Enhancing readiness to do groupwork

[Peter Howie]

Hi Ramu,

I think you missed Adam's point. He was being so polite and yet you  
seemed to find it somewhat offensive or lets say intrusive or at least  
off the money. The circumloquacious language ( :) ) is getting you  
both in knots I believe.

On the question you posed I have a viewpoint that may or may not  
assist. The work done in psychodrama and psychotherapy groups is not  
something like the work done in a prayer group, a labour gang, a  
project work group or other focused type groups. For the groups just  
mentioned they all require or benefit from a strong warm up to the  
work being focused on. That work does not require much personal  
disclosure, intimacy or preparation to feel a range of emotions and  
responses. This is not to say the work wouldn't benefit from such  
preparedness but it is very unusual that that type of work requires  
it. The work being done in a psychodrama group has many, many facets  
and usually requires much personal disclosure, intimacy and  
preparation to feel a range of emotions and responses. Consequently  
your warm up to the group would be effected by this requirement and  
your resources, preparedness to do it on the day. It could indicate a  
role conflict, or something like an approach avoidance phenomena, that  
you are tired at the end of the day. Of course it could also indicate  
that you have an idea that excitement is required to examine, research  
or work with various aspects of your own life material. This is often  
not the case and sometimes it is more like anti-excitement that  
dominates. A psychodrama group, hopefully, does not require you to be  
a particular way just prepared to work with what emerges. What emerges  
will also be strongly related to to your relationships with the other  
groups members, the group leaders and the various themes emerging in  
the group. If you were after advice I would suggest that you bring up  
this very area in the group.

If you are wanting to access further inner material between sessions i  
recommend written reflection between session.

Cheers

Peter

On 16/03/2010, at 4:39 AM, Ramu Iyer wrote:

> Adam:
>
> I have ventured to do groupwork with the belief that psychodrama is  
> a proven healing process. No one has "hinted to me" that I apologize  
> in advance. The intention to apologize for any inadvertent or out of  
> place observation arose from within myself. Quite honestly, dwelling  
> on what is causing me to do groupwork, who invited me to do  
> groupwork, etc is, in my humble opinion (IMHO), out of scope to my  
> initial question.
>
> Hope this offers some clarity.
>
> Ramu
>
> On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 7:23 PM, Adam Blatner <ablatner at verizon.net>  
> wrote:
> Dear Ramu, I must have missed something? Who is asking you to do  
> groupwork? Who or what program has invited you to participate so  
> that you feel you need to apologize. I for one get the sense that  
> someone has hinted to you that your comment...
>
> RI: "The gentle reader will notice that I am trying to abbreviate a  
> therapy process, which might span over several weeks or months or  
> longer, into terse simplicity or rationalized abstraction. I don't  
> mean to undermine the purity of the psychodrama field or be  
> disrespectful. If I appear to have crossed the line, my sincere  
> apologies. "
>      seems to imply that you feel someone has even indirectly  
> suggested that you are or would undermine the purity of psychodrama,  
> be disrespectful, abbreviate a therapy process... etc .   But I'm  
> not aware of who that is or what invitation that represents.
>
>      I appreciate that you work hard and in spite of that  
> participate as you can in our common endeavor, and I wish you well.
>
>       Warmly, Adam
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ramu Iyer
> To: list at grouptalkweb.org
> Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 9:00 PM
> Subject: Enhancing readiness to do groupwork
>
> I am tethered to a computer on most week days in my job as a Project  
> Manager. I belong to a psychodrama group that meets weekly (not  
> daily).
>
> I am finding that I have a mental challenge or inner block that  
> makes me hestitate while trying to warm-up, access my inner self or  
> conscience and confront the truth about various relationships in my  
> social atom that need to be reconfigured via a series of psychodramas.
>
> The gentle reader will notice that I am trying to abbreviate a  
> therapy process, which might span over several weeks or months or  
> longer, into terse simplicity or rationalized abstraction. I don't  
> mean to undermine the purity of the psychodrama field or be  
> disrespectful. If I appear to have crossed the line, my sincere  
> apologies.
>
> The story of my struggle may be more succinctly descibed as follows:
> I don't mean to blame a computer (inanimate object), but after hours  
> of electronic communication (using emoticons, not emotions), I don't  
> feel a 100% excited to do groupwork.  I earnestly want to do  
> adequate pre-work so that I can be 100% excited to go to group and  
> do groupwork whereby I have found an access to wrestle out of my  
> mental challenge I described earlier.
>
> I thought of posing this question to the GroupTalk community so that  
> I can obtain more feedback and possibly some guidance to learn about  
> other novel choices that I may not have previously considered.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ramu
>
>
> -- 
> equilibrium.roi at gmail.com
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> equilibrium.roi at gmail.com
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