book review-another

[Connie Miller]

Book Review by Dr. Kate Kirk, published in the 

British Journal of Psychodrama and Sociodrama, 

Autumn / Winter 2007, Volume 22, Number 2, pp. 39-41

Psychodrama: Advances in Theory and Practice

Edited by Clark Baim, Jorge Burmeister and Manuela Maciel

ISBN 978-0-415-41914-7 (2007) pp.318 £18.99 London: Routledge

This gem of a book has been worth waiting for, with twenty-five authors from
around the world describing their current thoughts on advances in
psychodrama theory and practice. It does read as ‘current’ and
up-to-the-minute thinking, firmly based in Moreno’s philosophies, yet added
to, made fresh, new and importantly relevant for this century. If the book
has one overriding theme it is one of integration, thoughtful and with
purpose. The book is divided into two distinct sections, the first focuses
on new perspectives in psychodrama theory and the second on developments in
psychodrama practice and research. 

Blatner’s opens the first part of this book. His chapter epitomises the
constructivist approach of working old psychodrama theory in new ways with
complementary and modern perspectives drawn from other theories. This
integration of three theories can be read in Schacht’s chapter on change
were he weaves, compares and contrast three models of change and sees the
pertinence of taking from each to make the whole: helping clients to change,
with addictions notably, but generally. Kipper describes the application of
ERAT (Experiential Reintegration Action Therapy) with named directorial
strategies to be used at given times and for specific reasons. Kipper ends
by suggesting that because of the strict classification of the strategies,
not only will psychodramatists thinking be more systematic but also perhaps
their work would be more easily studied for treatment effectiveness. 

Blatner’s second chapter on the role of meta-role warms the reader up for
Sue Daniel’s chapter in developments in role theory. The move from
Blatner’s description of the ‘internal monitor’ prepares the reader for the
external expression of the individual’s roles in the day to day
relationships of their social and cultural atoms. Daniel demonstrates how
role theory can be applied in group, couple and individual therapy.
Kellermann’s chapter on mirroring in psychodrama is another example of
theoretical integration, where he takes concepts on mirroring from social
psychology, self-psychology and objection-relations theories and aligns them
with Moreno’s theory. After a brief description of Moreno’s child
development theory Kellermann offers three kinds of mirroring as adjuncts to
the development of the self where the person moves from a primitive and
ego-centric state to a more mature level of development (p. 94). 

I found the next two chapters in this section, dedicated to chaos theory
(Remer et al) and existential-dialectic psychodrama (Verhofstadt-Denéve),
the most challenging to read in the book. It’s not that they are written
badly, more that the concepts were too new and therefore I needed some help
to take them in. As an activist in my learning just sometimes I need
someone to help me make sense of this, so I will take them to the peer
supervision group to discuss with other psychodramatists. 

The next chapter in was easy in comparison. Pio-Abreu and Villares-Oliveria
answer to their chapter title of how does psychodrama work? was concise and
clear; simply describing what we know to be true about psychodrama. In the
last chapter of this section we enter a philosophical exploration of
Moreno’s thinking through the lens of post-modern thinking. What Oudijk
finds is that Moreno’s ideas from early in the last century are not only
relevant but continue to be described by modern post-constructionist
thinkers. The task we have as psychodramatists is not only to embrace what
has gone before, but also to discuss what this means to us theoretically
about the nature of psychodrama knowledge.

The second part of this book is where practitioners particularly can get
their teeth into the current issues in practice and research developments.
Some of the content will be familiar, as the voices of the authors are well
known, some may be new; all are fascinating. The subject matter ranges from
transgenerational analysis and psychodrama (Schützenberger), therapeutic
spiral (Hudgins), souldrama (Miller) to psychodrama and child development
(Bannister), to mention just a few. The new chapters for me were Hug’s on
neuroscience and psychodrama and Vieira and Risques on psychopathology and
psychodrama. Both chapters integrate what might be deemed hard-nosed
scientific thinking of neurobiology and psychopathology diagnosis with the
‘softer’ existential understanding of psychodrama. 

The final chapter in the book presents Wieser’s analysis of psychodrama
literature in which he seeks to describe studies on the treatment effects of
psychodrama psychotherapy. This short chapter seems to be part of work in
progress; the slow emergence of psychodrama research. I was left with the
strong belief that we must not stop studying, nor describing, nor
disseminating what we do – whether through RCT, case studies or naturalistic
studies. Evidence based practice is with us and we have to engage with this
and survive. 

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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