Gestalt Therapy is a model of well-being whereby an individual experiences a need, takes steps to meet that need, and then the need recedes into the background of their consciousness. In the fully functioning individual, couple, family or culture this process is supported in an organic/natural fashion. Nature models this endeavor for us perfectly; however we’ve learned to interfere or interrupt this natural process.
Move on to the next labyrinth to learn how we do this.
In Gestalt Therapy there are 5 primary ways our natural process is interrupted or interfered with: Introjection, confluence, projection, retroflection and deflection.
Introjection – occurs when one is confronted too quickly with something that they can’t cope with. It is the process whereby one incorporates into themselves standards, attitudes, ways of acting and thinking, which are not truly theirs. This mechanism is used as an attempt to control what is happening to them from the environment, making the self responsible for what actually is part of the environment.
Five layers of personality: cliché layer, role layer, impasse layer, implosive layer and explosive/alive layer. The cliché layer is represented by “cocktail talk” and token greetings which typically bear no or minimal relation to authentic contact. This layer is typically driven by introjects of expected, culturally accepted behavior. With the role layer, one meets the environment from the identity of one’s jobs or roles (i.e. forman, business owner, mother, grandfather etc…).
A paradox is at the center of the final labyrinth.
Change occurs when one compassionately becomes what and who one is, not when one tries to become what and who one is not. Often, qualities about our true nature are criticized or disregarded and we learn to become something other than ourselves to belong or adapt. The paradox of change occurs when we accept being as we are.
Then when they go to the center of all the labyrinth’s there will be a artistic/primitive/archtypal looking question mark ?
