Trauma, van der Kolk and psychodrama

[Kim Cox]

Hi all,

Just want to share some more feedback I heard from a couple of art therapist
colleagues who have had direct experience with Dr. van der Kolk at
conferences. More food for thought.

Regards,

Kim

*************
"He has a slick way of getting away from conference attendee hoi polloi who
want to talk to him after his presentations. He insists that the cheque be
handed to him at the same time he is told (even though it's not true) that
his driver awaits. So he can nip off and make a clean escape.

Don't know HOW one would ever reverse a bad impression like the one
described. Maybe to be on a panel presenting to him, and you'd have to pay
for his attendance. It may be worth ASGPP's money to do that. Or to purchase
consultation time with him as an association and present newer models of
processing. Or write a white paper for the field making it clear how to
assess and what is contraindicated for trauma survivors, and ask for his
participation in the process."

"What you probably need is a Boston-based colleague arrange to speak at the
local trauma study group, if there is one...particular targets are McLean
Hospital and Harvard. Otherwise, someone would need to corner him this week
in Atlanta or DC (not sure which conference he is going to ) for ISSTD or
ISTSS annual meetings, and have a chat with him. He is pretty approachable
if not immediately before or after a presentation. Otherwise, his assistant
is a nice guy and might pass on an article or something."




On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Edward Schreiber <edwschreiber at earthlink.net
> wrote:

> 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
>
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>



-- 
Kim Cox, NCC, NPO
PackRat Interventions
(978) 241-2145
info at packratinterventions.com
www.packratinterventions.com
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