Introduction

Psychodrama is a method of psychotherapy and psychological counseling created by Jacob Moreno. Classical psychodrama is a therapeutic group process that uses the instrument of dramatic improvisation to explore a person's inner world. This is done to develop a person's creative potential and expand opportunities for adequate behavior and interaction with people. Modern psychodrama is not only a method of group psychotherapy. Psychodrama is used in individual work with clients (monodrama), and elements of psychodrama are widespread in many areas of individual and group work with people.

History of origin

Psychodrama traces its history back to the early 1920s. On April 1, 1921, physician Jacob Levi Moreno presented to the public an experimental production "on the head of the day" at the Vienna theater. During the game, the actors improvised and involved the audience in the action. The production failed miserably, nevertheless this day, April Fool's Day, is considered the birthday of psychodrama.

After moving to the United States, Moreno founded the Moreno Institute in Beacone, which became the center for the development of psychodrama. The opening of the center in Beacon is associated with a history that characterizes Moreno not only as a philosopher, doctor, psychologist and sociologist, but also as an engineer. Moreno, together with his friend, developed an apparatus, which is the prototype of a tape recorder, and recorded his groups on it. After moving to the United States, Moreno received a patent for his invention, and with this money he opened a center in Beacon.

In the magazine "Imago" published by Moreno, devoted to psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy, such famous psychotherapists as F. Perls, E. Bern, and others were published.

Psychodrama is the world's first method of group psychotherapy (in fact, the very term "group psychotherapy" was introduced into Moreno's psychology). Moreno proceeded from the fact that since any person is a social being, a group can more effectively solve his problems than one person. In the 20s of the last century, the most popular method of psychotherapy was psychoanalysis, where the patient, lying on the couch and not seeing the therapist, told him about his dreams and the associations they caused in their life. Moreno developed his ideas in polemics with Freud, he did not like the passive role of the patient and the fact that the psychotherapeutic process took place "one-on-one." Young Moreno told Freud: "I will go beyond where you left off. You have allowed the patient to speak, I will allow him to act. You conduct your sessions in your office, I will bring him where he lives - to his family and team." ...

Theory

The group, according to Moreno, is an open system, that is, a living, constantly changing organism. To understand what is happening at the moment in the group, Moreno came up with a measuring tool - sociometry. In its simplest form, sociometry is the following: each person in the group is asked to think about a question (criterion), for example, "who would I like to spend a weekend at sea with," then come up and put a hand on the shoulder of the person who meets this criterion. As a result, the researcher receives a "picture" of the group, which shows who occupies what place according to this criterion in the group. You can see the "stars of attraction" - people with whom many would like to spend time, "stars of rejection" - those with whom no one wants to know, mutual positive and negative choices, dividing the group into subgroups, etc. Skillfully choosing the criterion, you can influence the situation in the group. Moreno was asked to advise a boarding school for teenage girls. Despite good funding and favorable living conditions, there were many conflicts and escapes from this boarding school. Moreno asked to take him to the dining room and saw the following picture: the girls were sitting at tables for four people, a teacher was assigned to each table. Moreno suggested that the pupils sit down the way they want to, to sit with whomever they want. It turned out to be the most complete mess that angered the teachers: seven girls sat at one table, attracted by the "star of attraction", at the other tables there were 2-3 people, and at some there was no one left. Then Moreno asked the girls to repeat their choice, but not to choose the person they had chosen earlier. The result is a new picture. Moreno performed the procedure for the third time, and then analyzed the elections. As a result, the girls were seated in 4, but so that the elections of the first, second and third orders were taken into account as much as possible. Each girl ended up at the table with someone who was more or less pleasant to her. The level of aggressiveness has decreased, the level of conflict has decreased.

Sociometry is one of the theoretical foundations of psychodramatic therapeutic work. The other two pillars are spontaneity theory and role theory. Moreno also used sociometry for very large groups.

Moreno defined spontaneity as "a new response to an old situation, or an adequate response to a new situation," but this behavioral definition of spontaneity is not without contradictions in the context of Moreno's general theory. It is more important for us that by spontaneity Moreno understood a kind of cosmic energy through which this world was once created and thanks to the manifestations of which it continues to exist. In the development of personality, this energy plays an equal role along with genetic predetermination and social influence. Moreno proves that a child could not develop if he did not have the energy of spontaneity.

Unlike other "energies" that existed in psychology in the 1920s and 1930s, spontaneity cannot accumulate; it exists only "here and now".

In a behavioral act, spontaneity can find its way out or be suppressed. Suppression of spontaneity is the cause of neurosis (there is no "new reaction to the old situation", the reactions are stereotyped). At the same time, unblocked spontaneity can be both constructive and destructive ("inadequate response to a new situation"). The constructiveness of the reaction is determined by creativity, that is, the ability to be creative, to create a new material or ideal product (in the context of psychotherapy, this can be a new behavior or perception, that is, a new role in Moreno's terminology). The product of the creative process tends to turn into a "cultural canned", an example of which is a poem or musical notation. Moreno had a sharply negative attitude to cultural preserves, seeing in them a manifestation of inertia, destroying spontaneity.

Spontaneity, creativity and preservation form the three stages of the creative process. Spontaneity can be understood as the initial impulse, the energy necessary for creativity; creativity gives it shape, direction; cultural canned food preserves it over time.

Role theory was developed by Moreno and later developed in detail by the Australian psychodrama school.

With its inherent nebula, Moreno defined the role as "the actual and tangible form that our self is taking"; as "some generalized character or some function that exists in social reality"; and as "the final crystallization of a person's life situations, that is, a specific area of ​​operation that a person has mastered in his time."

The essence of the role becomes a little clearer if we consider the Moraine classification of roles. He distinguished psychosomatic roles (for example, "eater"), roles (for example, "offended child", "savior", "loser") and social roles (for example, "policeman", "mother", "provider").

The analysis of internal roles is carried out using a diagram developed by an Australian school. There are three types of roles: functional, dysfunctional, and coping. Functional roles are divided into stable and emerging; dysfunctional - into stable and outgoing. Copping roles, depending on the way of interacting with the object, are divided into "movement from", "movement to" and "against".

