Diagnose und Intervention zirkulär

This article in the Zeitschrift für Psychodrama and Soziometrie shows that psychodrama contributes something special to enhance the quality of life. It combines diagnosis and intervention in a circular way. Moreno’s approach originates from cold and hot sociology. But it was with the concept of Psychodrama, when Moreno created a place where self- and societal transformation can succeed at the same time. By applying psychodrama in numerous formats, its democratic education process evolves into societal life. Nowadays, convivialism provides a connection to Moreno’s project of societal renewal from bottom up.     

Was ist Tele?

The term “tele” as a theoretical concept in psychodrama is vague, because within this single term are summarised such different themes as empathy, intuition, the differentiation of transference and the ‘real’ relationship, group cohesion and the process of tele. The author shows that the apparent contradictions within the concept of tele can be resolved, if one differentiates between the pathway and the goal of tele and understands tele as including both the tele process and the relationship of tele. Then it even becomes clear, that already 60 years ago Moreno developed ideas, which today can be rediscovered in the theoretical concept of mentalizing much discussed in today’s psychotherapy.     

Die Bedeutung des Nicht-Wissens

This article is based on a keynote speech, which the author gave in Stuttgart on September 25, 2015 for the 40th Anniversary of the establishment of Moreno Institute Stuttgart and Moreno Institute Edenkoben/Überlingen. This article discusses the value of not knowing in general and specifically for Psychodrama in the sense of a process of letting go of knowing as a therapeutic approach. The second part of this article goes into the emotional legacy of the author’s personal history as a son of Holocaust survivors. In this part he describes his experience as Second Generation and talks about silence and silencing of knowing as a shared phenomenon in trauma survivors. The last part of this article is describing the Psychodrama work the authors has been doing for the last 30 years in an ongoing project called: “Traces of the Holocaust in the Present”.     

Tele and the social atom

Tele and the social atom are two of the most central concepts in the sociometric theory of Moreno and in the practice of classical psychodrama. Consequently, an abundance of literature has been devoted to these concepts, mainly from a clinical- theoretical point of view. However, progress in understanding the cognitive and neural processes involved in inter-individual behavior can be used to address these issues from a different perspective, inspiring a holistic outlook.The advances made by investigating perception and action in a social context show the implicit formation of an interactive ‘we’ identity during a joint action, thus supporting Moreno’s concept of a reciprocal interactive social process that cannot be broken down to separate subjective elements. Moreover, behavioral interactional synchrony correlates with the emergence of an inter-brain synchronization, accurately supporting Moreno’s “social physiology” hypothesis of corresponding organs in different individuals.Moreno’s sociometric thesis of tele being closely linked with the organization of social atoms is captured by other studies showing that social network size is determined by social cognitive competences and that these in turn are underpinned by the amount of neural matter devoted to the computational demands involved.The remarkable association between Moreno’s early hypotheses and recent scientific evidence suggests that he had a positive tele with science, and encourages methodical thinking about some of his hitherto meta-psychological ideas. By promoting this approach, one follows Moreno’s integrative legacy that combines “the concretely, actively magic-poetic, with the objectively, methodically scientific” (Moreno, Who shall survive? Foundations of sociometry, group psychotherapy and sociodrama, p. xxi, 1953).     

Gender und die Entwicklung einer Geschlechtsidentität aus rollentheoretischer Sicht

In the past years, gender has been getting more and more attention from psychodramatists, although or even because Jakob Levi Moreno’s theories do not center on questions of gender. This article will give an overview of women’s and men’s studies, as well as definitions of the terms gender, doing gender and gender stereotypes. It will also address the question whether Moreno’s role theory, one of the most influential concepts of psychodrama, may offer a basis to reflect on gender.     

Gesellschaftlicher Wandel in der Sozialen Arbeit

This article of the Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie outlines similarities between the objectives of social work and Moreno’s view of the human race, shows problems by the economization and demonstrates the potential of psychodrama for change processes. Social work is a profession with heterogeneous work areas, whose aim is to support people in coping with their living conditions, to promote social justice and equal opportunities, and to contribute to the improvement of social participation. Social developments under the influence of neo-liberal policy concepts have led to an economization of social work over the last decades. Social progress has been achieved, but spontaneity and creative solutions have been partly lost.The structural change theory of Moreno, the creative circle, as well as his revolutionary ideas of sociometry, serve as a template for the assessment of developments in social work, which are evident in particular by means of refugee topic.     

