ALIX HARROW

There is a book

2012-04-15T01:19:00.000+01:00

Well after nearly three years there is a book pretty much finished just a short way to go now. I am not sure how I am going to tackle publishing it yet. I may choose to give it away as an ebook or I may publish on amazon or Lulu. I am not quite there but these things have presented themselves now ....................

The Call

2010-10-27T04:15:00.000+01:00

The Call

My mind is rolling round
What is
The inner cathedral
The inner sanctum lined with formless wealth
Moving slowly
Filling every imagined space
With featherlike smoke

I follow this entity which is not.
As all I am, is within.
All I was, inside, rolling, filling
What happens now?
I feel a craving a must
A formless chant
Haunting my yearning
My love, my life, my labour.
How is it that I must follow?
This seamless barren place
That calls me,
Cry’s at me,
Ever whining for furtherance
All will be revealed
When and to whom?
And still I follow and still
I am
Still.

By Alix Harrow

Action Points

2010-10-27T04:07:00.002+01:00

Early on in my life I started experiencing action points ......... my instinct told me when to take action. It is a sensation in the body like a tingling or a pressure in the solar plexus ........... I noticed that if I took the action that my body was instructing me to take, I was taken to the next step of my journey. However if I failed to notice the action point or I didn't act upon it. I noticed that the path toward the next step of the journey was markedly different and more complicated ..... it was as if complexes had been activated by not following my intuition.

By following the intuition, somehow, the complexes are by-passed the intuition knows the right path. Complexes block the path.

The Achiever

2010-10-27T04:05:00.000+01:00

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Type Three
The Achiever
The adaptable, success-oriented type. Threes are self-assured, attractive, and charming. Ambitious, competent, and energetic, they can also be status-conscious and highly driven for advancement. They are diplomatic and poised, but can also be overly concerned with their image and what others think of them. They typically have problems with workaholism and competitiveness. At their Best:: self-accepting, authentic, everything they seem to be—role models who inspire others.

Lifes Sweet Journey

2010-07-04T02:44:00.002+01:00

Well life does seem to throw up so many surprises and situations as does the human minds capacity for growth and expansion. It never ceases to amaze me how much we can learn and respond to learning so quickly. It takes just a micro-second for the human mind to absorb and remember an event. And the mind remembers all the qualities of that event. All the things that occur in that moment including: images, temperature, speech, sound, speech, level of sound, words etc ....... the internal computor is quite a remarkable design ......

Blessings
Alix

Working With Alzheimers Disease

2010-07-03T22:58:00.001+01:00

WORKING WITH DEMENTIA

In my experience it is the environment and politics of care spaces that often reflect the inner chaos of the client with Alzheimers disease. The energy in the care spaces can be constantly electric, because of the amount of distress. Not only from the clients, but also the staff, which is a reflection of the clients own state. Often the environment that a client inhabits reflects their inner state.

It has always been the case that caring for the elderly has been seen to be an ordinary job. There is a stigma attached. It used to be the kind of job you have if you couldn’t do anything else. The kind of job you have if you are a working mum. You get little reward. The client group is extreme and the training very limited to public sector services. Anyone can set up a care home. These often reflect bad pay conditions.
Because of the sometimes-poor working conditions staff morale can be low and consequently the clients become marginalized and under-represented. The staff turnover is usually quite high because of self-esteem issues, low pay and lack of support. We used to say this is not a good career move. Workers often get assaulted in this environment. Usually there is a number of agency staff because of shortages and sickness. This interferes with continuity and the client, already confused, has to see many different faces.
Clients in this environment have a profound loss of awareness of self. Often they don’t know where they are or who brought them there. There is a significant level of anxiety juxtaposed with a high level of frustration. This leads to an equally noticeable point of anger that can erupt very quickly, and without warning. Because the intensity of the fragmentation being experienced by the client is unknown, it is an unpredictable situation.
It is common for clients to lash out without warning, bite, and kick and verbally abuse people. This can be caused by fear and may be a consequence of a person’s personality or a consequence of the illness. It is often said that, “my mother has always been very quiet”. And then Mother is seen to be exhibiting extreme behaviours. Life’s repressions can emerge very strongly here and sometimes it’s as if permission to act out some of these is given by presumably being out of control. There is a deep level of fear within this client group, coupled with the level of fragmentation of personality creating an atmosphere of chaos. Within this chaos is mistrust and therefore it is very difficult for the clients to feel a sense of freedom within an environment that is supposedly safe. Clients often try and leave raising the anxiety levels of the staff team. Usually there are between 8 – 15 clients at a day centre. Given the levels of distress of these individuals, grouping them together in this way can often cause greater distress. The reflection or projection of degeneration is very evident. Are we therefore trying to build an environment of stability out of the duplication of instability? This is very important as we are often thrown into chaos by this environment. So our structures have to be solid.
So if we take one care worker and one client and we stand them together we are looking at a worker that is probably demoralised in some form or other and a client that is fragmenting and is in an unknown quantity, due to being unable to verbalise thoughts and feelings in a coherent way.
The amount of commitment and effort that the worker requires to help the client to understand what is happening is continual. The client can be extremely demanding which in turn creates greater anxiety for him or her because he/she often cannot get what they want as it has become too abstract a concept. For example the client may begin to ask questions about a simple matter. I.e. the whereabouts of the keys to their house. By the end of the conversation, which started out as simple, the client may well have incorporated several different conversations all mixed up together. These conversations are difficult to follow and if there are six or seven clients challenging workers with these types of conversations, concentration becomes a strain. Anxiety increases and the workers become distressed.
Politics

