Elise Jones-Smith Instructor Resources

Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach

Second Edition

1. Before he developed Gestalt therapy, Perls had the most experience with which therapy model?

a. Adlerian

b. Behavioralism

*c. Psychoanalysis

d. Reality theory

2. Which mentor taught Perls to view people as a whole and not just a sum of their parts?

a. Karen Horney

*b. Kurt Goldstein

c. Sigmund Freud

d. Willhem Reich

3. Which of the following ideas did Gestalt therapy adopt from existentialism?

*a. Individuals must take responsibility for their own lives.

b. Our pasts have a great impact on our present.

c. People need contact

d. Humans by nature are good

4. Perls’ saying “lose your mind and come to your senses” is in reference to what Gestalt principle?

a. Recovery from anxiety

b. Unfinished business

c. Meaning making

*d. Being aware of the here and now

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Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

5. What happens if people are unable to work through an impasse?

*a. They repeat the same maladaptive behavior.

b. They develop a neurosis.

c. They are unable to make contact with significant others.

d. Nothing, most people cannot work through an impasse.

6. Which factor was NOT one that Perls considered to make up the bulk of unfinished business?

a. Anger

b. Loss of a loved object

c. Grief

*d. Fear

7. When a child is able to differentiate self from surroundings, he or she has developed
a(n)_____________.

*a. Ego boundary

b. Autonomy boundary

c. Contact boundary

d. Self boundary

8. Sarah has accepted her mother’s view about ways in which someone lives a health life without

analyzing or considering these topics herself. Sarah is practicing_______________.

a. Projection

*b. Introjection

c. Retroflection

d. Deflection
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Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

9. Roger knows that he is unhappy but instead of dealing with his feelings due to fear, he buries himself
in his work. According to Gestalt therapists, Roger would be said to be in

_______________.

a. The phony layer

b. The explosive layer

*c. The phobic layer

d. Impasse

10. Which of the following is NOT true of Gestalt therapy?

a. It is designed for people who want to know the role that they play in their own unhappiness.

*b. The therapist may be inauthentic if it is believed that the client is not ready to embrace reality.

c. Encourages clients to take full responsibility for their behavior.

d. It helps clients differentiate between “I can’t” and “I won’t.”

11. Which of the following is not an aspect of Gestalt awareness?

*a. Understanding the perceptions of others

b. Self-knowledge

c. Self-acceptances

d. Taking responsibility for one’s actions

12. An “I-Thou” relationship between therapist and client means that__________.

a. The therapist has most of the power in the relationship.

b. The client has most of the power in the relationship.

*c. The therapist and client should have authentic communication with each other.
Elise Jones-Smith Instructor Resources
Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

d. The therapist must keep the client focused on the present.

13. Maria’s therapist asks her to “talk” with a frightening ghost figure that has repeatedly been her
dreams. Maria is engaging in__________________.

a. Contact

b. Internal dialogue

c. Unfinished business

*d. Imaginal dialogue

14. What is the purpose of the safe emergency in Gestalt therapy?

*a. To help the client become more self-reliant

b. To free the client from boundary problems

c. To build an authentic dialogue

d. To disrupt the relationship between the therapist and client

15. Which of the following is a rule that Gestalt therapists might use to get a client to be aware of what
is now?

a. Ignore any discussion of the past

b. Ask clients why they continue to discuss the past.

*c. Always use the present tense

d. Assign homework that focuses on the present.

16. Gestalt therapy is a phenomenological approach.

*a. True

b. False
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Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

17. Gestalt therapy was originally called concentration therapy.

*a. True

b. False

18. Gestalt therapists believe that the most important information about an individual lies in their
unconscious.

a. True

*b. False

19. If people are engaged in organismic self-regulation in a healthy way, then they are not aware of their
shifting needs.

a. True

*b. False

20. Unfinished business is past experiences that impact the present.

*a. True

b. False

21. According to Perls, frustration is a significant part of developing the self.

*a. True

b. False

22. Gestalt therapists believe that most people who attend therapy want to change their behavior.

a. True
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Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

*b. False

23. Gestalt therapists are encouraged to share personal information if it will be therapeutic to clients.

*a. True

b. False

24. Exercises are Gestalt techniques designed to bring about certain emotions in clients.

*a. True

b. False

25. The word Gestalt does not have an equivalent English translation.

*a. True

b. False

Type: E

26. Name and define the three critical concepts of Gestalt psychology put forth by Max Wertheimer,
Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka.

a. (1) principle of closure: unfinished figures need to be completed

(2) the principle of proximity: visual stimuli are organized by the distance from one another

(3) the principle of similarity: stimuli that appear to be similar are grouped together

Type: E

27. Describe unfinished business and how it can impact an individual.

Elise Jones-Smith Instructor Resources
Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

a. Unfinished business is unexpressed negative feelings associated with past memories or fantasies.
They exist in the background, out of full awareness and may cause a number of self-defeating behaviors
such as preoccupations or compulsive behaviors.

Type: E

28. Describe characteristics and functioning of an individual who is experiencing psychopathology for
the Gestalt therapy perspective.

a. There is a discrepancy between self and what they believe they should be. The individual is not using
organismic self-regulation so that regulation is from others or from the environment. They resist contact
with others.