An der Schnittstelle zwischen ärztlicher und psychotherapeutischer Behandlung der Anorexia nervosa

In the following article a detailed concept of a psychodrama group is presented, which has been designed for clients with structural disorders in an inpatient setting. It will be complemented by empiric diagnostic results, based on six psychodrama groups, run according to this concept. Scaled by the means of an interaction-questionnaire, it becomes obvious, that participants receive more support on average as they feel having given to others. This synergetic effect within the group applies for almost every session, supplemented by a significant reduction of the patient’s general emotional strain as well as in the fields of depression, fear, stress, compulsion and somatic symptoms. Furthermore a significant improvement of the therapeutic progress and working alliance was perceived. Therefore psychodrama can be classified as a supplement to a positive therapeutic result.     

Psychodrama in the group of patients diagnosed with eating disorders

In this article, sadness and anxiety in severe disease are discussed in the context of the therapeutic philosophy of Moreno. According to Moreno man is always be viewed as part of a social system and in the context of his relationships. On this basis, sadness and anxiety of serious ill and dying patients should not be pathologised as depressive disorder, but should rather be understood as natural reactions to the conditions to which people are exposed in case of serious illness. Possibilities of psychodrama are described to help patients to make peace with themselves and a world, that contains not only happiness and health but always suffering and disease.     

Lebensqualität heute

In this article of the Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie, the concept of resonance by Hartmut Rosa is compared with the concept of encounter by J.L. Moreno. It is shown that Moreno’s concept contains many aspects of the concept of resonance. Both concepts address the quality of life meaning in modern age. However, Moreno understands humans not only as in relation to the world, but also on top of that as being part of the word as world-creators.     

The social collective and the social and cultural atom in the age of the social network

This article in the Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie presents the use of the social collective as applied in a current psychotherapeutic practice. The significance and use of the social collective is one that has relevance in any field and is the cornerstone of the modern phenomenon of digital social networking. Dr. Jacob Levy Moreno was the originator of the concept and his ideas have influenced the development of the modern day social network. The earliest and smallest social atom is the mother and baby. While this social unit is the precursor to all others, new life can emerge wherever mutual positive tele flourishes. As the wave and particle in physics do not exist independently, neither does the twin concept of the social and cultural atom. The use of the latter as an evaluation tool in psychotherapy is powerful and along with the concept of the social collective, can be used to analyse patterns in any group or cultural context.     

Psychodrama und Embodiment

Moreno tries to grasp life processes in their full complexity as far as possible. His theoretical concepts target the unity of body, mind and scene from different angles. The methods he developed offer suitable interventions. The article presents latest concepts and empirical evidence from embodiment research compatible with psychodrama. It becomes apparent that the notion of simulation is suited to connect the two approaches allowing also to comprehend different modes of working from dialogue to action on the stage along a continuum of increasing bodily-mimetic self-regulation.     

Spracherhaltende Resektion einer fokalen kortikalen Dys­plasie neben dem Broca‑Areal

We report the case of a 14-year-old male with a history of focal seizures since the age of six due to a focal cortical dysplasia located within the left frontal lobe. The patient’s seizures proved to be refractory to treatments with Oxcarbazepine, Lamotrigine, Valproate, and Clobazame. Because fMRI for language mapping suggested a close spatial relationship of the lesion and Broca’s area, invasive language mapping was performed using a subdural grid for direct cortical stimulation. This suggested a clear topographic distinction between the lesion and Broca’s area, finally enabling language retaining lesionectomy. This case illustrates some pitfalls of fMRI language mapping in preoperative workup for epilepsy surgery.     

Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in Liebesbeziehungen

First, it is outlined how love needs to be designed, so it is possible that love makes a couple happy. This implies that moral and law can protect this love, but will never substitute it. Therefore lawful standards of gender equality have to endanger this love. Moreno never prioritized such a profound love in his phiolosophy. This results from his biography, is visible in his theory and works out in his couple therapeutics.     