One of the day services that I worked in, the borough was resecterising (this means that the borough gets split into bits). I was not told of the splitting in two of the Day Centre provision. Meaning that, during my group at least half of my group who lived in the South of the borough would be moving to a new Day Centre. I was not informed of this change until halfway through the process.
For the clients this was catastrophic as this effectively meant that they would probably never see each other again. Therefore in my thinking the clients were becoming destabilized even further. Little compromise was made for the client in terms of the Centre being moved and the group being split; establishing a need to become aware of what was going to happen during the life span of a group.
The structural changes of a building can also cause major problems for groups. Where a door used to be? Now there’s a wall, for example. Staff change can really affect the dynamics of atmosphere within a space. Room changes can seriously interfere with group safety.
I was arriving 1hr early to nearly every session, to establish a connection with the clients and the staff. The chaotic nature of this environment seemed to change regularly. I became to understand that the client group fluctuated in attendance and the dynamic of the group changed dramatically. This was also the case if the staff team did not gel together and there were absences.
Having to accept the reality of the situation is never an ideal and although I battled with my internal chaos there was nothing that I could do but work within the confines of the presented work. For example when we had to work in a cold room we would incorporate this into our drama that day and create a cold story or what is it like when it is very cold. This reminded the clients about the war. There are a huge amount of other distractions going on whilst trying to contain a very difficult client group.
Having to negotiate with: -
Day centre managers about who would be the helpers in the group.
Respite managers for use of room (two settings contained in one unit. Day centre and a respite unit using the same building).
Caretaker, about heating? Does the Caretaker belong to the respite unit or the Day Service?
Cook about load music coming from the kitchen.
Other staff members who wanted to take part in sessions.

We are primarily dealing with clients that are being systematically de-skilled a) by the effects of the disease and b) by the circumstances that progress despite these affects. We have by our structuring of society devised certain schemes of support for various client groups. These by the nature of there design can be de-constructive.

Dynamics of atmosphere

When we talk about the dynamics of atmosphere, we are moving into the realms of physics. We are talking about energy and matter and the effects they have, one on the other. When we walk into an establishment there is an atmosphere that needs attention. How we respond to this will depend on how in touch we are with our senses. Initially the response should be one of openness to suggestion. It is all too easy to feel or think that you/I as a Dramatherapist can “fix it”; the truth is we can’t fix anything we can only draw attention to. So we feel initially helpless and out of control. The atmosphere will be different each time we go there. Depending on a huge variety of varying factors. All we can hope to do is to find a balance for ourselves within the perceived chaos of the environment.

My own way of doing this is to set up my ‘area of play’ wherever I am to work (this environment often requires one to work in the whole space as people wander about, this means the corridor outside the room and maybe the toilets, people in this environment experience a lot of anxiety and this often makes them go to the toilet more often than normal). Then I put some music on. I introduce myself and then I sit very still in a strategic position in the space where I am to work. I wait for the clients to come. Stillness is a very powerful tool in Dramatherapy and helps to settle fluctuating energy. It’s what I might call ‘holding time’.
Energy and matter exist together in a time continuum and if the matter of the human body is held still in time then it appears psychically to prevent the movement of energy. This enables the chaotic energy of the clients and atmosphere to settle briefly and aids stability in time and space.
The words "Drama" and "therapy" were first put together and used by Peter Slade (a practitioner of child drama), in 1954, in a paper called "Dramatherapy as an Aid to Becoming a Person", which was published after Slade gave a lecture on this in 1958 at the Guild of Pastoral Psychology.

He indicates in the paper, a process of productive discipline which incorporates the use of drama, to equip a person with the skills necessary to evoke; "confidence, hope, feeling of security, discovery of sympathy, and to concentration"(5)

He goes on to make valid observations about symbols, related to the dreamlike interpretations of imaginative fantasy, which are apparent within "projected play" as in objects external to the person, and "personal play" as in roles within a person:

"Symbols are thrown up, but there are many parallels which may be, as it were, symbols of these symbols, and through which the truth behind the original symbols is equally stumbled upon. The apparently haphazard or casually related train of events may represent a stark reality, so it is not generally necessary to be over careful to include symbols in suggested scenes. (8)

He goes on to say that:

There are two main qualities in the drama that I am trying to describe, and these are Absorption and Sincerity. There can be tremendous absorption in the task done and a tremendous sincerity about the way of doing it. Both these, in time, can become habits of the personality, affecting such things as ability to concentrate, remember and learn, and the sincerity brings out the fundamental things like truthfulness and honest behaviour. (10)

With the understanding of drama as therapy "Dramatherapy", we can indulge our very being within a form that is infinite in vision. In Peter Slades own words:

"In general realms, one might say that drama offers imaginary opportunity, as life does not always provide it. (20)

Since 1958, specialists of Drama, Psychology, Anthropology, and Psychiatry have formulated different systems that have become specifically equated to drama therapeutic work. Within the work extended by these practitioners, we can begin to define our “selves” using the unconscious imaginative processes. We can create places that allow us the freedom of expression so valuable to us. We can watch others exploring their freedom, which is so often a reflection of our own.

Its usage varies to a very great degree depending on the background of the specialist. Some Dramatherapists use interpretative methods some are approaching Dramatherapy from a Jungian symbolic perspective, whilst others are using a more non-interpretational form.

It is essential for a Dramatherapist to have some basic understanding of dramatic techniques these may include: Games - Role play - Character work - Play reading and/or writing - Movement Improvisation and Mask work. Not all Dramatherapists use solely drama techniques.

Alzheimer’s Disease

The appearance and close examination of the Conscious/ego State maintained by an Alzheimer’s sufferer reveals certain universal characteristic qualities. The mind goes through a slow transformation becoming increasingly fragmented leaving the recipient increasingly more confused.

In thought process, the mind will always seek to establish meaning. Initial meaning must be found within memory function, since this allows us to bring thought into consciousness. When the mind can find no meaning within the short-term memory function, which is severely impaired in this disease; it begins to fragment or branch, trying to find other channels of meaning.

Because brain tissue is decaying, lexical access becomes damaged. (Lexicons are basically internal dictionaries of our life experience). Our general understanding of logical meaning becomes irreversible and chaotic. The short-term memory begins to breakdown, becoming seemingly detached from consciousness.

