Exposure, that’s what I think about every time there is a workshop in the city. Seminars and workshops held specifically for the people of psychology field help us in building network, sharing our knowledge and learning a tonne of new things along the way. I was super excited when Dr.Jayanti shared the invite of a session on psychodrama hosted by Roshni Counseling Center by Dr.Peter Kranz (professor at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) who is visiting from USA.

Having done storytelling, I was all the more interested, I want to explore how drama, and storytelling can help in healing. Psychodrama is mainly aimed at bringing about insight by enacting past behaviours. It is a spontaneous technique of psychotherapy, and can help people of all ages.

For me the experience of being in a seminar like such helps in building insight. It’s not just for the purpose of learning, as psychologists or therapists/counselors it’s important to constantly be on a journey of developing insight about yourself. We are complex, ever evolving creatures, a mystery for us to resolve forever. Me being interested in research, I make a conscious effort to observe people around me, understand myself. Psychodrama helps in that, as a group therapy technique it’s interesting fun and has a seamless approach to addressing issues which otherwise would be difficult to deal with. Psychodrama was founded by Jacob L.Moreno.

The most insightful moment for me was through a simple activity wherein we were to pick an age where we were the most happiest. Chairs were placed in a line, each representing an age  (10,20s,30s,40s etc). And for me the happiest and fun was 10 and most difficult was the 20s. Well I am still in my 20s so don’t have anywhere to go beyond that, but hearing the peoples reasons for choosing the age groups they did made me realise there’s a long life still for me to lead. The lovely women, so empowered who were present in the session were talking about how satisfied they are in their late 30s or 40s, and for most 20s has been a period of struggle. So I am not alone!. And now I look forward to growing older and experiencing my 30s and learning more, and achieving more in life. Don’t know why I had created this mental block that the 20s are the time to achieve everything, and that everything in life will go downhill from there. The beauty of it all is that this activity was not a true session, we were all strangers, and it was Dr.Kranz’s demonstration of initial activities, and but how it helped me, and many others is phenomenal. This shows that psychodrama in its essence has a lot to give to participants.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok9Hb5m4r7E?list=PLpqiWyg1HEOGXDYYdL4ya1CfMiGD93huc]

Will definitely be exploring psychodrama and also a person to mention here is Susan Perrow who is a storyteller and writer who helps parents, teachers, and psychologists in healing patients through stories. It was through Deepa Kiran that I came to know about her, and am going to learn more about her techniques of healing. Her website has plenty resources and information on what she does.

If you’re a therapist, there’s another session on the 3rd of June, hosted by Roshni Counseling Center at 9AM, led by Dr.P.Kranz on stress management. You can simply register yourself by calling the centers numbers: 040 66661117/1118.