self expression

[HV Psychodrama]

Dear Erica,
    I think you are articulating this very well. I also deal with some very 
disturbed people whose 'self expression' has been  extremely damaging to 
others. If we take into account the concept of spontaneity things get 
clearer. Spontaneity is something we psychodramatists value highly. So is 
self expression. But just as there can be pathological spontaneity, which I 
suspect likes a lot like impulsiveness, there can be pathological self 
expression.
Rebecca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Erica Hollander" <ericahollander at comcast.net>
To: <list at grouptalkweb.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 6:19 PM
Subject: self expression


> 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
>
>
>
>
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