December 24, 2009
For International News in countries (or organizations) whose names begin with A-E, click here.
For International News in countries (or organizations) whose names begin with N - Z, click here.

   Here are past items from my webpages that carried news from our psychodrama colleagues internationally.
(For news of the Federation of European Training Programs (FEPTO), see Europe, at the bottom of A-E.
Note news recently from Korea!

Finland: July, 2008: Vesa & Marjo-Riita Ristikangas of Finland  vesa.ristikangas@novetos.fi  report:  Psychodrama is spreading little by little. We have 5-10 trainers (at the equivalent of the American TEP status), about 50 Certified Practitioners and about two hundred “lowest degree owners” here in Finland. The first Finnish handbook of psychodrama were just published (1/2008). Our book will strengthen the knowledge of role theory among business people (see reference below). With the help of my wife (Marjo-Riitta) we have further developed the idea of the managers role map. We will use that in our leadership training processes. It one kind of 360-degree evaluation, where the manager will evaluate her/his roles and compare the results with the evaluations of the subordinates. (Thank you for having our pictures on your website.)
    Vesa reports also on the recent publication of a book that uses Morenian approaches in business and organizational development:
  Ristikangas Vesa, Aaltonen Tapio, Pitkänen Eeva. (2008) Asiantuntijasta esimies. Innostusta ja arvostusta esimiestyöhön (In English: From expert (role) to a manager (role). Enthusiasm and respect to the work of a manager.). Helsinki: WSOY

 June, 2006: Jarmo Manner <jarmo.manner@welho.com> : We are founding a new organization for certified practitioners to develop us professionally. It will work in close co-operation with trainers, TEP's and their organisation, MOPSI (www.mopsi.org). One of the TEP's, a psychiarist', Kirsti Silvola wrote an article about psychodrama as therapy with Sirkku (another) TEP to the magazine Duodecim, the magazine of Finnish Doctors' Association. That's a very important milestone to get psychodrama accepted. Harri Stenberg, an psychoanalyst and
TEP, got his doctoral dissertation accepted. It was about Sarte and existentialism.
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 Juhani Viherlahti   (email: viherlahti@guiart.fi ) writes in June, 2003: There are many psychodrama activities here. The biggest organization is Suomen Psykodraamayhdistys ry  (Finnish Psychodrama Association), established 1983. Our present chairperson is Ms Merja Tuomisto, and we have 210 members. These include qualified psychodrama instructors, action method instructor (a lower degree), and students. We are planning to host the next FEPTO 2004 conference here in Helsinki (capital) area. In a few months we hope to have a web page that includes information in English.
   Another organization, established in 1999, is the Morenolaisen psykodraaman kouluttajayhdistys ry (MOPSI) (Educational Asscociation of Morenian psychodrama), with its chairperson Ms Sirkku Aitolehti. It is a group of eight trainers, who consider training issues. We also have six Playback Theatre groups. A good many businesses in Finland use psychodrama in their management training and other processes.

Georgia (The Republic south of Russia, not the state in the USA): In February, 2003, Maria Kapanadze (email: hotsilence9@hotmail.com ) writes: While we have no special psychodrama association, we do have a small general psychotherapy society with about 40 members. We are making some contacts with colleagues in Russia and elsewhere.  Only a few people are actually doing psychodrama–still in training though, and supervised by myself and also Nino Japaridze (japhani@yahoo.com), and Nino Dumbadze, who works with children.  Also, there are several psychotherapists training in related fields, such as Gestalt therapy, Psychosynthesis, Transactional Analysis, NLP, etc.

Georgia. Maria Kapadnadze <hotsilence9@hotmail.com>, in Tiblisi, the country's capital, writes in February 2005:  Several problems make difficulties for presenting the current situation. Psychodrama as separate discipline doesn't exist here: group psychotherapists use different techniques, involving psychodramatic/other methods. Moreover, even nowadays we need to promote psychological services, struggling with medical model, school systems, etc. Some plans:
 1. Enrique Stola plans to make workshops here on sociopsychodrama of violence for 4 days in September-October this year.
 2. Currently, we're discussing some priorities for psychodrama course development with Ekaterina Mikhailova of Russia and plan to participate in Tempus grant project.
 3. We plan to form psychodrama association/ or psychodrama section in Georgia Group Psychologists and Psychotherapists Association. Also we've gained some books for our library.
  4. Existing educational programs in psychodrama include:
     Tbilisi D.Uznadze Institute of Psychology; short course (25 hours) of Psychodrama
     Tbilisi S.-S. Orbeliani Pedagogical University- educational module on group frame of reference in occupational therapy /ENOTHE program/ with street children.
   5. Spheres of Application include (a) With Children; (b) Center for Psychosocial Aid; (c) Georgia Psychologists and Psychotherapists Association; (d) Georgia Occupational Therapists Association (using group frame of reference with children and adolescents with disabilities, refugees, street children); (e) Group psychotherapists, who work privately; (f) Psychologists, working in schools; (g) With Adults; (h) National Oncology Clinic (but there is no permanently existed/scheduled service); (h).Georgia Psychologists and Psychotherapists Association; (i) Georgia Occupational Therapists Association (using group frame of reference with parents of children with disabilities, elderly); (j) Psychiatry department.
        Research: 1 sociopsychodrama issues- Nino Japharidze; 2. team work. 3. Caucasian Region: I know that there are persons in Baku, who use Augusto Boal's method. I'll send you their names lately as well as about situation in Yerevan.

Germany: 2006: Ulrike Fangauf, one of the editors of the new German psychodrama journal, responds to my questions about the state of the art in her country. She writes: We have a national organization, the DFP (Deutscher Fachverband Fuer Psychodrama). In our journal, the ten most important institutes are listed. I estimate that there are between 1 and 6 groups in training in each institute at any one time, with about 8-12 students in each group.We have different tracks in some institutes: (1) therapy; (2) Management training; (3) Psychodrama with children; and (4) Psychodrama in therapy of drug-addiction. There is a larger organization, also, the DAGG (Deutscher Arbeitkreis Fuer Gruppentherapie Und Gruppendynamik), which includes other types of Group therapy. Our psychodrama community now has the Zeitschrift Fuer Psychodrama Und Soziometrie which is published as a glossy journal (Zeitschrift) twice a year.  Also, we have a website: : www.morenoistitut.de , www.psychodrama-deutschland.de   but they are in German. I'm in contact with the Playback troupe company of Daniel Feldhendler and Marlies Arping - we are psychodramatists who do playback once a month.
   At present, the most widely used books in training seem to be (1) Reinhard Kruger: Kreative Interaktion; (2) Ferdinand Buer: Moreno's Therapeutische Philosophie; and (though it may be out of print, still the classic by Gretel Leutz: Psychodrama.

       May, 2006: Gretel Leutz writes <morenoinstitut-ueberlingen@t-online.de> In a chapter titled "The development of  psychodrama in the German speaking countries since 1970" that I wrote for a recent anthology, I noted some of the highlights of the history of this method in our region:
- 1970: Founding of the Section Psychodrama of the German Association of Group
Psychotherapy and Group Dynamics (DAGG)
- 1975 founding of the  Moreno Institute for Psychodrama, Sociometry, Group Psychotherapy, GmbH and its sister institute  at Stuttgart
   (Both institutes  are corporative members of the section Psychodrama / DAGG; now the section which now is called: Deutscher Fachverband Psychodrama = DFP/DAGG  comprises eleven different training institutes as corporative members, all obliged to train by "at least" the common minimal training regulations)
 - 1978 founding of the Section Psychodrama of the Austrian Assciation of Group Psychotherapy and Group Dynamics
 - 1980 The German Medical Board develops a curriculum for 100 double hours of psychodrama to enrich its curriculum "psychotherapy" for practicing physicians.
 - 1995 The Austrian Board of Health recognizes Psychodramatherapy as  a scientific Psychotherapy, the Austrian public Health Assurance Company pays for psychodrama treatments. (The same is true for Hungary where for example  Prof. Dr. Gabor Pinter runs 7 psychodrama groups at present)
  - 1996 founding of the Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations(FEPTO) at  Louvain/Belgium. Now the organization comprises 60 psychodrama training institutes or national institutions, in practically all European countries including the Mediterranian  countries
Turkey  and Israel. At its annual meetings which are taking place in a different country every year  the various institutes /institutions are represented by one person having one vote. (I just came back from Rumania day before yesterday after a five-day- meeting. They still have a post conference where students are taught by some of the present international trainers.)
      