The division or fragmentation transcends normal functioning to such an extent that the physical and emotional capacities connected to the cognitive functioning become detached.

This might effect: spatial awareness, recognition of environment, recognition of objects and people within that environment, language retrieval and most of all self and body-awareness, leaving the person with symptoms such as anxiety, depression, frustration, anger. In some cases the fragmentation is so extreme that the person appears to be detached from reality altogether.

Because Alzheimer’s is one of the forms of dementia, there are related symptoms such as increasing apathy and inactiveness and eventual cessation of movement altogether, sometimes over a very short period of time.

People with Alzheimer’s find communication very difficult and frustrating because of certain fundamental problems associated with the disease.

Disintegration of speech, the collapse of concentration and Confusion related to the breakdown of inner functions, which are associated with space and time, as well as many other factors.

If we imagine for a moment a group of people that have been grouped together in a strange place all with the symptoms associated with this disease, we are looking at quite a profound level of
De- construction and therefore apparent confusion.

Because of the affects of this condition, we can be looking at strange behaviour patterns. These may cause added anxieties and fears for clients that are already suffering from acute symptoms. There maybe outbursts of extreme vocalisations, physical gesture, and abusive behaviour that is unfamiliar to other clients. All of these symptoms can be evident in the syndrome that we call "Alzheimer’s Disease”. Can we sincerely predict a successful community, without some form of therapeutic intervention?

The use of Devised Stories

The reason that this type of story is so effective is that the structure of the story starts off in a very fragmented way, which works as a parallel, alongside the diagnostic implications of Alzheimer’s disease. The elements of the story slowly emerge as a foundation for the re-membering/connection of the functions of the short-term memory in particular.

The contents of the stories that emerge often include details of past experiences that help the client stabilise themselves through recognition of their own existence in the world. So the structure develops and a story begins to appear, this is constantly repeated and re-affirmed and this is accepted because of the nature of the story building technique. What appears understandably, to be constant repetition? What this achieves is a re-membering of the components of the story as we are re-membering the cognitive functioning of the clients, paying particular attention to memory.

After some time the clients start to remember parts of the story, this helps them to find a connection in space and time, in relation to the set time, content, day, and surroundings at the sessions.

Once they start to remember they automatically start to become conscious and present within the space to different degrees. This together with regular input begins to alleviate the symptoms of this debilitating disease.

However, we are dealing with a de-generative condition, so realistically we are not aiming for cure or prevention, but relief. This then requires a particular type of input.

Within this work we begin also to acknowledge past experience and to look at issues that arise from those past experiences; which have a distinct relation to the present; this sometimes has an astute clarity, which is sometimes extremely surprising given the severity of this condition.

We also observe that the re-membering triggers some other mechanisms that seem to be connected to the motor skills. The clients start to be able to recognise otherwise forgotten movement and regain the ability to manipulate limbs consciously, enabling better circulation, which in turn, helps to oxygenate the blood and brain tissue. The client in effect is becoming more conscious of him/herself, helping to improve confidence and evidently, group awareness.

In order for this method to be effective, we have to pay close attention to the juxtaposition of client, method and therapist. These have to be balanced very carefully so as not to distress the clients into thinking that they are unable to do the task. It can be a slow process and if the pacing is not accurate the group can be lost to frustration and anxiety. These clients are extremely vulnerable. Once the balance has been stabilized the process develops with ease. Client and therapist feel secure. Within this condition the clients seem to have extremely high energy levels juxtaposed with very inhibited movement and impaired co-ordination.

This then has to be contained. The way this might be achieved is to invent a structure that is split into many fragments or units. These units are structured individually and represent part of a whole. The units in general have to be completed individually, before they are brought together. We could say that we are actualising a living, external representation of the internal thought process of our client, as the realities of the internal workings are limited. By externalising it we are implementing a method of control.

A Story created by six clients with severe impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease----------------------------

The Story of Charlie

Charlie lives in a tent in the forest. He grows his own vegetables and is quite self-sufficient. He likes to hunt rabbits in the forest. One day when he was out walking, he spotted something in the distance. He looked closer, and he saw that it was a dragon. He was frightened because he knew that dragons breathe fire.

He first wondered how he could kill the dragon and couldn’t find the answer. The next day when he was walking in the forest he stumbled across a long fingernail, he wondered why it was there as he looked closer at it, his hand started to tingle and become warm, he thought of the dragon and looked up; and there the dragon was looking at him.

At that very moment his hand, with the fingernail in it, started to dance very rhythmically, and the dragon looked quite sleepy. Charlie moved closer and was less afraid of the dragon than before, he decided that he would rather be a friend, than kill him.

The dragon lives on a leaf in the forest but keeps being interrupted from what he is doing. Charlie asked the dragon what he was doing and the dragon replied making cigars.

Charlie and the dragon very soon after that meeting decided that they would remain friends together in the forest.

Construction

The whole story was constructed over a 10-week period. The sessions were constructed using strong groundwork. This consisted of stabilizing a set routine. A set warm-up was used each week, with the same movements in the same order, followed by more focused work using objects of different sizes, textures, colours, and shape. These were used primarily to focus motor skills. It became evident that interest in the process deepened during this process. Psychologically and cognitively, the use of different shapes, textures and colours encourages slightly different motor skills and neurological progression. The way in which we hold a ball for an example.

We examined these objects and during the course of the development the clients equated them to past, present or imaginary events although not particularly coherently. This encouraged and enabled the clients to become more aware of themselves and each other. This would be defined as the embodiment process.

Once the clients started to identify and become conscious within the space, the story making began, this usually started as a consequence of the completion of the initial process. The story included objects that were used at the different stages.

I deliberately chose objects that may have held some significance within the story and in actuality at the same time juxtaposing fantasy and reality at the same time. The group ran in the autumn so I used objects that were relevant to autumn. This had a significant impact and we were able to realise more truthfully.

