Chile

[E L]

Jorge

I wanted to comment on the violence in Latin America you mention. My
experience is with Chile. I've found that even after twenty five years or
more that people don't want to talk much less to reverse roles. The pain
stretches the human being beyond the capacity to comprehend. (These people
are not in psychodrama.)

My experience, specifically, is with the friends of the famous La Nueva
Cancion Chilena singer and Profesor Victor Jara who, in 1973, was arrested,
to_rtured and murdered by unknown agents of the state and found dumped with
forty-four bullets in his chest. I met many of his friends and talked with
them being very careful and considerate of the extreme post traumatic
syndrome present in them. (Please note that some of them are and/or were
members of La Izquierda: MIR and Manuel Rodriguez.)

My own approach was to have a very light touch and to let them talk as much
or as little as they liked. (It was not therapy but conversation.) As well,
I reversed roles with them (not a good idea, perhaps) and felt that pain
thoroughly if not the actual experience. I will not and shall not recommend
this but I allowed myself to be stretched beyond the capacity to comprehend
then I wrote what I felt in a dissertation and a novel. Eric



> >
> >" ...As far as I can understand correctly what you want to convey I agree
> with your point on role reversal: it is not even always indicated but
> sometimes impossible or even worse contra-indicated (up to the point that it
> could be considered in those cases as a serious professional fault). I am
> working a lot with trauma clients. In my experience it depends so much on
> the individual situation: the type of trauma, the fase of the treatment, the
> protective ressources because identification with the aggressor is always
> one of the core subjects for victims and role reversal may just reinforce
> this self-damaging tendency. In La Coruna Natacha and me were giving a
> conference and large group work on non-violent, peace building interventions
> in groups. In the discussion one woman from El Salvador stated that she was
> a former guerrillera but she was still unable after more than 10 years of
> therapy, self experience and becoming herself a helper for others to forgive
> their torturers or make the role reversal with them. She just commented by
> that one intervention we had explained which tries to reduce the
> de-humanization of the "other", the "enemy"  and  the spiral of
> destructiveness and revenge (but not by role reversal). This led to the very
> important discussion about our (us as therapists) own limitations to forgive
> and our own hidden search for revenge which we have to admit and to work on.
> >
> > All the best, regards
> >
> > Jorge"
> >
>
>
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