REDEMPTIVE ENCOUNTER: ITS USE IN PSYCHODRAMA, ANCESTRAL SOCIODRAMA AND COMMUNITY BUILDING
Keywords:
ANCESTRAL SOCIODRAMA, PSYCHODRAMA, REDEMPTIVE ENCOUNTERAbstract
Psychotherapy is based on the concept that the significant encounter is the essence of the healing process.1 Moreno has defined the encounter as:
A meeting of two: eye to eye, face to face.
And when you are near I will tear your eyes out
and place them instead of mine,
and you will tear my eyes out
and will place them instead of yours,
then I will look at you with your eyes
and you will look at me with mine. 2
There are many overtones to the way the word encounter, is understood. Basically it is a meeting of two, with an opportunity to reverse roles. But the two people can only look at each other with the other's eyes when the relationship is basically equal, that is, both have the same amount of aliveness. There are obvious problems in encountering God, nature, and animals, in the sense described by Moreno, but also problems with people. What if one person goes through life feeling more dead than alive? What happens to the encounter then?
References
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MORENO. Invitation to a Meeting. 1914
MORENO. W h o Shall Survive?, p. 3.
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ROGERS, CARL. " T h e Process of the Basic Encounter Group," in Sensitivity Training and Group Encounter, ed. by Siroka, Siroka, and Schloss.
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MORENO. T h e W o r d s of the Father, p. 315.
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MILLER, DONELL. "Psychodramatic .Ways of Coping with Potentially Dangerous Situations in Psychotic and Non-Psychotic Populations." Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama, Vol. XXV, No. 1 2 , 1972. Zerka Moreno is cited as developing this concept.
MORENO. " T h e Concept of the Here and Now, Hie et Nunc, Small Groups and Their Relation to Action Research."' Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama, Vol. XXII, No. 3 4 , 1969.
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