All psychological roles are divided into three broad categories: functional, dysfunctional, and coping. Functional roles are those roles that help a person successfully resolve conflict situations, cooperate with other people, and contribute to personal growth. They are divided into stable and nascent ones. Stable roles have long been acquired by the time of analysis, are easily actualized if necessary, they are always "available". The emerging functional roles are not so stable, in one situation they may work, in another they may not.

Dysfunctional roles interfere with the resolution of conflict situations, they themselves can generate external and internal conflicts, lead to the destruction of the personality. They are divided into stable and periodically manifesting (or leaving). Stable dysfunctional roles, as a rule, have been developed for a long time, they appear constantly in a certain type of situation (for example, avoiding reality at any danger or a hint of it). The roles that appear periodically are more specific to the situation. They are also called leaving, because in the process of psychotherapy the effect is often achieved that the dysfunctional role always ceases to manifest itself, becomes less generalized, it gradually "leaves" from the arsenal of roles.

A separate place is occupied by coping roles, the role of "coping". They do not allow us to constructively resolve the situation, they are not as creative as functional roles, but they are also not as pathological as dysfunctional ones. Copping roles allow you to cope with the situation, partly relieve tension and delay its resolution. Cope roles are divided into three groups: Movement To, Movement From, and Movement Against. This refers to the attitude to the situation, the direction of internal movement in the situation. For example, in a situation of aggression, one can try to "fit in" with the aggressor, and we will assign such a role to the "Movement to" group; you can get out of the situation, for example, run away or try to ignore aggressive actions - we will assign such roles to the "Movement from" group; the third way of reacting (no matter, internal or external), related to the "Movement Against" group, is to show reciprocal aggression.

Role analysis is used primarily as a tool for analyzing the therapeutic process. With its help, you can see the interaction of roles (their conflict, gluing, transitions into each other) and the result obtained at the end of the work. With a successful session, dysfunctional and coping roles are transformed into functional ones.

“The whole world is a theater: Psychodrama and the XX century PP Gornostay The emergence and development of psychodrama are closely related to the history of mankind in the XX century. The emergence of this type of psychotherapy, which ... "

Psychodrama in context

culture

Psychodrama and modern psychotherapy. - 2002. - No. 1. - S. 21-26.

The whole world is a theater:

Psychodrama and XX century

P. P. Ermine

The emergence and development of psychodrama are closely related to the history of mankind in the XX

century. The emergence of this type of psychotherapy, which became a synthesis of psychological practice and the art of directing, was facilitated by scientific and socio-cultural prerequisites (in particular, revolutionary changes in theatrical art). Psychodrama has never remained within the framework of only the psychotherapeutic method. The theory of roles by Ya. L. Moreno is an example of a combination of scientific depth and practical orientation. The success of psychodrama is brilliantly illustrated by its growing popularity in the world.

The founder of psychodrama and sociometry, Jacob Levi Moreno, called the date of birth of his method April 1, 1921. It was on this "Fools' Day" that the first sociodrama in history took place at the Vienna Comedy Theater. As it should be for an ingenious work, the first performance then failed. The public that day could not see the spontaneous actions proposed by Moreno as a way to solve social and psychological problems. As RF Marino writes, that day “people were not ready to take the point of view of others (that is, they did not want or did not know how to exchange roles)” (Marino, 2001, p. 89). But, nevertheless, this event went down in the history of psychotherapy as the first experience of public experimentation with methods of action.

But the very first ideas of psychodrama began to appear in the young Moreno much earlier. As a student, in 1908-1911, he improvisedly played with children, walking in the parks of Vienna. Even earlier, he was Pavel Petrovich Gornostay - Doctor of Psychology, Head. laboratory of the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine. Psychodrama therapist (certified by the European Institute of Psychodrama).

Email: [email protected] Personal website: http://gorn.kiev.ua/ P. P. Gornostay organized various role-playing games in children's companies (fortunately, children were much more spontaneous and creative than adults). Moreno himself calls his first "psychodrama session" the game of God, which he played with children aged four and a half (see Moreno, 2001b, p.

16-17). Based on these examples, we can rightfully consider psychodrama to be the same age as the twentieth century, with the history of which its appearance, development and worldwide distribution are directly connected.

Is it by chance that psychodrama originated precisely in the twentieth century?

I think not, and for various reasons. Firstly, the Austrian capital of the beginning of the century, where Moreno lived at that time, was literally the birthplace and world capital of psychotherapy. It became a point of crystallization, where the first psychotherapeutic schools, including psychodrama, were born in an atmosphere saturated with ideas about psychological assistance to a neurotic personality suffering from internal conflicts, insecurity, feelings of insecurity. These sentiments were largely reinforced by the difficult social atmosphere of the pre-war Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was then replaced by the political uncertainty of post-war Austria. It is enough to name at least such significant names as the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, the author of the doctrine of the inferiority complex Alfred Adler and the researcher of birth trauma Otto Rank, in order to understand the psychotherapeutic atmosphere in which the then Vienna was immersed.

Secondly, it was in the 20th century that such a social and spiritual environment developed in world culture in which psychodrama simply could not but arise. This applies, first of all, to theater - a type of art from which (more precisely, from its synthesis and psychotherapy) the psychodramatic method was born.

If in past centuries, starting from the ancient theater, drama was at the center of theatrical art, then in the 20th century an unprecedented rise in the art of directing takes place. We have witnessed such cultural phenomena as the "epic theater" of Bertold Brecht, the development of the directing schools of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Yevgeny Vakhtangov, as well as many other artists whose art consists in creating action on stage. At the same time, it is directing that is closest to the work of a psychodramatist, who helps to give birth to psychodramatic action and, in fact, is the director of a psychotherapeutic role-playing game in psychodrama.

The past century was significant for world culture with the development of a new type of art - cinema, where the role of directing is of particular importance. The filmmaker turns into the main author of the film, which has never been in the art of theater. In the best examples of world cinema, created by such artists as Ingmar Bergman, Luis Bunuel, Andrei Tarkovsky and many others with the help of the whole world - theater: Psychodrama and XX century 23 cinematography, the most secret labyrinths of the human soul are explored, the most complex dramas of the human personality are modeled. It seems paradoxical (this is probably the paradox and contradiction of the past century), but the art of cinema best illustrates what Moreno called "cultural canned food", that is, a creative product that does not exist at the time of its creation, but is fixed and capable of reproduction ... While justifiably opposing cultural preserves with a living creative process that has therapeutic power, Moreno nevertheless recognized their importance as one of the sources of spontaneity and even considered the concept of "therapeutic film".

