Which of the following is NOT a gestalt technique?

• A. Dream work
• B. Unfinished business
• C. Hot seat
• D. Progressive muscle relaxation

Answer: (D)

In gestalt therapy, the focus is on increasing awareness and contact in the present through experiential, here-and-now processes. Dream work invites the client to re-create a dream in the present moment, having dialogue as the dream figures and expressing how it would feel if it were happening now; this helps reveal projections and how inner content shows up in waking life. Unfinished business brings unresolved feelings from past relationships into present awareness, often through dialogue or role-play aimed at completing the experience and letting go of the charge. The hot seat places the client in the center of attention, encouraging immediate interaction and exploration of self and others in the moment to foster authentic contact. Progressive muscle relaxation, by contrast, is a general relaxation technique that targets physical tension and anxiety but does not center on the here-and-now experiential contact or the projection and role-work central to gestalt therapy. So it is not a gestalt technique.