Effectiveness of Operationalized Gestalt Therapy Role-Playing in the Treatment of Phobic Behaviors

Abstract The Gestalt therapy role-playing technique applied to dreams is based on the assumption that unwarranted avoidance behaviors in a dream are maintained by failing to recognize that the aversive properties attributed or projected to avoided stimuli are self-created. This study extrapolates that the recognition of these projections through the Gestalt role-playing technique can also reduce avoidance in phobic behavior. Twenty-four participants with phobias of long duration were randomly assigned to three groups with operationalized components of the role-playing technique that varied as follows: full treatment (FT) role-playing both the phobic responses and the aversive properties attributed to the phobic stimulus; stimulus role-playing (SRP) role-playing only the aversive properties attributed to the phobic stimulus; and response role-playing (RRP) role-playing only the phobic responses. Across several measures, the two groups that role-played the aversive properties attributed to the phobic stimulus (FT and SRP) were significantly more effective in reducing their phobias than the RRP group, which only role-played the phobic responses. Results are interpreted as support for the Gestalt therapy projections construct. Furthermore, the cognitive restructuring related to the reduction of a phobic response may be achieved more effectively through an abbreviated role-playing technique that focuses on reenacting the aversive properties attributed to the phobic stimulus rather than on the phobic response.