A gestalt therapist is most likely to deal with a client's projection via which technique?

• A. Free Association
• B. Dream Analysis
• C. Desensitization
• D. Projection Technique

Answer: (D)

In gestalt therapy, the focus is on awareness in the present moment and taking responsibility for one’s own feelings. Projection happens when you attribute your own uncomfortable feelings or traits to someone else. The projection technique uses experiential, here-and-now approaches (often involving chair work or other enactments) to bring these projected aspects into the client’s awareness. By having the client voice the projection as if it were inside themselves or address the other person as the carrier of that trait, the material is owned and explored directly. This helps the person see that the feeling or trait is part of them and work toward integrating it, improving authentic contact with themselves and others.

Free association and dream analysis come from psychodynamic traditions and focus on uncovering unconscious material, while desensitization is a behavioral technique for reducing anxiety. They don’t target projection in the same way gestalt therapy does.