One of the features of the controversial twentieth century is, on the one hand, the invention of the most "conserved" art form, which is cinema, and on the other, an unprecedented increase in the dynamism of all life, the speed of change in which is often measured in seconds and moments. Two inventions of the twentieth century - television and the Internet - represent a fusion of statics and dynamics, canned food and improvisation, which is completely uncharacteristic for past centuries, an alloy of multi-million dollar replication and unique singularity.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a fundamentally new approach appears in musical culture, consisting in improvisation and creative self-expression of a musician, in creating a unique piece that appears at the time of performance instead of reproducing systems of musical signs recorded once and for all. In all fairness, it should be said that musical improvisation has always existed. Moreover, before the invention of musical writing, the art of the performer was actually inseparable from the work of the composer, often not only being united in one person, but also coinciding in time. But only the twentieth century is characterized by the emergence of a whole layer of musical culture, for which improvisation becomes not only an element, but the main mode of existence, philosophy, methodology and worldview. This, of course, is about jazz, which, using Moreno's terminology, has abandoned "cultural canned food" in favor of a lively and unique feeling. This position, like no other, is close to psychodrama, which is based on the improvisation of an action that is born "here and now", no matter whether it is a theater of spontaneity or a psychotherapeutic session.

In the 20th century, the theater itself, the drama itself, is changing, which pays more and more attention to the processes of personal transformation. Let us recall such wonderful examples as Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, or Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit of the Old Lady, where we witness profound changes in a person's personality occurring under the influence of a skillfully organized social environment.

PP Ermine The twentieth century burst into the thousand-year history of culture with an explosion of modernism, which opened, brought out, into external action, huge depths of psychological layers, which in the classical periods of the development of culture and art could only be read in subtext. From the point of view of psychological content, the most significant phenomenon of modernism and avant-gardism was surrealism, which, following psychoanalysis, discovered the unconscious in man and humanity and made it an object of research (if the first - by scientific methods, then the second by means of art). Modernism and surrealism did not pass by the theater, in which a variety of innovative forms appeared, where one of the most interesting was the theater of the absurd. Approximately the same thing as surrealism (that is, bringing mental life into an external theatrical action, using superreality, fantasy and absurdity), only psychodrama makes it through its specific psychotherapeutic means.

Art begins to pay a lot of attention to play - not only as one of the types of human activity, but also as a person's way of life and as a socio-cultural phenomenon. One of the heroes of Dürrenmatt, the traveling salesman Traps, during the game trial expresses an interesting thought: "The game threatens to turn into reality." His game, having turned into reality, cost the life of this character. But play, as a powerful, but double-edged weapon, is capable of not only killing, but also healing, turning into the reality of the psychotherapeutic process and creating a new personal reality for a person, with which he overcomes previously insoluble life problems.

According to J. L. Moreno, “psychodrama is an attempt to destroy the dualism between fantasy and reality and restore the original integrity” (Quoted from: Leitz, p. 216). From the very beginning of its development, psychodrama did not remain within the framework of only the psychotherapeutic process, claiming the status of methodology, philosophy, sociocultural phenomenon. Moreno believed that "the science of man must begin with the science of the universe." It is not for nothing that in his theory of personality he designated the stage of development with the concept of "psychic universe". As the creator of social drama, called, according to Moreno, to bring about a therapeutic improvement of society, he was convinced that “truly therapeutic measures should be directed at humanity as a whole” (Quoted from Leitz, p. 21).

Living in an era when political and military theaters surpassed in scale all that existed in past centuries, he tried to influence political processes in his own way. Very interesting is his attempt to arrange in 1959, during a visit to the USSR, a meeting of Soviet and American leaders NS Khrushchev and D. Eisenhower, during which, according to his plan, they were to exchange roles.

The whole world is theater: Psychodrama and the XX century 25 In Moreno's psychotherapeutic concept, one of the key concepts is the concept of “role”. Borrowed from theatrical terminology, it reflects Shakespeare's brilliant idea that "the whole world is a theater", in which people are "all actors ... and each plays more than one role." Moreno extends the psychodramatic concept of roles to all dimensions of life, considering not only social (as is done in traditional sociology), but also somatic, mental and transcendental role categories. He made the members of his therapeutic groups not spectators, but actors, rightly believing that “acting is healthier than speaking” (Quoted from Leitz, p. 262). He wrote that “the state of catharsis rises from the viewer to the actor and from the actor back to the viewer” (Moreno, 1993, p.

36), believing that the actor is capable of emotional shock no less than the viewer, on which, in fact, one of the most important psychotherapeutic mechanisms in psychodrama is built.

“The role is not born from the self, but the self is born from the role” (Moreno 2001b, p. 211). The personality functions in roles, for "the directly tangible aspects of what is called 'I' are the roles in which it acts" (Quoted from Leitz, p. 92). These considerations are very important for psychotherapy, since working with the concept of "role" as a point of reference has a methodical advantage over "personality" or "ego". The latter are less concrete and perceptible as a metapsychological mystery.

The success of psychodrama as a method of psychotherapy, psychological assistance, self-knowledge and self-creation is best illustrated by its popularity in the world. Born in Europe at the beginning of the century, she moved to America with her creator in 1925. The world capital of psychodrama also "moved" there, settling in the small town of Beacon (New York State), where Moreno's private psychiatric sanatorium was located, and where he worked as the head physician for more than 30 years. In 1936, the first psychodrama theater was created there. In the 1940s. in the USA, with the active participation of Moreno, similar psychodrama scenes began to be created in various clinics in America, as well as the institutes of sociometry and psychodrama, which played a large role in popularizing the method. In 1941 g.

the American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama, which he created, began to operate.

After World War II, psychodrama goes beyond the American continent and begins a triumphant march around the world. Since the beginning of the 50s. it "conquers" Europe, as well as Latin America and Japan.

