Spotlight on Psychodrama
ITP is one of the few accredited institutions in the world that offers a broad range of Masters and Ph.D. level courses in various fields related to Transpersonal Psychology. Psychodrama is one such area of study. The Institute's graduate level distance learning and residential degree programs often offer courses in psychodrama that are taught by ITP's distinguished faculty. This faculty includes professors who are nationally recognized leaders in their field of specialty.
The following is a list of psychodrama courses. These classes were taught in the past at ITP. The particular electives offered by the Institute vary at any given time. The school tries to be responsive to the particular interests of the current student body and aims to have the curriculum reflect those interests. The number of current classes that fall under the category of psychodrama depends on both teacher availability and student interest. Information on current classes can be found in the academic catalog.
Psychodrama
Since Jacob L. Moreno, M.D. originated psychodrama in 1921, the method has been used in a variety of therapeutic settings. Although primarily used in groups, it has been used in individual sessions with one or more therapists. Variation of the technique has been used in business settings. In classical psychodrama the patient, call a "Protagonist," enacts relevant scenes in his or her life. It may be a current scene or one that happened long ago. The power of the process is that people cannot hide behind their stories. In acting out the scene, they have to deal with feelings, actions, and relationships all at the same time. They show their defenses and style of being in the world in clear, dynamic ways.
This course incorporates processes from Process Oriented Psychology and Hakomi therapy with classical psychodrama. The focus is on increasing students' awareness of their feelings and behavior and how their actions affect others. The course is primarily experiential where students participate in three kinds of psychodrama: "Scripted Roles," small group psychodrama exercises, and individual psychodrama. Hopefully, all students who wish to will experience one of these forms. Besides actively participating in a drama, students learn a great deal about interpersonal dynamics and their feelings by being part of the audience. Learning is fostered not only by the instructor's explanation about what, as the "Director," he did, but also by the audience giving feedback to the Protagonist(s). Near the end of the second day, the instructor helps students integrate their feelings and leanings. They share their experiences in small groups and journal. They complete a questionnaire which gives an indication of what they learned.
This course is designed to enable students to (1) deepen our awareness of our own and others feelings; (2) learn how psychodrama works in three formats; (3) increase a feeling of appreciation and connectiveness for self and others in the class.
Beginning Psychodrama
This course uses scripted roles and other forms of psychodrama to increases students' flexibility and effectiveness in handling interpersonal, group, and personal conflicts. Students will be able to propose scenes they would like to understand and work with. Students will be assigned scripted roles which will challenge their ability to handle interpersonal conflict. We will encourage students to try new behavior in solving the conflict that is written into each set of scripted roles.
This course is designed to enable students to (1) increase skill in identifying and communicating feelings; (2) learn how to be flexible in situations differing in dynamics; (3) gain skill in working therapeutically with families and groups; and, (4) become aware of and start to change their patterns of defense so that they become more aware of their own and others' needs.
