, the essence of the new method is to work with unconscious psychological processes. Gest alt therapy by Fritz Perls encourages a person to take responsibility for their feelings and emotions, bringing them to a more conscious level. Simply put, this direction can be considered a way of self-improvement, built on the treatment of psychological problems.
Fritz Perls
Fritz (Frederick) Perls is not only a well-known psychiatrist from Germany, but also the founder of Gest alt therapy. The "Gest altist Prayer" written by him made a huge contribution to the creation of a new direction. Today it has great popularity. This book on Gest alt therapy became the basis of his approach to psychotherapy as a method of unlocking the inner potential to manage one's feelings. The advantage of this book is its simplicity and at the same time a deep impact on the psychological state of a person. Perls' Gest alt Prayer was originally published in the 1960s and immediately gained immense popularity.
Gest alt Prayer
Perls's work makes it possible to draw a figurative line between himself and society, and also to understand that every person has the right to live the life he wants. One of the key phrases in prayer is: "You are you,and I am me". The author emphasizes with her that this separation opens up the possibility for the person himself to become morally free, not counting on someone else's help, approval and participation.
The absence of unreasonable expectations and mutual claims allows not only to gain inner strength and independence, but also help to appreciate reciprocity. The practical application of Perls' line contributes to emotional maturation and significant internal growth, since understanding the independence of another's personality and the autonomy of one's own is one of the important indicators of spiritual maturity.
Thus the expression "you are you and I am me" helps to restore emotional balance and inner harmony. For example, when during a quarrel it seems to a person that he is unable to justify the hopes placed on him, this prayer helps to calm down and regain a good mood. It is worth noting that in addition to Fritz Perls, other scientists who contributed to the birth of this direction appear in gelschat therapy, for example, Kurt Goldstein, Wertheimer, Köhler, Reich and Jacob Moreno.
Main Tasks
In psychotherapy, Gest alt therapy helps the client overcome inner fears, panic attacks, and cure neuroses. But in order to achieve positive results in this direction, the psychotherapist needs to find the cause of psychological problems, evaluate it and analyze it. The goal of Gest alt therapy is to change the habitual perception of a person, his behavior, as well as to revive the ability to rejoice, rethink actions and relationships caround.
Thus, with the help of this humanistic direction, each individual is able to control his mood, emotions and life in general. Only after this step can one proceed to the measures of therapeutic interaction and the process of awareness. The main objectives of Gest alt therapy are:
- Attention to the body. This direction involves a conscious understanding of their physical sensations and movements. Establishing a physical and spiritual connection helps to achieve self-awareness.
- Working with emotions and feelings. For his own consciousness, a person needs to learn to open up to other people, identify true feelings, and share this with others.
- Distinction between past and present. According to reviews, in Gest alt therapy a lot of attention is paid to working on your emotions. At the session, the specialist helps to express their feelings and teaches them how to get rid of them correctly.
- Analysis. Self-analysis is important for identifying the sources of negative emotions. Understanding the root of the problem is already a big step towards solving it.
Methods and techniques of Gest alt therapy
Therapy sessions include:
- Working with fictional characters.
- Analysis of memories and dreams.
- Exercises that help express your state through movement.
- Working with emotions and feelings.
Gest alt therapy is divided into stages:
- Identification of negative, overt and disguised problems, as well as the search for weaknesses in the personalitypatient.
- Analysis and work on detected obstacles.
- Teaching the expression of emotions, building trust in one's own feelings and in oneself in general.
Principles
Before you begin to study the techniques, you need to understand the principles of Gest alt therapy on which they are based. In this direction, an important link is the interaction of man with the environment. That is, if some factor prevents you from living a full life, then this should be subject to change. The basic principles of therapy are:
- Everyone chooses his own environment in which he should be comfortable.
- Goals will only be achievable if they are our own and not imposed by society.
- A person needs to strive for spiritual balance and emotional balance.
Here and Now
The "Here and Now" principle is the main one, because, despite its ease of use, it provides radical changes in the worldview and consciousness. It says that constant memories of the past are an irrevocable and passed stage in life, which pulls down and blocks the implementation of future plans. It is important to understand that everything important in a person's life happens here and now. Therefore, Gest alt therapists urge to treat their position in the present with special importance and responsibility.
Working with dreams
Psychologists are sure that night dreams are some clues of the human consciousness, so they pay special attention to themAttention. Since the time of Sigmund Freud, it has been considered that a dream is a message, feelings and desires that have been suppressed in real life. Unlike classical psychoanalysis, in Gest alt therapy, the specialist does not try to interpret the patient's dream and impose certain images. There are no ready-made instructions in this process.
According to the given direction, the dream, which contains fears, experiences, fantasies, ideas, is formed entirely from the words of the client. Thus, each element of sleep represents the inner world or part of the dreamer's personality. The task of the therapist is to help the patient discover and manifest these parts, and understand the meaning they play in his life.
- Exercise 1. The patient describes his dream in detail to the therapist. In this case, the most energetically charged elements should be distinguished.
- Exercise 2. The therapist asks the client to draw one of the fragments and choose two characters from his dream. The task of the patient will be the following: to mold from the partner, as from plasticine, one of the characters. It is necessary to learn how to interact with the created figure. Next, the client begins to play the role of the person he created himself, and the character takes on the role of the second hero from the dream.