Some of the first European countries where this method began to be actively used were the German-speaking countries, France and Czechoslovakia. In the 60s.

psychodrama begins to develop in Poland, Holland, Belgium, Spain, P. P. Ermine in Italy and other European countries. In 1973, the International Association for Group Psychotherapy was created in Zurich, headed by Ya.L.

Moreno. In the 70-80s. psychodrama has become widespread in almost all countries of Central and Western Europe. In the early 90s, it appears in Russia, and in the mid 90s - in Ukraine.

The return of psychodrama to its European Alma mater by the end of this century is not just symbolic. After all, it is no coincidence that psychodrama always came along with independence and liberation from totalitarian regimes, which are the enemies of all spontaneity. Now there is an acute need for all-round interaction between psychodramatic movements represented by various international institutions and associations, of which there are more and more. All psychodramatists understand this, striving for integration within the national framework, at the European and world levels. After all, dialogue, exchange of experience, impressions and experiences, like psychodramatic sharing, always enriches, develops, and, most importantly, promotes in understanding oneself and others.

The return of psychodrama to its European homeland is similar to the return of the protagonist to the opening scene in a completed psychodrama session. Such a conclusion must be accompanied by a cathartic purification, and psychodrama is now experiencing a similar state. Considering the significant positive dynamics of growth of interest in this method of working with a person's personality (in all countries where the pioneers of psychodrama development appeared, its development was only increasing), we must witness the emergence of a new quality. We are facing the beginning of a new stage in the development of psychodrama, possibly a new era, which begins at the turn of the millennium.

Literature:

Dürrenmatt F. Collected Works. In 5 volumes - Kh .: Folio; Moscow: Ed. Gr. "Progress", 1997-1998.

Leitz G. Psychodrama: theory and practice. Classic psychodrama by J.L. Moreno:

Per from German. - M .: Progress; Univers, 1994.

Marino RF History of the Doctor: Jay L. Moreno - the creator of psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy / Per. from English - M .: Class, 2001.

Krasnyansky N.
Clinical psychologist, psychotherapist.

The creation and development of psychodrama is associated with the research of Jacob Levi Moreno (1892-1974), the founder of sociometry and, according to some psychologists, the movement of group psychotherapy in general.

Moreno was born in Bucharest, then moved to Austria with his family as a child, where he studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Vienna. During his studies, he developed a project for organizing self-help groups for single prostitutes in Vienna, which, according to Moreno himself, laid the foundation for the movement of group psychotherapy.

Moreno focused on dynamic intragroup factors as a means of helping women realize their personal goals. He later noted that these group sessions highlighted four basic elements that then became the cornerstone of group psychotherapy: group autonomy, the presence of a defined group structure, the problem of collectivity and anonymity.

In 1916 Moreno began working on a second project of organizing self-help groups for Italian peasants who were forced to relocate in order to help them adapt to the new conditions. Based on the data obtained through the implementation of these projects, he developed the methods of group sociometry, which formed the foundation of his system of psychodrama and group psychotherapy.

The concept of drama as a therapeutic method arose as a result of the theatrical experiment begun by Moreno in Vienna after the First World War and called "spontaneous theater". Moreno first thought about play techniques when he watched children play their fantasies.

Thus, psychodrama is based on the game principle. Moreno conceived his "spontaneous theater" as another form of entertainment and initially did not focus on the practice of personal change and the harmonization of mental development. Its main idea was spiritual in nature: the realization of the creative "I" in the "theater of life", which provides endless opportunities for the free expression of emotions. He considered his theater to be a kind of dramatic religious experience obtained in the "temple of the theater."

According to Moreno, the idea of ​​psychodrama as a therapeutic method came to him after an actress told him about her conflicts with her fiancé. With the help of the theater troupe, Moreno put the story of the actress on stage. This experience turned out to be significant and successful both for the couple themselves and for the rest of the troupe.

Moreno then embarked on more formalized experiments with similar group representations, developing a variety of techniques that later became an essential part of the psychodramatic approach.

After moving to the United States in 1925, Moreno continued to develop a psychodramatic approach, working with children at the Plymouth Institute in New York. At the same time, he worked on sociometric analysis techniques, conducting surveys of New York State Prison inmates and pre-school delinquent children. The result of research on group exposure therapy was the construction of a sociogram.

In 1929 Moreno embarked on the first large-scale "open" psychodrama program for the amateur troupe of Carnegie Hall. In 1934, he published the monograph "Application of the group method for classification", in which he defined the content of the terms "group therapy" and "group psychotherapy", describing in detail a specific complex of operations. Discussion of this work at a conference on group methods was the first attempt to draw the attention of the American Psychiatric Association to group psychotherapy.

27 Sep 2008, 00:27

Practical Psychologist's Journal No. 2-3, 2002 Special issue: The history of psychodrama in Russia

E.Z. Niphont! Please tell us briefly about yourself and what your main occupation is.

N. D. I am a psychotherapist, psychotherapy trainer, i.e. I teach the gestalt method, psychodrama, and my special specialization - futuropractice (work with the future), based on gestalt and psychodrama. I also do organizational consulting and teach him a little.

I occupy some organizational position at the Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama. I say so evasively - “some organizational place”, because now, in fact, the director is Masha Lekareva-Bozenenkova, and my place is called by some strange word, to which I still cannot get used to ... - President. What it is...

E.Z. Thanks. When and how did your first meeting with psychodrama take place?

N. D. When and how ... I can't remember the first one now. I know that a meaningful encounter with psychodrama took place when Goran Hoegberg arrived and began teaching us psychodrama. This is 1989. We have gathered a diverse group: on the one hand, leading psychotherapists in various fields, consultants (Yulia Aleshina, Leonid Krol, Lena Lopukhina), on the other, members of the newly created Association of Psychological Practitioners, who are just starting their psychotherapeutic career. The initiators of this program were Yulia Aleshina with Lena Novikova, since they seduced Goran Högberg in 1988. in Sofia on arrival in Moscow. And by that time, Goran had already started the program in Bulgaria, he had enough preparation to meet with Russia ...

S.K. What happened in Sofia?

N. D. There was one of the conferences in Sofia, which at the time of "perestroika" were called "Bridges" for the rapprochement of East and West.

