What do you think of Gestalt Therapy?

I had a free initial session with a psychotherapist today. He used Gestalt Therapy techniques and I didn't really like it. I didn't like role playing and switching chairs and talking to an empty chair and pretending it was various aspects of myself such as my emotional self vs my cognitive self. I don't really see how doing this for several sessions is going to improve my life situation. It also made me feel slightly anxious and disoriented with all the switching of chairs. It was weird. Have you had Gestalt Therapy and if so, what did you think?

I had 8 years of therapy with a gestalt therapist and we never did role play or switching chairs once. She was more about being aware of the whole self - physical and emotional. But no role play.

I have some training in gestalt and my ex t was gestalt. I eventually had to leave her because I didn't like the way she was doing therapy with me. We used to do the occasional experiment ( empty chair, switching chairs, talking to parts of yourself). I didn't mind it now and again but if t had of done it on my first session I don't think I would have gone back. T was more interested in getting me to feel my emotions and noticing what was happening in my body. She often used a technique that I began to hate. If I got angry or upset she would mimic me but really exaggerate me by pretending to be a child. I really hated that and asked her to stop but she continued.
I felt bullied and intimidated by her in the end. People often talk about Fritz Perls ( the founder of gestalt ) being a bullying psychopath.
I would trust your instinct on this and either try a new t or tell this t that he was using to many experiments and you felt discombobulated after session. Sometimes with gestalt therapists and I really noticed that in my training with them that the therapy is more about them than the client.

My T is a schema therapist, and draws on Gestalt. We do role play, chair work and imagery sometimes. We didn't start this until we had developed a rapport. I can understand how it would be very comfortable in a first session, but I like the techniques personally.

My T is gestalt. It's more about higher awareness, importance of feelings in the present moment, and how I can change using this understanding. And it's been very helpful for me. I don't like role playing and talking to empty chairs, so we don't use these techniques or use them very rarely (when I feel like they could really help).
And yeah, I don't think throwing empty chair, so to speak, in the client's face is a good idea for a first session.

Sounds like when someone learns something new and is a hurry to try it out. Not taking u into consideration at all.trust your instincts on this one.

Thank you. This was extremely helpful. I was watching a YouTube video of FritzPerls and a client last evening and although I didn't know anything about him my thought was that he was bullying the client and making her feel uncomfortable for no good reason. I didn't see where there was much enlightenment of the client's problems. Also, Fritz Perls did seem to reference himself a lot in the session. The video session made me feel very uncomfortable and I asked myself "What is going on here?" but you clarified a lot for me. Thank you.

I also could not tolerate a therapist mimicing me as a "technique" as that sound very cruel. Thanks again. Your reply was very helpful.

Thanks. I think maybe this particular counselor wasn't a good fit for me. His office seemed well-used so I don't think he was new at Gestalt. He had a lot of stuffed animals in there because he dealt with trauma victims. I don't know if he had many kids who were clients or what. I don't know. I think I felt a bit creeped out by the office and stuffies and several empty chairs. In the past I might have tried to push these feelings away, so I am very happy you said "trust your instincts" because something felt off in this session.