COUN 5345:

Psychodrama

Summer 2006

Instructor: Dr. John Garcia                                                                  Classroom: Avery 308

Phone: (512) 219-5798 x283                                                  Meets: T 5:30 – 9:30                             

E-mail: jg12@txstate.edu                                                                     Office: Avery 464

                                                                                                                Office Hours: W 3:30 – 5:00; or

                                                                                                                by appointment

Course Description:

The course is both didactic and experiential. It provides a history of therapeutic drama beginning with the Greek theater of Dionysus. The work of J.L. Moreno is presented and the basic tenets of the theory studied. Students then engage in creating, producing, and acting-out actual psychodramatic productions.

Course Objectives:  

1. To foster creativity and spontaneity in the future counseling professional.
2. To familiarize the student with Moreno’s pioneering work in the group psychotherapy movement and psychotherapeutic methods including sociometery and its use in consulting with organizations. (CACREP IIK: 6a)
3. To familiarize the student with creative, expressive therapies and to encourage their judicious integration with traditional talk therapies where appropriate and clinically indicated.
4. To foster respect for the powers, mysteries, and dangers of the unconscious and to assist the student in learning to negotiate and manage right brain activity safely and therapeutically.
5. To encourage the student to consider possible practical applications for modified psychodramatic methods in traditional counseling settings.

Methods of Instruction:

This class will employ standard lecture/discussion as well as psychodramatic enactments. Each student will participate in two (2) scheduled psychodramatic productions (see dates below). The student’s engagement will be evaluated by the professor along a specific set of criteria to be provided ahead of time. Since spontaneity and creativity are at the very core of psychodrama and its family of therapies, the professor reserves the right to make changes in the format and schedule as deemed appropriate to ensure the highest quality psychodramatic experience for the student.

Required Texts:

Blatner, A. (2000). Foundations of psychodrama (4th ed.). New York:   Springer

Publishing Company

Blatner, A. (1996). Acting-In (3rd ed.). New York:   Springer Publishing Company.

Nietzsche, F. (1967). The birth of tragedy (Walter Kaufmann, Trans.). New York:

Random House.

Recommended Texts:

Dayton, T. (2005). The living stage. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc.

Sternberg, P., & Garcia, A. (2000). Sociodrama. (2 nd ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger

Course Requirements:

Attendance and Participation:

Psychodrama is an action therapy, therefore the student’s willingness to engage and take reasonable risks are necessary for learning. Absences will affect the student’s grade by one letter deduction for each absence unless arrangements are made prior with the professor. Three (3) absences will result in an automatic “F” for the course. If you have a telephone or any device that alarms, rings, or plays an irritating little tune, please disarm it prior to entering class.

Thoughtful Reading:

This is a graduate seminar course and the student is expected to read thoroughly, thoughtfully, reflectively, and consistently the considerable amount of material to be assigned including books, handouts,   and articles.

Communication with the Professor:

Psychodramatic methods can be highly evocative and therefore powerful emotional material can surface rapidly. The student agrees to keep the professor advised of any aftermath of the class including sleep interruption, eating disturbances, excessively troubling dreams, or any other unusual behavior or mood patterns following the class experience. Any limitation to physical exertion or special needs in the areas of movement must be reported to the professor immediately. This class is not recommended for anyone in an acute grief response delayed or otherwise. In addition, there has been any history of dissociative disorder the professor must be informed immediately.

Safety and Confidentiality:

The enrolled students agree to maintain confidentiality in all matters relative to the class. While the enactments and scenarios are imaginal personal material with appear unavoidably. The student assumes responsibility for self and to others in all matters of safety, respect, and disclosure.

Active Texas State E-mail Account:

If you need assistance securing this, see professor.

Professional Performance:

This is not an “acting” class. The student’s performance assessment is based on the criteria of the EAPS Professional Counselor Evaluation Form. Completion of this class does not certify the student as a Psychodramatist (CP), although it could be used to as transfer for credit upon acceptance into a psychodrama training program subject to that program’s evaluation and requirements.

Grading:

QUIZZES                                                                                                 50

SOCIOGRAM                                                                         50

GROUP PARTICIPATION/OBSERVATION                                    50

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION                                         50

                                                                                                                ____

                                                                                                ∑              200

Standard 10 point grading scale will be applied.

Note: Each quiz is over the previous class material including lecture and reading.                                 

Tentative Schedule:

F = Foundations of Psychodrama                      AI=Acting In                          BOT = Birth of Tragedy     

All books are to be read from cover to cover. The assigned chapters are for emphasis.                                         

June       07            Fundamental Assumptions of Moreno’s Method                            F 1,6,7,8

The Creative Cycle and the Cultural Conserve                              Handouts

Apollo and Dionysus: The Anomalous Alliance                             BOT (Read at your own pace across the ten weeks.

14            The Triadic System: Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group

Psychotherapy

                                Basic Elements                                                                                     F 2,3,4,5

                The Social Atom                                                                                   AI 9,11

                                                                                                                                Handouts

21            Theoretical Underpinnings of Psychodrama                 

28            Spontaneity

Play & Fullness                                                                                    AI, 1,2,3,4,5,6

July         05            CLASS PRODUCTION I   

12            Role Therapy                                                                                         F 15,16,17

19            Sociometry                                                                                            F 18,19

26            Sociodrama                                                                                           

Aug         02            CLASS PRODUCTION II

09            Special Applications

                                A Balanced Approach                                                                          F 21

Psychodrama requires physical movement and possible exertion. Please notify the professor of any physical challenges you are experiencing.

Texas State University seeks to provide reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with disabilities. This University will adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal opportunity. It is the student's responsibility to register with Disability Support Services and to contact the faculty member in a timely manner to arrange for appropriate accommodations.