    2005: Germany: Ulf Klein, manager inScenario Verlag und Verlagsbuchhandlung GmbH, writes:
 For those psychodramatists who are able to read german language it might be interesting, that a German translation of Moreno's abridged Autobiography is available, published by inScenario publishers, Munich (Germany). It includes several rare pictures and an epilogue by Prof. Rene Marineau, Moreno's Biographer.
      Also the website www.inScenario.de might be valuable for those psychodramatists interested in the rich german & austrian psychodrama literature (at the momement there are more than 50 titels available, not mentioned related fields like bibliodrama, playback theater etc.) It provides an online-bookshop and some other potential useful pages.
      Our address: Sandstrasse 41 [Rgb]   D-80335 Munchen; Germany. Tel:      0049 (0)89-33 40 95     Fax:     0049 (0)89-33 40 19     e-mail:   Ulf.Klein@inScenario.de           www.inScenario.de          Or    www.Ulf.Klein.de

Greece: "Kostas" Konstaninos Letsios < letsiosk@hotmail.com > wrote that in June, 2002, Max Clayton offered a well-received psychodrama workshop in Athens, with 27 participants. Plans are to continue this collaboration. We are building up psychodrama in Athens and any help coming from you would be very helpful and welcome.
   Also, Alexandra Pentaraki writes: My recently translated (into Greek) edition of Holmes & Karp's 1998 "The Handbook of Psychodrama" (Routledge) has just been published and is being sold now in Thessaliniki and Athens. (It's the first book on psychodrama that's been translated into Greek.) 
       February, 2004: Dr. Kostas Letsios (email:  kostas.letsios@psychodrama.gr  ) has a website: www.psychodrama.gr, and www.greekspychodrama.org, which should offer information in both English and in Greek. There are two movements, one in Thessaloniki and ours in Athens, which I have organized. We have 12 trainees who are completing their training in 2004 (and accreditation) trained mainly by Max Clayton and also by me and other trainers from Europe and Australia.  Max Clayton mainly influences our movement and I consider myself his student.  Until now I was focused on the training of this first group and also on my training as a trainer. For 2004 I intend to start the training of a new training group of about 15 trainees, as this movement is gradually becoming known and even more people are interested to be trained in psychodrama. From now on, we are also interested to link with other psychodramatic movements in other counties.

2005 (March): Natassa Karapostoli   <natasag@ath.forthnet.gr> writes: The Institute of Psychodrama and Sociotherapy is a training department of the Open Psychotherapy Centre, Athens (OPC) which was founded in 1980 and provides both therapeutic and training activities. It is an autonomous, self-sufficient and non profit psychotherapy day center, which is not financial supported by any organization inside or outside Greece. The therapeutic activities are adressed to individuals, couples or families who face any kind of psychological problem, mostly severe psychiatric disorders. The staff of the Centre is approximately 70 persons (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists) who apart their basic professional identity are also psychotherapists (either Group Analysts or Pychodramatists-Sociotherapists or Family Therapists). The average number of clients per month is 520 persons. The training activities include Introductory Seminars (average number of trainees 230 per year) and Post Graduate Trainings in Group Analysis, Psychodrama-Sociotherapy, Family Therapy and Psychological Assesement (average number of trainees 60).
    The Institute of Psychodrama and Sociotherapy is 20 years old (1985) and provides a four year post-graduate training. Individuals from the field of mental health, education and organizations who have completed their university studies are eligible to apply. The training is materialized through the participation of students into a Training Community, comprised of groups of different size and purpose, such as  Personal Therapy (minimum 600 hours), Clinical Experience (min. 700 hours), Theoretical Seminars (min. 460 hours), Supervision of Psychotherapeutic Activity (min. 250 hours) and other communal and administrative activities. The focus of our training is on Sociotherapy-Therapeutic Community and Group Analytic Psychodrama. The Institute was founded by trained Group Analysts and since some of them had already been familiar with Psychodrama from their university studies (France and England) they introduced psychodrama in Greece. The Director of the Training -Research Department of OPC is Dr. Ioannis K. Tsegos, Psychiatrist and Group Analyst. I am an Occupational Therapist and Family Therapist and coordinator of the Training.
    Untill now 35 Sociotherapists-Psychodramatits have graduated, working mostly in the mental health field (hospiatals, day centres, Therapeutic Communities, private practice e.tc.) or education (high schools e.t.c.) and 15 students are under training at the time. We are members of the Association of Therapeutic Communities, the National Organization of Psychotherapy of Greece ( member of the European Association of Psychotherapy) and since last year of  FEPTO. Since I am also the treasurer of the National Organization for Psychotherapy of Greece, where almost all the Institutes providing a four year training (at least ) according specified standards participate, I do not know of any other Institute for Psychodrama except " FILYRA" at Thessaloniki with whom we have been in conduct, but they are not yet a member of the National Organization (www.nopg.gr ). You could visit our site www.opc.gr for more information.  Blatner's books are part of our theoretical seminars.
    The Institute of Psychodrama and Sociotherapy is organising a workshop on April the 19th at Ioannina city on  "Psychodrama and Sociotherapeutic Activities". Language will be Greek.
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Greece / PifE: (March 2006) Summer Psychodrama Academy “Hellenic Summer Days” on the Isle of Crete, September 2 - 8, 2006. Psychodramatists, group psychotherapists, group analysts, family
therapists, organizational consultants, health professionals, educators, students, theologists, priests will have the opportunity to share ideas and experiences, to extend their horizons, to come in contact with other cultures, and to open up new channels of communication.The scientific programming will contemplate a 3 hour psychodrama workshop daily. The academy will provide daily excursions to the general Chania region for meeting and feeling the culture of the locals.
Moreover, enough time for swimming and relaxing by the dreamful seaside of the island will be provided in the daily program.
    The Hellenic Association of Group Analysis & Psychotherapy (H.A.G.A.P.), located in Athens, Greece, deals with education, therapy, and seminars. The Psychodrama Section of H.A.G.A.P. is an organizational member of P.I.f.E. and candidate member of the Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations (F.E.P.T.O.). Our members are psychodramatists who may be group analysts or organizational consultants, as well. Our Executive Committee is comprised by: Anastasios Koukis, Ph.D. - Chairman; Stylianos N. Lagarakis, MD. - Manager; Georgios Chaniotis Member; Kleopatra Psarraki Member; and others.
     Each morning following breakfast at the venue, we will start with an orientation meting (kalimera). Then, all the participants, divided into groups, will be transported by bus to specific locations, where they will be acquainted with archeological/historical landmarks, and have
their psychodrama workshop outdoors (mountain, seaside). Brown-bag lunch and coffee will be served after workshop. During the afternoon, there will be enough time for swimming and relaxing. Dinner will be served at the venue of the Academy followed by coffee.  Then, there will be free time for socializing with each other, sharing ideas and experiences, or even relaxing by the sea.
    Workshops will be in English and Greek. We will make an effort to provide translation in most of the workshops.
   Accommodations will be provided at the main venue of the Academy. The Orthodox Academy of Crete (O.A.C.) will be the main venue. It is located in Kolympari, Chania. The Academy (O.A.C.) is 22 km away from the city of Chania. More information can be found at: www.oac.gr
<http://www.oac.gr/>     Information: summeracademy2006@yahoo.gr
       *_Registration fees_*  By April 30, 2006     650 euros  
  490 euros (countries of the former eastern European block) 
 By May 28, 2006    670 euros     510 euros (countries of the former eastern European block)
 By July 02, 2006     700 euros    530 euros (countries of the former eastern European block)
 By July 02, 2006 and on site       730 euros   560 euros (countries of the former eastern European block)
The registration fee provides:  Full board accommodation in double bed room (6 nights with breakfast, lunch, dinner & 2 coffee breaks daily) for the period 2-8/9/2006.  Participation.
 Transportation during the Summer Academy. On opening day morning a bus will wait for you at the port of Chania.  Traditional Cretan night (traditional Cretan cuisine, drinks, music and dance).
Registration is available as of today. Join us by sending an e-mail with your registration form completed including date, bank name, and the full registration fee paid at our account with number (IBAN):GR11 0172 5180             0055 1801 3154 268. PIRAEUS BANK, SWIFT: PAR. B. GR A.A.           It will be a great pleasure to meet you and provide you our warm
Hellenic hospitality!

