Techniques in Drama Therapy

            Techniques in Drama Therapy

Drama therapy center of iran:The processes and techniques used in drama therapy are varied and will likely be unfamiliar to a psychologist who has not studied this specific form of therapy. Drama therapy uses exercises rooted in theater to help participants express themselves and gain new insights about themselves and others.

The nine core processes through which drama therapy facilitates change in participants include:

1. Dramatic projection – a technique that allows participants to project their inner feelings and work their issues out onto a role or object.
2. Personification and impersonation – two different techniques in which participants can express their own personal material through role play or onto an object.
3. Interactive audience and witnessing – refers to the participant, the group, and/or the client in the role of audience or witness.
4. Playing – an attitude characterized by spontaneous problem-solving, in which a play space is staked out, objects are actively repurposed into new roles, and allowances are made for changes.
5. Drama-therapeutic empathy and distancing – the ability of the participants to engage or disengage with the material that resonates with their personal problems and inner conflicts.
6. Life-drama connection – a process in which participants analyze their personal problems or issues through dramatic projection.
7. Transformation – an inherent aspect of much of what happens in theater and in play, built right into the structure of telling a story.
8. Embodiment – the physical expression of personal material (can be actual or envisioned).
9. Therapeutic performance processes – these processes refer to the therapeutic use of theatrical performance to work through the participants’ personal issues and themes (Jones, 1996).

Aside from these core processes, there are other techniques that may be employed in drama therapy.