65th Annual Conference

Saturday, February 23

Afternoon Workshops

2:15-5:30 P.M.

Workshop 93

Actualizing Greek Myth as a Metaphor in the Training Process

Presented in cooperation with the Athenian Institute of Anthopos
 

Chairs:

Dionyssios Sakkas, M.D., Ph.D., Member of the Scientific Consultative Steering Committee, The Athenian Institute of Anthropos, Athens, Greece
Petros Polychronis, M.D., Director, The Athenian Institute of Anthropos, Athens, Greece
 

The workshop uses myths from Euripides’ tragedy “Ifigenia in Avlida” as metaphors in experiential training as these archetypes are reminiscent of family dynamics. The triangle Victim-Victimizer-Rescuer, the inner voices, conflicts and choices are explored, using the group process developing among the participants, in the context of the “Dialectic-Systemic Approach” developed by the Athenian Institute of Anthropos.
didactic-experiential-demonstration-sharing of work experiences
 

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:
1. Learn ways to use group process to broaden the perspective through which role choices are seen in any particular dramatic situation in life.
2. Explore modes that allow trainees to choose the emotional distance from which to involve themselves in the enacted role exploration.
3. Approach human beings as responsible members of different suprasystems, though which different aspects of their identities derive.
4. Discern the dynamic balance between responsibility and power within any role.
5. Understand that any decision taken by any role in the triangle contains the possibility of being used constructively or destructively, depending on the observer system at any given point in the time continuum.
 

Course References:

1. Polemi-Todoulou, M., Vassiliou, V., Vassiliou, G., (1998). The Grouping Process Across Cultural Change. In Group, Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society, Vol. 22, No.2, p. 105-119.
2. Sakkas, D. Actualizing the Greek Myth and Tragedy as a Metaphor in the Training Process. Journal for Prevention: “Face”, Athens, 2001.
3. Vassiliou, G. & V., (1983). On the Diogenes Search: Outlining a Systemic Dialectic Approach, Concerning the Functioning of Anthropos and his Suprasystems. In Pines, M. (ed.), The Evolution of Group Analysis. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.