Gestation Period

[Adam Blatner]

 Dear Georgia,
       Thank you for reminding us of Pesso's work. As you may remember, I was impressed 
with it back when I was first learning about psychodrama, in the later 1960s. Our field 
needs an infusion of positive energy and novelty, and one way to achieve this is to 
transcend Morenian thought and recognize that Moreno was himself plugging into 
psychological dynamics that transcend any particular school. It has elements of imagery 
therapy, a touch of hypnosis, the roots of creativity theory, social psychology, 
action/dance, and so forth, and many others developed approaches without Moreno's direct 
influence. While honoring Moreno, we need not over-idealize him and thereby undervalue the 
importance of others. I see medicine and science progressing in this aggregate fashion, so 
that investigators in many fields can be given credit, but the fields--such as cancer 
research--don't represent this or that "school of thought."
         Of course, what I'm getting at is a plea to write up and publish your work and 
comment on the ways Pesso-Boyden system complements, adds to psychodrama, and how 
psychodrama might in turn add to PBSM.

        Re Gestation: Alas, your report (and possibly Pesso's) lacks sufficient scientific 
support to satisfy practitioner of evidence-based medicine (EBM). People made similar 
claims after encounter group workshops, est workshops, Primal Therapy workshops, etc.  The 
brain scan measurements would have to have a significant number and be paired with a 
control group who did some similar activity, such as, say, singing together.

             Nevertheless, I think it is so that a mixture of catharsis, reformed 
auxiliary technique (Jim Sacks' term for enacting an emotionally re-educative 
experience--that term introduced by the psychoanalyst Franz Alexander--), and other group 
elements, validating re-decisions about what Adler called the four questions of character 
formation:  who one feels oneself to be, others to be, what life is about, and how one 
must cope in order to survive. All can shift a bit in certain procedures.

    Warmly, Adam Blatner


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "georgia rigg" <georgiaarigg at yahoo.com>
To: "Adam Blatner" <adam at blatner.com>; <list at grouptalkweb.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 11:12 AM
Subject: Re: Gestation Period


> Dear Adam and Manuela--In regards to the "gestation
> period" question.  Pesso reported last year that not
> only changes in social and emotional behavior took
> place almost immediately following a psychomotor
> therapy session, but measurable changes in the brain,
> per PET scans, took place after only two psychomotor
> sessions.  I had an amazing experience last December
> in work with him, that resulted in me moving to
> Washington state and starting a new training program
> there, also after one psychomotor structure.  This is
> why I continue to be fascinated with the combination
> of psychodrama and psychomotor therapy, and the
> potential of the combined approaches in helping people
> heal from trauma, as well as make new and simple
> everyday life decisions and changes.  Happy holidays
> to all!  Georgia Rigg
> --- Adam Blatner <adam at blatner.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Manuela,
>>       I've not encountered any research in any type
>> of psychotherapy, much less psychodrama, that
>> addresses this rather intriguing question you bring
>> up.
>>           The problem with gestation is to piece out
>> what impacts any elements of the therapeutic process
>> may have had from the ongoing process of development
>> in life.
>>         Sometimes, though, as you suggest, people do
>> report a dramatic or at least noticeable change--
>> but this is anecdotal. It would be interesting to
>> hear what folks say about that, in their experience.
>> I suspect many directors have some stories about how
>> clients have reported significant shifts after a
>> moving session.
>>
>>          Trying to do research on therapy itself is
>> most tricky, because the problem is that people
>> often react to other circumstances, change due to a
>> mixture of variables, in or outside of therapy.
>>             Example: Recent research on back surgery
>> shows that there is little difference after 6 months
>> in outcome between those who have had surgery (which
>> does show statistical improvement in symptoms in the
>> first 2 months) and those who just do physical
>> therapy, exercise, etc.    So it is well known that
>> people tend to heal. This is often true in
>> psychotherapy, also, that many symptom complexes
>> resolve or lighten in time even without therapy.
>>              There are also the many variables of
>> group therapy noted by Yalom, so it might not be the
>> procedure itself which was the change agent, but the
>> mixture of the group, hopefulness, expectation, rise
>> in morale, group sharing, etc.
>>
>>          I'll be interested in what comes from
>> others.
>>
>>         In addition, on a slightly different level,
>> I'm so happy to see a bridge-building between the
>> communities in Europe and the communities in the USA
>> in psychodrama because of your work with Connie
>> Miller. Thank you for that, too!
>>
>>        Warmly, Adam
>>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>>   From: Manuela Maciel
>>   To: List at grouptalkweb.org
>>   Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 9:21 AM
>>   Subject: FW: Gestation Period
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>   De: Manuela Maciel
>> [mailto:manuelamaciel at mail.telepac.pt]
>>   Enviada: sábado, 9 de Dezembro de 2006 15:13
>>   Assunto: FW: Gestation Period
>>
>>
>>
>>   Dear Psychodrama Colleagues
>>
>>
>>
>>   Does anyone know about "gestation period" studies
>> /research for the full impact/effectiveness of a
>> psychodrama session?
>>
>>   Please let me know.
>>
>>   My impression is that it changes the length of
>> time that it takes to really have an impact on a
>> person`s life.
>>
>>   But my amazing bexperience with the last Souldrama
>> workshop in May (with more than 30 people) is that
>> people (many of them my patients in  group therapy)
>> started to report real change after September
>> (around 90 days after). Does this make any sense to
>> anyone?
>>