(This is in part a supplement to a plenary
presentation to the 66th Annual Conference of the American Society for
Group Psychotherapy & Psychodrama (ASGPP), April 11, 2008, San
Antonio, Texas) Posted April 4, 2008
The many dimensions of communication can be
expanded and deepened by using the various tools associated with
psychodrama. This paper will present over thirty ways this may be
accomplished.
Communications began with gestures and grunts, expanded into language,
and then systems of codes, drum sounds, horn blasts. Story-telling and
prayers began to expand the use of language, introducing dimensions of
past and future, myth and imagination. Drama was an extension of
story-telling.
I use the term “
dimension” to refer to a whole compartment of
mind that had not been opened before, a frame or viewpoint that allows
for new possibilities, categories of thought and action, fresh
perspectives, creative metaphors. Each of the types of expansion of
communication opens another dimension in the mind.
Writing, then, added a further dimension—and again, each application of
writing allowed for new sub-dimensions: Accounting, taxes, political
propaganda (extolling the great deeds of the king or pharaoh), legends,
incantations. That writing about events could be reviewed and
assessed as to its historical accuracy was an idea that didn’t really
catch on until only a few hundred years before the common era!
Many other extensions of communication followed, each one allowing for
an expansion in different ways—cost and accessibility, readability,
transport-ability, speed of transmission, and so forth. Writing was
followed by printing, postal systems, telegraph, telephone, radio,
television, and now we have the computer.
The computer was not a means of communication at first. It was simply a
high-powered calculator. It took someone’s re-visioning in the 1950s to
realize that electronics allowed for calculations to happen a thousand
times faster (and now it’s a billion times faster), and at this rate,
numbers could be used to stand for words and even pictures. That
allowed computers to engage not just in fast calculations, but rather,
“information processing.” It allowed for applications to go beyond
mathematics or accounting and reach into art and literature, science
and ordinary day-to-day communications.
Computers have added possibilities of interactivity that are more
multi-dimensional than letters or television, and so we have the growth
of a new dimension of life—“social media,” in which people interact
using YouTube, FaceBook, MySpace, Second Life, virtual worlds,
interactive dramas, and so forth.
With these considerations in mind, let us review the kinds of
possibilities that Moreno’s tools—role theory, psychodrama, sociometry,
action techniques, sociodrama, improvisational drama, interactive group
process and the like—have to offer:
1.
Creativity: Making this a prime goal, rather than mere
adjustment, or determining who is “right” (and the others therefore
“wrong”), seeking the “right answer, arguing, debating. These latter
approaches have become pervasive in communications, but when the goal
shifts to the ideal of finding an alternative, creative solution, it
calls up associated ideas about invention, exploration, discovery,
cooperative endeavor, win-win, and the like. In spite of being somewhat
fashionable lately, many aspects of our culture still reward mindless
obedience, uncritical acceptance, complacency, and distraction.
Creativity is given more lip service than actual support. So taking
this ideal seriously is actually subversive, in that it undermines the
sense that authority and power is deserved and unchanging. Creativity
opens up the dimension of possibility.
2.
Spontaneity was recognized by Moreno to be a major
approach to promoting creativity, and this was one of his best
insights. It’s not a matter of just pondering and having eureka moments
—what is implied instead is a willingness to start experimenting,
trying things out, making mistakes, using the feedback from recognizing
that they are mistakes to try again, adjust the approach, maybe try
something differently. Actual action, doing things, exploring
scenarios, doing simulations, this is a major way to get creative
breakthroughs.
3.
Exploring: Another part of spontaneity is that when
people get engaged in explorations, their minds become more receptive
to the imagery and intuitions arising from the creative subconscious
mind, the most powerful natural sources of creative ideas. This
attitude that expects and opens to such non-rational inputs is another
major source of effective creativity. These are thus other dimensions
of creativity, opening to the higher realms the ancients attributed to
the Muses.
4.
Warming-Up: This is a third dimension, a recognition
of associated elements that promote spontaneity. One is time, the need
to gradually build up the mind’s process of receptivity. Another comes
through the body-mind interaction of doing—in contrast to just thinking
about it. Doing and imagining gradually raises the psychic temperature
to a point of heightened mental receptivity. Just as in sports or
music, all kinds of creative endeavors are enhanced by a gradual
building up of interest, interactivity, feedback, involvement—the whole
mind-body-spirit system becomes increasingly engaged.
