What is Psychodrama?

Have you tried to bring two people or more to agree on a definition? It does not get easier with psychodramatists. Psychodrama is a shortcut for "Group Therapy, Sociodrama, and Psychodrama". I would not, today, put much weight on the therapy part of it, because the implementations of the method and techniques are stretching way beyond therapy sessions and mental health institutions. The use of psychodrama today is applicable where a group of people is gathered to explore their inner self, their group dynamics, and the interactions between the two--that is, the person and the group.

J.L. Moreno, the man who introduced psychodrama to the western culture, wrote in Psychodrama, First Volume (4th ed., American Society for Group Psychotherapy & Psychodrama, McLean, VA, 1994) "Drama is a translitiration of the Greek () which means action, or a thing done. Psychodrama is a translitiration of a thing done to and with the psyche in action. Psychodrama can be defined, therefore, as the science which explores the 'truth' by dramatic methods."

In order to have a psychodrama session we need five elements: a space with designated area for a stage, a protagonist, an audience, auxiliary-egos, and a facilitator. Here is some psychodrama definitions I collected from the psychodrama literature.

Adam and Allee Blatner in Foundations of Psychodrama (3rd. ed., Springer, New York, 1988) define psychodrama as follows--"Psychodrama is a method of psychotherapy in which patients enact the relevant events in their lives instead of simply talking about them".

Peter Felix Kellerman in Focus on Psychodrama (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London & Philadelphia, 1992) propose the following definition--"Psychodrama is a method of psychotherapy in which clients are encouraged to continue and complete their actions through dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation, both verbal and nonverbal communications are utilized...Many techniques are employed, such as role reversal, doubling, mirroring, concretizing, maximizing, and soliloquy. Usually the phases of warm up, action, working through, closure and sharing can be identified."

There are other authors with as many definitions as the many aspects of human ability to behave and socialize. If you are interested read the books mentioned here or in the book list given on the home page. But, do not forget the essential--be spontaneous, creative and translate the words into acts, whether on stage or in real life stages. Also, have fun and enjoy the ride.