robocounseling

[CGayle]

Oy vay.
Is this something asgpp or abe can contact person and ask them to not 
describe as "psychodrama"?
Cynthia Gayle


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Regina Sewell" <reginasewell at optonline.net>
To: <list at grouptalkweb.org>
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 10:39 AM
Subject: robocounseling


> What do I think of this.....
>
> On one hand, it's nice to see psychodrama out there.  On the other.... I 
> am worried that it is dangerous.  There is a reason we have to have so 
> much training.  There is a reason we need to do a practicum.  All the 
> studies show that the most curative aspect of counseling is relationship 
> between counselor and client.  The most curative aspect of goup counseling 
> is also relationships between group members...   the notion of crashing 
> through the sense of our individual isolation and uniqueness into the 
> bigger cosmic whole of universal suffering...   about using transference 
> between group members to heal through relationships in the outside world.
>
> regina sewell ph.d. / m.ed. pc
>
>
> <Paul N. Adams announces that RoboCounsellor now offers the option of 
> tabletop psychodrama at www.robocounsellor.com, where conventional 
> counselling is available free of charge 24/7. Adams started 
> computer-delivered counselling and self-development in 2006. He started 
> working full-time with counselling and self-development in 1972.
>
> Background: Jacob L. Moreno developed psychodrama in the 1930s and 40s. 
> There is a stage, often simply a table and chairs. There is a 
> director/therapist and a hero and villain, with a supporting cast and an 
> audience. The client would usually play the part of the hero, the drama 
> being some issue in her past, present or future life she wishes to work 
> on. Other people play the other roles. In this way, hidden thoughts and 
> feelings are brought to the surface and often expressed, and catharsis — a 
> release of feeling — can occur. Later analysis can help bring about a 
> change in thinking and feeling about the issue explored.
>
> Tabletop Psychodrama is based on this, but modified for RoboCounsellor 
> use. The client sits at a table, or suitable flat surface, with the 
> computer and various small objects like tissue boxes and tin cans. At 
> RoboCounsellor's direction, the client writes out an outline of this 
> particular scene, then draws a represention of herself in that scene on 
> paper, which she then wraps around a can, say. She would then position her 
> character front and centre on the stage, facing in to the action, not out 
> to an audience. She would create the other characters and place them in 
> their correct relative positions on the stage.
>
> When directed, she would then run through the scene. She would start by 
> inhabiting her own character on the stage, usually with her head 
> positioned directly above it, voicing each part herself, moving the 
> characters around on the stage as appropriate, breathing life into the 
> whole scene. She can whisper lovingly, yell and swear, nurture, ignore, or 
> even destroy a character as she chooses. RoboCounsellor will then direct 
> her to write a summary of anything new, any change of viewpoint or feeling 
> she has about the issue. She will then play through the action, one scene 
> or many, again and again until the topic is no longer an issue. She can 
> choose from seventeen variations, including focusing on the emotions, 
> another's viewpoint, spiritual/cosmic aspects, what-if scenarios, and many 
> more.
>
> Advantages of the RoboCounsellor approach include cost, convenience, 
> privacy, and the fact that the other players don't interject their own 
> pre-conceptions inappropriately into the client's memories or imagination.
>
> RoboCounsellor now has three session modules, delivering Rogerian Therapy, 
> Transactional Analysis and Tabletop Psychodrama. Adams plans to have the 
> next one online by the end of November.
>
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