Humor in Gestalt & Psychotherapy: Two Article Reviews
TWO JOURNAL ARTICLES - CRITIQUE
The two journal articles which I critique have in common the construct of humor (spelled in both international journals as humour). I will examine humor in the first article as a construct. It is utilized as a tool, as a component of therapy but I will examine the very basic underlying nature of humor as a construct and as a phenomenon that can be appropriately and adequately utilized in a gestalt modality (particularly tied to existing gestalt therapy tools). In the second article I will examine the actual use of humor – the specific functioning of humor as a therapeutic tool or therapeutic mechanism within the psychoanalytical modality. In brief, in the first article I critique the use of humor as a construct suitable for the gestalt therapy paradigm and in the second I critique the use of humor as a tool, actually used as a portion of the psychoanalytic therapeutic modality.
Humor in gestalt therapy – curative force and catalyst for change: a case study (Jacobs, 2009)
This article is the description of research by gestalt psychologist Susanne Jacobs, centered on the case study of a 13-year-old girl who had endured significant condition of worth losses (including family unit, parental involvement, physical contact, trust, identity structure, etc.). She was placed in a therapeutic setting where the gestalt therapist made the concerted efforts to evoke a therapeutic methodology that incorporated humor as a mechanism for the girl to modify and correct boundary disturbances, and develop adaptive and useful deflective mechanisms rather than the maladaptive deflection mechanisms that she was currently exhibiting. The two goals of correcting boundary disturbances and development of appropriate deflection mechanisms were specifically articulated in the article.
I believe that the holistic nature of gestalt therapy has often led to what behaviorists or cognitists or even psychoanalysts might describe as a less structured methodology of
The two journal articles which I critique have in common the construct of humor (spelled in both international journals as humour). I will examine humor in the first article as a construct. It is utilized as a tool, as a component of therapy but I will examine the very basic underlying nature of humor as a construct and as a phenomenon that can be appropriately and adequately utilized in a gestalt modality (particularly tied to existing gestalt therapy tools). In the second article I will examine the actual use of humor – the specific functioning of humor as a therapeutic tool or therapeutic mechanism within the psychoanalytical modality. In brief, in the first article I critique the use of humor as a construct suitable for the gestalt therapy paradigm and in the second I critique the use of humor as a tool, actually used as a portion of the psychoanalytic therapeutic modality.
Humor in gestalt therapy – curative force and catalyst for change: a case study (Jacobs, 2009)
This article is the description of research by gestalt psychologist Susanne Jacobs, centered on the case study of a 13-year-old girl who had endured significant condition of worth losses (including family unit, parental involvement, physical contact, trust, identity structure, etc.). She was placed in a therapeutic setting where the gestalt therapist made the concerted efforts to evoke a therapeutic methodology that incorporated humor as a mechanism for the girl to modify and correct boundary disturbances, and develop adaptive and useful deflective mechanisms rather than the maladaptive deflection mechanisms that she was currently exhibiting. The two goals of correcting boundary disturbances and development of appropriate deflection mechanisms were specifically articulated in the article.
I believe that the holistic nature of gestalt therapy has often led to what behaviorists or cognitists or even psychoanalysts might describe as a less structured methodology of
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