2000: In Athens around September, 2000, a new training group of around 14 students began. Alexandra Chaviara <alexanna@x-treme.gr> writes: Mr. Kostas Letsios of Athens is our group’s coordinator, and our main trainers are from Hungary: Ildiko Erdelyi and Antal Bugal.  Dr. Letsios, who directs three groups there, also has written and recently published a book about psychodrama in Greek--the first psychodrama book in Greek--, and he plans to edit a volume including some important psychodramatic articles from other sources.

August, 2000: Alexandra Pentaraki <apentaraki@yahoo.com> writes: The Hellenic Association of Psychodrama was founded in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1995. (I’m the Vice-President.). Our approach is classical Morenian. We have 20 members of the association, trained primary by Ms. Jinnie Jefferies of London, whose training institute is named “Filyra.” We invite other international trainers to Thessaloniki. We have written about psychodrama in national newspapers, offered public lectures, and tried to make psychodrama- psychotherapy a recognized profession in Greece. Those of our practitioners who wish to practice psychotherapy in Greece must be either a certified psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. We have just published our first newsletter, and I am translating the recently published "Handbook of Psychodrama" (1998--by Karp, Holmes, Tauvon).

Hungary.  2008:   ..    

New Book:  Vikár, András (2007). Psychodrama the Serious Game: Individual Processes in the Group—Group Processes in the individual.  Budapest: Medicina. (In Hungarian).Cost: @10 Euros; 200 pages. Publisher's website: www.medicinakiado.hu   other information: www.pszichodrama.hu     Dr. Vikar is a physician specializing in psychiatry and pediatrics, as well as a PhD psychotherapist and psychodramatist in Hungary

: May, 2006: Judith Teszary wrote: We should honor Ferenc Mérei (1909-1986), the pioneer of psychodrama in Hungary: He developed a special form of group centred psychodrama. He also let his students translate Morenós Psychodrama Volume 1 into Hungarian. Here you have a short information about him.
     Ferenc Mérei studied, in the same years as Zazzo, at the Sorbonne University, Paris, where he was Wallon's student. He graduated in 1934, in psychology, pedagogy, sociology, and philosophy. He then returned to Hungary and worked primarily as a teacher and clinical psychologist, among others with Lipót Szondi. During his educational-medical work he dealt with adults as well as with children. His professional career was thrown off the rails during World War II and again later in the 50's. The coming to life of psychodrama in Hungary also had a lot to thank Moreno and his travels. In 1963, the year of the amnesty for the "counter- revolutionaries", he came to Hungary at the invitation of an old friend of his, András Petô. He delivered lectures at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and at the Neurological and Psychiatric Society, and later he had a private meeting with Sándor Szalay, a sociologist, and Ferenc Mérei. It was here that they discussed with the Master a possible programme for the Psychodrama Workshop. Already then it was apparent that the focus of their attention was the group - the "here and now" tension and dynamics of social relationships, turning these into a play, putting it on stage, the cognitive processing following the play, and the feedback effect of this whole process on the development of the group. Moreno himself puts the emphasis on the individual group members' performance: the presentation and elaboration of the "there and then" on the stage, and the cognitive processing after the play. The workshop was eventually born 10 years later under the leadership of Professor Mérei, paving the way for the evolution of the Hungarian school of psychodrama. Mérei and his disciples began to apply psychodrama in clinical practice at the beginning of the 70's. Several members of the Workshop are still active participants in the profession.
          In Mérei's work, the following have been pivotal with regard to psychodrama: His study "The Common Experience" (1947), in which he describes and discusses a socio-psychological experiment carried out on children; "The Secret Network of Communities" (1971), in which he provides a complete summary of his multi-dimensional sociometry; and "The Autognostic and Therapeutic Applications of Psychodrama" (1987), with co-authors Klára Ajkay, Emôke Dobos, and Ildikó Erdélyi.
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On December 12, 2002, Marcia Karp of England (email: MKarp11444@aol.com   ) wrote. I have just returned from Hungary where I gave three workshops and a lecture at a pre-conference and conference venue outside Budapest. The Hungarian Psychodrama Association has 850 members and there were about 250 at the conference!.Before that I was in Estonia and did a workshop–I had help translating–for a training group for 4 days. After that did a week in Spain in the mountains. In January I go to Japan and Korea. Also, Kate Tauvon is the lead editor on a revision of our 1994 book, Psychodrama Since Moreno, which we hope will be published around the time of our next international conference on August 9-15, 2004, in Oxford, England–a repeat of the very successful conference we held there nine years ago.

Hungary: (December, 2003): Dr.Peter Bettembuk <bpeter@dote.hu> writes: The Hungarian Association for Psychodrama held its meeting on 28 November, 2003. According to Andras Vikar, president of the HPA, there are currently 600 members of the HPA and 350 people attended the conference. One of the topics was to enlarge the website surface of the Association (www. pszichodrama.hu) and open it to more widely. The Association right now is going to organise a photo directory of the active trainers in Psychodrama in Hungary with description of the individuals experiance and breef CV.. The website is good and up-to date in Hungarian but need to be improved in English.
     Pinter Gabor is the one, who makes connection between the FEPTO and the HAP. You can find pictures and information from the last Hungarian conference on http://www.pszichodrama.hu/pdk2002/.

   April, 2004: Dr. Bettembuk wrote again: Teszary Judit from Sweden came to Hungary to lead a three days workshop at Pecs a wonderful city south of Hungary in mid April. The city is surrounded with the Mecsek mountains and the group was
surrounded with the charm and warm of Judit's personality. She has been given the How to Direct Psychodrama session once in Pecs and a few times in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
     The group focused on the different aspects of the directing process, and performed deep process analizis after each psychodrama. It was medium size group 16 people, and we worked together 36 hours during the 3 days. Some of the attended members of the group was already a psychodrama gruop leader like myself, some of them is on-training, with different current study level. The workshop was organised by the Psychodrama Institute of Pecs, the leader of the Institute Andras Zankai.
          Andras Vikar had a workshop "Monodrama- using psychodrama in personal therapy, at Budapest end of April, 2004,,, and Veronica Needa had a workshop at Pecs, titled Movement and dance- improvisation using the playback theatre organised by the Playback theatre of Pecs.

