Psychodrama, Sociometry, & Sociodrama

The Benefits of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Sociodrama

Psychodrama

Developed by Jacob L. Moreno, MD., psychodrama allows people to work through their problems and issues in action. By bringing issues into the "here and now," participants not only have a chance to express feelings they've stuffed down, develop insight about themselves, their relationships, and practice new responses to challenging or unsatisfying situations. Psychodrama also helps people access the spontaneity they need to respond to life in creative, more successful, and satisfying ways. 

 

By putting issues and problems into action and providing a space to experience alternative responses, psychodrama can "rewire" the brain. In contrast to "talking about" issues and problems, psychodrama brings them to life. Participants have a chance to explore the stories (the social, familial, and personal rules and beliefs) that keep them from using more effective strategies and experiment with new beliefs and ways of reacting. Participants also develop empathy because they get the chance to reverse roles with others and experience the world through each other's eyes.

 

This video of Zerka Moreno gives a brief example of psychodrama in action.

This video of Zerka Moreno gives a brief example of psychodrama in action.

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This video features Jean Campell directing a short psychodrama on Ted Talks.

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A transformational and innovative technique | Dr. Magdalene Jeyarathnam TEDxNITTrichy

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What is Psychodrama?

Nan Nally-Seif, LCSW, TEP and Jacob Gershoni, LCSW, TEP Psychodrama Training Institute / a division of the Sociometric Institute of NY

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The Experience of Psychodrama

Robert Siroka, PhD Sociometric Institute (1975)

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Sociometry

Sociometry is a method for studying social relationships within groups (such as family, social, work or school, therapy/personal growth, and community). Sociometric exercises help:

  • Group members become aware of the connections and/or lack of connections between members in a group.
  • Group members explore the choices they make about who to interact with and who to avoid or exclude.
  • Group members become aware of the impact their choices have on each other and on the group as a whole.
  • Reveal the roles various group members yearn for and the roles members get stuck in.  This information helps group members integrate the group isolates and reduce the role demand (and thus the likelihood of burnout) experienced by the over chosen.
  • Repair and restore group members’ social circles so that they can be sources of support, comfort, and connection.

Sociometry

Sociometry is a method for studying social relationships within groups (such as family, social, work or school, therapy/personal growth, and community). Sociometric exercises help:

  • Group members become aware of the connections and/or lack of connections between members in a group.
  • Group members explore the choices they make about who to interact with and who to avoid or exclude.
  • Group members become aware of the impact their choices have on each other and on the group as a whole.
  • Reveal the roles various group members yearn for and the roles members get stuck in.  This information helps group members integrate the group isolates and reduce the role demand (and thus the likelihood of burnout) experienced by the over chosen.
  • Repair and restore group members’ social circles so that they can be sources of support, comfort, and connection.

Sociometry

Sociometry is a method for studying social relationships within groups (such as family, social, work or school, therapy/personal growth, and community). Sociometric exercises help:

  • Group members become aware of the connections and/or lack of connections between members in a group.
  • Group members explore the choices they make about who to interact with and who to avoid or exclude.
  • Group members become aware of the impact their choices have on each other and on the group as a whole.
  • Reveal the roles various group members yearn for and the roles members get stuck in.  This information helps group members integrate the group isolates and reduce the role demand (and thus the likelihood of burnout) experienced by the over chosen.
  • Repair and restore group members’ social circles so that they can be sources of support, comfort, and connection.

Example of a Step in Circle Sociometric Exercise

TV 2: All That We Share

We live in a time where we quickly put people in boxes. Maybe we have more in common than what we think? Introducing All That We Share. The English version.

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Sociodrama

Sociodrama is the technique J.L. Moreno, MD. developed to explore conflicts and issues ingrained in social roles. Whereas psychodrama enables a specific individual to addresses their particular issues or problems, sociodrama addresses the problems and issues of the group. By putting agreed upon social situations into action, group members get a chance to express their thoughts and feelings, gain deeper understanding of their values, and practice new ways of dealing with problems. 

 

 "Any truly therapeutic procedure can have for its object no less than the whole of humankind." J. L. Moreno

Workshops

Regina Sewell offers professional development as well as personal growth workshops.

Magic Shop: Enliven Your Individual and Group Sessions

Co-lead with Jennifer Salimbene, LCSW-R, CASAC, TEP

Magic Shop is a client centered experiential technique for counselors and psychotherapists to use to help their clients consider making life changes.   In Magic Shop, clients are invited to exchange dysfunctional character traits/qualities such as denial, resentment, fear, self-doubt, and shame for character traits/qualities such as acceptance, the ability to let go, courage, confidence, and self-compassion.  Magic Shop helps clients anticipate attitudes and behaviors that make it likely that they will backslide into their old habits and behavior patterns and practice new healthy behaviors.  This workshop will show participants how to do Magic Shop in action.

