psychodrama, action methods, Morenianism et al

Wed Dec 12 23:24:10 CST 2007

Dear Adam,

I like the succinct description for starts
:
         A 
complex of techniques and principles for types of active, improvisational role 
playing that are useful not only in therapy, but also education and other 
contexts.
anath

From: adam at blatner.com
To: peterhowie at macquariehouse.com.au; list at grouptalkweb.org
Subject: Re: psychodrama, action methods, Morenianism et al
Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2007 20:52:26 -0600
CC: dianaj at orgdev.co.nz

What is psychodrama? 
   1. It would be worthwhile for there to 
be a combination of symposia of major trainers at the major conferences of major 
organizations (ANZPA, ASGPP, BPA, FEPTO), plus a sharing and a delegation of 
responsibility to hammer out an international consensus. This would take more 
back-and-forth and more input from at least five trainers on each continent. 
This input would be woven into the IAGP and other contexts for more input, 
incubating there. (I'm thinking of a parallel general process that went on about 
what diagnoses and criteria go into a revision of the latest psychiatric 
diagnostic manual.) 

          Your point about 
adapting it for different audiences is, I think, important, because the real 
answer is or should be aimed at "outsiders" who want and need to hear a succinct 
answer that will attract them to learn more. 

   2. For starters, what do you 
think of:
         A 
complex of techniques and principles for types of active, improvsiational role 
playing that are useful not only in therapy, but also education and other 
contexts. 

    3. Peter, I think your analogy 
to chewing gum is amusing and has some advantages. I envision our colleagues in 
management, education, and therapists who have hardly heard about 
psychodrama---and in the wider therapy community, the chances are fair that 
those who have heard about our method may have encountered misleading 
second-hand information (e.g., there are many therapists who are against 
psychodrama because of what they've heard third-hand, and for other reasons). 
(See my papers on historical distortions of psychodrama.)

     4. Well, that's enough for 
now. Warmly, Adam

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: 
  Peter Howie 
  To: list at grouptalkweb.org 
  Cc: Diana Jones 
  Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 5:54 
  PM
  Subject: psychodrama, action methods, 
  Morenianism et al

Hi All,

Changing the name has many problem elements. As 
  some of us have experienced this with the tele discussion - some 
  recently wanted to replace it with rapport and some thought otherwise. A name 
  is only what we make it out to be - of course this is a social contructivist 
  approach to knowledge formation - that is: we jointly come to a loose 
  (sometimes very loose) agreement about what knowledge is, and we arrive at it 
  thourgh discussions that use the term, discussions about the term, referring 
  to it in other ways and eventually that is what the knowledge becomes 
  irrespective of what anyone else thinks it is - it has no external 'truth' - 
  unless of course we all decide that it does have some external truth in which 
  case it then does:)

No, the psychodrama one is what I am on about. Many 
  people have no idea about psychodrama the word, the method, what it is, what 
  it is not - so often the response is "What is that". In todays marketing 
  oriented world this would be seen as an invitation - and what every modern 
  marketer is after is an invitation from a potential client. How you or I 
  answer that question is what I am trying to work out.

Answering the 
  question "What is psychodrama?" is quite tricky and depends to a great extent 
  on why the person who is asking the question is doing so. Have you ever heard 
  or ever found yourself, when asked that question: pausing, looking slightly 
  glazed, internally picturing the vastness of psychodrama, experiences, 
  teaching, applications etc etc, and then saying something like "It is a 
  method...." or "It is a form of drama that..." or "it is a type of theory" or 
  "It is something developed by..." or "It is done by trained...." or "The 
  training requires ten gazillion hours of ...."  or "Its a bit like 
  (something else - role play, story et al)   :)

If anyone 
  asked me what chewing gum was I would say "Something you stick in your mouth 
  and chew on."

I wouldn't talk about how it was discovered, how it 
  improves gums, how it reduces plaque causing bacteria, what it is made of, the 
  different flavours available, how it is cheap.

I could also say 
  "Something you can blow bubbles with"

I wouldn't be likely to talk 
  about the companies that produce it and how the US companies produce the best 
  chewing gum (I would save that for the chewing gum convention), nor would I 
  talk about the corporate takeovers and how Mars confections rules the world, 
  nor about three three differrent roots of the gum, nor the difference between 
  natural gum from trees and natural gum from oil and gum made as a byproduct of 
  other things.

I could say something like "It tastes great! Here try 
  some."

I wouldn't be so interested in talking about the social 
  advantages of chewing gum, not chewing gum, the rituals around gum, what the 
  gum is doing under that table, how rich people only chew gum in 
  private.

I might say "Sorry I just ate my last piece."

A rather 
  long winded allegory I think. But it captures something about how I respond 
  when asked about psychodrama. One thing I am really conscious of is that when 
  I talk about psychodrama I am more conscious of what I think a person ought to 
  hear, should hear, needs to hear, must hear about it. I am less conscious 
  about the world view of the person asking the question and phrasing the answer 
  in terms that make sense to that person. I am mostly conscious of my world 
  view and how much I love it. My world view and my love for the method has 
  developed over many years. 

Anyway this email is a belated response to 
  creating new words. Creating new words is good if there is something new that 
  is created that has few or no antecedents. Psychodrama, sociodrama, 
  sociometry, role training are some og these words - including tele amongst 
  these.

I am still trying to find my versions of "Something you stick in 
  your mouth and chew on" for describing psychodrama - and not in a dumbing down 
  manner.

Cheers

Peter in Brisbane

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