E.Z. What are East and West? Is it Oriental psychotechnics?

N. D. No, this is a scanty (for historical reasons) psychotherapy of Eastern Europe and psychotherapeutic masters of the West - Europe, America. The East meant the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe, which had just emerged from the Iron Curtain. I do not mean the Stalinist “iron curtain”, when it was impossible to leave at all, but the “humanitarian curtain”, when live cultural contacts between the “capitalist” camp and the socialist countries were blocked. When I was growing up (I was born in 1953) it was possible to leave, but, strictly speaking, under very strong state control, but already in 1988-1989 they practically did not interfere with leaving for any conference. "Conferences - bridges" on psychotherapy attracted Western stars, mainly from the field of family psychotherapy, and "new Russian psychotherapists" who traveled at their own expense, driven by burning curiosity, and not by administrative duties, and who spoke their broken English, and not with help official translators ...

S.K. What have you seen before - psychodrama or gestalt?

N. D. He began to study earlier, but not much, psychodrama with Yoran (autumn 1989). Psychodrama from the "master" I saw for the first time at Anna Schutzenberger in August 1989 - she showed her psychodrama at the Amsterdam Congress on Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama. I was very impressed with how she worked - brilliantly, confidently, “without looking”.
Then I saw Hoegberg's psychodramatic presentation at the Psychological Institute “on Mokhovaya”.
I was familiar with gestalt therapy before, because my wife, Olga Dolgopolova, began to practice gestalt for a long time (she went to a group from 1986 led by American Jeff. And I also saw the work of Roy Parsons (in 1987-1988) ...

E.Z. What is closer to you now, with whom do you identify yourself more - with gestalt psychologists or with psychodramatists? Or with someone else?

N. D. If you ask a child who he loves more - dad or mom ... For me this is about the same question, because I began to learn these methods, as I said, at about the same time - in the late 80s and was equally fascinated by them. And so it goes on ...
And if we talk about my special preferences, then this is work with the future - futuropractice, in fact, it is equally rooted in gestalt and psychodrama ... So, whose child this is more, it is also not clear: in appearance - more psychodrama, but in terms of its inner content, work with needs is borrowed from gestalt.

E.Z. Who do you consider your teachers in psychotherapy?

N. D. In psychotherapy in general?

E.Z. Yes, in psychotherapy in general.

N. D. My music teacher. We had a deep personal relationship with him. He was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. His name was Isaac Rabinovich. And he taught me music from the age of seven. I am very grateful to him, because I received many of the skills of psychotherapy from him. First, he was an excellent Master of Contact. Secondly, he did not consider playing the piano as a technical performance, but as a person's existence in music. And accordingly, musical images do not arise from the fact that the pianist does something with his fingers (in a technical way), but are created by the magic of the player's experience. I remember that even when he taught me how to hold a hand, the main instruction was “to perceive the hand not as a technical tool, but as an instrument of creation — light, free, wayward ...”.
For me, this is very closely related to psychotherapy: I perceive my actions not as a technical tool, but as an act of creation. Although as a coach I devote a lot of time to teaching technique.
Among psychotherapy teachers .... It's a strange subjective thing, who you call a teacher and who you don't. For me, three things are important when defining a teacher: who is close to you in spirit, from whom you received some essential knowledge, to whom you are ready to humble yourself - calling him a Teacher, he will always be the first ...
The first coach-gestaltist for me was Roy Parsons, but I cannot call him my teacher, although at his seminar there was a powerful event in my teaching. I first started working in English with a Western client ... I still remember this Negro who started doing something with his body, independently of me, and finished before I could understand what he was doing ... I was amazed how lagging behind the process ...
I have great respect and gratitude to Sigrid Pappa and Wilfried Schlei, the trainers of the Hamburg Perlz Institute, who issued me the first Gestalt certificate after four years of training, but I do not count them as my Teachers either ... And I consider Jean Marie Robin to be my Teacher in the Gestalt method , director of the French Gestalt Institute, whom in 1993, together with Danila Khlomov, he deliberately invited to Moscow for a three-year program. From Robin, I first began to perceive the theory of Gestalt. And I also include Bob Reznik and Toda Burley (Los Angeles Association of Gestalt Trainers) among the Teachers, whom I invited in 1998 to lead an educational program at the Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama and from whom I continue to study to this day.
In psychodrama, Goran Hoegberg is the main Teacher for me, and he was also the first coach. What other Teachers? Zerka Moreno, of course, although she was not my Moscow coach - I saw her work abroad, Anna Schutzenberger, Marsha Karp, Monica Zuretti (Argentina), Sue Daniels (Australia), Jorg Burgmeister (Switzerland), Ella May Shearon (Germany ). I respect Natalia Novitski (Finland), Paul Holmes (England), Eva Strömberg-Falström (Sweden), who have invested a lot in my education, but to their I do not count among teachers. For me, after all, a lot depends on some kind of identification with the personality of the Teacher, with his style, ideas.

E.Z. Do you have students in psychodrama?

N. D. This is also a difficult question. If we call as students everyone who just finished my educational programs, received a certificate, then there are a lot of them, because I have already certified more than 30 programs in Moscow and in the regions (both in gestalt and psychodrama), i.e. this is at least five hundred people to whom I have issued certificates “psychodramatist”, “gestaltist”.
But the students with whom I really have some kind of personal connection, a commonality of ideas, there are fewer of them, much less, and with many of them I just organized the Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama.

E.Z. Can you name them?

N. D. Yes I can. For example, in gestalt - Masha Bozenenkova-Lekareva, Lena Shuvarikova, Vika Dubinskaya, Misha Dubinsky and many others.
Psychodrama - Tanya Bessonova, Ira Dyachenko, Misha Kryakhtunov, Vera Ryashina from the first issue. Not all of them work at the institute, but at least I count them among my first students. And then the next generations - Zhanna Lurie, Natasha Kokurkina, Zhenya Kuznetsova, Alla Noskova, Lena Morozova and others ...

E.Z. Can you identify the stages on your psychodramatic path?

