My Chairwork Psychotherapy journey has been based on the study of stories – on the study of vignettes, case examples, and narratives that were emotionally compelling and profoundly illuminating (Kellogg, 2014). Recently, I returned my focus to the world of Psychodrama to get a better understanding of how Role Reversal and Chairwork are used within that framework. Out of this exploration, there were two images connected to Dr. Jacob Moreno, the creator of Psychodrama, which struck me deeply.

“The Theater of Spontaneity (which later evolved into Impromptu Theater in New York) involved regular sessions where role-players enacted stories from the audience or the newspaper to promote catharses or new perspectives. [Dr. Moreno] declared the birthday of psychodrama to be April 1st, 1921, when he facilitated a session in Vienna using an empty chair to represent a future leader of the new world order in Europe” (Giacomucci & Briggs, in press).

Here we can see that Chairwork is present at the birth or, perhaps more accurately, Chairwork is the birth of Psychodrama.

After Dr. Moreno died in 1974, there was a memorial service at his Institute in Beacon, New York, which was organized by Mrs. Zerka Moreno – Dr. Moreno’s wife and a leading Psychodramatist in her own right. Professor Wellman J. Warner described the gathering in this way:

“It was a psychodramatic encounter. In a large tent crowded with people from everywhere who had known Moreno, Zerka had placed a chair in the front – an empty chair. …. One by one, a long succession of people came forward, usually reaching out to touch the occupant of the empty chair – and speak to him, thanking him for what he had done to their lives, recalling events and creating an atmosphere of celebration without lamentation. It was a memorial service which was in fact memorable. (Warner, personal communication, 25 June, 1978, Hare & Hare, 1996, p. 120).

Not only, then, was the birth of Psychodrama marked by the use of Chairwork, but also, at the end, Dr. Moreno’s life was celebrated with a Psychodrama anchored in Chairwork. I find this symmetry – this way of bookending a life’s work – to be amazing and beautiful.

References

Giacomucci, S., & Briggs, H. (in press). Trauma-Focused Psychodrama. In E. Seinreich, S. L. A. Straussner, & J. Dann (Eds.), Experiential therapies for treating trauma. New York: Routledge. 

Hare, A. P., & Hare, J. R. (1996) J. L. Moreno. London: Sage Publications.

Kellogg, S. (2014). Transformational Chairwork: Using psychotherapeutic dialogues in clinical practice. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Image Credit: “Almost” (2018). Susan Aaron. http://www.susanaaronartist.ca/