related schools

[Adam Blatner]

     Hello, Listserve, what do y'all think of this discussion? To restate, I would like to influence the Board of Examiners to expand and refine their policy and section on "related methods" in the Board Exams. As in the guide, it... well, it needs re-examination.
        
         The exchange with Peter Howie below may add to this exploration. 


I've considered a number of other related fields. 
    In my book on Interactive & Improvisational Drama (an anthology that I edited), there are chapters on over 30 approaches that are as related to psychodrama as, say, Montessori education----and one could well argue that their relation is even closer. Approaches such as process drama in education, theatre in education, Theatre of the Oppressed, Playback Theatre, bibliodrama, etc.--- all might be considered.
     In my chapter on psychodrama in Corsini & Wedding's Current Psychotherapies text, I note other related fields, such as the Pesso-Boyden System Psychomotor (see their book, Movement in Therapy)--- which some psychodramatists have been integrating; Hal & Sidra Stone's "Voice Dialogue." In Corsini's Handbook of Innovative Psychotherapy, there are many other approaches. 
      Related to drama therapy, there's also expressive arts therapy (mixing two or more modalities, including drama)--- and again some international psychodramatists do this. All the variations of drama therapy are also related.
      There are approaches to improvisational dance/movement work that bridge to the spontaneity work in psychodrama.
             and on and on. 

   ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Peter Howie 
  To: Adam Blatner 
  Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 12:20 AM
  Subject: Re: related schools


  Hi Adam,

  Yes lets keep the conversation in the open space.

  Cheers

  Peter

  At 10:05 PM 10/26/2007 -0500, you wrote:

    Yes, I agree, that Ellis is an important school---becoming increasingly obscure here.  Funny you should say that he's in any way at all like Moreno. I can't see it, but perhaps if you prod me I will. 
     
       Re postmodern, I've been messing with that. Let's just say that any trend---liberalism, existentialism, new age, postmodernism, etc. can be done foolishly as well as wisely. So those who espouse postmodernism to excuse bland anything goes are misusing some good ideas. It shouldn't be seen as a coherent specific movement, though.
        As for science being the criterion for assessing psychotherapy---i.e., hard data--- in the USA, cognitive behavior therapy is a modality that can be assessed more specifically. However, I think it misses many things.
         I'm pretty dubious about the degrees to which science can measure or assess much of value in psychology. It hasn't addressed love much, or "cute," or meaning. A bit more on happiness, and little that isn't pretty intuitively obvious. 
          I might concede that this or that research has shifted our thinking, but 96.92% (I just make these numbers up) are "Duh," as in "Duh, that's pretty obvious, dude."   Research done by college and grad students to get their careers started. Perhaps I'm unduly cynical. 
     
           One postmodern concept I do sustain is the inclination to view as a political maneuver (to inflate status and be worthy of increased salaries, grants, etc.) the efforts to claim the aura of great science by following the methods. Basically, I see this as equivalent to being a loyal toady in the church and thus being promoted. Authority, I suspect, is at least 53.6% given not on the basis of demonstrated competence in or for the role but on the basis of loyal service, nepotism, heredity, ruthless psychopathy, being non-threatening to a superior, or malleable, being bought (simony), etc. I refer to authority in almost all human institutions. 
     
          Anyway, do you want to include listserve again in this conversation? 
     
     
     
        

      ----- Original Message ----- 

      From: Peter Howie 

      To: list at grouptalkweb.org 

      Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 6:13 PM

      Subject: Re: related schools


      Hi Adam,


      I don't think The RET folks think they are out of date - they have a somewhat thriving or at least enthusiastic mob around here. Having been 'done on stage' by Albert Ellis on one of his many Aussie trips I can heartily endorse people knowing about his perspective - his essential ideas are Morenian in many ways - i.e. biases in our worldviews lead to view our experiences as bad or miserable. What I liked most about him was the ways he talked about other therapies and approaches - he was scathing about psychoanalysis, jung, glasser and almost everybody else for whom there was no research or didn't agree with his perspective. It was refreshing to hear given that there is so much post-modern acceptance of almost everything as good. 


      I would have though that there needed to be some organisational development models as well - the Systems Theorists - Snowden et al and others, perhaps Action Learning and Action Research. But I am not sure if sociodrama and hence cultural, community and organisational theories are part of the North American training process.


      Keeping standards up to date is a labor of love and invaluable to members. go for it.


      Cheers


      Peter Howie

      Brisbane, Australia
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