A gestalt‐experiential perspective on resistance

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.