Dramatherapy And Psychiatry

As part of the overall growing interest in the rehabilitation of people with mental illness in the 1980s, therapy through drama was being seen increasingly as a significant aspect of therapeutic programmes. While the subject of remedial drama for people with disabilities was reasonably well documented, originally published in 1983, this was the first book to address the topic applied to psychiatric patients (or clients). The book is intended to be practical throughout and keeps jargon to a minimum. It is not written for professional or student dramatherapists alone, but is aimed as much at occupational therapists, nurses, social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists who are all involved in rehabilitation of people with mental illness. Topics discussed include referral by the psychiatrist, and general and specific approaches to dramatherapy. In addition, practical application is given to particular groups such as elderly people and those with schizophrenia.

`The book is well researched and provides a solid overview′ - Therapy Today `Dorothy Langley′s book offers a valuable overview of dramatherapy in all its applications. It provides evidence of many years′ work as a teacher and practitioner. It is both clear and readable, and will serve as a useful introduction to this unique therapeutic approach for people in other healing professions, particularly psychiatry, as well as for the general reader′ - Roger Grainger, Senior Practitioner on the Register of Psychologists Specialising in Psychotherapy, and State Registered Arts Therapist, Drama An Introduction to Dramatherapy is a concise introduction to the background, theory and practice of a method of therapy which uses the dramatic process to help people during times of stress, emotional upheaval, illness or disability. Illustrated throughout with vivid examples from dramatherapy sessions, the book shows how drama can be used in an intentional and directional way to achieve constructive change with individuals or groups. In particular, the book highlights the power of drama as a therapeutic medium because of its foundations in metaphor, power which can be harnessed through the use of techniques such as role play, enactment, story-telling and the use of puppets and masks. An Introduction to Dramatherapy provides a welcome overview for readers who are new to the field and an excellent starting point for further study.

This third edition of Current Approaches in Drama Therapy offers a revised and updated comprehensive compilation of the primary drama therapy methods and models that are being utilized and taught in the United States and Canada. Two new approaches have been added, Insight Improvisation by Joel Gluck, and the Miss Kendra Program by David Read Johnson, Nisha Sajnani, Christine Mayor, and Cat Davis, as well as an established but not previously recognized approach in the field, Autobiographical Therapeutic Performance, by Susana Pendzik. The book begins with an updated chapter on the development of the profession of drama therapy in North America, followed by a chapter on the current state of the field written by the editors and Jason Butler. Section II includes the 13 drama therapy approaches, and Section III includes the three related disciplines of Psychodrama and Sociodrama, Playback Theatre, and Theatre of the Oppressed that have been particularly influential to drama therapists. This highly informative and indispensable volume is structured for drama therapy training programs. It will continue to be useful as a basic text of drama therapy for both students and seasoned practitioners, including mental health professionals (such as counselors, clinical social workers, psychologists, creative arts therapists, occupational therapists), theater and drama teachers, school counselors, and organizational development consultants.

Dramatherapy uses the healing aspects of drama and theatre as part of the therapeutic process and is increasingly required to supply evidence of its effectiveness. This book aims to provide an evidence base for practice with destructive clients, and raise the profile of dramatherapy as a distinct therapeutic intervention in this field. Dramatherapy and Destructiveness discusses working with those suffering from conduct disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia and personality disorders. Divided into three parts, topics of discussion include: theory and research underpinning the understanding of working with destructiveness in-depth case studies of dramatherapy with a wide range of clients analysis and evaluation of the evidence base for dramatherapy with these clients guidelines for best practice Dramatherapy and Destructiveness covers a wide range of client groups, settings, methods and therapeutic approaches. As well as being an invaluable resource for dramatherapists, this book will be of interest to other therapists, health professionals, social workers, teachers and artists.

Dramatherapy: Theory and Practice 1 introduces the reader to the basic issues of dramatherapy and offers a highly authoritative guide to the clinical practitioner or teacher who wishes to use role-play and enactment in the context of therapeutic work. With its companion volume Dramatherapy: Theory and Practice 2, it provides an invaluable resource for all those whose work can benefit from the use of dramatherapy including counsellors, nurses and occupational therapists.

Dramatherapy: Theory and Practice 2 provides both clinician and theatre artist with a basic overview of recent developments in dramatherapy. The international contributors, all practising dramatherapists or psychotherapists, offer a wide variety of perspectives from contrasting theoretical backgrounds, showing how it is possible to integrate a dramatherapeutic approach into many different ways of working towards mental health.

This book examines how drama therapists conceptualize and respond to relational and systemic trauma across systems of care including mental health clinics, schools, and communities burdened by historical and current wounds. This second edition of Trauma-Informed Drama Therapy: Transforming Clinics, Classrooms, and Communities offers a broad range of explorations in engaging with traumatic experience, across settings (clinical, educational, performance) and geographies (North America, Germany, Sri Lanka, South Africa, India, Belgium), and methodologies (Sesame, DvT, ethnography, performance, CANY, Self Rev). Each effort runs into obstacles, resistances, biases, and random events that highlight the authors’ passion and courage. No solutions are to be found. No grand schemes are proposed. Just hard work in the face of impenetrable truth: we are still at the beginning of understanding how to achieve an equitable, moral, accountable, healthy collective being-with. Confronting trauma, listening to victim testimonies, sitting with unsettling uncertainty, understanding the enormity of the problem, are difficult tasks, and over time wear people down. The chapters in this book belie this trend as they illustrate how the passion, creativity, faith, and perseverance of drama therapists the world over, each in their own limited way, can help. In each of these chapters you will read about people who have been pushed to the margins of existence, and then, how drama therapists have worked to remind them of their immutable, unique value that can transcend and transform those margins into spaces of care, power, and possibility. It will be useful for creative arts therapists, mental health professionals, educators, students and many others interested in the role of the drama and performance in the treatment of trauma.