Person-centered, Gestalt and Behavior Therapy

Person-centered Therapy

Key Figures:

Founder: Carl Rogers
Natalie Rogers

Goals:

1. To provide a safe climate conducive to clients' self-exploration, so that they can recognize blocks to growth and can experience aspects of self that were formerly denied or distorted.

2. To enable them to move toward openness, greater trust in self, willingness to be a process, and increased spontaneity and aliveness.

Techniques:

Active listening and hearing, reflection of feelings, clarification, and "being there" for the client.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gestalt Therapy

Key Figures:

Founders: Fritz Perls and Laura Perls
Miriam Polster and Erving Polster

Goals:

1. To assist clients in gaining awareness of moment-to-moment experiencing
2. To expand the capacity to make choices. Aim not to analysis but at integration.

Techniques:

Experiments are co-created by therapist and client through I/Thou dialogue. Therapists have latitude to invent their own experiments. Formal diagnosis and testing are not a required part of therapy.

Behavior Therapy

Key Figures:

B.F. Skinner
Arnold Lazarus
Albert Bandura

Goals:

1. To eliminate maladaptive behaviors and learn more effective behaviors.
2. To focus on factors influencing behavior and find what can be done about problematic behavior.

Techniques:

The main techniques are systematic desensitization, relaxation methods, flooding, eye movement and desensitization reprocessing, reinforcement techniques, modeling, cognitive restructuring, assertion and social skills training, self management programs, behavioral rehearsal, coaching, and various multimodal therapy techniques. Diagnosis or assessment is done at the outset to determine a treatment plan. Questions are used, such as "what" "how" and "when" but not "why". Contracts and homework assignments are also typically used.