•Who has experienced domestic violence?
•Who has experienced sexual harassment or other sexual abuse?
Given that these are very difficult issues to talk about, we might ask people to break down into two, threes, or fours to share rather than share with the whole group. Or we might ask them to share with a sound and movement, rather than verbally. Above all, we try to protect the privacy needed depending on the group and culture (Hudgins, In Press).
Finally, the last questions of Circle Similarities focus on positive areas of support and transformation, such as the following:
•Please step in if you have one or more people who support your healing. Please speak at least one of their names so that we can feel them standing behind us in the circle.
•Please step in if you have a self-care activity that you do that helps you heal: yoga, reading, walking—whatever helps you to feel better. Now please demonstrate that activity inside the circle.
This last question moves the group into action and increases the spontaneity and laughter as people sing, do yoga postures, walk dogs, meditate, talk with friends, eat, and in other ways show healing and fun. This is a very positive ending to the warm-up for a “trauma drama,” providing the structure that TSM requires for safety and containment.
The full series of Safety Action Structures supports trauma survivors in a step-by-step fashion so that they feel in control, do not fear being overwhelmed by intense emotion or being re-traumatized again. Time and again we have found that these TSM structures promote the needed safety and then allow very deep TSM trauma dramas on day two when we move to conscious re-experiencing of traumas with developmental repair.
Conclusion
This overview chapter demonstrates the debt that TSM owes to classical psychodrama in terms of theoretical foundations and basic techniques. It also shows how TSM, based on our clinical experiences, changes psychodrama and thereby correlates with the latest brain research and information on the neurobiology of trauma and violence. No longer can we overwhelm the brain with extreme emotional catharsis or trigger uncontrolled regression to wounded child states. We now know that these old ways of doing psychodrama can cause re-traumatization. Classical psychodrama is exceptional for role training, future projection, and working on interpersonal relationships when the protagonist is well resourced and strong enough internally to stay present during the whole drama. It is not only persons suffering from PTSD, but many other protagonists who first need ego-building, who can benefit from the safety and containment found in TSM.
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