Psychodrama Revisited: Through the Lens of Internal Role Map of the Therapeutic Spiral Model to Promote Post Traumatic Growth
Abstract Classical psychodrama embodies the theory and practice of spontaneity and creativity as the goal of all methods of change. In today’s world of post-traumatic growth (PTG), this is a perfect match for the view of humans as resilient and always seeking growth, even following traumatic and often violent experiences. This article of the Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie details the Therapeutic Spiral Model (TSM), which is a trauma-informed, stage-process model to change the self-organization of people affected by trauma by using experiential methods. TSM presents the first internal role map for working with parts of self, developed through decades of clinical observation (Hudgins 2017, 2002). TSM connects with advances in clinical psychology on trauma and attachment, and the latest research on interpersonal neurobiology, and makes a crucial turn from interpersonal work in psychodrama to the focus on inner parts of self. The trauma survivor’s internal role atom (TSIRA) is presented as a three-stage model to guide all action methods when working with parts of self that include: Prescriptive (RX) roles, the TSM Trauma Triangle, and roles of transformation and post-traumatic growth (PTG). Composite examples are given from a lifetime practice in the global community to help bring the clinical structure of the internal role atom to life for inner parts work.