What Is Psychodrama?

What is Psychodrama?

Psychodrama is the action of the soul and the theatre of truth. "Psyche" pertains to the mind or soul while "drama" refers to the stories acted out in everyday life. Psychodrama, often used as psychotherapy, focuses on living in the moment rather than the past or future, and consists of therapeutic action methods to explore internal conflicts by acting out interpersonal actions. Dr. J L Moreno was the founder of psychodrama, which was developed in 1921. Moreno believed in spontaneity and creativity as a way to address life-altering struggles. Moreno's theory was that by encouraging individuals to address problems in a creative way and by reacting spontaneously on impulse, is a way to discover new solutions to their life problems.

A typical psychodrama session is facilitated by the psychodramatist, or therapist, and usually consists of three sections. These sections include: the warm-up stage, the action stage and the sharing stage, which link to therapeutic themes, such as changes in emotions, family of origin issues, relationships with others, the impact of group work, the impact of the past or future, self-awareness, self-worth, and a shift of personal views.

 The warm-up stage is considered to be an icebreaker for group members to get to know one another and feel more comfortable during the therapy session.

 The action stage is when one group member is chosen as a protagonist, the individual who is working through his or her issues, and other group members gather together to recreate the scenario for the protagonist bringing his or her experience into the present, often using props.

 The sharing stage allows for feedback on the action, and other group members are able to share their experiences and empathy with the protagonist.

Popular techniques include: Role Playing, Modeling, Mirroring and Doubling

Psychodrama is vividly experiential and can be emotionally powerful due to its nature of acting and doing versus thinking and talking. It is flexible and creative, offers group support of group environment, and is adaptive to many client populations.

The psychodrama lecture attended by students in the Counseling Psychology Program at PBA University was presented by Lin Considine and Paul Lesnik.

Lin Considine (LMHC, CP, and TEP) is a psychotherapist and psychodramatist in private practice and the Program Director of the Expressive Therapies Component of Recovery Associates of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, FL. Lin incorporates action methods in the treatment and care of men and women in recovery.

Paul Lesnik (LCSW, CP, and PAT) is also a psychotherapist and psychodramatist in private practice and the Executive Director of the Expressive Therapies Component of Recovery Associates of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, FL.

The presentation started with Lin and Paul introducing themselves. They explained the elements of psychodrama and its history, and gave a brief overview of what would take place during the next couple of hours of their presentation.

This presentation required participation from the audience in order to demonstrate methods and techniques used in psychodrama sessions. Because this was an educational presentation, participants did not disclose their personal problems. The presentation included four exercises throughout the duration of the evening.

Exercise #1:

 All group members formed a circle, and one member stated something about himself or herself. Participants who could relate entered the center of the circle with that person. Then another person continued