self expression

Sun Jul 29 19:24:10 CDT 2007

I am remembering a group in which a very disturbed man was the group chosen 
protagonist. I did a simple social atom with him. He adored being the 'sun 
in the center of by universe" and had the chance to be the center of 
attention is a spontaneous and unpathological way. It shifted the way the 
group saw him. I see that in the children with whom I work. I have also seem 
people labeled sociopathic respond well to the gentle confrontation from 
being appropriately doubled.
  Sociometry plays a big part in this. There is a lot of healing as people 
'work through' their sociometric challenges. Pathological self expression 
can shift into more spontaneous self expression. The big problem is with 
such short treatment models there isn't time to discover and uncover a good 
deal of the less obvious sociometric connections and fissures, let alone 
intervene.
      Last Wednesday was the first time in years where we had several girls 
on the adolescent unit who had been there long enough to develop some trust 
with me and with other.  They had been terribly destructive with one another 
as only young adolescent girls can be, jockeying for who is in and who is 
out, being brutally 'self expressive'. By the end of some sociodrama and 
some sociometry ( who do you trust and why..who do you wish trusted you more 
and why...) we ended up with some heart felt recognition of hurtful 
behavior, apologies and a commitment to dealing differently (with more 
spontaneity) than before. I will find out in a few days if it worked.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "georgia rigg" <georgiaarigg at yahoo.com>
To: "HV Psychodrama" <hvpi at hvc.rr.com>; "Erica Hollander" 
<ericahollander at comcast.net>; <list at grouptalkweb.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 6:48 PM
Subject: Re: self expression


> Hi Rebecca, Erica, Adam, and all, I ask us to consider
> the concept of empathy in this as well.  What is the
> purpose of self-expression?  To be more of the group?
> To be more separate from the group?  To be included
> and appreciated in the group as a Self?  How many of
> us have had the experience of (I like this term!),
> pathological self epression--realizing that we felt
> very low empathy for the person, as did the group, and
> the person did not notice the lack of connection.  I
> think a lot in terms of my blend of psychodrama and
> psychomotor therapy, and contact with other humans is
> a vital ingredient in anything I do.  Georgia
> --- HV Psychodrama <hvpi at hvc.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Grouptalk mailing list
>> > List at grouptalkweb.org
>> >
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