self expression

[georgia rigg]

Erica, Adam and others, It is interesting to be living
1700 miles from my native Colorado, and realizing that
I feel a special sense of loss when something like the
shooting at the Governor's mansion takes place.  Awful
things have happened here in Washington since I moved
here a year and a half ago, and there is something
about an awful thing happening where I am emotionally
"placed", that has me think, "that shouldn't be
happening in Colorado!".  Well, it shouldn't be
happening anywhere, and it is, and maybe that is part
of what this is about.  If you are having trouble
articulating your thoughts in this area, Erica, I do
not think you are alone.  Self-expression--expression
of the Self.  Wouldn't this be a highly valued
experience in the work that we do?  Do you remember,
(and maybe this is a sign of my advanced age!) what
Foster Klein used to say about unattached youth, or
psychopaths, "It's the difference between apples and
onions--you can find the core in an apple, with an
onion you peel and peel and end up in tears".  So if
someone is going to have a moment to express their
truest Self...and we encourage this in our
groups...that means we believe that that Self exists. 
There are receptor sites in the brain for all sorts of
things--pleasure and happiness included.  Would
manifesting Self not impact on one of those sites? 
OK, neuropsychologists, what about this aspect? 
Georgia Rigg
--- Erica Hollander <ericahollander at comcast.net>
wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grouptalk mailing list
> List at grouptalkweb.org
>
http://grouptalkweb.org/mailman/listinfo/list_grouptalkweb.org
> 



       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's 
Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when. 
http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/222