5.
Play: There is a shift of dimensionality from doing
something seriously, as if each action had to count as a final product,
to doing it in a tentative, provisional fashion. Rehearsal in music or
drama involves not only practice, but also some room to make mistakes,
be corrected, try again. More important is an attitude of feeling
somewhat safe, and play is the natural context that liberates
spontaneity. Communications are lightened by a bit of play—that’s why
it’s called “levity.”
Play should not be devalued as mere frivolity or silliness. It can
include those qualities, but kids and grown ups can also be fairly
serious at their play—which isn’t the same as taking themselves too
seriously. Indeed, Moreno considered this variable so important
that he wanted it as the key theme on his
gravestone: “Here lies the man who brought laughter and play back into psychotherapy.”
6.
Drama as Laboratory. Drama is a natural complex of
tools for promoting creative explorations. To a large degree, drama has
been applied in the service of entertainment, and occasionally as a
semi-religious pageant. But drama can also be used as a kind of
simulation, the way astronauts use flight simulators, or politicians
rehearse for a debate. Drama need not be scripted, rehearsed, and
presented by professionals for the enjoyment of a passive audience; it
can be improvised and interactive and used to explore psycho-social
issues.
The concept of laboratory, similarly, has become associated with hard
science, physics and chemistry, and with test tubes, beakers, chemicals
bubbling in their flasks. But there can also be a way to explore,
invent, and discover in the psychological and social realm, and then
the instruments are those of communications. We all explored in these
realms naturally when we were kids—then it was called make believe or
pretend play—but it was our own kind of laboratory for psychological
and social experiments. In a more refined way, make-believe play
becomes drama, and in that form, offers a rich variety of such tools.
Bringing these tools for exploration together generates the
aforementioned psycho-social laboratory, and this kind of drama should
be recognized then as yet another dimension of communication.
7.
The Group: In exploring social and psychological
situations, there are many advantages that arise from working in groups
of people who are sharing in the quest. (Irvin Yalom notes a number of "
therapeutic factors"
in his now-classic textbook of Group Psychotherapy.) Note that all
groups, like all forms of drama, may not be that useful. It’s not a
matter of a mere gathering of people, such as when we attended a class
at school and sat in roles while someone lectured. Rather, the people
operate in a more egalitarian, interactive fashion, as a team.
8.
The Techniques: The aforementioned elements are
enhanced further by the various devices and techniques derived from
drama and psychotherapy—the double, asides, replay, the mirror, role
reversal, the director, auxiliary ego, protagonist, scores of warm-up
techniques, and so forth. These are the psycho-social equivalents of
the chemicals and instruments in a hard-science laboratory. Dramatic
techniques further deepen and extend the explorations.
So we have a coming together of creativity, spontaneity, play, the
stage, the group, and various other elements and techniques. It was a
dynamic combination that can then be adapted for many settings, and
used briefly or in long sessions; used alone or in combination with
sociometry, role analysis, other drama forms, and so forth.
9.
Interpretation. (
On another webpage is a small essay
about interpretation.) Morenian tools can be useful in our exploring
the biases, social attitudes, underlying assumptions given to a
problem. I imagine an educational system in which students are
empowered to dare to imagine their own ideas, their own
interpretations. This would be in contrast to the past in which most
people just learned what they were fed and teachers rarely asked “what
do you think about that” and meant it. (Asking a similar question to
see if students have read the material and can demonstrate some
knowledge is not the same as really helping students to warm up to
their own spontaneity.) Engaging this potentiality of mind should be
recognized as another way these approaches expand communications, open
up yet another dimension.
10.
Inspiration: Although I mentioned this in the section
above on spontaneity, it is worth having its own occasion to pause and
reflect. Making the process of psycho-social exploration less a matter
of acquiring information, right answers, and more an opportunity for
creativity creates a frame that invites in the dimension or category of
expecting breakthrough thinking. Daring to think “outside the box” and
other phrases associated with creativity also apply here. That drama is
one of the arts reinforces the new perception that life can be a work
of art, of creativity, and that counters the alternative model of our
being “on trial” regarding our performance. True life achievement
transcends having to get a good grade within the time-span of an
academic class.