Type: E

29. Name three of the criticisms of Gestalt therapy.

a. -Gestalt therapy lacks a strong theoretical base; it is all experience and technique and very gimmicky.

-The theory puts major emphasis on the now and how of clients’ experience. This two-prong focus does
not deal sufficiently with the past.

-The approach minimizes assessment and diagnosis. Even though Gestalt counselors do screen their
clients for appropriateness for therapy, critics have argued that this process needs to be more
formalized.

-Gestalt therapy is too concerned with individual development and is criticized for its self-centeredness.

-Gestalt therapy is considered extreme in this regard.

-Gestalt therapy is effective with overly socialized, restrained people but may not be as helpful for
severely disturbed clients.

Type: E

30. What are two strengths of Gestalt therapy?

a. Gestalt counseling emphasizes helping people to incorporate and accept all aspects of themselves. A
person cannot be understood outside the context of the whole person choosing to act on the
environment in the present.
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Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

The Gestalt approach helps a client focus on taking action to resolve areas of unfinished business in his
or her life.

Gestalt counseling’s primary focus on doing rather than talking helps clients experience what the
process of change is all about.

The Gestalt approach is flexible; counselors can use any strategy that helps clients to become more
integrative.

Type: E

31. What are the multicultural blind spots of Gestalt therapy?

a. Gestalt therapy produces intense client feelings that might be appropriate for European American
cultures but less suitable for Eastern and Asian cultures—cultures that place high honor and respect on
family and parents. Asian clients might find, for instance, that getting angry with their parents in a top-
dog, underdog experiment to be extremely upsetting. Gestalt therapy has three primary cross-cultural
limitations. The confrontative role of the counselor, the intensity of the client’s emotional experience in
therapy, and its highly individualistic philosophy limit the use of this approach for cultural groups that
are more oriented toward the collective group than toward the individual. Gestalt therapy is focused on
the individual. For instance, The Gestalt Prayer emphasizes that each person does his or her own thing.
Some cultures are emotionally reserved, and the intensity of Gestalt therapy may result in cultural
offense for some clients.

Type: E

32. Name two multicultural positives of Gestalt therapy.

a. Counseling techniques can be tailored to accommodate the ways in which culturally diverse clients
perceive and interpret their culture.

Gestalt therapy is especially helpful in getting clients to unite the various polarities in themselves;
hence, this school might be highly effective in working with clients who have conflicting views about
accommodation and assimilation into a particular culture.

Gestalt therapy exercises can be useful for female clients

Type: E
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Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

33. Explain the “making the rounds” technique.

a. This technique is used primarily in groups. In this warm-up exercise, confrontation is at its height.
Frequently, making the rounds is precipitated by a person saying something that the therapist feels
should be expressed to other members in the group. For instance, a participant might state, “I hate
everyone in this room.”

The therapist might respond by saying, “Make that statement to each person here, and in doing so,
express your feelings about each person.” Making rounds may also take the form of asking a person,
“Why are you in touch with in this group?”

Type: E

34. Polster (1987) has presented a three-stage integration sequence that characterizes clients’ growth in
therapy. What are they?

a. Discovery

Accommodation

Assimilation

Type: E

35. Gestalt counselors are inclined to use certain rules in helping clients become more aware of the
now. Name three of these rules.

a. The principle of now

The use of I instead of it

Focusing on how and what rather than why

The conversion of questions to statements

Paying attention to clients’ language patterns

Listening to clients’ metaphors

Type: E
Elise Jones-Smith Instructor Resources
Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

36. Gestalt therapy emphasizes four types of dialogue within the therapeutic relationship. What are
these?

a. Inclusion, which occurs when therapists put themselves as much as possible into the experience of
the client. In doing so, therapists do not judge, analyze, or interpret what they observe.

Presence refers to therapists expressing their observations, preferences, feelings, personal experience,
and thoughts to the client.

Commitment to dialogue between the therapist and the client allows a feeling of connection (contact)
between the two.

Dialogue is active and can be nonverbal as well as verbal. It can be any modality that expresses and
moves the energy between therapist and client.

Type: E

37. Name five Gestalt therapy techniques.

a. Hot seat

Now and here

Top-dog and underdog introjections

Dreamwork

Making the rounds

Role reversals

Homework

Rehearsal

Exaggeration

Withdrawal

Type: E

38. Perls described maladaptive behavior in terms of five layers of neuroses. To become psychologically
mature, we must peel off each of the five layers. What are these five layers?
Elise Jones-Smith Instructor Resources
Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach
Second Edition

a. phony, phobic, impasse, implosive, and explosive

Type: E

39. What is confluence?

a. Consists of blurring the differentiation between the self and the environment. Confluence may be
defined as the loss of the experience of a separate identity. Confluence occurs when an individual’s need
to withdraw is blocked by someone or something. Clients are encouraged to become increasingly aware
of their dominant style of blocking contact.

Type: E

40. Give an example of introjection.

a. A person who meets someone whom he admires may adopt the other person’s behavior,
mannerisms, speech, and beliefs, becoming as much like the other person as possible. The individual
becomes a phony because he has swallowed another person’s behavior wholesale without transforming
it to meet his own personality needs and self-actualization tendency. As a result, the introjected
behavior stands out like a sore thumb.