Theater has a cathartic function through subjective dramas that are identified with one’s own dramas (conflicts, frustrations and hopes). Through this identification we can release certain emotions and find new ways to face reality.
Background of the technique
The beginnings of psychodrama occur in the Vienna crisis in 1921 with the psychiatrist who became interested in the practice of group therapy (especially with children).
The influences of the game on improvisation theater gave structure to therapeutic theater.
Moreno’s teachers were Jesus and Socrates “Man is an author of God on the stage of the universe.”
The key word of his technique that he calls “psychodrama” is spontaneity.
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Later (1925) Jacob moved to the United States, where he continued his experiences of improvised theater and relational studies that would serve as a basis for the development of Psychodramatic Theory, Clinical Psychodrama and Scientific Sociometry. Below you can see a video about the First International Congress of Psychodrama in 1964:
In spontaneous theater the catharsis is first, that of the actor who frees himself from the inner characters by depositing them outside.
In 1946, psychoanalytic psychodrama was implemented based on therapy with children, using puppets and placing emphasis on psychoanalytic transfer. Its main authors from the psychoanalytic perspective are: René Diatkine and Evelyne Kestemberg, Serge Lebovici and later Didier Anzieu and Daniel Widlöcher, who emphasize psychoanalytic transference.
These authors argue in their articles that psychodrama can be individual or collective and that it can be practiced on children, adolescents and adults.
What is psychodrama?
Psychodrama and role play do not give the child a repertoire of responses or models of action that must be used mechanically in each situation, but rather aims to develop his flexibility and spontaneity in order to enable and prepare him to explore various alternatives and possibilities in present and future situations.
“Psychodrama is a psychotherapeutic procedure, generally group, that uses dramatic techniques (dramatizations) – in addition to verbal ones – as a means of expression, communication, exploration, operation, etc.”
Some authors consider that psychodrama is a psychotherapeutic resource that is based on the patient’s dramatization of real or imaginary situations from their past or future, which are lived or experienced as if they were in the here and now.
The main objective of this technique is to lead the patient to recognize their emotions, feelings and do different things in a situation, in order to repair the conflict or frustration. It can also teach the individual to prepare to act or find alternatives to events in his or her future.
Psychodrama can be:
Group: can hold 12 to 20 people (recommended for working with teenagers)
Two-person: It is carried out between therapist and patient (in children, puppets, putties, dolls, among other materials can be used).
Individual: The patient is led to imagine the conflict, here the therapist can guide the session based on the problem.
Main elements of psychodrama
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There are five main elements to carry out psychodrama:
1. The Protagonist: It is the patient, the main one in the dramatic game, because he will be the one who dramatizes the situation in his personal life that we are going to work on.
2. The Director: It is the psychologist or therapist who will guide the patient and apply the technique to achieve the therapeutic objective.
3. The Stage: It is a space of supplementary reality, with children it can be a puppet theater, with adolescents it is important to delimit the space, because we remember that the experience will be “as if” they were in that moment of difficulty or conflict.
4. I Auxiliary and auxiliaries: They are people who participate in the dramatized situation, they must help the protagonist develop the scene. We must be clear that they are also collaborators of the psychologist or therapist, because they will follow their instructions to achieve the therapeutic objective. In case it is two-person, the other roles can be performed by the patient or can be symbolically represented by materials (cushions, chairs, among others).
5. Public: can be part of the group, they will be empathetic and will share with the protagonist their own experiences or experiences during the psychodrama.
Phases of psychodrama
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Heating: It begins when the psychodramatic process begins. The therapist invites a participant or volunteer to recount a scene that they remember or imagine. Subsequently, you are asked, as the protagonist, to choose the cast that will accompany you in the dramatization or representation of the situation. The protagonist will give the roles to his companions. A frame can be made that makes it clear that all participants must collaborate in the representation. Let’s remember that the protagonist is a volunteer, but the other members of the group must be willing to help if the protagonist invites them to participate.
