66th Annual Conference

Friday, February 20

Afternoon Workshops

2:30 - 5:00 P.M.

Workshop 59

Expressions of the Holding Capacity of the Group and Community in Bruce Springsteen’s Music

Chair:                

Lorraine Mangione, Ph.D., Professor, Antioch University-New England, Keene, New Hampshire

Many Springsteen songs are situated in an intense, existential, communal world of group interaction, bonds, dynamics, conflict and support.  This workshop explores the group and community through Springsteen songs, highlighting the primacy of group in adolescence, loss, celebration, times of community dissolution, and rebuilding, using an existential, interpersonal framework.

experiential-sharing of work experiences-didactic-demonstration

Learning Objectives:

Attendees will be able to:

1. Discuss how creative works such as songs can express powerful affect and ideas about the human condition and the role of groups in our lives.

2. Utilize some of this music and the ideas from this music in their own work with a variety of groups.

3. Identify the roles of groups other than therapy groups in people’s lives, particularly during difficult times of loss or tragedy or developmental periods such as adolescence.

Course References:

1. Mangione, L., & Keady, S.  (2007).  "Spirit In The Night" to "Mary's Place": Loss, death, and the transformative power of relationships.  Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 1(4) 179-190.

2. Putnam, R.  (2000).  Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community.  New York: Simon & Schuster.

3. McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Brashears, M.  (2006).  Social isolation in America: Changes in core discussion networks over two decades.  American Sociological Review, 71, 353-375.