Playing the matrix: Individuative group-analytical psychodrama

Certain things are central to individuative group-analytical psychodrama: the concept of bonding, the interconnection among parts, the observer’s involvement in the system being observed, and the body’s function as a ‘Leib’ (phenomenologically speaking) at the basis of each participant’s transformative process. In the individuative group analytic psychodrama, the concept of Jung’s Selbst has been applied to explain the evolutive dynamic in group psychotherapy. This archetype represents the tendency towards unity and transcendence and offers advantages for clarifying synchronization around a common issue, the resonance, and the transmuting processes within minds. At the same time, this concept can explain the correlation between individuation and belonging to a group unity. The concept of playing the matrix aims to highlight how scenes on stage make explicit what is implicit in the complexity of a group analytic process. It seeks to elucidate how psychodrama creates a dreamlike process (metatheatre) that allows each participant to wake up from the dream of existence. Metaphorically speaking, if the group-analytical process is the warp of a fabric, the theatrical scene and the sequence of the scenes reveal its weft.