N. D. “Stages of a Dramatic Path”. It sounds so, you know, monumental, I feel like a “mammoth”. I still haven’t singled them out ... Usually, when a person has died, the stages of his life are singled out. But I will try to play "stages" ...
First. That was when I started studying at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, in 1974. Words about psychodrama were heard there in different contexts. For example, at the mention of the Grotowski Theater, where the viewer was allowed to be active. Or while reading Moreno's book "Sociometry", which was previously in the "special storage" ... This is fragmentary information and impressions of psychodrama - the first stage, until 1988.
Second ... From 1989 to 1990 - this is the time of pure apprenticeship - when I absorbed professional psychodramatic knowledge and ... refrained from using psychodrama in my professional activity. This is a sweet, irresponsible time for personal encounters with psychodrama and "professional psychodramatic virginity."
The third ... From 1990 to 1996 .. Since I still taught at the Pedagogical Institute (now it is Moscow State Pedagogical University, and earlier it was called MGPI), I asked Yoran if I had the right to start teaching some elements of psychodrama. To which he answered me that, in fact, each person himself gives himself the right. It was the teacher's normal response: "To the extent that you are responsible for your actions, you can teach." At that time, we did not have professional psychodramatists at all, and the request for acquaintance with psychodrama was strong, and therefore there was such a choice: either psychotherapists who are in professional training, or non-professionals, introduce students to the basics of psychodrama. (Now the situation has changed fundamentally - restrictions on the premature use of methods are much stronger - since the professional community has already developed).
In any case, with the consent of Göran, I began to conduct psychodrama classes with students, indicating that for now I am a teaching director. of the year. My first group ended in 1992, and I specifically discussed with Goran how I would give them a certificate, because I myself have a certificate of “senior laboratory assistant” (our primary certificate is a certificate of a Director assistant. In our language, I called him the certificate of “senior laboratory assistant”, because the rights of the assistant director did not include the possibility of conducting the drama on his own ...) and asked him to expedite the issuance of the main certificate to me. To which he said to me: “It's okay. Issue a certificate. To be signed by a “laboratory assistant”. At that time I had an organization - the Psychological Center "Alf", and this organization should be responsible for the "laboratory" signatures. I am grateful to him for supporting me. I issued certificates from the Center with my signature: I was the director of this center anyway. The center had already begun to be called psychodramatic by that time. At this stage, I finished my primary education, continued my studies with Paul Holmes and Natasha Novitskaya. And in 1996 I received a certificate of “psychodrama-therapist” from the entire team of trainers - signed by Högberg, Nowitzki, Holmes, Karp, Schutzenberger, Zuretti, etc. The third stage is the stage of my professional development and the formation of myself as a psychodrama coach.
The fourth stage - 1996 ...
Since 1996, since I received my official certificate, I already had the moral right to open a specialized institute, and a new era began: within the framework of the Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama, together with my students, I began to implement psychodramatic educational and therapeutic programs.
Lena Lopukhina and I, each with his own institute, entered 1996. to the Federation of European Psychodramatic Training Institutes (FEPTO). And every year we participate in the FEPTO meeting. Has this stage ended? .. No, it probably still continues

E.Z. Niphont, do you have a certificate of psychodrama or psychodrama coach, or both?

N. D. Our primary certificate is assistant director, and the second is a psychodrama therapist. After 6 years of training, we were given it, but it was not given to everyone, but to those who defended their theses and fulfilled other certification requirements. But, at least from the first group, Lena Lopukhina, Katya Mikhailova and I received it. As a matter of fact, I don’t know who else, because it happened on an individual basis. The three mentioned got a certificate of a trainer in psychodrama on the fact of real coaching from the Russian Association of Psychodrama.

S.K. Did you have any rather clear end to the group?

N. D. Of course, but the certification was individual. Lena Lopukhina and I were given a certificate at the next conference on psychodrama in Europe.

E.Z. Or maybe you have some idea of ​​your plans for the future?

N. D. You know, at least for working with the future, I have ideas for some more detailed design of this specialization. And now I even started teaching a psychodrama course with a specialization in futuropractice. My plans are related to the development of futuropractics, which involves the design of texts in the form of a small book.

E.Z. Thanks. Do you remember how you were the Protagonist the first time?

N. D. No, I do not remember. In general, I hardly remember the first times in my life, but I remember the second ones better ... I remember two of my protagonist experiences well. One, when I got divorced in 1990, I was doing a drama about my relationships with women, about sexuality, and I remember this drama very well. I remember how much pain there was in her and how much energy and liberation there was ... I remember my gratitude to the Director (Goran).
And I remember very well another of my dramas (it was in the 31st lecture hall at the pedagogical faculty of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, on a drama stage that I built myself and where part of our training took place). I did this drama a week after the death of my two month old son. I don't know if I could have survived and continued to work if it hadn't been for this drama ... These are the two dramas that I remember the most.

E.Z. Thanks. Do you remember how you were the Director the first time?