Once a suitable set of actions and objects had been established, these were kept in place to maintain a balance within the process. This enabled the re-membering processes. Each consecutive week the symbols were repeated and the story emerged concluding in a narrative both of fantasy and a story within the reality of the group and the reality of the autumn.

Method
A cloth or platform is laid in the centre of the group on the floor. Attention is drawn to the evolving story, which is created by laying objects onto the cloth. This enables the group to have a focal point. Because the story is an evolving idea, the repetition is normalised and accepted. We cannot afford to cheat our clients or infantilise them, as they are adults and need respect at all times.So we draw attention to a focal point, which is represented by the evolving story. By repeatedly drawing our attention back to the focal point we are internalising focus. We are internalising group stability as the group becomes balanced. Our anxiety lessens because the focus is removed from internal processes and projected onto an external fixed point.

Conclusions

Through this process the clients were more able to be together in a relaxed and efficacious way. A very large man who caused alot of distress at the day centre through being very tactile with everybody touched people less. During the process and by speaking with staff we decided to give him his briefcase from work. Charlie the main figure in the story turned out to be his wife’s name. As he remembered her he became less agitated. He started to bring his briefcase to the centre and stopped touching people. A lady who hadn’t spoken for two years began to speak again and began to be accepted in the group in a healthier way. During one of the group sessions she got up to put a leaf into the story, it took her about three minutes to do this and I encouraged her. She bent down and put the leaf in the story and lost her balance and rolled on the floor. She was full of delight that she managed to do this task and it enabled her to have the confidence to speak. Because she spoke people weren’t so afraid of her. Other members of the group were more confident and relaxed. The efficacy of this process proves that far from dismissing people as too ill, too mad or old we can improve the quality of life for people who are otherwise left in an extreme state of distress. This process also helped the carers as the clients became easier to manage because their distress had decreased.

Cc Alix Harrow 2001

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gross, R. 3rd Ed. (1996) Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour Hodder and Stoughton: London

Slade, P (1959) Dramatherapy as an Aid to Becoming a Person The guild of Pastoral Psychology; Guild Lecture 103.

The polo effect - The Nature of Breakdown

2010-07-03T22:55:00.001+01:00

"The Polo Effect" - The nature of breakdown.
By Alix Harrow.

For wholeness, the therapist must be concerned with all
Phenomena, from the dense end that corresponds to the most
Primordial, instinctual level of biology, to the least dense
Areas of pure spirit".
McNeely (1987:40)

If Research and methodology in Mental health practice progressed as fast as computerized systems develop, considering that the integrated network of the micro-chip is basically an externalisation of neural networking, there would be a substantial variation in practice and procedure governing the training of psychiatrists and mental health professionals

Western Culture in particular has affected the ability to be mere human beings. We find continually that we no longer feel comfortable with ourselves; something or someone distracts us from our very capable resourcefulness. Is this an easier option?

Passion, desire, and faith in human nature no longer seem to be priority. As we look around each day, we see the great need that the human being has, to express his/her physical, emotional, and spiritual life.

Life in its most basic form is energy and matter formulated into organic and non-organic atoms/particles. These are grown and expanded by time, into many shapes and sizes. Life is the length of time that organisms retain energy.

"This psychic communication depends on the action and re-action of electrons. An electron, an elementary particle that constitutes our bodies, is similar to a black hole in its structure, density, and its ability to bend space, enclose space upon itself, and form a new space-time-possibly the space-time of the spirit".
Johnston (1996: 323)

There are energies that are contained in non-organic matter; these do not appear to be living at all. Nevertheless, these materials have an energy that is related to their construction, whatever that may constitute in terms of our perception.

How can we connect these opposing energies (more-often-than-not) to create free-flowing movement, enabling the creator to be less inhibited by his ever-increasing sense of being isolated by life? Just because we live in a world with different types of energy, does not mean that there can be no harmony.

Let us think for a minute about the transference of energy through matter. The way that we perceive this is through our conscious mind and body sensation. What happens if this is disrupted in some way? Matter is so condensed into sometimes quite small and restricting areas (such as muscle tissue in the human body) that particles become blocked and mould into each other. How can we create a shift in order to re-engage the trapped energy?

It is possible to create an illusory sense of freedom through the use of drama which can be formalized and grounded in reality.

It is vital to maintain our organic qualities, instinct being a primary example of human neglect. This is vital to maintain a good healthy state of being. The consequences of ignoring our state of being may lead us into severe mental health problems and other dilemma's, of which we know little about in retrospect.

When these inevitabilities occur, we are forced into becoming dependent on other peoples remedies, we have been taught that this is acceptable behaviour. These corrective treatments can often be found within ourselves to a greater or lesser degree. Obviously, this is dependent on the severity of the condition.

In order to demonstrate what can happen, when we neglect ourselves in some way I have chosen to identify an "effect" or consequence. This I have defined as "The Polo Effect". The "Polo Effect" is caused primarily by repression of powerful energy.

Let us imagine that the Human Body is a planet. Contained within this planet is a mass of energy. Towards the centre of the planet, the energy is of greater density. If the energy then becomes so great that it can no longer contain the density, it must, by the law of physics disperse. If the centre explodes, it will, split the whole planet, which it cannot do for its own survival. Consequently, it must implode, creating internal combustion. This leads to the planet experiencing a loss or a darkening of energy, which, as an image might be seen as a hole at its centre. As Johnston says of the conservation of our inner planet:

"Existence as we know it consists as a flow of energy created through the maintenance of the polarity of subatomic particles. The positive pole in our body is our thoughts; the neutral pole is our emotions and the negative pole is our body. Psychological health is dependent on the state of the energy patterns of emotions and thoughts, which need to be arranged in a harmonious way.
Johnston (1996: 323))

We might construe, that if the whole planet disintegrated by exploding, there would be no way to rearrange the internal energy sources. By imploding, the planet still conserves something of its physical nature.

