ABSTRACT:

In the aftermath of the fallen communist regimes at the end of the XX century, these societies are far from reaching a homeostasis.The history of conflicts and lost beliefs has not only created collective trauma and polarization, but these societies have been continuously re-traumatized by the communicated „post-truths“ (Oxford Languages, 2016) and „gaslighting“ (Merriam-Webster, 2022).

The hypothesis is that when individuals fall victim to the societal post-truths and gaslighting, they are inclined to form certain sub-groups with similar mental, emotional and somatic experiencing, corresponding to the fight-flight-or-freeze states: 1) nationalists (angry, agitated, ready to “protect” the nation and fight with the perceived enemy), 2) the nostalgic (fleeing to idealisation of the past, grieving for the communist „paradise lost“), or the numb (those that freeze, shut down or even die, unable to cope with the changed circumstances).
The workshop will include a sociometrical exercise with three groups, a sociodramatic exploration by making use of role reversal and deepening double techniques, with deroling and a sociatric intervention as closure.

After this 90-min workshop, the participants will be able to:
1) explore ways of collective re-traumatisation in dismantled societies and how individuals respond to it,
2) identify how different social sub-groups are formed, depending on the individual autonomous nervous system response,
3) consider some viable social healing techniques.

References:

Oxford Languages Word of the Year (2016): post-truth – “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief“.
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year (2022): gaslighting: „the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage“.
Billmer, G. E. (2020): Homeostasis: The Underappreciated and Far Too Often Ignored Central Organizing Principle of Physiology, Front. Physiol., 10 March 2020, Sec. Integrative Physiology
Volume 11 – 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00200
Damjanov, J. And Westberg, M., eds. (2023) Discovering the Languages of Peace – A Handbook of Sociopsychodrama
Hübl, T. (2023): Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma—and Our World, Kindle Edition
Kellerman, P. F. (2007): Sociodrama and Collective Trauma, Jessica Kingsley Publishers – London and Philadelphia
Mass, P. (1997): Love Thy Neighbour: The Story of War, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Porges, S. W. (2020): The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation, Audiobook – Unabridged, Tantor Audio
Williams, J. M. and Tygielski, S. (2023): How We Ended Racism: Realizing a New Possibility in One, Kindle Edition

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS: