"Don’t be satisfied with stories of how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” – Rumi
Laurel Psychodrama Training Institute (LPTI) provides holistic, integrative, experiential professional development opportunities for practitioners and students in the mental health and related human service fields
LPTI’s powerful trainings integrate theory-based and research-informed content with high-impact action learning methods.
Psychodrama is uniquely suited as a highly effective therapeutic and learning modality with its emphasis on addressing the whole person in a comprehensive manner that brings body, mind, emotions and spirit into the work.
Holistic
From the Greek holos, holism proposes that all systems must be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. In popular language, we say the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
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This concept is important in therapy and learning because it emphasizes the necessity of looking at the person as a unified whole consisting of body, mind, emotions and spirit.
Moreover, within a holistic perspective, we also view the individual within the context of their interpersonal and social world. J.L. Moreno’s psychodrama explicitly incorporates a holistic perspective.
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Integrative
Findings from the contemporary field of interpersonal neurobiology support and complement many of Moreno’s seminal theories and methods. According to Dan Siegel (2018), the core function that promotes healing, learning and wellbeing is integration.
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For the individual, this means actively linking thought with emotion, and bodily sensation with logic. Integration also refers to the coordination and synthesis of left brain hemisphere and right brain hemisphere functions, brain and nervous system, and left/right somatic integration. In relationships, integration means each individual is respected for her/his/their separate self, while at the same time, being linked to others through energetic and empathic attunement.
Moreno’s triadic system of psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy explicitly incorporates this same thinking about the importance of integration in all human relationships.
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Experiential
Although insight and behavior change are helpful in personal growth, healing, and transformation, it is actually a new experience that changes us. Psychodrama is considered the grandparent of all experiential therapies and learning modalities. According to expert educator, David Kolb (1999), optimal adult learning occurs best when the learner goes through a complete cycle of learning that encompasses four different ways of learning: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation.
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Although not developed specifically for psychodrama, Kolb’s theory provides a useful.. framework for explaining the effectiveness of psychodrama as a highly effective way of teaching and learning.
To learn more about Kolb’s theory, see the Resources page.
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