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Tabletop Psychodrama

AUDIO: (Shown in blue)


INTERNAL. PARENTS' BEDROOM AT HOME - NIGHT

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CHILD (client) lies on floor, looking up at FATHER looming over her. She is crying.
 
CHILD
(fearfully)
No-o-o-o-o! Don't hit me again! 		 
 
FATHER
(angrily)
You little brat! I told you not to go there. 		 
Father SMACKS child with hand. Child CRIES OUT.
 
MOTHER
(placatingly)
That's enough, honey. Look, she's bleeding. 		 
Background: Jacob L. Moreno developed psychodrama in the 1930s and 40s. There is a stage, often simply a table and chairs. There is a director/therapist and a hero and villain, with a supporting cast and an audience. The client would usually play the part of the hero, the drama being some issue in her past, present or future life she wishes to work on. Other people play the other roles. In this way, hidden thoughts and feelings are brought to the surface and often expressed, and catharsis — a release of feeling — can occur. Later analysis can help bring about a change in thinking and feeling about the issue explored.

Tabletop Psychodrama is based on this, but modified for RoboCounsellor use. The client sits at a table, or suitable flat surface, with the computer and various small objects like tissue boxes and tin cans. At RoboCounsellor's direction, the client writes out an outline in any format of this particular scene, then draws a represention of herself in that scene on paper, which she then wraps around a can, say. She would then position her character front and centre on the stage, facing in to the action, not out to an audience. She would create the other characters and place them in their correct relative positions on the stage.
When directed, she would then run through the scene. She would start by inhabiting her own character on the stage, usually with her head positioned directly above it, voicing each part herself, moving the characters around on the stage as appropriate, breathing life into the whole scene. She can whisper lovingly or yell and swear; nurture or ignore or even destroy a character as she chooses. RoboCounsellor will then direct her to write a summary of anything new, any change of viewpoint or feeling she has about the issue. She will then play through the action, one scene or many, again and again until the topic is no longer an issue. She can choose from seventeen variations, including focusing on the emotions, another's viewpoint, spiritual/cosmic aspects, what-if scenarios, and many more.


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