Dr. Donovan's Ethical Dilemmas In Gestalt Therapy

Michael has been referred by his parents to Dr. Donovan, a practising Gestalt therapist in Fredericton, as they have concerns about their son’s anxiety and his development of depressive symptoms. Dr. Donovan specializes in Gestalt therapy; therefore, she will perform her assessment and treatment with this approach in mind.
Ethical Dilemmas Serval ethical dilemmas may become present during Michael’s time in therapy. In Gestalt therapy the therapist purposely frustrates the client, not protecting them from discomfort or responsibility. The therapist may even display undesirable responses to towards the client, such as acting bored or irritated, or even falling asleep as the client speaks. This abrasive response may cause Michael increased anxiety
To guide Michael to achieve awareness, Dr. Donovan will first have to remove Michael’s layers of neuroses. She may begin by asking Michael how is feeling at this moment in time, to get a sense at which level of neuroses he is at. Considering Michael’s description of being a model student, showing no problems academically and behaviourally, he will mostly initially give off this persona as he is being assessed. As a reflex of his anxiety, Dr. Donovan may notice Michael fidget and perhaps rub at his eyebrow also as he talks, this will prompt her to make an awareness statement about these non-verbal responses (“What are you doing with your hand?”). This in turn will have Michael become aware of his physiological responses when he is anxious, something he may not have noticed he did. She does not wish to stop this behaviour, but merely to have Michael become aware of his non-verbal responses so he can cope with these responses. With his verbal and non-verbal language on opposite polarities, Dr. Donovan will know she needs to remove the phony layer. Michael’s phony layer is his academic prowess in his French immersion program and his involvement in extracurricular activities, which seem to be from the influence of his parents. She may inquire about how Michael currently feels about being in the French immersion program or his extracurricular activities. Observing how Michael responds to this, both verbally and through his body language, she will respond to him to remove that phony layer. If he says he enjoys both those things, she may ask “If you enjoy them, why do your parents sometimes need to prompt you to attend soccer and swimming?” or inquire if he chose for himself to be in the French immersion program. This will cause Michael to become aware of his own wants that might have been merged with that