ABSTRACT
Experimentation is one of the cornerstones of gestalt and some gestalt therapists consider it to be a fourth pillar alongside field theory, phenomenology and dialogue. Philippson discusses three experimental methods: enactment with awareness, exaggeration and reversal. These three ‘families’ of experimental methods can form different phases of the same experiment. This chapter presents abridged versions of a fictitious session to show the three experimental methods. The function of an experiment is to heighten awareness and increase contact in the present. It may then lead to alternatives of what could be but not what should be. In grading an experiment therapists need to consider the dialectic of strangeness/familiarity and manage this in such a way as to sustain energy at the contact boundary as venturing too far along the continuum of the ego-alien will result in withdrawal and can shame the client.
