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A gestalt‐experiential perspective on resistance
Author(s) -
Engle David,
Holiman Marjorie
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.1141
Subject(s) - psychology , gestalt psychology , ambivalence , resistance (ecology) , experiential learning , perspective (graphical) , anxiety , social psychology , intervention (counseling) , psychotherapist , perception , pedagogy , ecology , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , computer science , biology
The authors present background on the gestalt‐experiential understanding of resistance, conceptualized to be either resistance to awareness or resistance to contact . The authors discuss why they do not use the term resistance and describe the phenomena as a client's self‐protective attempt to avoid the anxiety necessitated by change. Such resistant behaviors occur outside a client's awareness and often result in an ambivalence or conflict about change. The authors also describe using in‐session experiments as a way to engage with the client in exploring such a state of ambivalence or conflict. Finally, they respond to the case studies presented elsewhere in this issue and propose intervention strategies consistent with the gestalt‐experiential perspective. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 58: 175–183, 2002.