| | By 1993, [[Fritz Perls]] had been dead for nearly a quarter century. His theories and therapy lived on. In The Gestalt Journal's Fall '93 issue celebrating the centennial of Perls' birth, Norman Friedman<ref name = Friedman>Friedman, N. (1993). Fritz Perls's layers' and the empty chair: A reconsideration. ''The Gestalt Journal, XVI''(2), pp. 95-118.</ref>, director of the Gestalt Therapy Center in Queens, reviews the genesis of the topdog-underdog dichotomy, explains the rationale for the use of the "hot seat" in topdog-underdog role playing, and provides examples of therapist/patient interplay a la Perls. | | By 1993, [[Fritz Perls]] had been dead for nearly a quarter century. His theories and therapy lived on. In The Gestalt Journal's Fall '93 issue celebrating the centennial of Perls' birth, Norman Friedman<ref name = Friedman>Friedman, N. (1993). Fritz Perls's layers' and the empty chair: A reconsideration. ''The Gestalt Journal, XVI''(2), pp. 95-118.</ref>, director of the Gestalt Therapy Center in Queens, reviews the genesis of the topdog-underdog dichotomy, explains the rationale for the use of the "hot seat" in topdog-underdog role playing, and provides examples of therapist/patient interplay a la Perls. |
| | The first stage of chairwork is for "the polarity to come into awareness and the patient to take responsibility for both sides," for the patient to "take back" and "own" the projection. The therapist's role in all of this is not to explain, interpret, or soothe, but to "serve as an objective enabler," to "provide a model of openness and authenticity" in order to "bring the conflict out as much as possible so that it may be brought to a head." | | The first stage of chairwork is for "the polarity to come into awareness and the patient to take responsibility for both sides," for the patient to "take back" and "own" the projection. The therapist's role in all of this is not to explain, interpret, or soothe, but to "serve as an objective enabler," to "provide a model of openness and authenticity" in order to "bring the conflict out as much as possible so that it may be brought to a head." |