"However, we do not know much about how that core is reached, nor do we know how it is affected when emotions are discharged? Through muscular actions which may affect changes in deep body Tissue".
McNeely (1987:82)

One of the most basic forms of dramatheraputic input at this stage of being, could be grounding and embodiment work, this would help the client to refamiliarize himself with his surroundings and himself within the environment, moving on to re-member his body form. This process of implosion creates varying degrees of isolation from intense separation to equally intense engulfment.

Once we have enabled a client to recognize himself to some degree. We can start to work on re-energizing and balancing the imploded material, filling the loss with empowered realization of "self".

Thinking on cause and effect.
The Polo Effect inevitably disturbs the distribution of energy that is released. What is “’caused“, is a pulsating vibration that travels from the centre of the planet out to the surface. In an ordinary planetary shift, we might experience earthquakes, tidal waves, and volcanic eruptions. In the human body, this shift might be a surge of emotional release from the solar plexus. (Which is situated at a central point within the body)?

The pulse that is sent through the body, reaches the surface of the skin where the mechanisms of the nervous system, send messages to the brain. Messages are sent via the receptors on the skin. Usually, the receptors on the skin detect sensation and a message is sent to the brain and an appropriate "perception message" is returned.

In this instance of implosion, all of the receptors on the skin are activated simultaneously, which causes massive disruption in the body and mind chemistry. At this point the "Polo Effect" occurs.

At the point of what we might call a "breakdown", (which has many taboo's attached to it). Something occurs which ultimately makes it impossible to function in a "normal" (that is to say "normal" in the eyes of society) way. The person may think that the way they are behaving is perfectly expectable within their own re-ordering. When a person experiences a very great emotional release, of some kind, it is almost as if the place where it originates implodes and becomes literally a black hole.

"In the black hole, space and time become cyclical and information increases. Each of the billions of electrons that constitute our Bodies can be seen as a micro black hole as well as a micro-universe that contains a soul (Charon)."
Johnston (1996).

An aspect of the inner universe is revealed, and the recognized state of ordering is disrupted. If this happens over time, the body and mind experience several things. Memory loss, loss of time, lack of concentration, feelings of worthlessness, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, waking at odd times, nausea. In severe cases the human may experience delusions, feelings of great strength, visual images external to the body, heightened awareness, depression and many other variations of consciousness.

Depressive phases may last several weeks before strong emotions from childhood break through. It is almost as if the depression has held back the effect. (p.80)
Miller (1995)

What happens to the mind under these circumstances? As we know, the mind within its intrinsic nature, tries to attach meaning to all feeling and feeling to all meaning (one without the other cannot exist without disruption in the human being). Therefore what happens in the›› 'Polo effect'?

The mind experiences a void where it cannot find meaning or feeling, ultimately causing mental anguish and emotional panic.

Initially, time passes and the image of the "black hole"(a visual image of the solar plexus possibly) caused by the "Polo effect", becomes defined in the imagination, within the state of conciousness, waiting for an answer/explanation. At this point, there can be none, because in a sense the body has disowned the material that has emerged from the emotional/body, (The solar plexus) closing down the connection with the mind.

At this point, the imbalance sets in. Memory Loss as an example for equation. Emotion and memory are without question linked and because a memory is usually an emotion linked with an image alot of the images may be in the short term faint due to pushing out quantities of emotion. There are two polarities in this equation. This might be a great deal of imagery with no emotion or a great deal of emotion with no imagery. The first we might determine as a psychosis and the second as some level of neurosis.

If we try to defend the 'Polo effect' by introducing psychotropic drugs of some description, trying to re-align body and mind, we are in effect increasing the 'Polo effect' because the distribution of thought and feeling becomes muddled by externalising treatment. The internal imbalance/chaos is the point at which the process needs to begin.

We might assume that at the point of division (the 'Polo effect'), the mind elevates itself by leaping into another dimension, another part of the universe i.e. the part of the mind that we might call schizophrenic, for example. Might we say that incorporating psychotropic drugs into the equation adds to the minds, further imbalance in a sense? i.e. the external intrusion of stimuli aimed at re-balancing certain diagnosed illnesses.
As an example:

"There are good theoretical grounds to suggest that not all
Individuals who are labelled as having schizophrenia, or who get neuroleptics, actually have schizophrenia".
Healy (1997:45)

Therefore, more damage can be initiated than is present in the first instance. Because, infact, we are creating a re-alignment that in reality is not there. An illusion. Further unreality is not required. (We could say that using the illusion of drama is a far healthier approach than using the illusion of psychotropic drugs) What is required is someone to treat this other dimension as valid in the eyes of the person who has experienced this ' Polo effect.’

The person ultimately finding relief in the knowledge, that in fact, what has happened, is that their reality has been extended to a point that some of us will never reach.

At the instantaneous moment of the 'Polo effect’, the neurological or emotional re-balancing finds its place within various aspects of the human mind; aspects that within our everyday presumed reality do not exist. The possibilities of the human mind are infinite, so we must be ready and able to deal with any unusual occurrences such as schizophrenia. This is reality.

If we continue to disguise our very brilliance, we are denying an immense opportunity for growth within the source given to us by the "Polo effect ". It could be that, this may be a doorway into the next phase of human development. It is therefore possible for the human being to leap so far into this next phase of development (another dimension of the mind) that s/he may not be able to re-establish a sense of everyday reality. This notion of development in terms of psychic awareness must be considered of value to the experiencee and the experiencer for ground to be broken.

This division will become increasingly more acute because of our technical age, and the pre-disposition of creating a world of psuedo- comfort for us.

This, in our ever faster changing world, which does not allow us to face conditions such as the 'Polo effect' without shame and judgement, must inevitably sustain the inability and acceptance of a valuable gift in terms of mental health and treatment.

This will have re-occurring consequences if the issues of internal and external environments are not questioned.

The more falsified the external world becomes the more frightening and unreal the internal world becomes. Where, in fact it is more real. There are an increasing number of people with problems related to incompatibility with the external environment that we are creating.

