Gestalt therapy is based on existential principles with the goal for clients to become complete and whole individuals. Concepts include personal responsibility, unfinished business, and the here-and-now. Gestalt asks "What?" or "How?" rather than "Why?"

Goals of Gestalt:

1. Achieve self-awareness
2. Ability to take responsibility for ones actions and behaviors
3. Develop skills necessary to satisfy needs without violating the rights of others or one's own moral standards.
4. Acquire morals
5. Move from environmental support to internal support
6. Have a willingness to help others and ask for help when needed

Role of Therapist in Gestalt Therapy:

The therapist needs to be "fully present" during therapeutic encounter. Growth occurs due to genuine contact between two people; it is not due to the imposition of techniques or interpretations from the therapist. The counselor has to be creative in helping the person deal with the here-and-now, unfinished business, and allow the client to believe that he/or she has the capacity to grow.

Gestalt Techniques:

1. Empty chair - the client addresses an empty chair as if another person or aspect of himself/or herself (i.e. feeling, personality element) were present
2. Dream work - does not involve the therapist interpreting or analyzing the dream, rather it assists the client in bringing the dream to life as if it were happening now with the client as part of the dream
3. Body awareness - raising awareness of where in the body feelings are associated through breathing techniques or reflecting inconsistencies between verbal reports and body language.
4. Exaggerating a behavior - counselor will have the client exaggerate specific movements to aid in understanding feelings
5. Game of dialogue - therapist joins with the client in a discussion, not by controlling the discussion, but by participating in the same manner as the client
6. Fantasy approaches - therapist will walk the client through a guided imagery of a triggering event and encourage the client to share what is felt in the moment, increasing awareness of feelings through the triggering event
7. Internal dialogue exercise - client role-plays the conflict he/or she experiences, being both the controlled and the controlling element at the same time
8. Making the rounds - client either engages with a group of people or it may be done in a formal therapy group, and the client is to speak with each member or do something with each member (this assists the client in learning confrontation skills, taking risks, and self-disclosure)
9. Rehearsal exercise - client will rehearse out loud with the therapist a specific task or dialogue
10. Reversal technique - therapist will ask the client to do the opposite of his/or her behavior, acting out a scenario in the opposite manner to gain insight and understanding in the here-and-now
11. Playing the projection - therapist will ask the client to play the role of the individual with whom they are not connecting
12. Exaggerating feelings - technique to get in touch with feelings