August, 2000: Judith Teszary <teszary.j@telia.com> writes: The Hungarian Psychodrama Association has 300 members and 25 training groups with probably at least 10 students per group. (Are these students also members of the HPA or not yet eligible? There are about 50 people teaching psychodrama. Interestingly, there are two categories for trainers: (1) "psychodrama psychotherapist"-- which include clinical psychologists and medical doctors; and (2) "psychodrama leaders," who include teachers, social workers and other helping professionals can became "Psychodrama Leaders." About 20 of these trainers have risen to the status of "psychodrama supervisors." Also, their website:  http:www.oracle.hu/mpe/

2001, 30-31 March: András Vikár <avikar@elender.hu> , president of Hungarian Psychodrama Association, writes: Our fifth National Psychodrama Congress was held in Budapest. We had about 400 participants, including psychodramatists from Romania, Greece, France, Sweden, Germany, and Israel. Our Psychodrama Journal come out also for that time (it come out 2 times a year, spring and automne) and a new book came out last month about Child Psychodrama. Ildiko Erdelyi, our vice president, and I attended  the FEPTO annual meeting in March.
      Zsófia Safran <safran@index.hu> and  Tamas Treuer <treuer@mail.index.hu> write:   The fifth volume of the series of   “Psychodrama in practice” was published recently. The title of this book is “We’re living in this house”. (Edited by A. Zseni.)  HPA is available online. (www.pszichodrama.hu) The homepage collects the most important information about HPA and psychodrama training.

August, 1999: Andras Vikar   (email:  avikar@elender.hu ) writes: Psychodrama began in the 1970s. Now we estimate more than 120 psychodramatists with at least 800 hours of training. We have about 30 trainers and 12 supervisors, and the method is officially recognized. Website: http://www.oracle.hu/mpe (with some English translations!)  Also, from an email from Judith Teszary, who trains there: The psychodrama community around 1988 formed a Psychodrama Association., and now have a journal named  Pszichodrama. Their Playback Theatre, led by, Kiss György Ádam, is called Improvisation Theatre:Rögtönzések Szinháza. They are playing once a month at a real Theatre in Budapest, and they always have a full house.

India:
   December, 2009: There is increasing interest in psychodrama: At  the Asian Association of Social Psychology. Here are some pictures:   

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International Association of Group Psychotherapy (IAGP) (Psychodrama Section):
IAGP: July, 2006:  Manuela Maciel, chair of the psychodrama section, reports: The special psychodrama section meeting of the IAGP went very well with around 50 people from all the continents. The congress, as you know by now was a big success with more than a thousand people and I would say more than 60% of them were psychodramatists! Psychodrama is really very strong in Brazil. I ran a Transgenerational Psychodrama Course, for 3 days with around 80 people attending, also the panel on "Advanced Theories in Psychodrama", a paper on "Historydrama" and participated in a panel about "cross fertilization of the sections in IAGP".   IAGP keeps the initials but changed the name to International Association of Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes, being therefore more open to other group aproaches.
       I was re-elected the Chair of Psychodrama Section and Jorge Burmeister, another Psychodramatist was elected as President-Elect, to be President in 2009-2012. Also Kate Tauvon of Stockholm will be our new Secretary. The Congress was a big success. Also, the Moreno
museum project was launched (with some paintings of the house sold but still a lot more to sell) and the section meeting was effective. I will write soon more about it.
      Anne Schutzenberger <anne.schutzenberger@wanadoo.fr>: The 16th IAGP triennial congress was held in Sao Paulo, and more than1300 people attended. (The next congress will be in Rome, Italy, in 2009. Some international figures attending included Dalmiro  Bustos of Argentina and Brazil; Sue Daniel of Australia; Eva Fahlstrom of Sweden, Manuela Maciel of Portugal. Francis Bonds-White (of the USA) will be the president for the next three years, and after that, as mentioned above, Jorg Burmeister  (who is also one of the editors of the forthcoming book on advancing theories in psychodrama. A collegue wrote to me : The young people are a joy to see and to know that through them PD will continue. The congress catalogue and the list of those attending were given to registered participants. The congress was lively with many young Brazilian psychodramatists. Dalmiro Bustos, Monica Zuretti and others have made an enormous work over the years to make PD  Psychodrama known and applied in Brazil. Some of our colleagues made plan to come to visit me next week at my high mountain home in France. I’m now 87 and have been active in psychodrama since 1951. .
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 The new Chair of this following the late August, 2003, triennial IAGP conference in Istanbul is now Manuela Maciel, of Portugal. Her email address is:: psychodramachair@iagp.com      For the previous three years, the Chair of this section and the manager of the IAGP-PD listserve was Sue Daniel of Australia. The next international conference will be in Sao Paulo, Brazil (August, 2006).
    Manuela writes: Having been elected as the new Chair of the Psychodrama Section for the next 3 years, I am very happy to tell you that we had an excellent Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, with many presentations and workshops on Psychodrama.
    I would like to emphasize particularly the great effort of Sue Daniel, Anne Schutzenberger, Pierre Fontaine, Maurizio Gasseau, Jorg Burmeister, Greta Leutz in this Congress, who besides from having presented workshops during the Pre-Congress have also done an excellent contribution to the Congress itself, with very high quality and well organized presentations and symposia. Many other Psychodramatists also presented their work and also the new Video "Moreno: His life and his muses" was presented by Jose Fonseca.
     We also had the pleasure of having as a speaker in the plenary Session, Jonathan Moreno, who spoke about ethics in Medicine and the secret experiments on Human Beings (which is also the title of his book "Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans" ).
      In Istanbul, we had a successful and effective Psychodrama Section Meeting, for 1 hour and half, with the presence of around 90 Psychodramatists from all over the world. We first heard and saw a little bit of the living History of Psychodramatis at IAGP Congresses, which then divided in to small subgroups, by categories of antiquity in IAGP, and gave suggestions to the future goals of Psychodrama Section. In this same
meeting we also formed a working Committee of about 16 people, representing the different regions of the World, who kindly volunteered to help the PD Section to accomplish its goals.
       I am proud to announce that this Working Committee, who had another specific meeting at the IAGP Congress, is already working in 4 different subgroups focusing on specific areas (chosen according to the main suggestions collected at the PD Section Meeting) with already well defined goals and coordinators.
      These subcommittees are:
 - Research in Psychodrama (and good articles for Forum)
 - Promotion/Expansion of Psychodrama
 - Regional Support and networking for Psychodramatists
 - Presentations for Congress 2006 in S. Paulo.

    May, 2004: IAGP-PD: Jorge Burmeister of Switzerland < bulmonte21@bluewin.ch > has been organizing a summer academy each year for a while, in Granada, Spain, as part of the IAGP (International Association of Group Psychotherapy) activities. This summer, June 7-11, 2004, there will also be psychodrama training led by internationally acclaimed trainers. For more information, go to www.granada-academy.org      The theme will be "Between Worlds and Cultures: Identity, Loss and Belonging. The psychodrama training (and, for those who wish, use also of other group approaches) will focus on topics of intercultural group work. Emphasis will be for those who speak  Spanish, Italian, English and German. They will only have a maximum of 50 participants in order to guarantee a frame for personal encounter and personal growth. (It's also an opportunity to enjoy and learn about Granada, one of the most tolerant multi-cultural cities during the late middle ages.) The training offered 50 hours of accredited under the auspices of the IAGP. There were people doing group analytical work as well as psychodrama, and a variety of stimulating plenary lectures (in the mornings), and then, according to your interest in approach, several parallel tracks of workshops. In addition, we'll have cultural events at the lunch break and in the evening, including Flamenco dancing (including some teaching!), guided trips around the historic Granada, Alhambra by night, and a farewell dinner party.
     The conference will be held in a Moresque Palace in the Albaicin historic district–a cultural center
with restaurant and Flamenco school reserved for the conference.
      The psychodrama trainers include Mauricio Gasseau (Italy--Jungian Analyst and Psychodramatist) ;  Jose Fonseca of Sao Paulo; Dr. G. Saez, Granada, Board Member Spanish Association of Analytical Psychodrama; Dr. J.-A. Espina-Barrios, Valladolid, Ex-President AEP (Spanish Psychodrama Association), and Barbara Legeler (Germany).
      Help for accommodations is available. Translations into Spanish, Italian and German will be provided.  
   Fees: Students are discounted, as well as for some people with low economies. In general, the fee for the week is about 580.- €    (And the Euro is close to a dollar now, I think)... with another 10% discount for IAGP Members.
        Please look on the home page of the conference (also translation into italian, spanish and german provided): www.granada-academy.org    

  (Ibero-American Conference-- See also Latin America, Mexico, Spain.)

