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Gestalt therapy does not consider past history, so problems could arise. More importantly, the counselor must be trained properly because the success of such an approach is highly reliant on the relationship between counselor and client. It has been argued that in order to be a competent counselor in Gestalt therapy, one must have training in Gestalt therapy, knowledge in a variety of other backgrounds, and the counselor must have engaged in personal counseling. It is important to have coninued supervision. if these elements are missing, the potential to harm clients is greater. Untrained counselors may incorrectly use experiments which can cause an abuse of power.

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Improper training could lead to overuse of certain techniques which would decrease the possibility of success. This approach is collaborative in nature so it may not be well fit for a client who is not interested in change. There is an overreliance on self report methods to determine success, which make it difficult to determine how successful the approach really is. Part of this is due to the fact that the nature of this counseling is to "go wit the flow" so a structured setting will not work. Some clients may feel the need to speak their past problems in order to feel validated or as a way to build the relationship, but that is not typical in SFBT because it is so focused on the present moment.

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Gestalt therapy relies on confrontation and it must be done well and at the appropriate times. Counselors can also work with clients to bring their internal dialogues out. One way to do this is by using the empty chair technique. Counselors may ask clients to look at the other side of the situation. During experiments, clients may use rehearsal or exaggeration to intensify their emotions and deepen their understanding of themselves. Clients can work with their dreams, which, in Gestalt therapy, represent internal conflicts. Throughout counseling, counselors will encourage their clients to "stay with their feeling" or let emotion flow as opposed to hiding behind a wall.

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This therapy relies heavily on asking the right questions in order to engage the client in proactive thinking. Counselors can work to externalize problems with the client to give them a different perspective. In order to keep the client engaged between sessions, narrative techniques such as letter writing may be used. Questions about where the client wants to be, and how they hope the future will look can help to set goals. Specific "famous" techniques are discussed in the next column.

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The counselor is able to invite clients into an environment for self exploration. In Gestalt therapy, it is important to be able to experiment with different behaviors and be able to talk about the results of those new behaviors with the help of a counselor. Counselors are aware of, and call out, body and verbal language. With language, counselors ask clients to speak in "I" statements and rephrase questions as statements to reveal power. This confrontational approach requires precise awareness and timing for success.

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Counselors take on a "not knowing" standpoint of everything going on which allows the client to take charge and determine the direction of the sessions. It is not right, in this theory, to assume that certain actions have a particular significance. The goal of the counselor is to point the clients in the direction of change. Counselors using this theory ask a lot of questions.

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Symptoms in this approach are due to unfinished business from one's past. When feelings of the past are left unexpressed, those experiences have a lingering effect that prevent people from having completely effective contact. Those lingering effects are the traditional symptoms that clients may report. Usually clients seek help because of these feelings. They include compulsive behavior, oppressed energies, mistrust/ wariness, self-defeating behaviors, preoccupation with unimportant tasks, etc.

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This approach believes that removing the symptoms is useless, but true change will take care of the symptoms and different perspectives can change a clients perspective about symptoms. By focusing on what is working in a client's life, things will get better therefore symptoms are not targeted.

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The need for this type of intervention comes from one's lack of awareness about an aspect of themselves. Lifes "problems" are actually attempts to simplify a problem, or manage uncomfortable or difficult changes in life. Dysfunction is considered a "creative adaptation to inhospitable situations in a person's life" (Crocker, 2013).

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There is a bit of a non-pathology stance because this therapy is focused on the present moment. While problems come from somewhere, that is not important to the counseling relationship.

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According to Brown (2007) and Yontef and Jacobs (2011) this approach works in the here & now and it teaches the what & how. It affirms the human capacity for growth and healing.

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This therapy focuses on both the present and the future, but gives little attention to the past. How a problem came to be is not important in this type of therapy.

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Gestalt therapy is more confrontational in nature when compared to SFBT. SFBT asks more quesitons in order to allow the client to come to a solution, while in Gestalt, the counselor calls out discrepancies and then give the client a chance to deal with those. Gestalt has a holistic approach, something I appreciate greatly. Gestalt therapy finds similarities between eating and digestion patterns and life communication problems, but SFBT does not have this holistic viewpoint. Both SFBT and Gestaly therapy a focused in the present moment, and while they acknowledge that problems are due to something, they are not concerned about what those previous problems were or how they manifested. In both approaches the personality of the counselor is important as they both share a somewhat relational aspect. Gestalt has a more narrow focus on micro-behaviors such a body language, which is not seen in SFBT to the same extent.

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I like SFBT because it seems to be an empowering technique. I am going into the field of sport psychology, and almost all of my clients will seek my services because they are especially motivated to change. The techniques used in SFBT align well with the techniques often employed in traditional sport psychology settings, such as finding out how the client is already handling the situation, and using scales to get a better understanding of where the client is. SFBT makes sense in the sport psychology setting because typically an athlete comest to a sport psychology consultant with a specific problem. In another perspective, Gestalt therapy works alongside other techniques used in sport psychology because of its holistic view. In sport psychology we work to remind athletes that they have other identities besides just being an athlete, and their relationship with their sport is always changing as the progress personally. Gestalt therapy shares some of those main principles as well. From a team building perspective in sport psychology, there is a large emphasis on contact in the sense that you must learn to be aware of yourself and your teammates in order to effectively communicate and succeed in reaching a common goal.

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Aims to foster awareness about what clients do and how they do it in order to make them more aware of how they can change unwanted aspects of themselves. This theory believes that awareness can help empower and individual to own his or her actions which can help them to value their choices and accept previously denied parts of themselves.

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SFBT aims to develop realistic solutions as quickly as possible. This goal is in response the other techniques that were long, drawn out, expensive, and still did not always meet the needs of the client. In this approach, the goal is to look at what is working in the client's life in order to grow upon those aspects.

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The empty chair technique is a used to encourage clients to share their feelings. The technique uses an empty chair to facilitate a role-played conversation with a person who is not present. The client sits facing an empty chair, but can have the chair as close or as far away as he or she needs. The client is to imagine a specific person (whomever they are doing counseling work with) in that chair. The patient will talk to the person, either to say things to that person that they cannot say in real life, or to practice for an actual conversation with that person.

Another notable technique or theory within Gestalt therapy is the Paradoxical theory of change. It states the you can only become someone different by first fully accepting yourself. "We must become our truth first before we can change from it"

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The miracle question is one of the most well know concepts in SFBT. It was initially created by Steve de Shazer in 1988. The miracle question invites people to pretend (despite their circumstances) that their life has already changed and the problem they were initially in counseling for is gone.
This technique switches the attention from the terrible current situation to what will happen after the problem is dealt with. The focus on the future is one of the pillars of SFBT.
The problem with the miracle question is is can only work its magic once, so the timing must be right in order for it to truly work miracles.

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Both Gestalt and SFBT are focused on solution building

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Both Gestalt and SFBT are focused on solution building

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The vital similarity for me is that both Gestalt therapy and SFBT work form a positive perspective. Energy is invested in a positive way and though Gestalt therapy can be harsh and confrontational, the goal is to encourage clients to come to their own solutions.

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http://www.gestalttherapy.org/publications-resources/#

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http://www.solutionfocused.net/what-is-solution-focused-therapy/

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Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) was developed by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg  in the late 1970's in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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This theory was created by Frederick (Fritz) and Laura Perls in the 1940s as an alternative to conventional psychoanalysis.

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I am drawn to approaches that have a mind-body connection component and to therapies that focus more on the present moment than on previous life experiences. The two theories that I would like to incorporate into my practice as a counselor are:
*Postmodern (solution-focused brief therapy)
*Gestalt