[IAGP:PSYCHODRAMA] wherefore Morenian Work?

[Peter Howie]

Dear Adam,

Here I sit supposedly getting ready for our Australian and New Zealand  
Psychodrama Association executive meeting prior to our conference in  
Sydney, which unfortunately is now fully booked out and bursting at  
the seams. With Yaacov Naor running a pre-conference workshop and some  
sessions, and heaps of other good stuff.

So with no time on my hands let me craft a few quick responses.

I am with the thrust of what you are saying and encouraging us to do.  
And....

I also think there is a more powerful argument  or a more powerful  
process for arguing for these methods. I think I think in this way  
because I am presented, on a daily basis, with the "answer" in one or  
other forms of therapy, social discourse,
social experiment, social necessity, truth and versions thereof. This  
last week I ran into two new therapies, both of which cure people of  
emotional blockages without the need to examine the reasons for those  
blockages. RAW and EFT. Rekindled Ancient Wisdom and Emotional Freedom  
Techniques. So I need to know what makes what I do significant or at  
individuates it from a plethora of other things available. Here are  
some draft thoughts:

The techniques are a direct result of the application of certain  
principles. It is these principles that can better be presented and  
worked with. This then will lead to a wider application of Morenian  
thinking to a wider range of applications. What are these principles?  
Mostly I am thinking about ones like those listed in Kate's book on  
Psychodrama : 1) The warming up principle 2) Creativity 3) Spontaneity  
4) encounter 5) tele 6) co-conscious and co-unconscious 7) role 8)  
role vs ego 9) role reversal and 10) action (p 30  The Handbook of  
Psychodrama). putting asied the language and getting with the language  
from a Morenian perspective I don't believe these are replicated,  
except in part, in other frameworks and methodologies.

My solution, intellectually, is to view these principles as part of a  
meta-process (a process that incorporates or includes other  
processes). Given this there is no need to compete with other ideas  
but to incorporate where required or where trained to do so. I use the  
Whitaker and Lieberman group focal conflict model a bit - does  
everyone have to. Did Moreno (apart from being friends with them)? The  
Morenian methodologies, or psychodrama which is often used to include  
all Morenian thought, have plenty of room to incorporate other ideas  
and wisdom. But that doesn't necessarily compete with these other  
ideas. Most ideas are an approximation of reality anyway. (The rest  
aren't even an approximation :) ). I find that the idea of warming up,  
in groups, individually, between people, in relationships, in  
encounter is a very powerful idea. And it, generally, doesn't exclude  
other ideas.

So here is my draft thinking so far on this topic.

Cheers and back to the work

Peter


On 15/01/2010, at 9:34 AM, Adam Blatner wrote:

> Question: Is this a welcome idea or one that is too radical?
> Psychodrama as a field may have become overly identified with the  
> method of classical psychodrama as a form of group psychotherapy  
> itself, whereas it really represents a very broad complex of  
> concepts and techniques---e.g., role theory, sociometry, sociodrama,  
> axiodrama, philosophy of creativity, spontaneity development,  
> imagination development, role playing in management training and  
> education, the living newspaper and overlaps with other types of  
> applied theatre, and so forth. Each of these contributions of Moreno  
> can and should be developed further---Moreno was the seminal  
> thinker, but his work as a cultural conserve should not be relied on  
> as representing the "finished product."
> Although classical psychodrama is a natural epitome of synergy of  
> many of many of Moreno's tools---just as Grand Opera is a synergy of  
> song melody writing, orchestration, lyrics, melody, song  
> performance, dance, staging, stage-set design, etc.---yet each of  
> these components can also be used separately, and they retain  
> significant value this way, also.
>
> With this spirit I want to propose our field move in several  
> directions. First, psychodramatic methods and concepts can be  
> integrated with other types of therapy, rather than continuing the  
> mid-20th century tradition of feeling a need to choose and then  
> remain loyal or constrained to only one "school" of therapy.
>
> Second, these concepts and methods transcend the therapeutic concept  
> and need to be applied in many other cultural settings---education,  
> business, government, religion, clubs, general education, personal  
> development, etc. Warmly, ADam Blatner
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
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Peter Howie
Director





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