Saturday July 19, 2025 14:00 - 14:45 CEST
This presentation explores the role of psychotherapy, particularly Psychodrama, in societal contexts and social movements. It focuses on the student-led civil movement in Serbia, which advocates for democracy and the rule of law, having emerged as a response to the decade-long capture of state institutions by an authoritarian regime and its resulting detrimental consequences.
The movement began after the collapse of a newly reconstructed train station canopy in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people, including children. The reconstruction, a state project linked to corruption, sparked protests that started as 16-minute silent commemorations in public spaces.
During a commemoration silence, students from the Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade were physically attacked by ruling party officials disguised as bystanders. In response, they blockaded their faculty. This action sparked a nationwide university blockade, with professors joining in support. The protests rapidly evolved into a leaderless, peaceful civil movement that engaged hundreds of thousands of people across 400 towns and villages. The movement advocates for justice, the rule of law, human rights, and institutional independence, all while facing repression from state-controlled institutions. Solidarity, tolerance, and empathy are its core values.
Over four months, the movement reshaped daily life, permeating personal and therapeutic spaces. The Institute for Psychodrama in Belgrade, where I work as a psychotherapist and trainer, responded by offering pro bono therapy for traumatized students, supporting trainees, and organizing public psychodrama actions during protests. This presentation will examine the practitioner’s considerations from an open psychodrama event held in the public space of the southern city of Niš during a protest that gathered over 100,000 people.
This psychodrama event is grounded in the philosophical foundations of psychodrama and the personality theory of its founder, Jacob Levi Moreno, who emphasized the social embeddedness of the psyche and advocated for psychodrama’s social outreach and impact.
The presentation will explore several critical questions and offer potential insights. Key issues to be addressed include: What is the social responsibility/role of psychotherapy and psychotherapists in times of significant social upheaval? What are the implications of expanding the psychotherapeutic setting beyond the confines of a traditional office—how does this shift affect the roles of the client/protagonist, the scene, the therapist, auxiliary egos, as well as considerations of confidentiality and safety? Who is the primary focus of the psychotherapeutic intervention—an individual (protagonist), a small group, or the protest collective as a whole? How do social themes reflect issues of personal loss, grief, oppression, violence, trauma, healing, and hope? Lastly, how do the therapist’s experiences and background shape their capacity to navigate countertransference, containment, and the complexity of multiple roles, including those of demonstrator, therapist, and trainer?
Speakers 
About the person:Ivana Slavkovic is a psychodrama psychotherapist, trainer, and supervisor with the Institute for Psychodrama in Belgrade, Serbia. She has worked both nationally and internationally as a psychodrama therapist and trainer.With 25 years of experience applying the psychodrama...
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