Regina Sewell, LMHC, PCC, TEP / PhD Sociology
“I wish she would have hugged me goodbye”
(Boy at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital)
This is the quote that first piqued my interest in psychodrama. A friend of mine had studied psychodrama and had been an intern at St. Elizabeth’s – a psychiatric hospital in Washington D.C. She shared a story about a session she had with a little boy who had been hospitalized and was very upset. His mother had brought him to the hospital and after she had done the necessary paperwork to get him checked in, she left. In group, he shared that he w’s upset with his mother and was given a chance to have his feelings about the fact that she hadn’t even said goodbye. They enacted the scene where the mother left without saying goodbye. He cried and got a chance to tell her how it hurt. And then my friend asked the little boy what he would have liked to have happened, and he said, “I wish she would have hugged me goodbye.” So, my friend had the participants re-enact the scene, but this time, the mother said goodbye and hugged him. In psychodrama, we call this surplus reality. Even though it didn’t happen in real life, for the little boy, getting a chance to be hugged left him feeling loved and cared for. What I love about psychodrama is that it provides a way for us to heal our wounds and rewrite our stories so that we can have a felt experience of being loved and cared for.
Jen Salimbene, LCSW-R, CASAC, TEP
“Too much talking; let’s get into action!”
Zerka T. Moreno
I was fortunate to attend many workshops with Zerka Moreno doing psychodrama in her living room in Charlottsville, Virginia. Because the workshops were short – only two days –Zerka was focused on making sure we got to the emotional work we needed to do. She understood that psychodrama took people deeper into their stories and helped them move through feelings and have insights that talking alone did not allow for. When students were hesitant to be protagonist due to lack of warm-up, fear of being vulnerable, or a sense their story wasn’t worthy or interesting enough, she would say, “If not now, then when?” For me, these words and her fierce compassion inspired confidence and left me feeling that I mattered and that my story was worth sharing and being witnessed. Her encouragement to get into action helped me move beyond my defenses to process issues at work, sort out romantic relationships and heal painful childhood memories.
At the last workshop I attended with Zerka, “Too much talking; let’s get into action!” had extra significance because we all realized that this would be the last workshop she facilitated. We started the workshop, as always, in her living room, but sitting became too painful for her so the second day, we moved the last drama into her bedroom, and she directed the session from her bed. I was Zerka’s last protagonist in Charlottesville. Her push to get the group into action led to a drama that enriched my relationship with my mother.
Too this day, Zerka’s direct, authentic, compassionate demeaner and her reminder, “Too much talking; let’s get into action!” have been a catalyst for me to be direct, authentic, and compassionate, and to create a space where people feel safe, confident and worthy enough to put their stories on the stage.