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Start-up-action: After the protagonist distributes the roles and explains the scene or situation he wants to dramatize, the action proceeds. The individual is represented in the scene with the help of the members of the cast, as well as the spectators or part of the public.
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Comments: At the end of the dramatization game everyone returns to their places, the therapist asks the protagonist and co-protagonists about the emotions, feelings or details of the experience, later the audience comments on their impressions and emotions. Conclusions are then drawn based on defenses or opportunities for conflict repair.
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The auxiliary self: The therapist can serve as an auxiliary self by assisting the protagonist with interpretations or pointing, which are given to the protagonist in the first person, indicating a blind area (something that the protagonist represents without being aware of the importance). If we use a co-therapist, he or she can help in this operation.
Types of dramatization that can occur:
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Exploratory Dramatization: It consists of revealing conflicts, frustrations, defenses, among other situations that can be used to start treatment. With this dramatization we seek to know the patient, her environment, her problems. Generally, it is a type of dramatization that helps the patient to stage their characteristics and family or social environment.
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Elaborative dramatization: It may be something already dramatized, but it is taken up again to better internalize the details and some new aspects that can contribute to the expression of emotions and feelings.
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Defensive skit: It is when the patient resists dramatizing or, if he does, he uses defenses (it could be by always interpreting the same situation or emotions). The therapist must detect the defense and, if necessary, interpret it. Defenses can be fear of expressing emotions or true conflicts in front of the group.
Below I will explain three of the main techniques of psychodramatic play:
Mirror: The individual is represented by an auxiliary self (member of the group) who exercises his role. It consists of seeing yourself “as if” you were outside looking in a mirror. The auxiliary self must identify with the characteristics (gestures, tone of voice, movements and attitudes) and emotions of the individual it is going to represent. This technique is essential so that the individual can recognize himself.
Soliloquy: It seeks to facilitate the protagonist’s awareness and recognition through the representation of himself, the expression of his emotions and thoughts at a particular moment. It can also support the therapist’s or assistants’ knowledge of the patient’s emotions. It can also be an auxiliary to allow the protagonist to know what other people may think or feel about him or the situation. It can help to know the assistants’ views on him.
Exchange or role reversal: It is used for people to contact the other as they are, in addition to helping to become aware of the projection. It seeks to understand and know the other, their emotions, feelings and thoughts. This technique is used to understand the role of other family members (fathers, mothers and children).
Psychodrama with children
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When working with children we must keep in mind the stage of development in which the minor is.
Among the techniques that we can use with children are:
Puppet game: We let the child choose the puppets they want and put them in dialogue with each other. Children generally place them in both hands and sometimes they include dolls to make a more complex dramatization of the situation.
Character game: The child is asked to choose a character from movies, stories, books, etc. and dramatize it and express the person’s emotions or feelings. You can be more directive and ask the child what the character “…” would do in a particular situation.
Animal representation: When performing psychodrama in a group, children can be asked to choose an animal and explain why they identify with that animal. In addition, they can be asked to interact between animals, to observe the relationships and behaviors during the drama.
Dramatization of a fable or story: The child protagonist can be asked to dramatize a story or fable and assign his classmates the role he wants them to play.
Costume trunk: The child is asked to choose a costume from the trunk, represent that character or role and thus express the characteristics and, above all, the behaviors of that costume or character.
Psychodrama with teenagers
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When we work with adolescents we must keep in mind that they are more verbal and try to be intellectual in some cases. Then it becomes difficult to express or experience the character’s emotions. Here we must link them with the dramatization in a playful way, generally more social and family aspects are worked on.
We can use techniques such as:
Social atom: The adolescent can put his family, social or school dynamics into context. We ask her to exemplify each of the roles or create a scene with the support of the assistants (who may be her colleagues). We must be clear that we must ask them to express their emotions and feelings and those of the characters they are putting on stage.
Encounter of the big self with the small self: We try to make the adolescent aware of their childhood needs. We ask him to remember a situation from his past and…