Adam Blatner

Our increasingly rapidly changing world needs techniques that are of sufficient complexity so that they can meet current needs. No longer can standard exams do this; what’s needed are simulated challenges. Simulations are now being used in training for space, for military purposes, in surgery and medicine, and an increasing number of other applications.

What was once known as psychodrama, applied in psychiatric treatment, is now being increasingly recognized in trial preparation (i.e., in legal practice), in teaching, in religious education, and many other contexts. It’s a method for teaching that recognizes the complexity of what is being taught, and the variations in temperament and interest of the students. In this new, enlarged context, it is misleading to suggest that the process must be either dramatic or overly psycho-logical. A better term would be "enhanced simulations."

The modified, “enhanced” is because the process  makes visible and audible  the generally hidden underlying psychological operations, the words people say to themselves. Or what they mentally “try out” and choose not to say openly. That way, they can hear and reflect on what they think. People in fact often do not think about what they think! (They “shoot off their mouths,” so to speak.) This enables reflection to happen.

These enhanced simulations vivify people, groups and organizations, and stimulate them in their inner growth. Enhanced simulations are a type of role playing, and to play thus becomes a serious yet pleasant way of finding openings and perspectives.