FrauenSzenen

A precondition for maintaining the continuous development of a gender equitable therapeutic approach is to reflect upon women’s and men’s scenes in a society that is characterized by a hegemonic male dominant gender order and social system. These influence psychotherapy practise in an essential manner. This article attempts to apprehend and elaborate on diverse figures of thought, in order to sensitize the reader for, as also outline, highly complex socially constructed gender behavioural patterns. The model of ’anorectic sub dominance’ is introduced as the female counterpart to hegemonic masculinity. Furthermore, a collection of specifically female roles from the sociodramatic role inventory is presented and the affect-political importance of ’shame’ for the development of hegemonically shaped female role conserves is highlighted. In conclusion proposals are made to enable equitable gender encounters.     

Psychotherapeutische Begleitung von Menschen mit Flucht- und Migrationsgeschichten

Psychotherapy for individuals with refugee and migration background requires the integration of an intercultural perspective. To overcome the language barriers, it is often essential to work with interpreters. The psychodrama is suitable for the development of the interpreter’s role in the psychotherapy as well as of the role of psychotherapists working with interpreters. For the treatment of asylum seekers an additional framework is required to enable them to bear their extreme burdens. The nature of support needed for a successful psychotherapeutic relationship between a client and a psychotherapist of different national, ethnic and cultural backgrounds will be discussed in the context of a “question of attitude”: This features a specific self-reflexivity, a non-judgemental stance, neutrality as well as positioning and partiality.     

Jakob Levy Moreno – ein Prophet unserer Zeit

The paper first deals with the classic prophets and their characteristics and some motives of the early Moreno for a professional prophetic training are elaborated. Moreno’s God-playing with expressionist background is specified as a consequent warming up to the role of a free professional prophet. The so called Vöslau-event then can be defined as the prophet’s examination for the title of master. The “Testament des Vaters” as Moreno’s prophetic book can be described as it’s consequence.     

Begegnung an Schnittstellen

This article sets out to discuss Moreno’s oeuvre in the context of social research approaches and sociological theory. Moreno’s approach to research is introduced to be essentially inductive and characterized by his concepts of sociatry, encounter and warming up, by his focus on “in situ” and the specific psychodramatic methods. Furthermore, Moreno’s role theory is discussed and compared to other sociological role-theoretical currents. Finally some crucial sociological concepts (habitus, biographical research, doing gender, diversity) are examined, placing special emphasis on their potential to enrich psychodramatic practice.     

Psychodrama-Aufstellungsarbeit mit einer depressiven Klientin

In this article I describe the therapy process of a depressive female patient in a psychiatric rehabilitation clinic with special focus on the procedures and rituals during a psychodrama-constellation session. This casestudy also shows that it’s necessary to consider traumatic experiences in the biography of depressive patients and to offer adequat therapies for this special group of patients.     

Einladung zu einer Begegnung

The core-concept of Moreno’s work is the scene, referring to a holistic, dynamic interaction of meaning-making influences from different areas in human life. Some influences come from personal biography, stored in the autobiographic memory as well as in the body. Other influences originate in social relations and interactions. Moreover, cultural structures, values and norms, contribute in this shaping process of meaning. Beyond psychodrama, modern psychotherapy develops in a similar direction, integrating different levels and aspects of experience in human life. Particularly, the person-centred systems theory (PCS) describes the interaction of different levels in the processes of creating order in our life-world by using concepts of modern interdisciplinary systems theory. Pcs’ core concept, the person, is similarly integrative, holistic, and dynamic as Moreno’s scene. In order to demonstrate the actuality of Moreno’s work, an encounter of both core-concepts takes place in this essay.     

Vom Boxsport bis zur Gerontopsychiatrie

For the first time, this study presents publications representative for the work of the neurologist and sports physician Bernhard Schwarz, whose career spans from the 1950s to the 1970s. His work is characterized by exceptional originality. Schwarz acted as the physician of the GDR national boxing team and conducted a systematic long-term study of 800 boxers. He found increased occurrences of depression, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and suggested that these were linked to recurring craniocerebral injury. He was concerned about avoiding such long-term health effects in boxers and suggested a range of preventive measures that were later reflected in the guidelines of international boxing associations. Schwarz was distinguished by his drive to directly implement social psychiatric approaches in the hospital. As head of the psychiatric clinic at Leipzig University, he initiated a club for geriatric patients to help older patients with the problematic transition from hospitalization to outpatient assistance at home. Influenced by holistic anthropological thinking, he regarded geriatric mental illness as a consequence of social isolation. In addition, Schwarz was involved in a model project that assessed the work resilience of patients in the hospital with the goal of optimizing psychiatric rehabilitation. Both projects were successes, according to his published accounts.