Workshop to be Presented at the 2023 ASGPP Conference at Fordham University, NY, March 29-April 2, 2023.

Personal Growth Group

Co-led with Jen Salimbene

Spring 2023. 

Through experiential methods, we will:

  • explore what gets on the way of being the best of who you can be
  • transform old messages into more empowering ones
  • try out new ways of responding to challenging situations.

We will help you tune into your inner wisdom to better navigate life’s challenges. 

Group therapy has a number of advantages.

  • It helps people realize they are not alone - that other people have experienced similar things or feelings or at least can empathize with the feelings, 
  • It helps facilitate the giving and receiving of emotional support 
  • It helps people learn to look inside and give voice to their thoughts and feelings
  • It helps learn to relate to others in more effective and healthy ways
  • Group therapy provides a safe place to practice more effective ways to get your needs met
  • Group therapy provides a chance to develop comradery with people who are on the same or on a similar journey
  • Group therapy helps instill hope.

Unwinding Codependency

At the root, codependency is strategy people developed to manage fear.  Codependency causes people to lose themselves by focusing their attention on someone else’s needs and ignoring their own.  This workshop will a provide deeper understanding of codependency, an opportunity to identify how codependency plays out, and in action, explore new ways to be in relationship with others. 

Workshop will be presented at the 2023 ASGPP.org conference at Fordham University, Bronx, NY, March 29-April 2, 2023.

Dismantling Endabling Systems

Lead by Jennifer Salimbene, LCSW-R, CASAC, TEP

Enablers keep our clients stuck by reinforcing undesirable behaviors.  By shielding clients from the consequences of their addiction or other problematic behaviors, they make it difficult for clients to achieve sustained recovery.  Therefore, we must help our clients identify their enablers and explore how their enabler’s behavior negatively impacts recovery.   We can then help clients assess whether they can transform their relationship with their enabler or if they need to sever ties with them in service of recovery.   Using action methods and a psychodrama we will explore how to help clients dismantle their enabling systems and identify support systems.

ASGPP 2023 Annual Conference at Fordham University, Bronx, NY, March 29-April 2, 2023.

Battling Burnout: A Workshop to Help You Reclaim Your Spontaneity and Zest

Co-led with Jen Salimbene

Are you feeling overwhelmed, overscheduled, and exhausted? 

Do you have a sense of being pulled in too many directions?

Have you found yourself working really hard to meet other people’s needs at the expense of your own?

Do you sometimes find yourself thinking that if you keep going on like this, you will snap?

If so – you are experiencing burnout.  

This workshop will help participants find tools and strategies they can use to overcome burnout and bring more fulfillment, meaning and joy into their lives.

Dates and Location

Saturday March 4, 9:00-5:00 and Sunday March 5,  2023 -  9:30-5:00  both days with an hour and a half lunch break

187 E. Market Street, Rhinebeck, NY 12572

This workshop offers 13 training hours towards certification by the AMERICAN BOARD OF EXAMINERS in Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy.  

Tuition: $370 if payment is received by February 20, 2023, $410 after.

Participant Agreement

Registration Form 

To Register Pay Here

Future Workshops Date to be announced:

Through the Looking Glass: Accepting the Body You Have

  • When you look in the mirror, do you focus your attention on the parts of your body that you wish you could change?
  • Are you ashamed of what you look like without the protective layer of clothes?
  • Are you afraid you’d morph into something hideous if you quit your intense diet and workout routines?
  • Would you like to feel better about your body as it is right now?
  • Would you like to be less concerned about how you think others see your body?

Join us as we explore the roots of our perceptions about our bodies and experience what it might feel like to see our bodies differently.

Switching off the Autopilot and Reclaiming the Driver’s Seat: A Workshop on Getting Unstuck

Have you made a resolution to do differently and live differently beginning in the New Year but find that you are stuck in a pattern that is difficult to break? Do you find that circumstances (fear, family, work, lack of vision for yourself…) are holding you back from making positive changes in your life?

If so, this workshop will help you gain:

  • A better understanding of the place/places in your life where you feel stuck
  • Insight into the ways that being stuck serve you
  • Clarity about the habits, beliefs, and external realities that make it difficult for you to change
  • Momentum to move towards getting unstuck