Iran: Mr. Taher Fathi is a psychologist in the capital city of Tehran (Email:  fathitpd@yahoo.com  ) He writes: I have been interested in psychodrama for a few years, and have been in contact with others internationally, who have supported my interest. In 2001 I put together a number of papers and wrote some introductory chapters, privately publishing a book titled (English translation:) "Psychodrama: Prevention and Treatment of Psycho-social Disorders on the Stage". As of early 2003, about 85% of the first edition of 5000 have sold, which means that there are a considerable number of people who have at least become acquainted with the idea. Indeed, considering the lack of marketing, the small success of this book is remarkable. More recently, I've sought to present the method to interested colleagues in psychology and related fields.
  At present, I'm aware of no one else in Iran who has more training or interest--but I'm hoping to generate enough students to sponsor visiting (guest) trainers from elsewhere in the world. I hope that if you would be interested, you would email to me and we could talk over the possibility, the requirements, rewards, etc. I am a member of ASGPP in 2003.I am trying to establish a Psychodrama Center in Tehran. The main goal will be translation and publishing a few well known basic books into the Farsi (Persian) language. I also have a special interest is directing some TV programs on Psychodrama–it would be one of the fastest and most straightforward ways of introducing psychodrama to the people who are interested in Psychodrama. TV is the most powerful media in Iran. So, please share and help me if you have any suggestion for reaching this goals. I look forward to hearing from you.  

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Israel:   In October, 2007, Hod Orkibi < hod-or@bezeqint.net > writes: The Psychodrama field in Israel is going through major changes in the last 3 years- a change that includes all art therapies. Before, the Israeli Ministry of Health used to issue license for therapists who graduated  training programs that were accredited by the Ministry of Health . However, during the last 3 years the Ministry of Health  is no longer issuing license for therapists and currently they are "working" on establishing new law  for  licensing  and  accreditation of programs, including the new MA requirement as all training programs in Israel (with the exception of  Lesley's extension) grant a diploma and not an MA degree. The situation now is that actually anyone can practice art therapy as there is no state licensing body.
       In the organizational aspect, this situation, I believe, empowers the particular "Israeli Psychodrama Organization"  (established in 1990) that gets bigger and hopefully stronger. (we have a conference next week).  
     However, There is another organization (established in 1971) that associates all creative arts therapists: "I.C.E.T. -The Israeli Association of Creative & Expressive Therapies." As a result of the governmental 3 years "frozenness", the two organization (that are voluntary associations and not a "labor union") are currently more free to regulate their on qualification criteria.
      All academic students in Israel are required to know English so they read lots of English books and articles. However, the most popular Hebrew books on Psychodrama in Israel are still:
    Artzi, Einya (1991) PSYCHODRAMA. Dvir publishing house
    Naharin, Eliav (1999). BAMA BIMKOM SAPA [free translation : "A Stage Instead of a Sofa"] Chricover Publishing.
   There are some other Hebrew books deals with drama and/in education that refer to psychodrama. Only few books were translated from English to Hebrew, e.g.:
   Holmes, Paul. (1991a). Classical psychodrama: An overview.
   Hoey, Bernadette. (1997). Who Calls the Tune? A Psychodramatic Approach to Child Therapy.

As for the training institutes: there are 4 that are concentrating on Psychodrama:
        1. Kibbutzim College of Education- 3 years diploma program in The School of Advanced Studies.  Psychodrama is part of the Post Graduate Studies.  <http://www.smkb.ac.il/heb/?catid=950>    This is the oldest institute.
        2. Lesley's Israeli Extension: the only Psychodrama therapeutic MA degree in Israel
 <http://www.lesley.edu/gsass/israel.html>   Or  <http://www.aipi.org.il/>
        3. ISIS Israel is an extension of the International Network of Expressive Arts Therapy Training Centers- 3 years diploma program. English link in:  <http://www.isis.co.il/>
  Also has: <http://www.isis.co.il/ArticlesEng/ArticleEng.asp?ArticleID=47&CategoryID=54
   and :    <http://www.isis-canada.org/>
        4. KIVUNIM ("directions") - diploma program:  <http://www.psychodrama.co.il/english.asp>
        5. Also, recently, in Tel Aviv Univ, The Faculty Graduate Program in the Arts is now offering an MA degree completion for those who graduate from any of the of psychodrama diploma programs mentioned above. (Note that as yet this MA is NOT a therapeutic degree). I am doing my PHD there and aiming to integrate in that program in the future.      <http://www.tau.ac.il/arts/creativity/>
        Finally, the Israeli Psychodrama Association Website is:   <http://www.hebpsy.net/ipsa>  (It is entirely in Hebrew, though.)
           -      -          -
July, 2007, Yudith Rybko ( yrybko@yahoo.com  ) writes: Haifa University is planning to open a psychodrama program for training therapists, and if this happens, I will be the head of this program if it will be opened. Psychodramatists in Israel tend to be associated with either the Expressive Therapy organization (which combines creative arts therapies modalities) and another organization just for psychodrama. The government is regulating therapists in ways that makes it more difficult to practice just as a psychodramatist.           -            -          -            
 May, 2006:  In Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, on April 2-6, 2006 an International Expressive Therapy conference was held on the theme: Imagine: Expression in the Service of Humanity: Creative Approaches to Dealing with Conflict in Groups. Mainly in English, a number of psychodrama-related presentations were also given.  www.congress.co.il/imagine2006  Phil (Phillip) Speiser, an instructor of expressive therapy who has had a lot of psychodrama training and practice in Sweden <pspeiser@biat.org> wrote: We had about 400 people attending, including 40 Palestinians making it in from Gaza and the West Bank--a minor miracle, since the border are shut tight. (The Perez Peace Center worked with us to get them in.)
     The conference was intense, good and very meaningful.
    Mohammed K. Mukhaimar  <momukhaimar@yahoo.com> wrote: It was very interesting conference in Tel Aviv. I met Amal Kouttab (a drama therapy colleague of Armand Volkas, who works with intercultural reconciliation), and we had dinner... Many Israeli psychodramatists are nice and have offered cooperation–a group from Jerusalem invited me to share with them my experiences. Nowadays I am in the process of applying the psychodrama program on a group of 15 girls from one of the highest traumatized areas, and it works very well...I work at the Gaza Community Mental Health, a non-governmental organization established in 1991 in Gaza to address the dire need for mental health services. ..  I have been in psychodrama training with Ursula Hauser (from Switzerland and Costa Rica), along with a group of professionals from Gaza, in periodic workshops conducted here in Gaza since 2001. On September 2006 we will be graduated as Directors of Psychodrama Techniques. Already we have applied Psychodrama with different groups including women, traumatized children and adolescents. These groups have received the method with great amount of commitment and this has motivated us to continue and to develop it, and dreaming of establishing the National Institute of Psychodrama here in Palestine.

2005: Ilana ben Meir <Benras@bezeqint.net> writes: The Israeli Psychodrama Association has now certified about 40 members. There are four schools for psychodrama, 2 of which are "authorized." Plans are to begin to construct a website.
      Yossi Avivi  < yossi_avivi@yahoo.com > writes: My estimate of the general number of people involved with psychodrama takes into account the number of years that psychodrama schools operates in Israel and the students that study in each school and also to remember that the training lasts 3 years. Only negligible number of people study abroad. According to this method of calculation the number ranges from 150 to 200.
          In addition to the Israeli Psychodrama Association, mentioned above, there is also The Israeli Association of Creativity & Expressive Therapy (which includes psychodrama). There is no non-clinical track. The Israeli Association of Creativity & Expressive Therapy has a website    http://www.yahat.org/2002/      and forums dedicated to each of the therapies including psychodrama:   http://www.yahat.org/2002/forum.asp
    These forums are open to any discussion but until now they include mainly announcements and questions about new groups,  schools etc.  Members of the unions and students receive letters from the psychodrama union announcing conferences and meetings,  and members of the The Israeli Association of Creativity & Expressive Therapy receive newsletters and bulletins from this union.
      We now have an open forum (in Hebrew, using Hebrew letters, but on computer)-- there is no need to subscribe.  One enters the web address and can surf freely. We have had extended discussions on some subjects of psychodrama and related subjects of group psychotherapy.  To add a message to the forum,  one needs to open a free account on 'Walla' (a portal like Yahoo).  The forum address:  
   http://clubs.walla.co.il/ts.cgi?tsscript=club/club_index&forum_id=1207
     the forum is dedicated for discussions about psychodrama,  sociometry, sociodrama and group therapy.  There is a secondary forum dedicated to announcements (about groups, conventions etc) in this address:
> http://clubs.walla.co.il/ts.cgi?tsscript=club/club_index&forum_id=3869
     The e-mail address of the secretary of the Israeli union of psychodrama is     nurit698@hotmail.com   and her name is Nurit Schreiber.

