An Introduction To Psychodrama
I was at one of my first psychodrama weekends; I didn't know what to expect. We got started, and everyone shared what was present for them now, one of the group members said that she was missing her grandmother's funeral today. It was on the other side of the world, and she wasn't able to be there.
So we had a funeral for her grandmother. I was part of the choristers singing songs her grandmother liked. I was also a friend laying flowers. The woman gave a heartfelt eulogy to her grandmother, and she had a conversation with her grandmother, a final goodbye. I had missed my Great-Grandmother's funeral a year before, I was stuck in traffic, and this experience was that funeral for her that I never had. The room was full of tears and everything else you would expect at a funeral.
One of the other group members said he was scared to tell his son that he and his wife would no longer be living together. We visited his apartment, overlooking the water; he had the conversation with his son; he was a loving dad trying to do his best. His son was smart, and it turned out that he knew more than his dad thought he did. I imagined times in my life I've been scared to have hard conversations, I learnt so much from him.
This experience impacted me greatly, and I have since been working to apply the psychodrama method into my life and work. What I didn't realise on the day of the funeral was there were elements, working together to create the powerful experience I had. With a bit of practice, I can bring them into my life and have a much better life as a result.
The Goal of Psychodrama
My psychodrama training institute describes the goal of Psychodrama as: "to awaken and strengthen the abilities of people in many settings to express themselves relevantly, responsively and creatively in the ordinary here and now situations in which they live and work". I personally love this goal. While Psychodrama is two things, a way of living freely in the world and also a process of exploring life through dramas (as described above), they can't be separated. I will only be directly addressing the first one here as the latter is best experienced in person.
Like another one of my passions Zen, Psychodrama is focussed on the here and now life situations. We aren't overly concerned with analysing the past or speculating about the future; we do what we need to do to generate spontaneity. As spontaneity develops, freedom and power in the moment arise. Spontaneity is uncovered by noticing and following a person’s warm-up, what the person is attracted to in themselves or the world and what they feel drawn to explore.
My Psychodrama friends say "Life is better with psychodrama" and I agree. Since it was J.L Moreno in the early 1920-1940s I am sure many people have had the same thought.
The three legs of psychodrama
Psychodrama encourages people to pay particular attention to 3 elements of human experience: Role Theory, Spontaneity and Sociometry. As we gain spontaneity, our roles develop, and as a result, our roles and sociometry changes and our ability to express ourselves increases.
Role Theory/Training
A role is the functional form a person takes. How we express ourselves in our lives is always expressing some role. We are constantly switching roles. This morning, I embodied “unenthusiastic gym-goer” when I first arrived at the gym, “creative organiser” of my home office and “understanding friend” when one of my friends called to discuss challenges they are having in their life.
We can all develop our roles, establish new roles that better fit our lives.
The way we look at individual roles is to assess them against the context in which they arise. When a role is used, it will fall into one of these categories:
Adequate - it is suitable for the context and effective in its functions. I am a “keen social investigator” in social settings with friends. I ask questions, engage with others in a way that is relevant and suits the context well. If I used this same role, say during conflict with a friend, it wouldn't be appropriate (it would be overdeveloped). Context is everything.
Overdeveloped - using the role when it isn’t needed because it is easy to fall back to. I have an over-developed “conflict negotiator" role, when there is conflict or something going wrong, sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away, let everyone have space and then re-approach later. However my default response is to want to pursue the other person, trying to negotiate the conflict, I am good at it, but it is just not fit for purpose in that moment. When there is an overdeveloped role, there is often an absent or underdeveloped role.
Absent - this is when you don’t have any response available. To continue the example above, in a conflict situation, I don't have any roles where I can ask for space and time to cool off, such as a “confident space-requestor” - even though that might be the best thing.
Underdeveloped - this is when you have a role, but it isn't able to be used when needed. In a conflict situation, I am working to develop a “firm boundary setter” role. I can do it sometimes, but really struggle to bring it into play when it's really needed. If I keep working on it , once further developed it would become an adequate role.
Conflicted - internal fight, between two parts of you. You feel or want this and also want that.
Spontaneity
"Spontaneity is an ability to respond to people and situations with immediacy, vitality and thoughtfulness". With an "increase in spontaneity can culminate in a fresh response to everyday events and informed response to unfamiliar or unexpected situations.” This is the central part of psychodrama and the focus on developing four types of spontaneity:
Imagination & Reality - Being able to move seamlessly between fantasy and reality. Being able to have clear visions of future/past or other fantasy while being able to return to the here and now realities.
Transfer - Being able to use a role you develop in one context in a new or different context. An example of this would be for me to be able to transfer my “firm boundary setter” from personal relationships, to people I report to at work.
Revitalise - Being able to add new life to existing stereotypes or cultural norms (called Cultural Conserves). Instead of doing the stereotypical thing, can you do something new. Can you bring something fresh to something everyone expects. In my life, I bring this into the way I lead teams. I am direct, personal, and authentic which goes against the stereotypical senior manager.
Adequacy - When there is a new situation, are you able to come up with a response that is adequate to that new situation. When I was getting a blood test a few months ago and I hadn’t had any water all day I started to pass out, my vision darkened and I told the woman taking my blood I was losing consciousness. I didn't freak out or panic, I was totally relaxed. My “relaxed patient” role that I was in at that moment was adequate and severed me well.
Sociometry
Sociometry focuses on the two-way relations between individuals, on both formal and informal relationships. It involves the examination of those relationships from lots of angles. It allows us to see ourselves as existing as a network of relationships, to bring about a greater degree of mutuality between people and support groups to achieve their purposes.
Final Thoughts
Living a life influenced by psychodrama and it's principles have allowed me to re-invent the roles available to me in my everyday life. My relationship with myself and others has a new type of freshness and creativity I only thought existed in movies. My growth as a human has been impacted by the many people who I have been in groups, along with my mentors and supporters.
Turning up at psychodrama, I never know what to expect. Maybe I’ll be attending a funeral, developing new roles for myself or strengthening a relationship with a friend. Whatever the case, I know my life is more fulfilled and meaningful as a result.
This article includes a number of quotes from the Psychodrama Australia Trainee Handbook, 2015.