Unless we choose to start to live an inner life and face our ever-growing human awareness problem, we are destined to destroy ourselves. The human being will rebel against pseudo-reality but not in the form that is logical to the 20th Century mind i.e. war, illness. He will rebel with his mind in some other form.

Cc. Alix Harrow 1998

Gray, H (1977)“Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical” New York: Bounty Books.

Gross, R (1996)“Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour” London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Healy, D (1997)“Psychiatric Drugs Explained“ London: Mosby.

Johnston, C (1996)“Quantum Images of Counselling Relationships“ The Arts in Psychotherapy, Vol.23, No.4, pp.321-332, 1996.

McNeely, D-A (1987)“Touching: Body Therapy and Depth Psychology“ Toronto: Inner City Books.

Miller, A. (1995)“The Drama of Being a Child“ London: Virago.

Watch it

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Translating Text to your language

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Behind Bars

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Behind Bars

Alix Harrow graduated from Exeter University in 2003 with Distinction. She has recently presented on several Badth open days and has presented a paper at the 2005 Conference about her prison work and published an article called “Dramatherapy and Alzheimer's Disease: Personality of a Syndrome” in the Autumn issue of the Dramatherapy Journal in 2005. She is currently working on a book outlining a method of working with Forum Theatre in small groups which has stemmed from her work in prisons.

It became very clear early on in my work that the prison population can fluctuate and can be full of uncertainty. Prisoners get moved, or de-categorized which means they leave and go to another prison. The prison population is growing and there just aren’t enough places. Prisoners have endless appointments which may happen in a short space of time. Appeal hearings, solicitors meetings, visits from family, drug testing and lock-downs all of which are not necessarily passed on to the mere sessional worker coming in from the outside. So the group that you are working with may be subject to change at short notice.

In terms of Dramatherapy this can be very disruptive in respect of continuity and safety in the group and sometimes you can be given someone else to replace someone else which again leaves the group in continual flux and it then becomes non –progressive.

It became clear on this occasion that the work needed to be a complete piece rather than a set of pieces put together. Although I was lucky enough to have a whole group when I did my research placement called “Five Men and a Fairytale” which lasted several months and the group did not change for that time. This seemed to be the exception rather than the rule.

I had been fortunate enough to be asked to teach the prison module on the Devon course at Exeter University in May 2005 which was in response to my research there. It turned out to be a logistical nightmare as I was unable to pin down a date a time a place within the prison. Members of staff left who I had been negotiating with. It couldn’t be decided to which department we would be attached to etc. I ended up feeling that I was totally incapable of organizing anything and felt like a failure. So I decided to forge ahead and become an expert as the form was great and I really enjoyed teaching. I didn't know how this was going to happen exactly. All I knew was I wanted to do it better.

I started to think about formulating a method that would prove to be extremely useful in terms of the nature of the establishment in the end.

I needed to be able to ring the prison and book in a session that didn’t require continuity of group. I needed to have a method that was extremely flexible so that it could be adapted very quickly. I needed to be able to begin and complete the work in one session to give the maximum of support to the group that I had now.

This method that I have developed was conducted with prisoners on a rehabilitation unit that means that they were either in work or education or both. This means that they were sufficiently well adjusted enough to follow a fast paced piece of work. I haven’t tried this with less able clients. Although there was still initial resistance from the group.

The Work

This work happened in situ and in the moment as it happened. There was no pre-determined plan.

I arrived on the wing to experience high energy in the atmosphere I was lead to the sitting room where the Dramatherapy usually took place. A large group of men trailed in and I could sense immediately that there had been disruption on the wing, and some of the men had noticeable injuries. I made an assumption that there had been some kind of fight.

I introduced myself and got the group to introduce themselves. There was much resistance at this point and I didn’t know if anything would work. All I knew was that I was going to look at issues related to parole and the consequences of that. I had discovered through the prison work that the more flexible you are the better.

You have to be a trickster to combat the trickster he does not respond well to rigidity. The trickster is a shape-shifter and needs to feel that he has the upper hand. In this respect when I am working with the prisoners I let them guide the process and feed their need into a tight structure which as we know promotes great creativity.

Why is this? It is important to realize that creativity is infinite in possibility so can often be chaotic. In this knowledge it makes sense that by guiding or designing channels for illumination ones creative abilities can be perceived with more ease.

So the group firstly was large about 9 or 10 it really was too big for the size of the room so I took a chance and played a ridiculous game that I had made up in the moment for the group so that I could see who would stay and who would go.

The room was on the wing so they could leave the group if they wished. At this point I didn’t know whether the whole group would leave or not. I was relying on the curiosity of the trickster to wean out the unsure. We must be ready to take risks. The trickster is a risk taker.

Sure enough about four men left mumbling under their breath that this was shit and they weren’t going to do it. All the time, allowing the group to feel that they were calling the shots. “OK” I said lets clear the space and I got the men to move all the furniture to one end of the room commenting jokingly about packing vans and removals which they enjoyed.

The energy in the room was still high and so once we were back in the circle I just sat down and the group followed this grounded the energy and gave us a good place to begin. I said that we were a group of elders come together to have a discussion and so we each introduced ourselves as a particular elder which they liked and I liked I initiated the game and then passed it on. This removed them from the prisoner status to an elder status, which gave us a shift into a more philosophical state as a group.

When the game had finished I suggested that the group tell me about issues that prisoners have to face when they get out of jail. A discussion ensued and the topic for exploration became apparent. There was a lot of discussion which I did not join in with, I observed. (The trickster studies the field. I had become quite proficient at using my internal trickster to help the processes I used in prisons and in other groups.) They decided although there was a likelihood of drug use it wasn’t a common denominator for all. The common denominator was how to get on with family and partners again. So this is what we worked with. Finding a common denominator for the group would be a universal commonality a fixed point to build on.

