RE: PSychodrama and grief

by Peter Howie
(risbane, Australia)

Dear Mike,

Just found you via Google Alerts, what a great service.

I am a trained psychodramatist and your point about psychodrama being a good process for dealing with grief is a good one. Also it is important that psychodramas are done by trained practitioners not done in some "role play" sort of thrown-together-manner. In a group that is being run by a trained psychodramatist, with experience of dealing with grief, the group processes can create a very powerful and safe enough container for the exploration and expression of grief. As different individuals work on their own experiences there is the advantage of the commonality of life and the other therapeutic factors that operate in group settings.

The theory of working psychodramatically with a group is that each person who does a drama is also doing some of the work of others in the group - to a greater or lesser extent. Sometimes one person's psychodramatic enactment of their pain and loss can promote significant healing in others without their needing to be the center of a psychodrama.

I'll stay in touch with what you are producing. Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Peter Howie
www.morenocollegium.com.au
www.moreno.com.au

Hi Peter, you make excellent points. Thankyou for taking the time to add to Ask Mike