dreamer2doer

GIVE A SHIFT: SOCIAL ATOMS MEETS STAGES OF CHANGE

“If the nineteenth century looked for the ‘lowest’ common denominator of mankind, the unconscious, the twentieth century discovered, or rediscovered its ‘highest’ common denominator - spontaneity and creativity.” Who Shall Survive,

From a psychodrama perspective, there is a frequent and ongoing demand for spontaneity, using JL Moreno’s definition: “Spontaneity operates in the present, now and here; it propels the individual towards an adequate response to a new situation or a new response to an old situation.” Who Shall Survive

Many of you are familiar with the Stages of Change. (Prochaska, Norcross, DiClemente) However, change is unlikely to occur in a vacuum. Therefore, it is more effective to view concrete dynamics of change within a larger social perspective. Psychodrama offers us a wonderful tool for juxtaposing change and relationships – the Social Atom.

(For those not familiar with the social atom there are articles on the Social Atom on my website: www.dreamer2doer.com)

One of our goals in this presentation is to explore the interface between the Social Atom and the Stages of Change. A point of starting in to consider specific ways that psychodrama techniques and role reciprocity interface with the stages of change.

PRE-CONTEMPLATION:
• No movement towards change.
• The individual could be oblivious or in denial regarding an area of change.
• They might have several failures at change and have given up hope for a different outcome.
• Expect defensiveness, externalizing blame or responsibility.
• Direct confrontation tends to be less effective.
• Unlikely to observe need for change in isolation.

PERSPECTIVES AS A PSYCHODRAMATIST:
• Who can observe, or help you observe your behaviors with compassion?
• Who helps you believe change is possible?
• Who (living or dead) might sabotage or undermine change? This might be unconscious or intentional
• Who can help you identify what is capable of change and what is outside your control?
• What are your strengths – internal or interpersonal- that can be drawn on during this stage of change?

CONTEMPLATION:
• The individual is reflective, but not yet ready for change.
• This is a time of gathering information
• This is often a period of strong ambivalence.
• Defenses are lessened.

PERSPECTIVES AS A PSYCHODRAMATIST:
• Help the individual examine both excitement and anxiety as facets of change.
• Help the individual in role training for the change he or she desires.
• Examine ambivalence through enactment of various perspectives.
• What are costs and benefits of changing? Of remaining the same?
• What is the impact on your social atom if you change? If you do not change?

PREPARATION:
• Another level of warm-up; important to not rush into action without thought.
• A time of identifying resources, both internal, external, transpersonal.
• Identify markers in the path of change.
• Create manageable and realistic goals.
• Helpful to set deadlines or dates for initiating change.

PERSPECTIVES AS A PSYCHODRAMATIST:
• Work on fostering healthy warm-up to new roles
• Create a safe place for role expansion and role training.
• Explore options and plans through future projections.
• Build healthy sociometry, identifying people who reinforce change.
• Listen for and work with metaphors: a journey, climbing a mountain, stepping into the dark, climbing a ladder...
• What awakens your anticipation and enthusiasm?
• Who helps you clarify what you can reasonably accomplish?
• Who is our strongest advocate for change?

ACTION:
• Typically, an individual’s change will elicit change in the larger social atom.
• It often takes a high level of energy to shift from planning to action.
• This is often a time when individuals experience internal reactions at facing and enacting their learning curve. They encounter the consequences of change

PERSPECTIVES AS A PSYCHODRAMATIST:
• Identify who in the social atom can best support the desired change.
• Identify elements that can self-sabotage healthy change:
Internal Critic
Perfectionism
• A powerful time to engage in role training, exploring and learning with safety.
• With recovery issues, role train new activities to substitute for addictions.
• Concretize how both the individual and supports can strengthen resources

MAINTENANCE:
• This is not a static position, it embodies integration and role creation.
• The changed behavior is becoming the new ‘default’ position.
• Individuals can become nostalgic or homesick for the old, familiar patterns.
• Deeper issues can begin to emerge:
     What did my perfectionism cover?
      What was hiding/avoided through my passivity?
      How well are those in my social atom adjusting to the changes I am making?

PERSPECTIVES AS A PSYCHODRAMATIST:
• Concretize resources:
• who helps you consolidate positive aspects of change?
• Who supports and nourishes new roles you are establishing?
• How can the psychodramatist help the person navigate a changing social atom?
• Role training situations that jeopardize these new, preferred changes.

RECYCLING:
• Relapse into old behaviors is common symptom/experience in process of change.
• Hopelessness at failure can put individual back to pre-contemplation stage.
• Can we explore lapse as a learning moment, rather than a shaming one?
• Can we explore our lapse chain so we can make an appropriate intervention/response?

PERSPECTIVES AS A PSYCHODRAMATIST:
• Doubling self-compassion helps a client learn rather than become self-deprecating.
• Increased spontaneity – offers a more adequate response to the lapse since the initial planning.
• Help individual explore sociometry – who remains a support, who potentially blames or shames you?
• Does the client need additional role training?

We rarely change in a vacuum. Moreno believed the smallest human unit is two or more. So, consider ways to integrate these new tools with clients (or within your own personal reflection and growth)

MODIFYING THE SOCIAL ATOM TO INTERFACE WITH THE STAGES OF CHANGE:

Invite individuals to consider one specific area in which they are in a process of change. Have them be specific and concrete. Where do they see themselves within the stages of change, for this specific area/issue?

Using social atom, have the client outline the Circle, Triangle,or diamond (other) representing himself or herself in one color. This will help maintain the focus of this as their social atom.

Have them consider a few individuals who might be their strongest supports for engaging in that stage of change. Remember, in another stage (for the same issue, or other changes), they might choose different auxiliaries… Outline or fill in their shape with a second color.

Who are the individuals that might block, undermine, inhibit or deflect from these changes? Outline or fill them in using a third color.

• Remember, we are complex entities; I might want you to sober up, but that could also mean sacrificing some of the power I’ve welded while you were less functional. I might really want to support you in changing your employment goals, but that might also make demands for change or additional responsibilities on my part as well.
• Inhibitions can be conscious or unconscious – remember when we change, we make role demands on the others in our social atom

As director, you can work with the protagonist by having them role reverse with those who either support or inhibit change, and explore these dynamics in greater detail. Particularly when working one-on-one with a protagonist in individual therapy, it might concretize this experience to have the protagonist write a brief note from the role reversed position of a supportive individual. Promote integration by having the client hear the letter out loud. You might read it to a client or have the individual read it aloud as if they just received it. Have them sit/stand/move between themselves and the reversed role so that they can both speak and hear the content.

Another variation is to ask the client to develop a future projection social atom. How would they expect their social interactions to look 3 or 6 months into their changed behaviors?

Utilizing social atoms to identify potential difficulties as well as supports and reinforcement is a powerful tool in facilitating desired change in individuals. Helping clients understand the developmental stages of roles: Taking, Playing, Creating, can also bring greater understanding and self-compassion as an individual steps forward to lasting change.

This workshop was initially developed for the Mid-Atlantic Collective, ASGPP and updated for ASGPP, and presented on April 2, 2025

Stephen Kopp, TEP
www.dreamer2doer.com