 DrBy Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
Jacob L. Moreno, the European-born physician who originated the method that he called psychodrama as an alternative to Freud’s psychoanalysis, has been venerated for decades by his students and others for his contributions to the worlds of psychiatry, psychology and sociology. In the past decade or so, increasing acknowledgement and credit has been directed to Zerka T. Moreno, his third wife, who worked for years as his assistant and collaborator, typing and editing his books, acting as a key role player as Moreno directed psychodrama sessions, and teaching classes as he aged and his health declined. After Dr. Moreno's death in 1974, she took over the Beacon Institute and became an acclaimed trainer, writer and theorist, traveling internationally to demonstrate and teach psychodrama. However, the fact is that a large group of women stand behind and with Dr. Moreno as innovators and contributors to the remarkable method of psychodrama and its
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 By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
While I'm knee-deep in getting ready for my "Sand Tray (and Play Therapy) Meets Psychodrama" three-day training and mini-retreat which starts Thursday, I'm pondering the symbols and metaphors that make sand tray psychotherapy and coaching so powerful. Through the years, I've worked with mainly with adults, so my sand tray miniatures and items are a bit more sophisticated than those other practitioners might have for therapy with children. When psychodrama is incorporated with sand tray, I've found that the nature of the work is deepened on multiple levels. I've been compiling and collecting sand tray miniatures and other items from my own sand tray collection of many years, plus a few from thrift stores and yard sales -- and a few that I've made myself. Here's a representation of what are useful miniature metaphors. Today's guest blog article is written by Linda Ciotola, M.Ed., TEP, who is the author of "Healing Eating Disorders with Psychodrama and Other Action Methods: Beyond the Silence and the Fury" with Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP. They frequently co-present at various online and in-person trainings. By Linda Ciotola, M.Ed., TEP
The use of the empty chair was one of the first things I learned early in my training to become a psychodramatist. J.L. Moreno, M.D., the originator of the action method of psychodrama, pioneered the use of the "empty chair" in his first public psychodrama on April 1, 1921 in Vienna, Austria, when he placed an empty chair on stage and asked for a person to  By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
When the dark approaches, we naturally feel more vulnerable. The dark is big, and we can feel so small. This is why light at this time of year seems so powerful, and why we yearn for it and call for it. We adorn our Christmas trees and porches with little lights, touch matches to the candles of the menorah, sing about light in our seasonal songs and place the candles in our windows. The Swedish holiday of St. Lucia’s Day centers on a maiden wearing a crown of candles, and the Yule log that burns in the fireplace or fire pit – and is replicated in the tasty chocolate pastry of rolled cake – a sweet reminder of the bonfires of the ancients. By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
Ancestors has been on my mind lately, and not just because I’ve been preparing for a training “Family Constellations: Process and Pathway to Ancestral Healing.” On Monday of last week, I assisted with transportation of a local veteran to a drug and alcohol rehab facility in western Pennsylvania, and our conversation in the car focused not only on the trauma of war but also the man’s father and grandfather and their troubles in high-risk and high-trauma occupations. He seemed interested in one of the mouse studies from Emory University that showed that the grandchildren  By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
I’m always on the lookout for free continuing education courses. For me and for you. It’s a selfish thing – after you save money by taking these free courses, you have extra money in your wallet to take classes with me. (Insert smiley face emoji!) Since it’s CE gathering season for social workers, licensed counselors, marriage and family therapists and others in my home state of Pennsylvania, I’m sharing my findings with you.  By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
Most of us will agree that there is great upheaval in the world. It is the kind of upheaval that challenges us and tests us. Much of the challenge and the test relate to how we can celebrate during the holiday season when there is so much struggle – whether in our own homes and hearts or on the other side of the planet, or both. Really bad things are happening, and they continue to happen, darkening not only the season but also shading the upcoming new year. By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
For the those people who are psychodrama history nerds -- and I mean that in the best possible way-- you should get to know Sergio Guimaraes. Sergio, a psychodramatist and psychologist in Buenos Aires, Brazil, has made and published a number of video interviews about psychodrama. Many are interviews with Zerka Moreno, the grand dame of psychorama and third wife of Dr J.L. Moreno who continued to teach and spread the word about the magic of psychodrama after Moreno's death -- as well as many more videos about psychodrama and the people who direct psychodrama sessions, many of them well-known practitioners and trainers around the world. Sergio's latest project has been what he calls "Retracing J.L. Moreno’s Steps,” visiting Vienna, Austria, and nearby areas including Bad Voslau, where Moreno set up his first medical practice as a young physician. Accompanied by Michael Wieser, an Austrian psychodramatist, Sergio toured and filmed the historic places there and nearby that relate to Moreno and the places that both supported the birth of psychodrama and memorialize the man who created it.  By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
Thanksgiving Day is almost here – the time when we are encouraged to gather and to give thanks. These are times when we typically mention what we are personally thankful for, perhaps friends and family, or good health, or a health challenge that we have escaped, or a sweet pet, or some other fortunate experience. When a friend and colleague recently shared on social media what is commonly known as the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, I was again reminded that other cultures look at gratitude quite differently. Haudenosaunee – pronounced who-DIN-oh-show-nee -- is also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, or Six Nations that includes Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora. Robin Wall Kimmerer included a version of this address in her lyrical best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass, after being assured by Oren Lyons, the Faithkeeper within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in northeast North America, that its use would be valuable. He is reported to have replied, "Of course you should write about it. It's supposed to be shared, otherwise how can it work? We've been waiting for 500 years for people to listen. If they'd understood the Thanksgiving then, we wouldn't be in this mess.” Here is the address, written in an interactive style. Perhaps you would like to read it before your Thanksgiving meal, or early in the day or later in the evening. Or any time.  By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
As part of our commitment to professional growth and development, Lancaster School of Psychodrama and Experiential Psychotherapies is initiating a new scholarship and sliding scale program that is an important tool for social justice. The scholarship and sliding scale plan is based on the nationally known Green Bottle, which acknowledges peoples' different financial experiences enables participants to adjust payment based on access to resources. |
AuthorKaren Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, is an author, trainer and psychotherapist who promotes, practices and teaches experiential methods including psychodrama, Family and Systemic Constellations, sand tray, mindfulness and Tarot imagery. Archives
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