Map your social atom

Lay out the people who matter to you, at the distances they feel, and see the shape of your relationships at a glance.

Por qué funciona

Moreno called the set of people a person is emotionally bound to, and who are bound to them, the social atom: the smallest core of their interpersonal world. In psychodrama the protagonist presents these significant others by arranging them on the stage, played by group members or represented by objects, and distance, position and posture all carry meaning. Cruz and colleagues describe it as giving an overview of the protagonist's relationships, revealing conflicts with significant people and suggesting what to enact; it can also be drawn as a diagram, for the past or the present. Seeing the whole pattern at once shows what a list of separate relationships hides: who is close, who is far, and where the tension sits.

Cómo hacerlo

1. On a large sheet of paper, draw a small circle for yourself in the middle.
2. Add a mark for each person who matters to you now, alive or not, placing them nearer or farther according to how close they feel, not how close they should be.
3. Use a simple code for the bond: a solid line for warmth, a jagged line for tension, a broken line for distance or loss.
4. Look at the whole map and notice who is closest, who is missing, and where the tension clusters. Write one sentence about what surprises you.
5. If you want to take it further, a version with objects or people standing in for each figure, and role reversal with each, belongs in a directed session.

Evidencia

The social atom is one of the core psychodrama techniques in Cruz et al.'s systematic consolidation of the literature, referred to in 10 of the 20 texts they analysed, with Moreno's definition taken from Psychodrama, Volume 1. It is described as a way for a protagonist to present the significant people in their life, often used early in therapy to find themes for enactment. No outcome study tests the social atom on its own. (clinical)

Drawing your own social atom on paper is a self-guided adaptation of a technique normally done with a director, who then has the protagonist reverse roles with the figures. The map can bring up grief or old conflict; if it leaves you flooded or stuck on one figure, stop and take it to a trained psychodramatist or therapist.

Fuentes

• Cruz, A., Sales, C. M. D., Alves, P., & Moita, G. (2018). The core techniques of Morenian psychodrama: A systematic review of literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1263.
• Moreno, J. L. (1946). Psychodrama, Volume 1. Beacon House.

Error común

Drawing the map you think you should have, with family close and difficult people far away. The technique only shows something when the distances are the ones you actually feel.