Re:Help - resistance

Dear Psych Student

You've raised a number of differing concepts and questions in the one post so I hope my reply can do yours justice.

To follow from what I've said before, I realise we are stepping into language to dicuss living processes as we talk here. Language which tends to freeze and pin point and fix living processes into words on a page. And yet language can be essential and beautiful and full of wisdom.

Persl says that basically Awareness and Contact and being present are all aspects of one and the same process. (In Gestalt Approcah and Eyewitness to Therapy 1973).

And if we go to far enough down that road every thing is everything... so lets not even bother talking or using words. :-)

At the same time differentiation and discrimination are important... particularly for survival. When a plane is crash landing in an ocean we want to know the difference between the words Exit and Toilet.... doesn't help to tell us they are all part of the same aeroplane :-)

Erv and Miriam Polster in their book From the Radical Centre offer some lovely definitions of these terms, with due reference to PHG. They talk of awareness as a perception process and contact as an energised exchange process between the organism and environment... yet still with the flavour of Fritz's quote as each being part of the all. This is why I think GT has come up with concept maps such as the Awareness or Experience Cycle or the Contact Episode, to help map these processes as part of a wider geography - a bit like trying to map a river when we are used to mapping the land.

(To confound matters further PHG states early on that the distinction of a seperate organism in the environment, as such, is an illusion - and at the same time accepts that these words are being used to convey meaning etc... so it is useful to hold this as we read these authors.... a bit like a Buddhist talking about trusting your self when the self is also an illusion)

Now as to resistance, Erv and Miriam in their book Gestalt Therapy Integrated talk about four types of behaviors which can be called Repressed; Blocked; Exhibitionist; and Authentic. Repressed is where we keep a certain response out of awareness through a now automatic process or reflex. Blocked is where we are aware of a posibble response but purposely hold back. Exhibitionist is where we try the response and don't feel it is fully US yet... and authentic is smooth effortless integrated responding. (We could deconstruct all these words I know)

Rich Hyncner and Lynne Jacobs in their book The Healing Relationship in Gestalt Therapy (Gestalt Journal Press 1995) offer some very interesting perspectives on this use of theory and meaning attribution as regards Resistance. Lynne Jacobs in Chapter 8 talks about the way in which her exposure to Self Psychology and Intersubjectivity has shifted her practice of Gestalt therapy with resistance.

"In my own practice, my foreground has shifted. Where I once saw defences and avoidances, I now usually see developmental strivings, however awkwardly or conflictually pursued. If I look at the same behavior from two different perspectives, I arrive at two different intervention styles as well. The defense model permits, perhaps encourages, confrontation. From the perspective of develoomental strivings, confrontation is generally less appealing."

Hycner, R and Jacobs, L. The Healing Relation in Gestalt Therapy. The Gestalt Journal Press, Highland New York 1995.

While I don't fully agree with what Lynne says about these two perpsectives ( I don't think the causality is as clear as this and people with defense models may see these as cues for MORE support, for example), this statement demonstrates the key importance of the role of words and theory and meaning to the PRACTICE of Gestalt therapy.

Holding all these perspectives as true (or a perspective on truth) is a challenge and touches the paradoxical nature of therapy and theory. Hence with the quotes you've offered from PHG I can at times hear the different authors talking (Perls Hefferleine or Goodman) from their reality of therapist philosopher or mystic. The first quote is clearly the therapist talking about doing therapy. The second is the theoretician discussing the organism healing unfinshed business. In other parts the notion of a seperate "therapist" or "organism" is clearly described as an illusion and a convience of terms.

Holding that each of these perspectives, like the two statements you raise, are true and not mutually exclusive is a challenge. It is easier to go with EITHER the therapist is doing the work OR the organism is self healing. More challenging to consider both processes are at work together, as in a dance.

In essence I greatly enjoy your keen perception on resistance and I hope my answer does not walk too far on the Narrow Ridge between the gulfs where there is no sureness of expressible knowledge AND AT THE SAME TIME the certainty of meaning that exists...

Brian

Replies:

Re:Help - resistance, by Psych Student, 06/02/03

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