11.
Working Without a Plan. So much in traditional
education demanded a process of planning ahead of time. This is a good
skill, but it’s also wise to recognize that some activities may be
enjoyed without having to prepare a plan beforehand. Activities that
allow for impromptu explorations facilitate such procedures. This als
makes “operational” the idea of creativity.
12.
Non-Competitive Explorations. In the spirit of
comparing communications, some types are clearly competitive, and many
types have a more disguised sub-theme of one-upsmanship, jostling for
status and dominance. This reflects a more masculine type of game, and
in light of the advances of feminism, it’s also worth noting that there
are many activities that need not be played competitively. This
includes “new games” and other cooperative endeavors. This is worth
noting because many people have not experienced groups that are truly
free of a sense of competitiveness, of winning or losing. Many have not
learned that non-competitive games even exist! So an inclusive,
mutually supportive group norm represents for many a new dimension in
communications and social involvement.
13.
Fun. Again, many have been raised in school systems
or been in therapy where the unspoken norm is “no pain, no gain.” The
idea that groups and group leaders can construct learning and discovery
processes that are mainly fun leads to a recognition that people do
even better with a feeling of intrinsic motivation in learning the
skills involved in the task. There may be some times when the challenge
seems somewhat threatening, but part of the art is to cushion these
moments so they don’t become overwhelming.
Developments in neuroscience have shown that beyond a certain mild
level, anxiety shuts down the inflow of ideas from the higher brain
cortex. That means that creativity doesn’t much happen when people feel
scared or shamed. What’s needed, then, are ways to help people feel the
opposite—safe and optimistic, open, expansive. The art of making
the group process supportive, lighthearted, and fun supports this.
14.
Serious Depth: In contrast to staying at the level of
superficiality and facade, explorations of real issues in life are done
with serious intent. Yes, they may be lightened by occasional moments
of playfulness—the challenge, as I noted, is not to take things so
seriously that one gets locked into having to defend a position—but the
exploration is treated with respect if not solemnity. In this sense, by
serious I’m referring to issues in life that are felt to be meaningful,
and addressing them in a group leads to a different kind of intimacy,
encounter, and social bond. To consider significant issues together,
issues dealing with social norms, personal attitudes, religious
beliefs, or shared work challenges, should be recognized as involving a
dimension that is different from ordinary small talk.
15.
Empowerment for Co-Creativity. For many, some
meetings or classes may be relatively irrelevant to their actual
concerns. The context is such that it feels inappropriate to speak up
and ask about issues that are more relevant. The kinds of explorations
being addressed here, though, draw on a more interactive model. The
dissatisfaction of one person may shed light on a group process that is
becoming too intellectualized or drifting off the more emotionally
pointed issues. The group norm of encouraging all participants to
imagine that they are co-directors and co-creators shifts the tone from
passive to active, and supports the norm of speaking up.
16.
Role Relief. The idea that we can ask for radical
changes in set is another dimension, that of changing dimensions, just
like changing channels. People who are in roles in which they are
helpful, or seem to be playing devil’s advocate, the pedantic critic or
the make-everyone-feel-nice roles—these and other roles can become
tiring not only for others, but for the person playing these roles. The
idea that you can shift, ask for a scene change, announce a role
change, can be very relieving. It’s also healthy to expand and stretch
one’s role repertoire.
Another kind of role relief happens when I volunteer to take “auxilary
ego” roles for others’ enactments. I might play another person in the
protagonist’s situation, or a double for the antagonist or protagonist,
and so forth. I feel that I have participated, and thereby become more
of a part of things. I can be appreciated for my empathizing or for
playing a role with the appropriate or surprising degree of drama. This
can be a relief from the role of having to speak up and say something
as a group member, because sometimes I don’t have much to say.
Many in the helping professions tire of their helping role. I confess
that it is fun and relieving for me to shift into playing problematic
roles, the villain, or a role that reflects the opposite of my own on
some issue. Sometimes I enjoy being somewhat contrary,
independent-thinking, exploratory or mischievous. (Remember what I said
about the dimension of play, of shifting gears and lightening up for a
while, and then shifting gears and re-warming up seriously. If you take
yourself too seriously, you can’t shift gears that way.) However, I
find it important to announce this: I don’t really feel this way but
I’d like to try out the role of (and name the role). This helps others
not feel disoriented by my change in character. Telling people “where
you’re coming from”—i.e., what role you’re choosing to take—is an
ethical principle.
