Psychodrama of the Survivorship

Abstract

Psychodramatic meta-systemic conceptualization offers a holistic view of complex life

phenomena such as trauma and survivorship, which have been otherwise traditionally

compartmentalized by different disciplines. The author argues that collective survival

experience is preserved, communicated, and passed down through generations in the form

of familial or cultural messages containing both empirical knowledge and magical thinking

components. Indiscriminative following of survival messages outside of its original historical

context may, contrary to initial intent, contribute to transgenerational vulnerabilities.

Cultural trauma, such as a totalitarian regime, turns the ‘‘survivorship wisdom’’ into a

cultural artifact reflected in collective psyche as art and literature. Superstition is also a type

of ancient survival messages with prevalent magical thinking. A survival genogram allows

for deconstructing messages, processing the ‘‘wisdom of the elderly,’’ and negotiating its

informed adoption by unveiling chronological layers of the message’s meaning.