‘Christmas Cleaning’: Are we able to heal the Culture?

Abstract

This article is an exploration of traumatized tradition, late December stress and brief sociodrama based interventions. It describes a crossroads: a place where therapeutic group work meets other sociocultural practices. I describe an example taken from my 16 year’s experience when a special format of group work was introduced during the time of severe national financial crisis. The intention was to help people face the psychological and cultural challenges of late December. The title ‘Christmas Cleaning’ is a metaphor for this form of group work. Examples of brief interventions are given, processes and some results are described to discuss the main question: “Can we as group therapists help a traumatized culture to use its own symbolic remedies?”