By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Imagine a constellation in the sky -- a grouping of stars that depicts you and your ancestors.

These ancestors have imbued you with strengths to face the struggles of your daily life. And ironically, some of your struggles may actually belong to these ancestors, not to you. You are “carrying” the struggles because they have been passed to you as a curious inheritance.
New studies that focus on epigenetics – the study of biological mechanisms that will switch genes on and off – are suggesting that we inherit experiences of our ancestors just as much as physical characteristics like eye color and nose shape.

However, these inherited traumatic experiences can be healed with Family Constellations, an unusual experiential approach that defies typical therapeutic categories. The Family Constellations approach is not talk psychotherapy, nor is it a true creative arts therapy. It has similarities to psychodrama although it most closely resembles sociometry, the sister method to psychodrama, as developed by Dr. J.L. Moreno.

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

There is psychodrama, and there is sociodrama. Sociodrama is the less-known method of the two action methods, although it offers great opportunities for action explorations in many settings.

In psychodrama, we explore a personal issue; for instance, the protagonist, as the client is called, may wish to look at a difficult relationship with a boyfriend, a long-standing conflict with mother, a repeated nightmare or a rehearsal to ask the boss for a raise. The idea is to address a personal problem with the help of “auxiliaries,” the other group members, to enact the roles in the drama to arrive at a conclusion that feels enlightening, satisfying and healing.

In sociodrama, there is no protagonist. Instead, the group identifies a social or cultural issue of common interest and each person in the group takes and plays out a role that relates to the issue or problem.

Psychology Arts, a project initiated by the delightful and  inventive  Azizi Marshall of The Center for Creative Arts Therapy in Chicago, Ill., recently interviewed Karen Carnabucci, founder of the Lancaster School of Psychodrama and Experiential Psychotherapies. Here is a transcript of that interview:

What do you do? Who do you help?
 
I use and teach psychodrama and other experiential methods that support people in rehearsing new roles and discovering new dimensions within themselves -- leading to more satisfying lives. With carefully directed experiences -- with both psychodrama and the newer Family Constellations – we are literally able to shift the molecules in our beings into embracing new realities.

I especially enjoy working with psychotherapists, educators and other helping professionals who want to learn these methods to integrate into their own work. For this reason, I've founded the Lancaster School of Psychodrama and Experiential Psychotherapies in Lancaster, Pa.

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Traditional talk therapy helps the suffering person understand what contributes to his or her eating disorder or dissatisfaction with body image. However, conventional talk therapy usually leaves the person with the knowledge of “why” the eating disorder is present but without changing the behavior.

Psychodrama, the action method developed by Dr. J.L. Moreno and his wife Zerka T. Moreno, teaches the importance of human problems in the context of the roles that are played out in life. With the opportunity to change these roles to more healthy behaviors, we have found that tremendous healing is available with psychodrama.

With the perspective of roles, rather than pathological behaviors, we identify sufferers as the one who binges, the one who restricts food, the one who purges, the one who isolates, the one who is anxious, the one who diets, the one who fears being fat, and so on.

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Eve Ensler, the celebrated U.S. playwright, author of the famed The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, an international movement to stop violence against women and girls, has a new book titled The Apology.

She wrote The Apology from the perspective of her father who abused her physically and sexually throughout her childhood. He never apologized for his actions before his death. She says she wrote the book because she needed to hear him apologize.

She recognizes that this apology was important to her, although it may not be as important to other survivors of abuse.  In an interview with The Huffington Post, she says:

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

The 77th psychodrama conference is history. A team of enthusiastic organizers are all in as it plans for the 78th conference of the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama in April 2020 in Schaumberg, Ill.

But first, it might be important to assess where psychodrama is and what is happening in the field as its member organization moves toward the next year of its conference and many more years as a method that focuses in improvisational dramatization of problems in search of solutions.

Conferences typically build and strengthen community among the expressive therapies practitioners and introduce interested newcomers to the modality. They also can be good indicators of the health of an organization, give a quick snapshot of what’s trending in the field, and inspire attendees to return home with new ideas.

Here are my top eight takeaways at this moment in 2019, particularly with the recent conference that took place on May 2-5, plus some other notes:

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Perhaps the oldest association for creative arts therapies – the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama – will be convening for the 77th year in Manchester, N.H., in May.

The method of psychodrama continues its strong presence in the United States and around the world, and the organizers of this year’s conference have put together a program that looks to the future while giving a bow to the past.

The theme is “Discovering New Worlds: Transformational Advances in Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy,” and there is much to notice that is new, fresh and innovative.

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

The political and social turmoil of our times can leave many of us feeling distressed, hopeless or weary – or all of the above.  Yet I suspect most of us yearn to find a path  to address these painful places  and arrive at a greater heart-satisfying understanding feels more complete, more true.

As my activist and teacher friend Alison Fornes says:  When it comes to understanding complex systems – especially those that stir strong feelings and a lack of control – our best analysis is not enough. This is because analysis breaks things down into smaller parts with the expectation that it will help us understand the whole. It often results in incomplete models, along with incomplete solutions that don’t fully address the problem.

During this workshop, we employed our bodies to experience the relationships between the parts of a system that contribute to social injustice in our community, nation or the world.

With mindful intention, we came together to discover which parts of the system attract and support  each other, which parts repel and want to distance, what is out of place and which parts are missing. With the use of the illuminating approach of Systemic Constellations, an experiential process which helps us set aside blame and bring insight and change to our hearts and minds, we did indeed discover a fresh way of experiencing the depth of what has seemed like an intractable problem. 

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Psychotherapy is often mis-named as "venting." The cynics among us label psychotherapy as "paying" for friendship.  Indeed, many people do use the psychotherapy room to vent, perhaps while secretly holding the wish that the all-knowing therapist will heal them just by being there.

Truth be told, psychotherapy is a complicated process that supports growth and change on multiple levels, including with mentally, mentally, spiritually and energetically. Different professionals have been trained in various approaches, and every professional practices a little bit differently.

What is alike, however, is that the psychotherapeutic process takes investment on the part of the person seeking healing and change.

I like this article that I found on the internet that tells how to make psychotherapy more effective.