Voices from the Past

Gestalt!
Vol. 5, No. 2
Fall 2001

Victor Daniels, Sonoma State University

Abstract: This describes a method developed by Fritz Perls for moving from a present problem to its roots in a past trauma or complex, based on the qualities of a person’s voice, is described. It has as its goal taking the person deeply into a recollection of the past situation, as a prelude to working with it in the present. An elaboration of the method that includes several tweaks by the author is presented.

One of my very favorite books on Gestalt therapy, Erving Polster’s Every Person’s Life is Worth a Novel (now back in print), introduces the concept of “neon arrows.” To the practiced eye or ear, these verbal or nonverbal signals are like a flashing light that points to something in the person that’s asking for attention. One of the most reliable neon arrows appears when someone is addressing a present problem or issue and suddenly his or her voice changes and sounds like that of a much
younger person, often like that of a child. The voice change is a neon arrow that points to a past complex or unfinished situation that contributes to the present dilemma. Perls never let these moments pass.

“How old are you now?” he would ask as soon as the voice change occurred.
“Six,” the person might say, or “eleven,” or “fifteen” —or sometimes even “one” or “two.” The client almost always replies with a chronological age that fits the voice. And suddenly you’ve stepped through a doorway in time and you’re right there in the traumatic past situation, ready to step into it more deeply and then enact it in the present.

The follow-up question is, “Where are you?”
“At my house,” she might reply.
“Please close your eyes and visualize. Are you inside or outside?”
“Inside.”
“In which room?” (We want to be as specific and concrete as possible. If the answer was “Outside in the front yard,” then that’s where we stay.)
“In the kitchen.” (Or “the dining room,” or “the bedroom,” etc.)
Since the situation is emotionally loaded, taking a few moments for a description of the surroundings not only helps the memory retrieve the situation and heightens the sense of reality but also often reduces resistance to dealing with it. Additional useful questions, in quick succession, are:
• “Is it light or dark in the room?”
• “What color are the walls?”
• “What furniture or other objects do you see?
• “Are you aware of any sounds or smells?”
The goal of these questions is to obtain as complete and accurate a sensory representation of the situation as possible, to bring it vividly alive. After answering them, the person is likely to be fully immersed in his or her memory of the past situation, which may be a memory that has been repressed for years or even decades. (At no point should the therapist or counselor EVER suggest a possible answer to any of these questions. “False memories” often originate in the suggestions of inept
practitioners.)

Then into the heart of it:
– “Who’s there with you?”
– “Anyone else in addition?”
– “Are there any other people in the house or outside nearby?
– Who?
– Do you know what they’re doing?”
Get the whole cast of characters. There may be only one person, but if there are more, have the person name or identify each of them.

Next, “What’s going on?”
At this point the client is reliving the event. It unfolds and is told aloud, perhaps for the
first time ever.
• “Daddy is taking his belt off and telling me to take down my pants and bend
over and he starts to hit me with the buckle end;” or
• “Grandpa is telling me I’m stupid and incompetent in front of the whole
extended family at the Thanksgiving dinner table;” or
• “A man with a black ski mask comes in through the bedroom window and
holds a knife to my throat and starts to unbutton his pants and tells me he’ll kill
me and my whole family if I utter a word ” or
• “My diapers are soiled and I’m thirsty and hungry and looking through bars—
they must be my crib—as Mom staggers in the door with some man and yells at me to shut up and stop crying and then collapses.”

You and the other main person in the scene are both fully there in the event. Next you can move into fuller expression, exaggeration, dialogue, or whatever fits the situation. Sometimes one working session
may be enough to mourn, rage, or find the missing capacity for feeling, words, or action. Sometimes repeated sessions are needed. \

After that the rediscovered capacity is brought back into the present existential reality with partner, parent, sibling, coworker, or whoever the issue involves, and is brought to life in the present in dialogue with that person in the empty chair or in a go-around with members of the group.

End