17.
Performance. (
See my webpages on this.)
Noticing that I’m behaving in a certain way, and noticing that people
notice, this dimension of self-reflection can then be made explicit. We
can talk about how that performance was received: was it effective,
overdone, too subtle, misleading?
18.
Sharing: After enactments, I may find I can share a
bit about my own life—I don’t have to feel impelled to come up with
some clever “insight” or “interpretation” or opinion. There’s a
dimension of personal involvement here.
19.
Surplus Reality: This is the term Moreno gave to one
of the most important dimensions of communications that is generated
through drama, psychodrama, or sociodrama. The following items are
different types of examples.
a.
Roles of Those Not Present. Often
discussions involve viewpoints that might be held by people who are not
present. It can be useful to shift away from talking “about” them—and
especially problematic is the tendency to attribute motivation or
assume “we” know what “they” want. Some people might take their role
and try to imagine what it’s like to be in that position, to articulate
it as authentically as possible—no caricaturizing. The challenge is to
develop a self-system that would be consistent with a position that the
majority of the group might not agree with.
Examples of other roles of those not present might include the father
who has died; the baby who hasn’t yet been born; the child who never
got a chance to be born or live; Jesus or some other religious figure
from the past. Some of these roles live in our minds—they are
psychologically present even if they are not and even could not be
present.
b. Another example: Doing a sociodrama about,
abortion, a group might assign various roles to different group
members. (Generally it’s best if the people volunteer to play this or
that role.) For a sociodrama about the issues relating to abortion,
some roles that might need to be given voice might include the embryo,
who is imagined to be able to speak out; the mother who wants the
abortion and her reasons; the same mother and the part of her who
doesn’t want the abortion and her reasons; the lawyers for the
government; the local right-to-life preacher; and many others.
c. The idea of doing a “goodbye scene” with a parent
who has died or some other lost person, dream, part of the body, and so
forth requires a warming up of the auxiliary who would play that
crucial role, and is discussed on a
paper on grief work on this website. : (near the end of the paper).
20.
Time Dimensions:
a.
The Past: Memories are key opportunities for understanding the formation of an attitude and or re-doing a stressful or traumatic scene.
b. The
Here-and-Now: A scene
about life in the near-present—near past and anticipated near
future—may help clarify the client’s (or protagonist’s) situation.
c.
Future Projection: People
sometimes repress the future as much as they repress certain painful
memories or thoughts. Thinking about the future is fraught with
anxiety. Using the elements of play, rehearsal, and the spirit of
exploration, people in personal development or therapy groups can build
up the courage to envision more concretely—that is, become more
specific about one’s aspirations. The tendency is to cop out, to say “I
don’t know.” Constructing the scene begins to make one’s intentions
more realistic and to neutralize anxiety.
Rehearsing for the future involves several components. If you don’t
know what it is you want—it’s still unclear, then making it into a
scene we all can see draws it into a more clear condition in your mind.
If you do know the goal fairly clearly, you can explore what it might
take to get there, and rehearse some of the steps—the job interview,
the first demands of the role, and so forth. This again expands the
dimensional depth of the communications process.
The dimensions of past and future are thus brought in. Instead of just
talking about events—which adds a feeling of distance, and also allows
the defenses of intellectualizing and isolation of affect—you
re-experience events. For the past, you can re-do them, playing a scene
to a different conclusion. These experiences are profoundly reparative.
21.
Relationship Maintenance. As a group explores a
problem, it addresses not only the dimension of task analysis, but
equally importantly, concern about the feelings of the people in the
group and that they are feeling comfortable or optimally connected to
the others. Frictions arise naturally and inevitably in the course of
the group’s life, and there is a need to encourage and support each
other as some dip into feeling more vulnerable, criticized, or
otherwise in need of help. Psychodramatic techniques can be used to
help people say what needs to be heard—affirmations of positive
attitudes; reassurance, and showing that we care about our
relationships among ourselves.