    There are only a few psychodrama books translated into Hebrew: Karp & Holmes' 1991 'Psychodrama:  inspiration and technique' and B. Hoey's  'Who calls the tune' (on psychodrama with children.) Most psychodrama students should be able to read English reasonably well,  since one must have a B.A degree in order to be accepted to a psychodrama program.  I don't sure what are the popular books,  but I'm sure that Moreno's writing isn't popular and the philosophical stuff isn't popular.  I try in this forum to fill the gap and translate from time to time some pieces from Moreno's writing into Hebrew (such as tele versus transference etc).  I can ask in the forum
about the popular books.  I don't know about who will come to the conference.
  There are four psychodrama schools in Israel: The older one exists more then 20 years: located in the Israeli extension of Lesley University and is leaded by Miri Livnat;  The other one exists more 10 years:  located  in the Kibbutzim College of Education and is leaded by Einya Artzi; And the other two exist more than 5 years:  Kivunim -- that is leaded by Oded Nave and Isis that is leaded by Yaacov Naor. 
 Hebrew readers can find links to the websites of this psychodrama schools at this address: 
    http://clubs.walla.co.il/ts.cgi?tsscript=club/link_board&forum_id=3869&b=1
 
   Each school has more than one trainer.  At least 3 in each school train psychodrama and other teachers teach psychology courses and group dynamics. My active trainer now is Ofer Zilberberg,  a psychodramatist and social worker who is specializing in group therapy. His main psychodrama teacher is Eliav Naharin. My former teachers are Einya Artzi,  Hanan Snir, Vered Naharin and Ariela Barzel. I also particpatied in a psychodrama group leaded by Dafna Ben Amithai (Yaacov Naor's student) whom I consider also to be my teacher.  My former trainer is Dvora Evron (Einya Artzi's student). My first meaningful encounter with psychodrama was in a semester course leaded by Eliav Naharin.
    - - -
Israel (Continued): "Oded Nave" <odednave@zahav.net.il> writes:
How many psychodramatists are currently working in Israel is not an easy question. Depend upon the definition of work, volume of psychodramatic work within one's work and those who work full time in psychodrama. Other issue is the absence of many people from the psychodrama establishments, and the lack of psychotherapy law in Israel. I would say that the number is around 200 - 100 certified or semi-certified professionals and about 100 students and trainees practicing psychodrama as part of their training.  The popular books are 3 books in Hebrew and one translation (Marcia Karp and Paul Holmes), Moreno, and some other 20 books in English. There is a strong articles base for schools I'd say 200 which are easier for the students to handle. The School of Psychodrama in Kivunim with about 50 students and graduates currently contributes about one third of the estimated students and trainees working in Israel.

 I will probably go to Split, Croatia this June for a study days of EGATIN, the following week I am in Belgrade in a pr-conference workshop in "psychodrama and Art therapy" in the psychotherapy institute of Europe and then there is another conference I may go in Belfast and then of course to Zagreb, Croatia October 14-17 for the Cross Culture Training Days. This time a very well organized event with a gust of honor – the president of Croatia. You can see our web site at tcpsychodrama.info.
   My students and I have been translating Blatner's books on psychodrama into Hebrew and trying to get them published here, but it's hard to find a publisher.



Israel:  (2005) Oded Nave <odednave@zahav.net.il> : The School for Analytic Psychodrama at Kivunim and the Institute for Psychodrama and Group Work in Tel Aviv, Israel held a conference on 17-19 February 2005 at the Belmont Hotel in the Jerusalem  Mountains. This residential conference is central to the training program and we hold it every year between semesters. It gives the trainees in  psychodrama the opportunity to meet each other and to experience a large group work in an intensive setting and be part of the vision of a creative and interactive community. We had about 80 participants: students of the first, second and third years of psychodrama training, graduates, staff and participants who are not institute members.  The idea of a learning environment - creating a mini-culture, enhancing
intensive experience and a frame for interaction and sharing - differs from a regular conference formats. Normally conferences have a central theme, versus the process conference where the process is central and themes emerge as the conference unfolds.  Therefore, the participants sleep at the conference site and are part of the entire conference experience. Participants experienced psychodrama sessions in small and in large psychodrama groups, large analytic groups, processing of sessions special events and a dance. The conference was an intense experience,
running from 8 AM to 10 PM for 3 days in a row. If you wish to see the program you may send me your E-Mail address and I'll send it to you.

Israel: Oded Nave" (February 2006): <odednave@zahav.net.il> writes: In Israel there are 4 training institutes with about 120 students and 500-1000 graduates of the various programs..      www.psychodrama.co.il
    Israel: The creative therapy and IAGP people are co-sponsoring a conference with the theme: Imagine: Expression in the Service of Humanity," To be held in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv Yafo, Israel on April 2-6, 2006. This conference will focus on the development of creative therapeutic tools appropriate for dealing with conflict in general and the Israeli-Palestine conflict in particular.The predominant theme is to touch and understand the pain of the other as a vehicle for growth and development and an opportunity to explore new ideas and approaches. We intend to listen, thought, learn and conduct research together. The conference will bring together a multidisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners from fields including group psychotherapy and group analysis, psychology, psychiatry, the expressive therapies, education, social work and related areas of inquiry, as well as from the arts.
         The program will incorporate presentations by distinguished speakers, simultaneous symposia, workshops and panels. Some off the many theories and themes to be explored include: Living with Conflict and Ongoing Trauma; Conflict Resolution Among Indigenous Societies; Developing Dialog During a Time of Conflict; Building Resilience in the Face of Existential Survival Issues; Artistic Responses to Difficult Times; and Social Trauma - Conscious and Subconscious Consequences.       http://www.congress.co.il/imagine2006

May, 2001: June Hare <junehare@bgumail.bgu.ac.il> writes: I am part of an integrative, cross-disciplinary group of over 40 expressive and creative arts therapists in the Negev, the southern part of our country. We have six psychodramatists and a dramatherapist.  Our psychodrama section meets once a month four hours, for case presentations and/or action explorations of mainly professional and sometimes overlapping personal issues.

