Chapter Six: Gestalt Therapy
1. Perls’s childhood was:
2. As a child, Perls has been described as rebellious and reckless which is probably a function of all but
which of the following?
3. Which important philosophical concepts of Friedlander’s did Perls incorporate into Gestalt therapy?
4. Perls’s early psychoanalytic work helped him coalesce his ideas on all but which of the following?
5. In the early 1930’s, Fritz and Laura Perls developed the first ____________training institute in South
Africa.
6. Wilhelm Reich greatly affected Perls’ idea of the person, especially his ideas about:
7. Perls challenged the taboo of______________, as he attempted to break down the walls between
client and counselor.
8. Perls’ concept of “shouldisms” later became an important part of his concept of ___________ where
he believed a part of self splits off and tries to take charge of other parts of self.
9. The Esalen Institute, where Perls made his home in the 1960’s, became well known for its
____________ based workshops.
10. Gestalt therapy is grounded in the humanistic tradition of existentialism and ___________.
11. Perls proposed that the ______, _____ and _______ operate in unison and cannot be separated,
contradicting the reductionistic theories of Freud and the behaviorists.
12. Perls believed the person is:
13. The word “Gestalt” means “the properties of the whole are ____________ the sum of its parts.”
14. In Gestalt therapy, the negative impact of past, unresolved issues that cause impasses or blockages
is called:
15. According to Perls, “unfinished business” is often revealed through:
16. When a child seeks to complete a “connect the dots” picture, he or she is most closely
demonstrating what the Gestalt psychologists identified as the concept of ___________or the need for
completion.
17. For Gestalt therapists, the self is developed by:
18. For the Gestalt therapist, how the individual makes contact with the environment in an attempt to
satisfy needs, is reflective of the individual’s way of being in the world and determines:
19. Because Gestalt theorists believe we can choose to experience ourselves fully and free ourselves
from our impasses and blockages, it is considered to be:
20. Perls’ approach to counseling is which of the following?
21. Gestalt therapists believe allowing oneself to experience fully is:
22. Perls believed which of the following?
23. The idea that the spiritual, mental, physiological, and psychological parts of the person are
inseparable and connected to external forces is called:
24. According to Perls, confluence occurs when one meets the “other” and experiences ______
difference(s) between his or herself and the other.
25. Which of the following words would Perls have used to describe a sense of “I am you and you are
me, and we shall be like this forever?”
26. The concept of “figure/ground,” refers to the tendency to perceive what is in the _________ while
ignoring what is in __________ of experience.
27. Relative to polarities, one goal of therapy is to:
28. After specific unfinished business is worked through, the __________ changes as new needs arise.
29. Which of the following did Perls believe to be an unnecessary expenditure of pent up energy?
30. Relative to polarities, the part of us that Perls called bossy and the “master” is the:
31. Perls suggested trying to extend the “zero–point” and to experience what he called:
32. Which stage in the need satisfaction cycle is most closely associated with the “zero point?”
33. Which of the following represents the correct order of the stages in the need satisfaction cycle?
34. All are goals of Gestalt therapy except:
35. Gestalt therapists believe that experiencing fully is:
36. Commonly used techniques in Gestalt therapy include all of the following except:
37. Which is not a specialized technique in Gestalt therapy?
38. Which is not a specialized technique in Gestalt therapy?
39. Which is not a specialized technique in Gestalt therapy?
40. Which specialized technique would a Gestalt therapist find most suited to encouraging a dialogue
with different parts of self, such as when splits are discovered within a person?
41. Which of the following is not a term that is used in Gestalt therapy?
42. Which of the following techniques is not used in Gestalt therapy?
43. Which specialized technique is a Gestalt therapist most likely employing when he or she says to a
client “listen to your body?”
44. Which of the following specialized techniques would be most appropriate for the Gestalt therapist to
use when an important unresolved issues is discovered between two people?
45. Which specialized technique would a Gestalt therapist find most suited to encouraging a dialogue
with different parts of self when splits are discovered within a person?
46. Which specialized technique is being employed when the Gestalt therapist asks a client to emphasize
or repeat a sentence to help him or her get in touch with feelings?
47. Which would a Gestalt therapist be unlikely to endorse?
48. Contact is directly related to what Perls called our ___________________, or the constantly
changing point where “I” meet other people and objects and discriminate “me” from other.
49. According to Gestalt therapy, ______________is the psychological process of finding ways of
avoiding contact with another person by re-directing the potential for contact.
50. Which of the following is not among the most commonly used techniques by Gestalt therapists?
51. The term for directly speaking to one’s partner in Gestalt therapy rather than about them to the
counselor/therapist is:
52. The underlying assumption made by Gestalt therapists is that clients will:
53. According to Gestalt therapy, the structure of neuroses includes all but one of the following layers:
54. The __________layer of neuroses is when the client can feel again, and has a renewed sense of self.
55. The ___________layer of neuroses is a place where one feels frozen in time, and a place for waiting
to do decide what to do.
56. From a cross-cultural perspective, Gestalt therapists might be challenged on all but which of the
following?
57. From a feminist perspective:
True/False
1. According to Gestalt therapy, reality is related to the “now,” our ability to experience fully, and how
2. Gestalt therapists believe that we are made up of polarities and it is important to acknowledge the
3. Perls challenged traditional therapeutic structure and rules by insisting it was important for the
4. According to Gestalt therapy, contact is directly related to our “id boundary,” or the constantly
6. Perls believed that dimensions of self come in pairs, that one aspect of a dimension may become
8. The ways in which people have their needs met and make contact with their environment are
9. Gestalt therapy is probably a mixed bag relative to cross-cultural issues.
10. The cliché layer of Perls’ structure of neuroses is defined as the socially acceptable way we act in our
12. Perls identified five layers of which the client increasingly becomes aware as the client continues
13. Gestalt therapy has found a home with many women, in that its’ focus is on reclaiming lost parts of
Matching
Match the resistance with the definition