N. D. No, I do not remember. I remember very well my first serious supervision given by Natalia Novitskaya. I was “in shock”, the client was very pleased, the whole group was very supportive, the client had very strong insights and cathartic experiences. I sat down, terribly pleased, and Natasha Nowitzki, since she was different, how to put it publicly, “a rather bitchy character,” told me harshly that everything was fine, but it had nothing to do with psychodrama. In general, she offended me terribly, but on the other hand, I am very grateful to her, because I have remembered this supervision for the rest of my life. She explained that the method of psychodrama assumes, in contrast to gestalt, “awareness in the process of action,” and I was engaged in “awareness” of the client to the detriment of dramatic play. In terms of the content of the criticism, I completely agree with her. And since I am now teaching both psychodrama and gestalt, I have already reproduced this phrase (albeit with greater support to the therapist) many times.
I still remember my first drama outside of training. This was when I was leading an intensive course in Narva on “avant-garde” psychological methods within the framework of the movement of innovative teachers - “Eureka” (A.I.Adamsky). A lot of teachers, school psychologists, just psychologists came to this gathering ... And in the team of intensive trainers there were the best specialists at that time in certain psychotherapeutic areas ... For example, Farida Assadulina presented psychosynthesis, Yulia Aleshina presented psychoanalysis. I was not only the organizer, but also presented psychodrama myself.
The three-hour "workshop" went violently ... There were 70-80 people in the hall, no less, maybe even a little more. My client protagonist said that she “sees a picture in which I see a pool and a person is drowning in it”. I materialize it all: on the floor of the large hall I designate a “pool”, from the audience we choose an “additional I” that “drowns” in the pool, and the protagonist and I stand on the “side” of the pool. After each role-playing interaction, she threw herself into stormy tears and ran out of the hall ... At the same time, the audience froze and stared at all this in horror. As a “director” I tried to keep a “decent face” - “they say everything is going according to plan”, but I myself was in a panic at these moments: either I should run after her, or the audience was “pumped out” ... I still chose first: he slowly moved after her to the door, found her in the corridor, returned her ... And so each scene was accompanied by the escape of the protagonist ... And she ran away with such a chilling cry that it was clear that she was about to throw out the window where something in the hallway. And each time I returned it, calmed the audience, and we continued the drama. Three times she ran out ... The ending was also heartbreaking. She asked to somehow "fill up" this pool, to which the already completely exhausted audience spontaneously began to throw it in a lot: they took off their things, threw pens, money ... To which the client once again ran out of the hall, saying on the run that this action hurts her greatly. The audience here completely died of fear and whispered: "How should it be?" Then she showed how to “fall asleep”, and everything ended happily.
Thank God, no one went crazy, including myself, but actually I still remember this drama, I always tell it to my students as an example of what happens when the amount of emotions in the Drama exceeds the amount of emotions that can sustain Protagonist, Director and Audience. And as an example of how not to make unsafe dramas.
Although, in a sense, the effect was positive, since most of the school psychologists and innovative teachers, who so cheerfully approached and demanded: “Give us psychodrama techniques, we will use them!”, After this “action” with a less fanatical look and with traces of horror on their faces, they approached and promised that they themselves would never use psychodrama without special training and permission ...

S.K. That is, it turned out to be a sociodrama with a community?

N. D. Yes, it was psychodrama with social consequences, very useful for the community, albeit very dangerous.

E.Z. Niphont, we have a few more questions for you. Do you think there is a psychodrama community in Russia?

N. D. Not an easy question ... What do you mean by a psychodrama community?

E.Z. What do you mean, just answer.

N. D. Sly what ... Psychodrama in Russia plays an important role as a psychotherapeutic direction - this is undoubtedly. More and more psychologists and non-psychologists are interested in psychodrama, ordering training courses in different regions. For example, I lead (and some have certified) psychodrama groups in Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev ... These are prolonged certification programs. Interest in this method and in its applications - psychotherapeutic, pedagogical, organizational - is not dwindling. I know that other coaches - among the main ones - Katya Mikhailova and Lena Lopukhina - conduct many groups. In this sense, the community exists and is expanding. The community in this sense is people who are interested in and are engaged in psychodrama.
Another meaning of the phrase “psychodramatic community” is professional psychodramatists who recognize and respect each other and are engaged in their professional psychodramatic activities. In this sense, the community also exists. Of course, I have a very respectful attitude to other coaches, to what they do, to their students and certificates, to psychodrama centers that develop the method, and I myself try not to be lazy in this.
What does not exist, in my opinion - and this is the third meaning of the word “community” - there is no integration, full-fledged interaction within this community, neither among the leading trainers, nor among this community as a whole. This is not a reproach, but just a statement. For example, the links between psychodrama institutions - the Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama, the Institute of Psychodrama and Role-playing Training, the Institute of Family and Group Therapy - are still very weak. There is no national bank of certified psychodramatists. I do not think that these are only informational difficulties, it speaks about how the professional community generally lives - it is not integrated.

S.K. Do you have any idea why this is so now?

N. D. There are objective reasons and subjective ones. Among the objective ones, of course, during the years of Soviet life, the status of various integrating organizations has fallen sharply. Associations have strongly discredited themselves as organizations that are an instrument of enrichment and political struggle of leaders, and "using" ordinary members. At one time, when I tried to create the Association of Russian Gestalt (1994), I communicated with gestaltists and received the same question: "It would be nice, but where is the guarantee that I will have something from this?" ... It is clear that this is not a principle on the basis of which an association can develop. Thus, the first objective reason is that the integrating organization-associations have not yet been rehabilitated in the public and professional consciousness.
Among other objective reasons - the fact that our professional community rests on separate centers, institutions that are forced to fight for their own existence, there are few or practically no state subsidies for their existence, there is not enough financial and time resources for interinstitutional relations, competitive relations prevail over cooperative. Therefore, on the one hand, professional institutions develop a professional psychotherapeutic movement and are its basis, and on the other hand, they block integrating associative organizations. (Therefore, Lena Lopukhina and I exactly meet where it is at the Federation of European Psychodramatic Institutions, in Europe, or at random events, such as, for example, when Bert Hellinger recently came ... It's a pity ...)

S.K. That is, in the metaposition ...

N. D. Yes. And among the subjective reasons, I would name the following. Leaders of institutions and main trainers are already elderly people, with an established status, with stable personal habits ... The higher the status, age and amount of employment, the less opportunities for mutual relations and integration. Although, I can admit that from time to time I have fantasies - how to cooperate, but ...

S.K. And at what moments do you have such fantasies?

N. D. Every time after visiting FEPTO, such a feeling appears. I think: "After all, they collect people from different states, devote time and money to this, because they also do not have any sponsors or subsidies! ..."

L.Z. What do you think, Nifont, what is the place of Russian psychodrama in the world psychodrama space??

N. D. This year I was at the annual meeting of FEPTO, which took place in the homeland of Schutzenberger, near Nice. She was given all kinds of honors for her contribution to the psychodrama movement - and, among other things, they drew the “genealogical tree” of psychodrama based on the recollections of the “masters” present. I was very much amazed when I saw that the leading Russian psychodrama coaches (Lena Lopukhina, Katya Mikhailova and I) were no longer taking the place of young branches on the top of the tree - as it was 10 years ago, but almost the middle place in the main trunk ... It is glad that we were able to take a worthy place, it is sad that the carefree, irresponsible time of professional youth disappears in the haze of time.
I am deeply grateful to all FEPTO members for the tremendous support they always provide to Russian psychodrama and to me personally ... What is the only support in the presentation of my psychodrama workshop in Buenos Aires (1995) confrontation between English- and Spanish-speaking participants - and psychodramatist friends were consistently translating into French-Spanish-Portuguese!) or protection from “forced equality” in London (1998) (at this congress there was an attempt to remove financial registration benefits from participants from Eastern Europe) ...