---

Italy: Luigi Dotti (email: gigi@mickey.it) writes (in January, 2003): We have about five hundred professional at different levels of training in our country, and the name of our national organization, founded in 1985, is "Associazione Italiana Psicodrammatisti Moreniani (The Italian Association of Morenian Psychodramatists--abbreviated, AIPSIM). Our association sponsors a professional journal, "Psicodramma Classico," published twice a year; a newsletter, AIPSIM News, also published twice each year; a website page for the journal: http://digilander.iol.it/psicodrammaclassico     ;  and a website for our organization:    http://www.aipsim.too.it    , in Italian and English.
    Other major trainers in Italy include:  Giovanni Boria: giboria@tin.it - (website: www.psicodramma.it ) ;   Paola De Leonardis: paoladeleonardis@libero.it ;   Laura Consolati: consolati.laura@tiscali.it ;  Paolo Carrirolo: pcarriro@tin.it - website: www.psychodrama.it   . (There is also another group, the Italian Association of Jungian Psychodramatists.)  Our organization is affiliated with the Federation of European Psychodrama Training Programs and Organizations (FEPTO). We have about fifteen active training groups that I know of, with from 150 to 200 in them. We offer different types of training: A Master's in Action Methods in Education, Sociodrama, etc. (2 years); and in Psychotherapy (4 years). We also have an active Playback Theatre community, with a school having been started a year ago, with Nadia Lotti (email: nadialotti@virgilio.it ) as director.     Psychodrama came to Italy, pioneered mainly by Dr. Giovanni Boria, around 1980. The main books being used by students in training include Moreno & Zerka Toeman Moreno's three books,  Moreno's Who Shall Survive and Theatre of spontaneity, all translated into Italian; G. Leutz' Rappresentare la vita; Schutzenberger, Lo psicodramma, and books of Boria, Leonardis, and Dotti, and more recently, the following:
  -- Boria, G. (1998). Lo psicodramma classico. Milano: F.Angeli Publishers.
  -- De Leonardis, P. (1999). Lo scarto del cavallo. Milano: F.Angeli;
  –  Dotti, L. (1999). Forma e Azione. Milano: F. Angeli.
  -- Dotti, L. (2002). Lo psicodramma dei bambini. Milano: F: Angeli.
 Also, you can find a lot of titles of italian books and articles about psychodrama on the "Bibliografia" page of my website www.psicosociodramma.it     and Boria website: www.psicodramma.it    In summary, psychodrama is growing (in psychotherapy and organisations).  Dr. Dotti's other email:  info@psicosociodramma.it
  website: www.psicosociodramma.it       and www.playback.it


Italy: Luigi Dotti (email: gigi@mickey.it) writes about the Fifth Conference, "Psicodramma a più voci" (Psychodrama with more voices"), held on the weekend of February 1, 2004, with 200 participants, including a few from Argentina, Brazil, and Europe. Most of these were  mental health professionals, but some were from other fields.    There were large and small group programs and 32 workshops (about psychodrama, playback, psychodrama video ecc.), conducted by  25 expert psychodramatists (Maurizio Gasseau, Giovanni Boria, Luigi Dotti, Paola de Leonardis, Giulio Gasca, Wanda Druetta etc..)  This year we included some children who participated in children's psychodrama; some sociodrama workshops in the "open air,"  directed by psychodramatists in the center of town. Our conference promoted an encounter among several forms-- classical (Morenian), Jungian, analytic psychodrama and playback theatre, and we addressed the theme of the dimensions of gender differences between directors and participants.  Dr. Dotti's website is:   www.psicosociodramma.it    and www.playback.it  --in Italian.
 

Latin America: Rasia Friedler, a psychodramatist in Uruguay (email:  rasiafriedler@netgate.com.uy ) wrote: "A Wave of Happiness!" : On October 12, 2003,?  remembered also throughout Latin America as the day Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492, a rather singular event took place involving a number of countries from around the region.  Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Ecuador and Mexico were all united in a voluntary, simultaneous and public act, that went well beyond the limits of any political party or institution.  Participants from Belgium, Spain, the United States, Holland, Britain and Italy gave this mega-event a truly international range.
     People were able to take part via public sociodramas and spontaneous theatre, in an original journey that led from pessimism to hope. I never imagined that such a simple dream of Latin American fraternity would have taken off with such force.  The idea of a piece of sociodrama without frontiers spread throughout the world like a huge wave, only this time, instead of being a wave of conflict, it was of happiness.
      In Uruguay, many people walked among the trees heavy with spring blossom at five in the afternoon on the 12th of October 2002.  Following the rain of the preceding days, the flood of sunlight embraced us all like some protective mother.  Those of us that were psychodramatists and spontaneous actors had met on other occasions in this same place, and recognised each one of the natural elements which would later form part of our stage setting, moving among them, touching them, imagining scenes, sharing expectations, creating the poster for the event. We could also make out the nearby sea and sand of the Atlantic coastline.  The place would be a good one.  We hugged each other, like those who are used to finding strength in their weaknesses.  And there we were waiting, dallying, and the footsteps, many more than we had imagined, got closer and closer.
 
        New stories emerged from simple images, or a casually tossed word. One of the statues represented a circle of humming birds trying to put out a fire that was dangerously closing in on them, until finally they succeeded in bringing it under control.  This piece was inspired by a story of a single humming bird that persistently carried drop after drop of water to extinguish the flames, as opposed to the other birds in the forest which tried to convince him about the futility of his efforts.  Without stopping for a single moment, the humming bird replied time and time again: "I am only doing what I can": the justification of each drop in the desert, poured without any form of pretentiousness, both in a moral sense and as a revitalizing action.
    The impetus of each movement, the physical proximity, the sociodramatic proposition and its synchronicity with the other "Scenes of the People" helped unblock feelings of hope about the future.  And at the very least, it certainly was not one of those occasions dominated by so-called experts who make people believe that they are not sufficiently well informed or educated to either act, or to vote.
    Five hundred and ten years after the arrival of the Spanish in America, and eighty-one years after the first official psychodrama session in the Komoedien Haus in Vienna, and less than two years since the megapsychodrama event in Sao Paulo Brazil–alluded to in Blatner's paper on the history of psychodrama in Brazil, on this website--the Uruguayan experience in the First Simultaneous Public Sociodrama took place in an open green space which had been joyfully rediscovered: Rodó Park, a favourite haunt of the residents of Montevideo, named after the same Uruguayan nineteenth century writer who created the character of Ariel, he who called out to the youth of his time for the libertarian construction of an Hispanic American destiny, words that still resound in the hearts of many Uruguayans today.  It has been a long time since the word "people" has been so clearly heard, after its constant debilitation as a political and cultural category.
        Many thanks to everyone who helped such a liberating experience, conceived as a collective adventure, to be once more possible.
 
Latin America (Ibero-American Conferences): Esly Regina Carvalho <eslyc@attglobal.net> wrote: The last one was recently in Buenos Aires, and was very successful. The next conference was in Mexico City in early May, 2005, and Jaime Winkler helped to organize it. This conference generally is held twice in Latin America and then once in Iberia (Spain or Portugal). Thus, the general sense is that in 2007 it will be held in Spain and in 2009 will return to  Ecuador. There is a significant core of practitioners who attend these conference, which is generally held in Spanish and Portuguese.

