Oh, god, I hate that stupid empty chair. I won't do it, either, though I think my T has found other ways to get the basic technique into our work.

The key to Gestalt, as I understand it, is focusing on what's going on with you in a given moment, not necessarily what you're saying. So when I discuss my trauma, we might pause and talk about how tight my chest feels, and how that's typical of fear, and how I feel scared now and probably felt terrified then. The fear loosens a bit, as we talk about it, and then I go on describing the trauma and we back up again to look at how I becoming detached.

I've learned to try things with T, and I can always discard them or choose not to try them again, but the one effort can be really helpful.