book written by David Bodanis<\/a>. So asking a question, doing a bit of research, doesn\u2019t have to imply that we are getting comprehensive, final answers. Sometimes we\u2019re just beginning to explore.<\/p>\nNow what I\u2019m getting at is that exploring, finding out if not all about it, at least more, can be pretty open ended. I\u2019ve recently realized that psychodramatic methods are tools for bringing to the surface, making explicit, some of the maneuvers of the mind. Some of these are neurotic: By playing out the different roles or \u201cvoices\u201d in the mind, we can see together how the main player has gotten herself into a muddle. Some of these processes are creative and liberating. By exploring together alternatives in drama we make explicit new and fresh views of how else it might be viewed, what else might be done.<\/p>\n
For instance, using the \u201cvoice over,\u201d the main player is helped by a fellow group member in recognizing the inner associations, the inner voices that threaten and paralyze: \u201cIf I say no she\u2019ll never be my friend again.\u201d We carry a number of these residues from our younger years and when we can more clearly recognize this we can make new decisions: \u201cI don\u2019t believe that is true anymore. In fact, it probably wasn\u2019t even true when I first thought it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Another technique is simply stopping the action and asking the main player (in psychodrama, it\u2019s called the \u201cprotagonist\u201d) to freeze and notice his muscles, where is there tightness. This moment of awareness, taking a body scan, might reveal a wealth of information about underlying feelings. \u201cI\u2019m apologizing, but my hands are balling into a fist and I want to slug him!\u201d<\/p>\n
A main player in a drama might be feeling hurt: \u201cHe should have known!\u201d The director calls for a role reversal. The person playing herself changes parts and becomes the other person who should have known. Interviewed in role it becomes clear that there\u2019s no way the other person could have known! So role reversal, becoming more empathic, in this example resulted in the person not taking what might be interpreted as a snub so personally. It wasn\u2019t a snub\u2014it was just not having disclosed enough information so the other person might have \u201cknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most psychodramatic techniques can be viewed thus, as explorations, as kinds of research. We often don\u2019t know exactly what will be found, but that\u2019s okay\u2014it\u2019s the asking: Is this so? What if we do it this way?<\/p>\n
The Group<\/strong><\/p>\nIt can happen even in a one-to-one with a therapist, but there is extra value in this process happening in a group. When a person brings what is unspoken into explicit consciousness and goes further, expresses it out loud so that it can be heard, it makes the ideas or words more real. Without expression people can unconsciously deny it: \u201cI didn\u2019t really think it. I didn\u2019t mean it. I must have been out of my mind.\u201d But when it\u2019s said in group and it\u2019s heard, then that layer of denial is swept aside. The challenge then is dealing with the reality that at least part of the person was indeed thinking or feeling this way. Let\u2019s work with that.<\/p>\n
In a group that is supportive, it\u2019s not a matter of fearing blame. Of course, that might happen, but then the scene shifts to the tendency to perceive others as being judging when in fact they\u2019re just exploring: How can we learn from each other and all of us move towards greater emotional freedom? We\u2019re not hear to judge each other and feel smug and superior\u2014although it can seem that other social groups one has encountered in the past were more like that. Maybe. But just exploring the question, \u201cWho are these other people and are they as judgmental as I am toward myself?\u201d is a form of research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although \u201cresearch\u201d tends to be associated with a more restrictive process\u2014attempting to control many variables in order to see if varying one makes a difference\u2014this approach applies more to only certain kinds of research\u2014kinds that tend to be associated with things, material objects, chemistry, physics, biology. But if we recognize the word is more a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,4,12,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action-explorations","category-psychodrama","category-psychotherapy","category-social-depth-psychology-sociometry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=848"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2751,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions\/2751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}