I stood up and the group followed, I said “OK” let’s find a name for the character in the story. So I stated that there was a story. I didn’t say “shall we make a story”. The use of language is very important as it can bypass some non-essential discussions. In this environment time is really limited. I try to have a name for the character that is not the name of someone in the group. I feel this is important as there could be underlying bullying or the prisoners may play with someone’s shadow or create a shadow which would be disruptive and detrimental to the process.

There is a conscious shadow and an unconscious shadow. Both aspects of the shadow are rife in prisons and therefore self protection is a must. Protection is found in supervision and therapy. But nothing can prepare you for the impact of the atmospheric pressures in prisons.

At this point I could sense that the minds of the men in the group were opening and so I seeded in that they were going to be participators in the play as well as observers of the action of the play. Play being emphasized as that of child’s play and that of the theatrical context that I was playing with. “OK” I said Sean gets out where does he go?

Prisoners more often than not want to go to the pub which was in fact where I knew they would go first. So I got them to build the pub out of the furniture in the room. Then I asked them what is happening in this scene.

(Never giving explanation to the format, but pushing forward. As we progressed the minds became very willing which enabled me to build a structure. Let’s describe it as water being guided through opening tributaries. So thought process was becoming more pliable and open to suggestion.)

All the time asking the group what happens next. We took Sean to the pub and the inevitable happened and Sean got drunk from all the free drinks and frivolity. I asked them to observe what was happening and a small discussion was had. I asked if anything could be different here. So another man took the role of Sean and he tried in vain to limit the amount of alcohol he had.

(By trying different roles we are expanding our role repertoire even if the roles being tried appear to be quite subtle. Each character has a certain thought process and even if you touch it for a moment that is enough for expansion to happen. Everyone in the group at this point is beginning to take on multiple roles. The expansion of roles is a key feature of this format. The more characters we play the more we expand our ability to ‘act’ differently. Our behavior changes through our new role repertoire as we begin to explore a range of possibilities.)

All the time asking the group what happens next. It appeared that Sean would go home to the girlfriend’s house. So we have built the scenes one by one using the paradigm of the participator and the observer. A visit to the pub. Seeing the girlfriend. Home to the parents. The appointment with the probation office. Back at the pub. At the girlfriends. At probation (6 months later). Each person in the group is given the opportunity to name a scene, to promote equality.

As the drama developed so did the confidence of the group as a whole and the individuals within the group. They mastered the structure, which enabled them to take control of the drama and move forward through to its conclusion which was a success as Sean had progressed through the drama, failing at every turn until he went back to the pub and asked someone to give him a job. This then lead him to be able to go to the appointment with the probation officer and tell the truth whereas in the beginning he had lied.

I could sense that the group felt a great sense of achievement

So this is how I made an interpretation of Forum Theatre which was developed by Augusto Boal.

Background

What drove me to formulate ' Forum Theatre' in this way?

I wanted to use the form in a small group. It is not really possible to do an adequate forum in a small group. The conventions of ‘Forum Theatre’ require an audience and a group to perform and there is not always the facility to do this. Either the group is not big enough or you find that the group is not able or willing to fully participate. The more I observed ‘Forum Theatre’, the more I became aware of loopholes.

Places that people could hide and not be involved. Also I saw that although some people put up their hands to tell a story more than once, they were somehow not chosen for various reasons. So then that person looses the right to voice somehow. Others actively chose not to participate. So were ostensibly observers only. Forum Theatre in this format is moving from the totality of external dialogue into a more internal process. The ability to examine thought processes. To create internal roles, which manifest, through ideas? Enabling examination of a characters behavior. Opinions are formed and modeled through the drama, enabling the participants to examine their own ability to construct meaningful arguments and sustain participation. Ideas and opinions are activated through the external stimulus of the drama. Increased concentration enables the participants to concertize their ability and to increase their sense of themselves.

Cc. Alix Harrow

November

2009

TEACHINGS ............................

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My Zazzle Shop

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The Alixharrow shop thing ............. Im excited

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make custom gifts at Zazzle

A Poem - THE CALL

2009-02-16T16:47:00.005+00:00

My mind is rolling round

What is

The inner cathedral

The inner sanctum lined with formless wealth

Moving slowly

Filling every imagined space

With featherlike smoke

I follow this entity which is not.

As all I am, is within.

All I was, inside, rolling, filling

What happens now?

I feel a craving a must

A formless chant

Haunting my yearning

My love, my life, my labour.

How is it that I must follow?

This seamless barren place

That calls me,

Cry’s at me,

Ever whining for furtherance

All will be revealed

When and to whom?

And still I follow and still

I am

Still.

By Alix Harrow

A Story

2009-02-16T15:55:00.008+00:00

A story created with people in a Day Centre over a ten week period...... (part one the story)

The discovered treasure

A writer from the suburbs discovered a treasure map, which tells him of hidden treasure in the park near the canal. Realizing it is dangerous there, he decides to get in contact with his friend Frankie, who he believes to be gullible, because he always beats her at his chess club.

He goes to a cafe in the park to make up the story of it being a game or a test. He makes Frankie buy the coffee and tells her that he's doing a test that doesn't involve any money. He says it's too dangerous for him to go to the canal by himself and asks her to go with him. She knows he's up to something and questions him, he lies.

There is a lady in the cafe who finds an envelope under her chair she gives it to Frankie thinking that it must belong to her, it is a ticket to Japan. Frankie conceals it from David telling him that it is nothing. David tries to trick her out of the ticket, but he can't because she is on to him. She knows David’s little games.

She agrees to go to the canal with David. They go to the canal and he finds a clue to the treasure. It says, "Go to the conservatoire in Tokyo and find a man named VIN Chu"

David realizes that he has to get some money and decides to go and borrow it off his mother. Both Frankie and David go to the mothers’ house and David asks her for money. The old lady says that he only ever goes to see her when he wants money. He tells her that he's sorry and that he will pay her back. She’s heard it all before. Instead of money, she gives him a ticket to Japan which a friend gave her a long time ago.

