Re-Visioning Psychodrama, Sociodrama

[Adam Blatner]

Hi, all, cleaning up emails I re-encountered this from Zoli Figusch of Brazil (who now resides in  England  figusch at hotmail.com  and who said (around this last August)...  (and I'm putting this paragraph first, changing the order of paragraphs to emphasize my (adam's) point:

ZF:   While in our western psychotherapy culture the word `psychodrama' tends to primarily refer to an ongoing individual or group psychodrama psychotherapy process (and so is more separated from the sociodramatic practices), in the Brazilian tradition the same term is used in a more generic way to describe all forms of Morenian action methods. It is more of an umbrella term covering not just processual psychodrama psychotherapy, but also a wide range of other applications such as sociodrama, spontaneous theatre, public and open psycho- and sociodrama, street psycho- and sociodramas, living newspaper, playback theatre, dramatic multiplication, etc. 

AB: Yes, interesting. Because many of the people in USA and other countries aren't so comfortable with the term psychodrama, because of its links to psychosis, psychology, psychoanalysis, individual introspection that ignored duties to family and society...
    and drama because of its associations with histrionic, melodramatic, forced catharsis, excesses that are overly self-revealing, threatening to watch, much less do...
     Of course these associations are mistaken. However, we must note they're pervasive.
  In the media, the word psychodrama has come to be used to describe any dramatic situation that shows at least an edge of deep psychological issues, such as not only the infidelities of the famous and powerful, but an edge of their processes of repentance, the frictions with their spouses, etc.   Again, I recognize this is misleading and on occasion have written emails to correct this mis-usage, but these protests fall on deaf ears. It's just the way words get changed... 

    Another alternative is to consider not using the word psychodrama and recognize that what our field is about is tools for creativity. Creativitools. Something like that, which then does open to all the varieties that have fallen under the psychodrama umbrella in Brazil. 

ZF continues        I presented some of these applications together with theoretical and technical innovations and cultural characteristics of the Brazilian psychodrama scene in the two books I edited on this topic (Sambadrama - The Arena of Brazilian Psychodrama, and From One-to-one Psychodrama to Large Group Socio-psychodrama), and thought that some of the issues discussed in these books might be helpful starters for this forum. 

     I would like to invite colleagues from around the World to share and reflect on their experiences of `psychodrama', and how this compares to `psychodrama' in Brazil. On www.connections2010.ning.com (the official site of the 17th Brazilian Psychodrama Congress and the 1st Latin American Congress for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes) I created a forum for discussion, exploration and comparisons of what psychodrama means for each of us within the specific country, setting and culture we apply it in. I hope that this forum can serve as a warm-up exercise to the 17th Brazilian Psychodrama Congress and the 1st Latin American Congress for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes, and that it will provide interesting and thought-provoking information about the work of our Brazilian colleagues.


       I remember the time when I first arrived in Brazil and started attending `psychodrama' events; I was feeling somewhat confused and shocked, as to whether the events I witnessed were psychodrama (as I knew it), or not? It took me a good while to start to understand and come to terms with the Brazilian usage of the word and of the method.

              For example, while psychodrama is most commonly applied in group settings, in Brazil it is also widely used in the therapeutic dyad (the `smallest possible group'), this format calling for modifications of the psychodramatic procedure and having significant consequences to the role of the therapist and the therapeutic relationship itself. Our Brazilian colleagues working in the one-to-one setting have further developed both the theory and practice of this particular modality. 


     aB: so, just to foster explorations. Warmly, Adam

Another interesting area is the socio-psychodramatic work of our Brazilian colleagues with large groups and public events gathering great numbers of participants. Although very closely related to the actual origins of the psychodrama method, working with large groups is a modality that is more commonly applied and written about in terms of sociodrama practice. In the UK for example, there is a rigid delineation between psychodrama (seen as the therapeutic application of Moreno's action method for the benefit of the individual) and sociodrama (the use of the same method with a wider social objective - the therapy of the `socius'), while in Brazil there seems to be a more natural interchange and flow between these areas, this resulting in an approach that is more faithful to Moreno's original socionomic proposal.
      As Rosa Cukier, Brazilian psychodramatist wrote:
          .the psychodrama performed today is not the same as that taught by Moreno [.] Psychodrama has changed and evolved, especially in Brazil. We do not have to be bound to Moreno's assertions and turn these into theoretical conserves. [.] We can pay homage to Moreno not only when we make it explicitly clear what he taught, but also when we make use of our spontaneity to create from what he left us.    (Cukier, R. [2007] Bipersonal Psychodrama - Its Techniques, Therapists and Clients. www.lulu.com p.7.)

But these are just a few thoughts. The forum is all yours.

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