Sociatry

[Edward Schreiber]

In response to Cynthia's comments, I would like to comment
only on the last paragraph in which she wrote,
"I think the fear is what Adam B. mentioned, that the list might  
dissolve
> from political debates, which is a concern."

My comment is simply that I think it is healthy for us to debate our
work as colleagues. One great contribution Adam Blatner has always
offered to me (and us) is to think through our perspectives as fully
as we can and to offer a defense in a scholastic debate.  I love that  
idea
as long is it is focussed on theory and/or application of Moreno's  
ideas.
We can all grow from scholarly debate!  I know I can.

Ed
>

On Aug 19, 2007, at 2:26 PM, CGayle wrote:

> 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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