S.K. And what, in your opinion, is the difference between Russian psychodrama and foreign ones?

N. D. The psychodrama of any master differs significantly from others, regardless of the nationality of the psychodramatist. Moreover, even for one master, psychodrama is not alike ... The individual style of the master overlaps the differences in communities.
Nevertheless, one can fantasize that since the first Russian psychodrama group was trained by a team of trainers (and not by one basic basic trainer - like most Western psychodramatists), then the individual range of registers for a Russian master should be wider than the average for a Western one. In this sense, we are paradoxically lucky - we are more widely educated in psychodrama than the Western masters themselves.
Another difference is that the orthodox Morena drama in Russia does not occupy the place that it has in the West - after all, we have no “direct” heirs to it.
Education is built by trainers according to Western standards and rather differs in meaningful nuances - in the FEPTO collection "Psychodramatic Education" (1999) I wrote, for example, that I use the techniques of futuropractice in teaching psychodramatists.

L.Z. Can you briefly describe the state of the psychodramatic community in Russia now and offer an image of its desired state?

N. D. I have already said that the real image so far is partially overlapping microcommunities supported by “specific princedoms-institutions”, the ideal one is a combination of institutional energy and responsibility for training high-quality psychodrama specialists with inter-institutional integration with the help of the Association or the Confederation of Institutions.

L.Z. Where do you think psychodrama can be applied?

N. D. Psychodrama is about a hundred years old - it is almost the same age as psychoanalysis. During this time, the method, like a sponge, has absorbed the advantages of other approaches and rather another question is correct - where it cannot be applied.
There is only one answer: it cannot be applied where there are no well-trained psychodramatists. A well-trained specialist can work both in the clinic and with organizations (diagnostic constellations, individual counseling for managers, staff training), and in pedagogy (our psychodramatic training program for sociopsychologists at Izmailovo UVK has shown the effectiveness of psychodrama in teaching teachers and schoolchildren), and with groups of clients, and with individual clients in the monodrama genre.

L.Z. Can you sketch out a forecast for the development of psychodrama in Russia?

N. D. He will live for sure. And the pace of development and weight in the "psychological market" will strongly depend on the efforts of the community ...

E.Z. Can you personally do something for this?

N. D. To continue to teach and support young psychodramatists, to continue to learn on your own ... To continue to live ...

L.Z. I want to do a role swap. What question would you ask yourself if you were in our place?

N. D. "What is the most joyful psychodramatic event for me in the future?" The answer is an all-Russian psychodrama conference with the participation of all psychodramatists in Russia.

S.K. Our last question. What was this interview for you?

N. D. It's nice to participate in this, because this is also an interinstitutional project. I have warm sympathy for the young enthusiasm of the interviewers.
By the end of the interview, I was tired - there were too many questions, I noticed that I try to answer the last questions succinctly.
I am grateful to Viktor Semenov for organizing this project and Sasha Leaders for his publishing support.
I will look forward to the publication.

Psychodrama is a method of group psychotherapy, founded by J.L. Moreno, which combines diagnostic capabilities, stage performances (theater of spontaneity, group dynamic sessions and analytical group work.

With the help of various techniques, such as role reversal, duplication, "empty chair", mirror, etc., conflicts between the individual and society are not only and not so much discussed in group discussions, but are also played out on stage, taking into account different role positions.

The experience in the past, expected in the future, saturated with the conflicting content of fantasies, dreams, dreams, ideas (acting out) is brought to the stage. These actions contribute to the awareness and overcoming (re-living) of the conflict.

Not only the main character (protagonist), but also his partners in the game ("auxiliary selves"), as well as other members of the group acquire new personal experiences that contribute to the development of spontaneity and creativity.

When Jacob Moreno, at the age of 24, watched in the Vienna City Park how children play, spontaneously choosing roles for themselves and finding solutions to their conflicts in play, he did not yet know what these observations would lead him to.

He just started playing with the children, and together with them he came to the refugee camp - to their families and their parents. He faced appalling poverty, grief and resentment.

Moreno tried to help adults get out of the crisis in life in the way that he saw in children's games. He founded the theater of spontaneity, which later grew into a method of group psychotherapy, which gained widespread acceptance and recognition throughout the world.

Moreno founded psychodrama and laid the foundation for group psychotherapy.

Currently, the psychodrama created by Moreno is widely used for personal development, psychocorrection, in pedagogy and medicine.

The man who loved to play

Playing in God, the future world famous psychotherapist Jacob Levi Moreno (1892-1974) realized that in playing with decorations and with the support of like-minded people it is possible to live something that does not really exist. And that it is necessary to check how much you correspond to this or that assumed role, playing it not only "to yourself", but also "out loud" - with the whole body.

Already a student and studying psychiatry in Austria, Moreno enjoyed watching children play in Vienna's parks. And having already started medical practice, he could not resist playing with patients. They replayed episodes that happened to them in life and caused negative emotions. In such a game, they managed to express what was left unspoken, to do what they did not manage once, to be who they wanted. In the game, patients learned to live differently. After such "entertainment" their path began from illness to recovery.

And the "playful" Moreno became the founder of such a psychotherapeutic method as psychodrama.

We know that it is possible to move an hour into the past or the future, to look at the world through the eyes of your husband or child, in science fiction films using teleportation. But it turns out that this can be done in a psychodrama session. Seductive? Then teleport!

In various psychodrama techniques, there is a relationship with such approaches as gestalt therapy (Fritz Perls and Moreno worked together for many years), catatymic experience of the perceived (the common denominator is auto-training and imagination) and body-oriented psychotherapy. The peculiarity of psychodrama is that material for experiencing, for example, a conflict or a problem situation, as well as desires and hopes, is created with the help of the therapist and other members of the group on stage in group scenes that are played out and then discussed. Special talents, for example, acting skills, are not required for psychodrama, they rather even interfere with psychodrama.