Linda Ciotola

Neurobiology Validates the Power of Psychodrama

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By Karen Carnabucci, MSS, LCSW, TEP

In the past two decades researchers have discovered a tremendous amount of information about the human brain. As we learn these startling new details, we are forced to discard old assumptions about how the brain works.
We now know about the delicate nature of the developing brain from the very beginning of life. Certain experiences – a stressed mother, a community trauma, a family crisis – appear to inhibit the circuitry of brain development even before the child’s birth.
Yet the brain is not “fixed” to any specific configuration for life. For instance, we now understand that the brain is “plastic,” continuing to constantly change, alter and adapt as it responds to new life experiences.
“In the past two decades researchers have discovered a tremendous amount of information about the human brain.”
Linda Ciotola

What is Psychodrama?

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What is Psychodrama?
Psychodrama is a form of psychotherapy developed by Dr. J.L. and Zerka Moreno that uses acting to facilitate problem solving.  The client, called the protagonist, puts his/her truth into action with the assistance of the therapist, called the director, and other participants, called auxiliaries. 

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Linda Ciotola

Is this something for me?

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  • Am I having on-going difficulties in relationships?
  • Am I troubled by intrusive memories and/or flashbacks?
  • Am I stuck in the process of grieving and unable to move on with life?
  • Do I feel weighed down by feelings of  low self esteem, depression or helplessness?
  • Do I have trouble identifying and accessing my strengths?
  • Do I want to find creative solutions to problems?
  • Do I want to learn how to be true to myself?
  • Do I feel disconnected from my body?
  • Do I feel used?  Am I tired of having people walk all over me?
  • Do I want to let go of old behaviors that keep sabotaging my well-being?
  • Do I want to understand why I make the same mistakes repeatedly and stop doing that?

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Linda Ciotola

Most commonly asked questions:

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What are Action Methods?
Action Methods refer to forms of experiential learning derived from psychodrama, experiential and expressive arts therapies, engaging the right side of the brain as well as the left side.  Powerful outcomes can result from single well-executed session. 

Psychodrama is a form of psychotherapy developed by Dr. J.L. and Zerka Moreno that  uses acting to facilitate problem solving.  The client, called the protagonist, puts his/her truth into action with the assistance of the therapist, called the director, and other participants, called auxiliaries. Read more

Linda Ciotola

Transformation Through Action Methods

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Most commonly asked questions:

What are Action Methods?
Action Methods refer to forms of experiential learning derived from psychodrama, experiential and expressive arts therapies, engaging the right side of the brain as well as the left side. Powerful outcomes can result from single well-executed session.

Read more

Linda Ciotola

Interview: Linda Ciotola about the Mindful Witness role

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Click here for audio interview

Linda Ciotola about the Mindful Witness role

Linda Ciotola

FAMILY SCULPTURE IN PSYCHODRAMA: A REPORT

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This report was written by the protagonist of the psychodrama described below, who preferred to remain anonymous (not one of Linda’s clients). Edited slightly and posted by Adam Blatner September 4, 2009.

I was 21 when I came to the Menninger Hospital in Houston, Texas around 2003, to be treated for a case of severe anorexia nervosa. I have reconstructed these events from journal notes and a drawing I made on the day they occurred. I have changed all names for confidentiality, including my own name, here calling myself “Ruby.

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Linda Ciotola

PSYCHODRAMA AND THE TREATMENT OF BULIMIA

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Monica Leonie Callahan
This is Chapter 6, pp 101 – 120, in L. M. Hornyak & E. K. Baker (Eds.),
Experiential Therapies for Eating Disorders. New York: Guilford, 1989.)

Since 1981, I have been exploring ways of using psychodrama as part of individual and group psychotherapy with bulimics in an outpatient setting. Almost all of my clients are women; their ages range from the late teens to the early 50s. Psychotherapy is only one part of the treatment.

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Linda Ciotola

The Body Dialogue, An Action Structure To Build Body Empathy

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by Linda Ciotola, M. Ed., CHES,(ret.), T.E.P.

Abstract
“The Body Dialogue” is an action structure using role reversal to build a bridge of empathy between the body and the self.  The director facilitates a conversation between the body and the self in an attempt to repair the bridge of broken trust and to re-establish the bond that was disrupted by the trauma of physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse; medical trauma; illness; aging.  The goal is to facilitate the self’s acceptance of the body and the self’s willingness to listen to the body; to hear the body’s needs and for the self to make a commitment for the body’s care.
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Linda Ciotola

The Body Double:

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The Body Double:
An Advanced Clinical Action Intervention Module
in the Therapeutic Spiral ModelTM to Treat Trauma
by Kamala Burden, MA, ADTR, CP
and Linda Ciotola, M.Ed. CHES (ret.),TEP

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