22.
Psychological-Mindedness. We are living in an era in
which thinking about feelings, attitudes, and the way we treat each
other has become more mainstream. While many—perhaps most—people still
lack this sensitivity, the number who do care about looking at the way
we think is rising. Many of the Moreno’s techniques build these
attitudes and skills, and then build upon them still new skills and
attitudes. What emerges is a social norm in which it is expected that
participants will learn to examine their own thinking and behavior
patterns, reassess assumptions, and seek clarity.
23.
Nonverbal Communications: Drama heightens our
awareness not only of what is said, but also how it is said, the tone
of voice, gesture, and many other variables (see webpage about
nonverbal communicatios). This dimension is absent in many media, and
variably more obvious in others. It’s most apparent when people
are actually in the same room together, but straight discussion tends
to focus on content and generally ignores the way things are expressed.
Using action techniques, nonverbal aspects of communication may be
subject to examination. A movement may be replayed, exaggerated a bit,
and perhaps reexamined from the side, using the “mirror technique.” In
that case, the one who behaved in a certain way stands to the side and
observes while someone else plays that same behavior. Then the
protagonist can re-enter the scene and try making that statement or
asking that question again, but with some change in how it was
expressed.
a. Nonverbal behavior can also be
examined from the viewpoint of how a given behavior makes the person
who is expressing that behavior feel. It helps to heighten awareness of
the way nonverbal behavior also acts as an internal cue-er and
reinforcer of attitudes!.
24.
Environmental Analysis: This is also a nonverbal
dimension, and though less obvious, it merits being examined. The
environment includes the subtle influences and biases imposed by the
architecture of the room, the time allocated to the group session or
meeting, the ratio of people in different sub-groups (e.g., gender,
ethnicity, professional background), etc. Participants may notice and
comment on factors such as the subtle peer pressures by majorities (or
perceived majorities). In short, the spirit of group work invites
participants to attend to the ways we communicate, our nonverbal
communications, and to make them explicit.
25.
Role Reversal: This technique may be used to help set
up a scene, as the auxiliary, the other people playing a role in an
enactment, gets some coaching from the protagonist about how her
character should behave. What becomes more significant, though, is when
in the course of the enactment the protagonist is invited to change
parts with an antagonist and, in short, to empathize. The invitation to
go beyond egocentricity represents one of the most important expansions
of communications yet mentioned.
a. A variation I like to
support when it is possible is for people to role reverse with each
other, but in that reversed position, to accept correction from the
person whose role they are playing. This fosters greater accuracy, and
the person accepting the correction also thereby helps to break down
the distrust barrier. (See paper on conflict resolution.)
26.
Multiple Parts of Self. Instead of trying to present
a single face to the group, people are encouraged to acknowledge their
many inner roles and the reality that inner conflict, ambivalence, is
common. Expressing this through enacting a conversation between
different parts of oneself actually makes you seem more authentic to
others. If we’re in a group togehter and I can see you admitting that
you don’t just have one position, but are struggling to clarify your
ideas, or are a bit torn between two desires, it makes me feel as if
there’s more room for us to explore together. Similarly, when I can
disclose my own mixed feelings, I feel more honest than when I feel I
need to “be decisive,” “be consistent,” or in other ways choose one
part and suppress its alternatives.
27.
Shifting Frames of Reference: Conversations sometimes
can become more creative when alternative frames of reference may be
introduced. In doing sociodrama, though, it is important to make
explicit your shifting your approach, your role, or the imagined
context. Otherwise others in the enactment feel confused or “jerked
around.” You might say something like “Now let’s approach this from a
different viewpoint.” Also, talking in terms of “scenes” or
talking about situations as scenarios also helps.
28.
Concretization. This technique involves giving
examples, and sometimes more than words: Feelings can be expressed in
terms of actual postures. Feeling burdened may be represented by having
an auxiliary lean on the protagonist’s back; feeling torn may be
represented by two auxiliaries pulling on opposite arms. Enactment
rather than talking about things should be viewed as a tool to move
from abstract to concrete, to give examples. So often in discussions
words get too general and people don’t really know what they mean.
Worse, people think they know what you mean when in fact you mean
something other than what they’re hearing.