So they now both have tickets. They go to Japan and when they arrive, Frankie gets ill and has to be taken to the hotel.

David takes advantage of the situation takes her money and goes off to the conservatoire to find VIN Chu.

When he arrives at the conservatoire he discovers that VIN Chu is a woman. He plays music for a while with VIN Chu before she gave him a key which she says was a key to a safe deposit box in London.

He goes back to the hotel where Frankie is waiting. He tells her that she has to go to Greenland to find the box. The box he says is at a police station in a passage or a trapdoor inside a pillar. David gives her a key telling her that he will meet her back in London. They argue for a while and Frankie says that she doesn't believe him. She decides to go back to London with him.

They return to London and decide to go back to the cafe in the park after they have picked up the box. They arrive in the park with the box. They open it with the key and inside is 25,000 pounds. They argue about the share of the money, David says he wants more and Frankie asks why. They go on like this for some time and then David decides that they should have half each. This they sort out between them.

Frankie asks David what he is going to do with his share. He says that he is going to take his mum on a world trip. Frankie says that she is going to go somewhere in January.

They say goodbye to each other and leave the park......................‘

What is Dramatherapy?

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Mobile no.
07590 901 189

alixharrow@gmail.com

Dramatherapy is a scientific practice that involves developing self-awareness and control of internal and external processes through the direct application of dramatic techniques.

‘For the artist complexes and symbols are not material to be exploited for his own psychic development, rather, they are the occasion and substance of his process of artistic creation and make him the guide, the authentic spokesman of the unexpressed but eternally and profoundly vital forces in the souls of mankind.

Jolande Jacobi

(Complex, Archetype, Symbol, 1959)

Dramatherapy helps a person in several ways:

1.Self-assessment and enables a person to become more aware of behaviour patterns of self and others.
2.Communication through the dramatic process, enabling confidence and group interaction.
3.Potential leadership skills emerge as a result of participation as a director within the dramatic medium.
4.Create an opportunity for an alternative way of learning that facilitates the recurrence of regular forms of education.
5.To use the imaginative processes in a way that parallels reality.

As part of my practise I may also look at how characters within dramas relate to each other. I may look at the roles and responsibilities of characters within dramas and we may look at the listening skills in and out of role. Relating questions arising in the dramatic process to reality.

The outcome of the work with Dramatherapy enables people to:

Become more aware of themselves and the actions and responses that they make in life.
To evaluate their behavior with friends and family.
To organize and evaluate tasks.
To be more aware of their own actions and reactions in a variety of roles.
To become aware of different environments created through the use of drama.
To encourage others through alternative ways of learning.
To improve leadership skills.
To be able to assess the actions of others.
To gain confidence in themselves and their ability.

Alix began working in drama in 1976 and has been involved with many different types of theatre and has been privileged enough to work with some of the worlds leading practitioners in the field of Drama and Dramatherapy. Her interest in Dramatherapy emerged in 1990 when at theatre school she experienced extreme anxiety and went to see a therapist and found that the combination of Drama and Therapy helped to relieve some of the symptoms. She then went on to study Music and Theatre at University where she met the renowned pioneer Dr.Sue Emmy Jennings to whom she was encouraged to pursue Dramatherapy. After years of intense training and continued therapy Alix gained a distinction in Dramatherapy at Exeter University in October 2003

http:/www.badth.org.uk

Testamonial from America

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Testimonial for Alix Harrow

To Whom It May Concern: I would be really grateful if you could complete this testimonial form for me as I am going to build a website and would like to be able to put some testimonials on. You do not need to put your name if you don’t think that this is appropriate. Thanks for your time.

How you found me when we first met and any thoughts

I first came into contact with Alix when we began corresponding about drama therapy and psychiatric forensics. Through our e-mails and phone calls over the years, I found Alix to be very insightful about drama therapy, drama therapy with the mentally ill population and with the forensic population. I was most impressed with her creativity and with how in depth her work and programs were written out as well as articulated.

On many occasions, I consulted with Alix on difficult and challenging cases and found her feedback useful and her suggestions very practical.

Over the years I have formed a collegial relationship and solid friendship with Alix and have come to respect her professional skills, her continued thirst for knowledge, her dedication to the field of dramatherapy, and her innovative and creative approaches to dramatherapy that are solidly grounded in theory and evidenced based practice.

How you found me during our work together and how this might have influenced you.

In 2005, Alix came to Ohio for 3 weeks and did some volunteer work including drama therapy work with a patient of mine in a community based mental health setting. She did a series of masks with this gentleman which helped him to unlock some parts of his past that he had not been able to articulate verbally. As Alix and I processed the work each day, I was impressed with her clinical insight and her professionalism. I also came to appreciate her great sense of humor during this time together and found her a breath of fresh air to be around. Alix was also notably skilled in assessing systems issues and made some very practical suggestions to our agency which were useful in improving some communications difficulties.

Any thoughts that you had after our work finished.

I find Alix to be a brilliant combination of intuitive and theoretically based clinician, who is able to work in the moment and yet has a strong awareness of the larger picture. She is articulate, well written, and her work is well thought out.

I look forward to continued collaborations with Alix on challenging cases and look forward to her next visit to the USA and an opportunity to work side by side with her in drama therapy work.

If you want a solid program, or a strong and sound drama therapist, Alix Harrow, is the person you want to use.

Lori L. Yates, LICSW, RDT

Thanks once again for your time.

Alix Harrow

State Registered Dramatherapist ASO6575

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I love to act and you can have a look at my thing on www.youtube.com at Cardboard Citizens "Going Going Gone"

Quotes

2009-02-08T15:19:00.004+00:00

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness, that most frighten us. We ask ourselves, "who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?" Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about your shrinking so that other people around you won't feel insecure. We are all meant to shine as children do. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our light shine we unconsciously give the people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. - Nelson Mandella