Which of the following is NOT a gestalt technique?

• A. Dream work
• B. Unfinished business
• C. Hot seat
• D. Imagery journaling

Answer: (D)

Gestalt therapy focuses on awareness and contact in the present moment, using active, experiential methods to bring unresolved feelings into current experience. Dream work fits this approach because dreams are explored as living expressions of the here-and-now self, with each dream figure treated as a part of the dreamer that can be noticed, dialogued with, and integrated in the present. Unfinished business targets lingering, unexpressed feelings from past interactions; the process helps the client re-experience and complete those emotions in the session, freeing present contact from old tensions. The hot seat is a technique that puts a person in the center of the session to intensify a present issue, inviting immediate feedback, reflection, and self-awareness through the group or therapist’s prompts. Imagery journaling, while valuable in many therapeutic approaches for exploring inner images through writing or drawing, is not a standard gestalt method and does not center the here-and-now experiential contact in the same way as the others.