Sociatry

[CGayle]

I perceive Ed as posting his work, which is applying psychodramatic
technique and theory in a most creative way toward sociatry; and sending
accompanying information about where/why his work is being applied.  If he
were working on child abuse issues, we know what that is about.  We have
read about it, know how prevalent it is, studied it, have a variety of ideas
and theories about how to help heal it.  Though this was not always the case
historically.  It was a political issue at one time.  Without the women's
movement, issues such as child abuse and rape would have still been buried
in the dark ages.

 Psychodrama, sociometry, sociodrama techniques, etc. are tools that can be
applied to unending issues.  What is lacking in sociatry vs psychology is
enough theoretical development on which to form applications.  There often
have been discussions on this list on psychological theory, trauma healing,
family dynamic applications, etc.  So why not discussions of sociatry theory
development?  The same psychological theories are not applicable necessarily
to social healing.  Eg, Robert Jay Lifton does excellent work
psychoanalyzing societal dynamics. Yet in a talk here after the Iraqi war
started, the audience asked him, "what can we do?".  He didn't have a clue
and said so.

There is a large umbrella for applications of psychodrama techniques, that
the ASGPP is continuing to support.  Although everyone has to study Moreno
to pass the exams, not everyone is going to have the same resonance to his
sociatry vision.  Yet we are a diverse community in many ways.  I would hope
we could support that and not put everyone in the same psychotherapy box.

I think the fear is what Adam B. mentioned, that the list might dissolve
from political debates, which is a concern.  How about people backchanneling
those discussions/debates, or taking those debates to an ASGPP Forum track?
And postings be relevant to the work we are doing applying psychodrama,
welcoming the broadest umbrella of diversity.  If it's a unique topic/venue
outside of psychotherapy, people could post where to get more information on
that topic for people to access if desired....and do not read if don't want
to.

Cynthia Gayle, CP
Seattle




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Adam Blatner" <adam at blatner.com>
To: <list at grouptalkweb.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 7:26 AM
Subject: Sociatry81907


>
>
>     Dear Ed,  I certainly respect your social concern. I just question the
value of
> re-stating the degree of  trouble we're in and noting all its
permutations. It seems as if
> you're shouting, but as I say, my preference is to focus more on specific
remedies.
> Really, we're talking about consciousness raising, and including  ecology
as part of our
> circle of concern. The next question is, how can we best do this?
>        My approach is to help people strengthen their capacity to address
issues, to
> foster responsibility by increasing their
> >> ability to respond. I hope to do this by broadening their role
repertoire through
> >> including action, sociodramatic techniques, as part of learning. Most
folks don't know
> >> how to role reverse, for example; there's a knack to extending the
imagination this
> >> way.
>        I hope to promote the use of role theory as a user-friendly
language for
> psychology. The world needs to know how to integrate the best insights of
psychology and
> this is more difficult if there's too much weird jargon.
>       Other goals are noted on my website biography. All these are aimed
at strengthening
> the infrastructure.
>  Approaching it from another angle: I think people tend to avoid thinking
about that which
> they cannot think about. Sretching more   than a little bit is experienced
as overloading.
> This is true in sports physiology and psychology, too. In psychology,
Vygotsky talks about
> learning at what he calls the Zone of Proximal Development. I call it the
edge. Folks
> don't learn beyond that zone or edge-region. We can gradually expand that
region. (This
> also relates to the principle of warming-up, but taken to a broader
perspective.) We can
> strengthen the "infra-structure" of skills, knowledge, and attitude.
That's where I see
> many of Moreno's contributions having a common denominator.
>      Shouting about the urgency of the problem, though, may be
counter-productive. Faced
> with the threat of what is experienced by the limbic system as threat,
shame, guilt,
> punishment, the mind shuts down.
>      So I focus on tiny steps, what can be done. This also partakes of (of
all people) B.
> F. Skinner's principles of operant
> conditioning as part of learning theory: Break it down into small steps,
relatively easy
> achievements; and reinforce each step.
>       What do you think? Warmly, Adam
>
>
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