Creative Arts Therapy, specifically psychodrama or drama therapy has the potential to revolutionize care of patients suffering from emotional trauma including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Drama therapy is a group activity developed by the psychiatrist Jacob Moreno who used “enactments of real-life situations to reveal the attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and values that underlie social interactions, thus deepening our understanding of them” (Leveton). Given the universality, and ease of engagement of creative expression, health care providers can utilize drama therapy as a tool to help patients process past traumatic events that are affecting their present and future lives. When patients begin to work through and process these traumatic
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Johnson, Read, and Sajnani). The physical portrayal and setting of scenes the patient acts out is meant to evoke negative memories and emotions currently associated with the traumatic memory. Psychodrama relies on Hans Vaihinger’s ‘as if’ concept by “actively creating the moment when the negative response or memory took place” (Leveton). As a therapeutic method, psychodrama can encourage the expression of suppressed and repressed emotions safely, and introduce the possibility of change to the patient by correcting them. In psychodrama, the patient is encouraged to show the provider the problem, rather than just tell them about it. Jacob Moreno explained this as “[T]he functioning form the individual assumes in the specific moment he reacts to a specific situation in which other persons and objects are involved. The form is created by past experiences and the cultural patterns of the society in which the individual lives. . .every role is a fusion of private and collective elements” (Leveton). Psychodrama offers an environment for patients to consider and accept that their emotions and actions may be influenced by the experiences they have had in earlier in life, and begin to …show more content…
In addition, drama therapy also provides an environment for patients to explore their fears, anxieties, and emotions they are experiencing that often result in difficulty communicating and issues interacting and maintaining positive relationships. Revealing these hidden emotions can both diminish their influence and reveal solutions to communication problems. John Peteet said that today’s “medical profession is currently organized primarily around the physical and psychological, rather than around other dimensions of the person or patient” (Petett and D’Ambra). Using drama therapy as a therapeutic intervention can help emotional trauma patients sort out their emotions by ‘‘putting words into action’’ (Morris, Ch. 6) allowing health care providers to not just treat the illness, but gives them the tools necessary to treat all dimensions of the patient bridging together the key areas of healing. By utilizing the art of drama therapy in the treatment of patients, health care providers are given the opportunity to heal, and nourish their patient’s spirit and treat them as a whole instead of just simply treating the
Johnson, Read, and Sajnani). The physical portrayal and setting of scenes the patient acts out is meant to evoke negative memories and emotions currently associated with the traumatic memory. Psychodrama relies on Hans Vaihinger’s ‘as if’ concept by “actively creating the moment when the negative response or memory took place” (Leveton). As a therapeutic method, psychodrama can encourage the expression of suppressed and repressed emotions safely, and introduce the possibility of change to the patient by correcting them. In psychodrama, the patient is encouraged to show the provider the problem, rather than just tell them about it. Jacob Moreno explained this as “[T]he functioning form the individual assumes in the specific moment he reacts to a specific situation in which other persons and objects are involved. The form is created by past experiences and the cultural patterns of the society in which the individual lives. . .every role is a fusion of private and collective elements” (Leveton). Psychodrama offers an environment for patients to consider and accept that their emotions and actions may be influenced by the experiences they have had in earlier in life, and begin to …show more content…
In addition, drama therapy also provides an environment for patients to explore their fears, anxieties, and emotions they are experiencing that often result in difficulty communicating and issues interacting and maintaining positive relationships. Revealing these hidden emotions can both diminish their influence and reveal solutions to communication problems. John Peteet said that today’s “medical profession is currently organized primarily around the physical and psychological, rather than around other dimensions of the person or patient” (Petett and D’Ambra). Using drama therapy as a therapeutic intervention can help emotional trauma patients sort out their emotions by ‘‘putting words into action’’ (Morris, Ch. 6) allowing health care providers to not just treat the illness, but gives them the tools necessary to treat all dimensions of the patient bridging together the key areas of healing. By utilizing the art of drama therapy in the treatment of patients, health care providers are given the opportunity to heal, and nourish their patient’s spirit and treat them as a whole instead of just simply treating the