danger...

[Regina Sewell]

Bill,

Thanks for encouraging me to clarify.  When I said I think it's 
dangerous..  I was referring to robocounseling doing psychodrama...  I 
do not think psychodrama itself, when done by a skilled practitioner who 
has worked significantly through their issues, is dangerous.  I don't 
even think it's dangerous in my neophyte hands, because I have a keen 
awareness for what I don't know and will not take someone someplace in a 
drama that I am not sure that I can get them out of.  And I agree, any 
counseling in unskilled hands or in the hands of someone who hasn't done 
their own work can be dangerous.  The first counselor I saw, in college, 
at a time when I desperately needed help was dreadful.  I actually heard 
him on the phone in the hall as I was leaving the session talking about 
me to someone and saying he didn't know what to do.  I was mortified and 
hopeless and didn't go back to counseling for 9 years...   and only then 
because I was a mess and couldn't work on my dissertation.

Cheers,
regina


On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:00 PM, list-request at grouptalkweb.org wrote:

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>    1. Danger and Robocounseling (William H. Wysong)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:29:29 -0700
> From: "William H. Wysong" <iqwysong at gmail.com>
> Subject: Danger and Robocounseling
> To: list at grouptalkweb.org
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>
> Hi Regina and Grouptalk:
>
> Regina you wrote, "I am worried that it [psychodrama] is dangerous." I
> believe any modality is dangerous when the therapist is unskilled, 
> uncaring,
> discounting, or inattentive.  I have experienced dangerous situations 
> in
> Freudian psychotherapy, person centered therapy, behavior therapy, 
> Play
> Therapy, Gestalt, TA, NLP, EMDR, and other modalities.
>
> Psychodrama especially gets bad press because some onlookers think 
> that they
> can do psychodrama in their practice with no training; try it out on a
> client; the client gets into deep feelings; and the therapists don't 
> know
> how to handle it. (They weren't taught that in college.) Then they 
> tell
> others how bad psychodrama is for clients.
>
> Also many therapists believe they are put together well but have not 
> worked
> on their issues, no matter whether they have an undergraduate, 
> graduate,
> doctorate, or some other professional degree. When seeing a 
> psychodrama they
> tap into those unresolved emotions that should have been resolved in
> college; they too speak ill of psychodrama. In most college programs 
> there
> is no mechanism for students to work on their issues. Our deep, 
> meaningful
> work did not happened in college but in our personal psychodramas.
>
> Of course we have to fight against people?s fear of just the name and 
> the
> image it conjures. Some people say psychodrama is dangerous and have 
> never
> seen one or, if they have seen a psychodrama, don?t really know the
> protagonist?s experience and resulting life outcome.
>
> Psychodrama is the most powerful therapy I've ever known. It can be 
> stunning
> or terrifying for an observer who has unresolved issues. Perhaps you, 
> like
> me, experienced that. While watching my first psychodrama, the 
> universality
> factor allowed me to experience my own emotions.  And that was 
> followed by
> the wonder of sharing when we, the group members, told how we 
> identified
> with the psychodrama and discovered we were not alone.
>
> What might have looked dangerous in the psychodrama wasn't and the
> protagonist purged a lot of debilitating emotions and beliefs. I was
> invested in the group and the protagonist because of a good warm-up,
> inclusive sociometry, a good director, meaningful action, and the
> completeness of sharing. (We've heard all of that many times.)
>
> Sharing can alleviate stunning or terrifying or any other emotional 
> aspects
> of a psychodrama. Unfortunately, many don?t share because they don?t
> understand the purpose and importance of sharing, how to do it, and/or 
> are
> not given permission or the time to share.  As a director I try to 
> give
> complete information and encourage people to share anything they
> experienced, even if it seems to have no relationship to the 
> psychodrama.
>
> To spread the word, teach others, and alleviate fear about 
> psychodrama,
> contact growth-oriented collectives and the professors at local 
> colleges
> with counseling, psychology, and social work classes and volunteer to 
> do an
> action demonstration in the classroom (or meeting). Psychodrama fits
> exceptionally well with group counseling classes. If you are 
> interested in
> how I handle this, please send me a note at iqwysong at gmail.com.
>
> Onward?..Bill Wysong
>
> P. S.  About Robocounseling?It?s just another thing that hurts 
> psychodrama.
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