Method "Turning a merge into a contact"
Exercise 1. The client is asked to analyze and note his habits: how he washes, dresses, eats breakfast, closes the door, cooks, etc. If the patient feels that his habits are not the besteffective, so he wants to replace them with others, the therapist needs to ask the client a series of questions:
- Imagine what happens if you change your lifestyle?
- Will you enjoy other activities?
- Are you facing strong resistance?
- How do you feel when you see someone doing a job similar to yours?
- Do you think changing habits can change your life?
Exercise 2. Pay attention to a detailed analysis of your characteristic features: gestures, clothes, speech, behavior in general. Then ask yourself, in imitation of whom did you acquire them? Do you feel grateful for this person?
Exercise 3. When you wake up, before getting out of bed, think about the possibility of acting or feeling differently. Try to live this day a little differently, not like it happens all the time. Don't make decisions that need to be made, just try to visualize easy-to-do changes in your routine.
Exercise 4. Track your reactions to plays and movies. Determine how much you compare yourself to different heroes. When you decide which characters you most often identify with, get a feel for whether you feel inner resistance.
Hot Chair
This method consists of a frank dialogue between the therapist and the client, when all other participants remain silent. Only at the very end of the conversation can they express their opinion on what they heard,share experiences and emotions. "Hot chair" refers to the place where the perpetrator of mental problems sits in the hope that after their utterance emotional balance and the right decision will come.
Empty Chair
This is a place for a person who has inner experiences. It does not matter whether an imaginary or a living interlocutor will sit on this chair. The task of the patient is to openly voice his fears, experiences and tell him all his problems.
Working with polarities
In Gest alt therapy, this term is used to refer to the extremes of human behavior, the opposite and conflicting lifestyles between which the patient chooses. To understand yourself and make the right choice, the following exercises will help.
"Struggle of opposites". The therapist voices the topic of the discussion, and then assigns one of the clients the role of the defender, and the other the attacker. Participants need to sit facing each other and start a discussion, while strictly adhering to the assigned role. It is common for an attacker to criticize, scold and teach a partner. The defender must apologize and make excuses. Ten minutes are allotted for the discussion, then the participants switch roles. The essence of this exercise is that each participant could realize the feeling of insecurity, humiliation, timidity of the defender and the feeling of aggression, power of the attacker
"Role-playing". This exercise is quite often used in modern Russian practice, andreviews of Gest alt therapy and this method testify to its effectiveness. This method is as follows: the psychotherapist invites a group of participants to alternately play out their intrapersonal contradictions, which they have not yet fully realized, but are quite understandable to other people. For example, if the client is embarrassed, speaks in a low voice, apologizes very often, and does not notice this, then he should be instructed to play the role of a timid, shy person. Also, the specialist asks him to somewhat exaggerate those traits of his character that are most pronounced in him. If the patient is aware of the peculiarities of his behavior and wants to get rid of them, he can be offered to play the role of a person with opposite character traits, for example, a boss who tends to talk to his subordinates in an orderly tone
Reviews
Studying numerous reviews of Gest alt therapy, we can conclude that working on oneself in this direction helps to learn to live in harmony with oneself, to show one's feelings and emotions, and to interact correctly with the outside world. Referring to numerous reviews, it is worth noting that after passing it, people begin internal changes. After working with a specialist, the patient begins to realize himself as a single holistic organism that can be controlled. The World Wide Web contains a huge amount of positive feedback about this method. Users call obvious advantages in reviews of gelshat therapy:
- Certain methods help to reveal new personal qualities that were not previously knownsuspected.
- Therapy teaches you to take responsibility for your actions.
- Helps you become the author of your life.
- This direction prolongs Freedom with a capital letter and leaves feelings of guilt, shame, anxiety, remorse in the background.
- Unlike other psychological directions, in gelshat therapy there are no roles of "patient" and "doctor". During the session, the therapist does not control, does not teach how to live, does not say how to act in this or that situation, but only accompanies the process of understanding the client, his personal choice of actions. The process of therapy itself is built exclusively on equal terms.
- Saves from depression, helps to cope with any psychological problem, even such as the loss of loved ones.
- Inspires confidence, helps to accept and love yourself for who you are.
Reviews of Gest alt therapy indicate that today the practice of this direction is a new stage in personality development, which provides the opportunity to work with inner beliefs, desires and abilities.
But in this method, as in any other business, one cannot do without negative reviews. Some users write that the Gest alt therapist could not help them in any way. Others report that he only made the situation worse. But here it is worth considering the personal attitude of each person to this approach. As practice shows, in order to solve your internal problems, sometimes it is necessary to change the psychoanalyst or completely change direction.
Conclusion
Getting acquainted with the reviews of Gest alt therapy, you canto conclude that in psychology this is a complex direction with a philosophical and humanistic bias. To apply the acquired knowledge in practice, it is necessary to be trained by professionals. Nowadays, there are training courses that can be attended in various educational institutions. Professors, associate professors and leading specialists conduct classes.
Gest alt therapy can be trained by anyone. Classes are organized in such a way that theory and practice alternate. This approach allows students to consolidate their knowledge through personal experience of participating in psychotherapeutic exercises. As a rule, the cost of training in Gest alt therapy varies from ten to forty thousand rubles, depending on the content of the program and the duration of the course.
