Gestalt therapy is a branch of classical psychology. Its main distinguishing feature is the study of the situation “here and now”. The Gestalt psychologist monitors the client and draws conclusions based on the data obtained.
It is necessary
- - analysis of the interlocutor's speech;
- - introspection.
Instructions
Step 1
Pay attention to your own feelings or to the behavior of your interlocutor. There are 5 defense mechanisms that prevent full communication. If you identify any of them in yourself or in the interlocutor, it will be easier for you to overcome various communication difficulties. The first such mechanism considered in gestalt therapy is difflexion. It is inherent in many people and consists in hiding the true problems behind abstract reasoning.
Step 2
Analyze your communication to identify difflexion. If, in the process of discussing a problem, a person began to speak monotonously, you suddenly became sad and bored, try to transfer your communication to a new level. For example, ask this question: “At first I was very interested, but suddenly I felt bored. What do you feel at the moment?"
Step 3
If the other person laughs while telling something sad, ask something like this: “Your story makes me sad. What about you? " If a person started talking about his problems with his boss and suddenly switched to abstract reasoning about how bad everything is around, stop him and ask: “What is happening to you? What are you feeling now?" etc. This will help make your communication more trusting.
Step 4
Try to see if there is a retroflection mechanism in your communication. Retroflection is as follows: a person unconsciously performs actions that he would like to project onto the interlocutor. As a rule, this is aggression or approval. Observe a person: if, while conducting a friendly conversation with you, he bites his lips, frowns his eyebrows, bites his nails, wringing his fingers, pulling his hair, etc., it means that he has far from peaceful feelings towards you. To help the other person talk openly about their feelings, ask him, for example, the following: "When you bite your nails, how do you feel?"
Step 5
Analyze your communication for the presence of a projection mechanism. Projection is that a person attributes his feelings and emotions to the world around him. And if he thinks, for example, that all relatives want him bad, all the police are stealing, all the neighbors hate him, according to the teachings of gestalt therapists, you need to try to find out how the person himself feels towards these people. Ask him how he treats neighbors, relatives, etc. According to psychologists, this technique really helps.
Step 6
The next mechanism to look out for is introjection. This mechanism is the opposite of projection and consists in the pronunciation of statements embedded in the minds of other people. For example, a person often says: “I have to be honest,” “I have to be a good friend,” “I have to love her,” etc. Ask your interlocutor if he is ready to replace the verb "should" with "I want" or in this situation is more appropriate "I do not want?" Help the person understand his true desires.
Step 7
The final defense mechanism, according to Gestalt therapists, is fusion. In this case, the person identifies himself with someone. For example, he says: "We chose the TV, and we like it." Ask the interlocutor to replace “we” with “I” and ask if he can say the same in this case? Merge tracking helps a person communicate more equally.
Step 8
Consider the fact that most people use all of the above mechanisms of protection in the process of communication. But some of them may be prevalent in a particular individual. It is worth overcoming them in order to figure out which emotions and feelings are hidden by this or that mechanism. After all, few people want his communication to be purely formal with shades of falsehood and distrust.