29.
Semantics: Although not really drama as such, it
helps to not assume that you know what someone means when they use an
abstract or general word. Often it is different than what other people
think of, so it helps to give examples, not in terms of other abstract
terms, but in a way that others can picture the scene fairly vividly.
As a corollary, you can pause in a discussion or exploration and double
check what people mean, explore the semantics. You don’t look for
definitions so much as examples, especially if there is any sense of
emotional loading to the use of a word. This also shows how an
exploratory group may expand the communications in a more reflective
fashion.
30.
Fostering Expression of Thoughts and Feelings: If
someone in the group feels shy or inarticulate, that person can ask for
help or accept an offer of help. In sociodrama-like groups, this
maneuver is okay. The “
double” technique generates a mixture of supportive friend and helper in self-expression. This adds yet another dimension to communications.
31.
Speaking From a Role: In the service of exploring a
situation, a person in a group may speak not from her personal belief
but from a role—one of the social roles that might be relevant to the
situation. This fits with item number 18a, the point being that
anyone—not just the director—may spontaneously bring this idea up. The
viewpoint that needs to be articulated might be part the role
system of a group with which you are affiliated, or the role of what
you fantasize your opponent or a third party might want to say. In
other words, you may take on an archetypal, sociodramatic, or
axiodramatic role. The point is to help get everything that is merely
implied or wondered about spoken clearly.
32.
“Role” as Linguistic Unit: Trying to discuss things
at the level of generalities may become confusing or generate an
impasse. Related to item 28 above, re-framing a situation in terms of
the roles being played can help clarify the problem. Talking about
situations in terms of role components, role definitions, and the like
constitutes a relatively user-friendly language for psychology,
sociology, anthropology, politics, and other fields within the
humanities. See other paper on this website on
Role Dynamics
a. Roles can be analyzed, broken down into
components, and those can be further analyzed or considered in terms of
their sub-components. These may be evaluated in terms of
expectations, associated attitudes, common ways of behaving or
reacting, and so forth. What is sometimes discovered is that there may
be agreements in many respects but the disagreement lies in certain
other elements—and this is the kind of clarification that role analysis
can provide.
33.
De-Role-ing: (Also spelled deroling.) People in a
group that uses sociodramatic techniques can at times explicitly
dis-affiliate myself from a role or role component they were playing.
This de-role-ing process includes having others agree clearly
that the person de-roling is recognized as no longer being in that role.
34.
Examining “Tele”: Moreno called the current of
attraction or repulsion between individuals or among people in a group
“tele.” I find that “rapport” is a rough equivalent term. Using
Moreno’s contributions, it often helps to bring attention to feelings
of interpersonal preference or to acknowledge this dynamic: Some people
prefer to pair up or form a subgroup with certain others, and talking
about this openly is important. It is admittedly a sensitive topic, but
it is a reality of what is going on, and pretending that it isn’t in
the long run is self-defeating. This is the point of
sociometry.
Other associated implications of this principle include talking about
group cohesion, what it would take for someone to feel safe in the
group, having allies in the group, and weaving in other principles from
sociometry. This approach takes into consideration a number of themes
that are frequently overlooked (or repressed and denied) in traditional
types of communications. For these reasons, I consider sociometry to be
another dimension of depth psychology as well as an important facet of
group dynamics.
Summary
I will be open to your
emailing me
and suggesting other categories. All the above items are ways in which
communications can be expanded and made more meaningful. Moreno’s
contributions of sociodrama, psychodrama, action techniques,
sociometry, improvised and interactive drama, role theory, group work,
and the like introduce new dimensions into ordinary conversations and
discussions. Some of the aforementioned items have certain common
elements:
– the goals of spontaneity and creativity;
– the development of psychological- mindedness—that is, a
willingness to reflect on oneself as well as the situation, to think
about one’s own thinking—also known as metacognition—;
– the use of action methods;
– the use of surplus reality (the realm of the imaginal or “what if...”);
– the many benefits of egalitarian group work and the benefits of talking about the processes and dynamics in the group;
– the use of playfulness, shifting positions, weaving in the provisional.
All these might be viewed as additional dimensions, frames of thinking, imagining, intuiting, feeling, sharing, and interacting.
