self expression

[Erica Hollander]

Adam and others,
	As to what I had in mind when mentioning that some self expression  
can be destructive, I was thinking of the horrible shooting at the  
Governor's mansion in CO last week.  A young man walked in in a tux,  
declared himself Emperor, and threatened the use of a gun several  
times.  He was killed by security officers.  Just an example.
	Adam, I do not disagree with anything you say,  but do not find it  
answers my query.  Do you agree that self expression is generally a  
good thing in therapy?  I think most of us would.  But I am not at  
all sure that affirmation from others is all that that is about.   
Clearly it is about that sometimes.  I don't know quite what I am  
looking for by way of an answer, but something seems lacking still.
	I guess you could also say that helping others is therapeutic or  
behaving well is therapeutic or doing good is therapeutic, or that  
prayer is therapeutic, or meditation, and maybe all those things are,  
but isn't self expression the very basic idea that we work toward in  
psychodrama all the time?  And it has its limits, in evil, in  
maladaptive behaviors, as we are saying.  But is self expression not  
what we are after when we say "stay a half step behind the  
protagonist"?  We are looking to the process to free the person  
inside the problem from the problem in a sense.  So we have some  
faith in the notion that the person within will be healthy if  
expressed.  That isn't always the case, as Georgia points out.  Yet I  
have found in my work with sex offenders that I have no more reason  
to worry about their self expression in the group than in any other  
groups I work with.    Perhaps I am not articulating this well.   
Muddling through.  erica