Trauma, van der Kolk and psychodrama

Sun Nov 8 21:53:57 CST 2009

Adam thank you for your objective perspective on this. The history of this is that Bessel van der Kolk experienced something at our conference. That may not be debatable, unless we were able to review the actual details of the psychodrama and than have a discussion with Bessel about the Drama. a scenario not likely to take place.
But we could offer him some statistics that contradict his statement. Can people suggest articles that offer a researched documented contradiction to his statement??

We are making the world a better placeJ Thanks Dave

David Moran LSCW, CCDP, CP

Consultant Isagenix International

Vice President ASGPP

http://sz0036.wc.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/h/%3Cspan%20class=" yui-spellcheck?>http://www.isamovie.com/" target=_blank>http://www.isamovie.com/
mindbodyandhealth.isagenix.com/" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://www.mindbodyandhealth.isagenix.co...
facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.weightlosshalloffame.net%2F&h=cbe251c7e6d9cb8ab73b9f86c109c4b3" target=_blank rel=nofollow __untrusted="true">http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.weightlosshalloffame.net%2F&h=cbe251c7e6d9cb8ab73b9f86c109c4b3

----- Original Message -----

From: Adam Blatner 

To: list at grouptalkweb.org

Sent: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 03:42:26 +0000 (UTC)

Subject: Trauma, van der Kolk and psychodrama

Just some additional thoughts:

    This problem of people getting a bad feeling about psychodrama is perhaps more common 

that most folks want to recognize.

   What if 23% of people practicing psychodrama today treat trauma and do indeed 

re-traumatize, or fail to follow-up, or fail to shore up sealing-over defenses, or do the 

various other buffering maneuvers that Kate Hudgins and her colleagues have worked out?

      What if most of those people haven't paused to even consider that there may be a 

number of refinements to the earlier model of simple abreaction, have never bothered to 

read Kate's book?

       Might it be an even higher percentage? How could we find out?

     Let it be said, though, that one of the reasons for the establishment of the American 

Board of Examiners was the flurry of dismay and the feeling of the need for more 

professionalism in the mid-late 1970s as the news of casualties from encounter groups and 

personal growth workshops were coming in.

       It was an era in which the authority of the patriarchy was fading. (Even women 

directors who acted like male professionals in the 1960s could be patriarchal in this 

sense.) Themes of informed consent, awareness of sexual harrassment and dual 

relationships, expansion of the awareness of trauma and abuse, all were emerging in that 

period and over the next decade.

       Just because something was called therapy, and even if the therapists believed with 

great sincerity in their method and that they meant well, that did not make the treatment 

actually therapeutic. There are scores of examples in the history of medicine in which 

such efforts were (in retrospect) terribly anti-therapeutic! Or at least there were for a 

certain not-insignificant percentage of papers "un-intended consequences" or side effects.

       So the bar was raised as to what constituted positive results.

Second: Of the many kinds of treatment, the treatment of trauma is often far more complex 

than the treatment of many other conditions. There are often other complicating factors, 

subtle addictive patterns, colluding or enabling relationships, threats to other 

relationships, and so forth. A careful assessment is needed, but is often not done.

Third: Psychodrama should be thought of properly as a type of surgery, to be resorted to 

when needed and for clear indications---and the lack of contraindications. There is a 

spectrum of types of therapy that use some, a moderate amount of action methods and 

Morenian principles but still that's not pure or classical psychodrama. It is possible 

that some---perhaps many---patients aren't ready for the classical format.

Then again, there's the problem of follow-up. But perhaps that opens up many other issues.

It would be nice to see if the impression Dr. VdK was given can be counteracted.

Warmly, Adam

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "HV Psychodrama" 

To: "ASGPP grouptalknew" ; "Edward Schreiber" 

Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 8:54 PM

Subject: Re: Trauma, van der Kolk and psychodrama

> Bessel Van Der Kolk was very disturbed by a workshop he saw at our conference when he 

> was the keynote speaker a number of years before. Judy Swallow has spoken to him...I 

> think she sent him Kate Hudgins book. Judy has a somewhat removed connection with him. 

> You might try contacting her..

> Rebecca

> ----- Original Message ----- 

> From: "Edward Schreiber" 

> To: "ASGPP grouptalknew" 

> Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 8:01 PM

> Subject: Trauma, van der Kolk and psychodrama

>

>

>> Dear Colleagues,

>> I had dinner tonight with a psychologist out here in Western Mass.   She is in private 

>> practice, but worked in a clinic serving  traumatized kids

>> and families for many years.  In any case, she was concerned about a conference she 

>> recently attended in the Hartford, CT area, in which

>> Dr. Van der Kolk as the keynote speaker.  Interestingly enough, he mentioned yoga and 

>> "theater" as helpful in the resolution of trauma. This

>> colleague has known of our method for some time so she raised in  front of 300 people 

>> the question to him, about the work of J.L.  Moreno and

>> psychodrama.  This conference was a few months ago.  Dr. Van der Kolk resolutely 

>> announced psychodrama as counter-indicated for the

>> treatment of trauma, suggesting abreactive nature of the method, as  he experienced it 

>> some time ago, makes the situation worse for  traumatized

>> patients.

>>

>> Does anyone know how to reach him, what we might do to address this  with him?  Does 

>> anyone have a connection with him and why might he

>> be saying this - around the country - about psychodrama?

>>

>> Ed

>>

>> Grouptalk mailing list

>> List at grouptalkweb.org

>> http://grouptalkweb.org/mailman/listinfo/list_grouptalkweb.org

>>

>

>

>

> Grouptalk mailing list

> List at grouptalkweb.org

> http://grouptalkweb.org/mailman/listinfo/list_grouptalkweb.org

> 

Grouptalk mailing list

List at grouptalkweb.org

http://grouptalkweb.org/mailman/listinfo/list_grouptalkweb.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://grouptalkweb.org/pipermail/list_grouptalkweb.org/attachments/20091109/df34f9b0/attachment.html>