Awesomeness

FWS 1168-107 Discussion Prompt

Opening Exercise:

Ask class to define Gestalt Therapy.

Form of psychotherapy that focuses on the here-and-now of the client’s circumstances and the environmental and social aspects of a person’s life resulting in their overall situation. The patient’s personal responsibility is also emphasized in an attempt to make them more self-sufficient.

Have the class write a short journal entry on a time in their life where they felt the need to see a therapist or more specifically felt overwhelmingly anxious, angry, sad, depressed, irritable, confused, or self- conscious. All of these are symptoms of neurosis a disorder which is targeted to be treated by Gestalt therapy and other services provided by Esalen institute or est.

Discuss why they may have been feeling this way and if Gestalt therapy would have been able to help them.

What differences do you see in the origins of Esalen to that of est?

Esalen originated with major influence from Aldous Huxley and the human potential movement. Richard Price and Michael Murphy collaborated to form an organization that would help people recover human potential and experiment the effects of different philosophies and psychotherapeutic techniques on those seeking self help.

Est was founded by Werner Erhard and the creation of this establishment could be considered out of the blue and very recent as it opened for business in 1971. Est Americanized the human potential movement in a sense and seemed like its founder ventured into the self help business for profitable reasons.

What do you think is problematic with the est began its foundation?

Because est Americanized the human potential movement there was a lack of tradition in its practices. This could possibly have disrupted the way Eastern philosophical practices were exercised or even altered the aims and instructions of some of the self help therapies. Erhard also attempted to learn about different philosophies and practices that Esalen...