Which technique uses the empty chair among its core methods?

• A. Behavioral Analysis
• B. Gestalt Techniques
• C. Cognitive Restructuring
• D. Narrative Therapy

Answer: (B)

The empty-chair technique is a signature experiential method used to bring unresolved feelings and inner conflicts into the present moment. In Gestalt work, clients are invited to dialogue with another person or with a part of themselves by alternating between chairs and speaking from each perspective. This concrete enactment helps you experience sensations, emotions, and thoughts in real time, increasing awareness and encouraging responsibility for your own role in patterns of interaction. The aim is integration and self-understanding through direct, here-and-now exploration, which is a hallmark of Gestalt approaches.

Other approaches focus on different mechanisms. Behavioral Analysis emphasizes observable behaviors and reinforcement histories, not dialoguing with imagined others. Cognitive Restructuring targets changing distorted thinking patterns through cognitive reframing, rather than experiential role-play. Narrative Therapy centers on externalizing problems and rewriting personal stories, which can involve storytelling but does not rely on the empty-chair dialogue as a core technique.