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Latvia: May, 2008:  New excellent website:  www.psihodrama.lv     The Moreno Institute in Latvia was founded 2002 by Inara Erdmanis with permission from Zerka Moreno. Inara Erdmanis is the President and Inara Varpa who resides in Latvia is Vice-President. Inara Erdmanis started her journey back to her birth country long before. She started educating doctors and psychologists in 1989 with introduction courses in Group and Family Therapy.
       The first basic education in Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy took place 1994 -1995 and the second in 1997 – 1998. Since then four more groups have finished. To this date there have been 55 persons who have finished and received the title of Psychodrama-Assistant.  The first leader education took place 1999 – 2002 and 17 persons then passed the examination and got the title Psychodrama-Leader.  From this group 10 persons continued and passed the examination for CP – Certified Practitioner. In 2007 a new leader education started with Marc Treadwell (TEP) as the main teacher with 25 participants. The Education was financed and supported by East European Committee in Sweden until Latvia joined the EU. From the very beginning Inara Erdmanis has been supervisor in the European Psychodrama Institute In 2007 a new leader education started with Marc Treadwell (TEP) as the main teacher with 25 and made contact between Latvians and other European Psychodramatists. Inara Erdmanis got the idea of Baltic Moreno Days, which means a Psychodrama conference every second year in one of the Baltic countries. Each country; Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania is responsible every sixth year.
      In 2002 the Latvian Moreno Institute arranged “Dream Wind” in Jelgava together with the Latvian Psychodrama Association. The next one to be organized by Latvia, “The Beauty and Beast”, will take place in Valmiera in August 2008. The Moreno Institute in Latvia is member of Nordic Board of Examiners (NBE) where standards are set according to the standards in England, USA, Canada, Austria, New Zealand, and others countries.  NBE also examine people to the highest level in Psychodrama TEP (trainer, educator, practitioner).
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2007: In Latvia, they held a Midsummer Night Dream Seminar: Dreamwork, Psychodrama, Body Psychotherapy &  Summer Solstice Celebration June 14-20, 2007. Organized by Gaia Center, this seven day seminar will combine Dream Work, Psychodrama, Body Psychotherapy, Rituals, and other activities to increase self awareness, and to express oneself more fully. 
     The mornings will focus on dreamwork, the afternoons on processing the dreams using psychodrama and body psychotherapy, and the evenings enjoying nature through various activities; music, dance, drumming, rituals to connect to nature, nature walks, visits to sacred places, swimming, etc.  Inara Edrmanis from Sweden will help with the psychodramas. Others will present who deal with body psychotherapy, etc.   Food makes people happy!....so we will be preparing delicious organic vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals three times a day! Website for more details on the presenters, the location, and how to register: http://www.gaialatvia.com
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(2005) Inara Erdmanis <ina.erd@bredband.net> , a trainer in Sweden who travels and trains in Latvia, writes (in March): In Latvia I have started an education for CP. 12 people from the leader education want to go futher. This takes place in the name of the Latvian Moreno Institute (belonging to NBBE Nordic Baltic Board of Examiners).
  In Sweden I plane to start a TEP-training (6 people) and a CP-education in the name of the Stockholm Institute for Psychodrama, Sociometry and Grouppsychotherapy (also belonging to NBBE).

Lithuania: Dr. Viktorija VaiÜvilaite  (email: viva@centras.lt  ), Chairwoman of  the Lithuanian Psychodrama Society (LPS), writes: Psychodrama training started in Lithuania in 1996, with 15 participants, professional psychologists and psychiatrists . Our teachers were Friedel Geisler and Hildegard de Byl. Since the middle of 1999  we were trained by Friedel Geisler. At this point, our small group hasn't yet organized special procedures for selection of candidates. People's motivation seems to be assessed on an ongoing basis in the process and their being willing to work on personal themes.
     We've had special seminars over the years, led by  Dorothy Langley (Great  Britain), Goran Hogberg (Sweden), Laila Kjellstrom (UK),  Sonja and Helmut Beloch (Germany), Antony T Horwood (UK), Yaacov Naor (Israel), and Ulrike Behrmann von Zerboni (Germany).
     In 2000 - 2002 we also participated in special music seminars ( Kleine Sommerakademie) led by Friedel Geisler and Friedemann Geisler. There we used to work on synthesis of psychodrama and music.
    In January, 1999, we organized the Lithuanian Psychodrama Society, with the goal of spreading information about psychodrama and fostering the method's applications. The members of our Society lead workshops in  practical seminars for psychotherapists and apply psychodrama as a method in student's self-knowledge groups and therapeutic groups as well. Thanks to all this activities Lithuanian citizens learn  about psychodrama more and more.  Three workshops of Lithuanian leaders were presented in the Second Baltic Moreno Days in Latvia, Jelgava on 22-24 of August in 2002.
        The attitudes of professionals to psychodrama are ambivalent in Lithuania now, but it is recognised on the official level. PSL is a member of Co-ordination Council , who co-ordinates and represents the interests of psychotherapeutic community in general.
       In 2000 the book Psychodrama: Roots and Possibilities by Friedel Geisler was published as the first book on the method in the Lithuanian language. Members of our Society had done a big job in the process of translation and publishing. It was very important event , because we felt the lack of literature in our native language. Basicaly there are translations of books into Russian, and most of us know Russian very well , but the younger generation doesn't. The books in English are not always available and are very expensive to us.
       In 2001  PSL entered to PIfE (Psychodrama Institut fur Europe, Germany) as an institutional member, with the intent of enlargening international relationships and seeking of higher level professional  knowledge.
        In the end of 2003 nine persons are ready to finish the third level of the training. Another group just started the training with leader Friedel Geisler and co-leader Christoph Hutter.  Again, we are hosting the forthcoming 3rd Baltic Moreno Days (as mentioned above).

Macedonia: The next Cross Cultural Training Days (CCTD) will be held at the Ohrid Lake (a remarkably beautiful site!), "Granit hotel" , Republic of Macedonia, September 4-17, 2006, with the program following the same general structure as previous ones. For inquiries, contact Zvonko Dzokic: zvonko@chr.com.mk   For general tourist issues: www.exploringmacedonia.com

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Malaysia: Dr. Gong Shu (email: < gong@artsci.wustl.edu > ) wrote that in June, 2002 she presented in Singapore to large audiences, made videos in Chinese and English, and plans to present to the Pacific Rim Conference of the International Association of Group Psychotherapists in Singapore again in early March, 2003, on the topic of "Yi Shu: Psychodrama and Traditional Chinese Energy Medicine."

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Mexico: (December, 2003): Cathleen Quiroga, from Phoenix Arizona, was our ambassador from the USA to a significant conference of psychodramatists in Monterrey, northern Mexico. The conference theme was "II Encuentro Internacional de Psicodrama" (Second International Gathering of Psychodrama). It was attended by 28 presenters and approximately 50 participants (professionals and students), mainly from Mexico, but also from Brazil. They have a number of books that have been published, and are doing research in the use of Psychodrama with children and with Marriage and Family therapy. The most engaging part of the conference were the Spontaneous Theater workshops by Agenor Vieira and Albor Vives from Sao Paulo, Brazil! The conference was of high professional quality and participants were open and accepting of newcomers. Those professionals who
came, to get acquainted with psychodrama for the first time, did not go away disappointed!

2005: The last (Fifth) Ibero-American Conference was held in Mexico City, May 5-7, 2005. Rosa Cukier of Brazil reported: <rosacukier@uol.com.br>:  Around 450 to 500 people attended the Congress, from 11 Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries : Argentina (40), Brazil (70), Chile (15), Colombia, Costa Rica (12), Cuba (1), Ecuador, Mexico (350), Portugal (3), Spain (4), Uruguay (4), Venezuela (4). The biggest delegation was from Brazil - around 70 colleagues, and the smallest from Cuba - just one colleague because some others were prohibited by the government to leave the country.  There were also some pre-congress workshops attended by about 100 people.
    The theme of the Congress was: "The same roots, with new (fruits) findings": the psychodrama in the clinic, in the family, in scrolls, in the work and in the community.  It was organized by The Mexican School of Psychodrama and Sociometry and coordinated by Dr. Jaime Winkler.  In May, 2007, the next Ibero-American congress will be held in Spain, and in May, 2009, in Equador.   http://www.psicodrama2005.com/

August, 2000: Dr. Jaime Winkler <jwinkler@psicodrama.com> writes that he and his wife, Maria Carmen Bello (known by her nickname “Yuyo”), co-founded the Escuela Mexicana de Psicodrama y Sociometria in 1983. Jaime was born in Paraguay and Yuyo is from Uruguay. They studied psychodrama with Dalmiro Bustos and have been certified as psychodrama directors and supervisors by the Moreno Institute of Argentina. “At our school in Mexico we have had many international guest teachers. We have now 30 students, and several graduates. Yuyo wrote in Spanish, "Introduccion al psicodrama: Guida para leer a Moreno."  Web page: www.psicodrama.com

August, 1999: Carolina Becerril  ( rolina@mpsnet.com.mx) , writes that for most of the last fifteen years, psychodrama was taught by Jaime Winkler and his wife, Carmen Bello. More recently, she began training, using largely Dalmiro Bustos’ approach. She has presented recently at the AGPA conference and will again next February on using psychodrama for transcultural conflicts. Giovanni Boria, of Italy, has also begun to train in Mexico City. also notes that recently he’s been active in establishing a third training program in Mexico city!

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