canders, no, I haven't done the classic Gestalt technique of "empty chair," but I have done some Gestalt style stuff in therapy. It works for me and can I just say, "it is very cool!!" It has especially helped me resolve issues from the past, including trauma.

For example, in therapy I dialog with people from my past (but without the empty chair). What would I say to these people? And I say it, and T helps me along sometimes with prompts. I also dialog with different me's from the past, different ego states. The now "me" talks to them and tells them things, and I report back on what they say so the T can tell what is being said, because of course he can only hear my end of the conversation when it is with a younger ego state of mine. Sometimes I tell him where my ego states are in the room. My little girl tends to come sit right next to me on the couch, and I can just turn to her and talk, or I hold her on my lap.

We also do fairly classic Gestalt dreamwork. Mmmmmm, my favorite. This style dreamwork examines each part of a dream as if it is a part of you. So any characters in your dreams actually represent different aspects of yourself, rather than the people seen. So, for example, instead of my sister representing my sister, she may represent my anger.

Maybe this sounds kind of far out there, but Gestalt therapy has been around for a long while. You can always give it a try, and see if it is helpful for you. If not, tell your T and ask to try other techniques. It has taken me a while to discover what is helpful to me in therapy. Gestalt techniques help me, CBT not so much. For another person, it may be the reverse. Do you feel Gestalt will be helpful to you? Does it sound appealing? If the empty chair part of it is too intimidating, ask to try it without the chair, instead using your imagination.

There are some good explanations of Gestalt on the web. I 'll look up my references later and post a good one here.

Good luck. How exciting! Therapy can be such an adventure.

sunny