Psychodrama - What Kind Of Beast Is So Unknown?

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Probably, the moment came when I wanted to write about my favorite and very significant method for me - about Psychodrama. Even during the years of study at the university, I was taught different approaches: body-oriented therapy, and gestalt therapy, and psychoanalysis, and art therapy, and much more. But for some reason, psychodrama in the learning process was touched only once - during the course of the history of psychology. Undeservedly, I think, well, simply because the method is effective, effective, proven, fast enough, with its excellent and very vital theory. Moreover, his individual techniques are successfully used in other approaches.

Psychodrama was created in the 20s of the last century by Jacob Moreno, and became widespread as the first and only group therapeutic method. But it is also successfully used in individual counseling as a monodrama.

Psychodrama - This is a method based on the action and materialization of the inner world of a person.

Most often, you can think for a long time, reflect, come up with something, plan within yourself. But, in fact, during the implementation of these plans, when a person begins to act, surprises happen. Sometimes they help, and sometimes they interfere with the implementation of the plan.

Action and interaction verify the conceived, words and thoughts are realized. Therefore, we can safely say that action is to some extent more truthful and meaningful than words and thoughts.

In psychodrama, action is the main component. Thanks to the action, its change or its correction, it is possible to achieve the desired. After all, you must admit how great it would be to try to do something in a new way, better, so that it suits your personal interests best. And psychodrama allows, with the help of special techniques, to perform some action, look at it from the outside and correct it in order to achieve the desired result. And check again - is it suitable? Or not? Or do you need to change something else?

How does this happen? This is where another component of psychodrama comes in - materialization. Just imagine - how much is going on in each person … at the same time! We constantly think, remember the past or imagine the future, conduct mental dialogues, experience various emotions, form opinions and attitudes towards different things and people. And all these numerous processes often go on at the same time and very rapidly. They are very difficult to "catch by the tail", catch and disassemble in detail. And even more so it is impossible to see in view of the fact that all these things are completely immaterial things.

Psychodrama makes it possible to materialize everything that is inside a person: thoughts, feelings, attitudes, meanings, etc. For this, everything that interests a person, everything that he would like to consider in more detail and understand is literally "put" on a special stage - almost like in a theater - and it plays. Each smallest detail of a person's inner world is given a face, place, role - real and tangible.

And then everything that a person has inside, everything that is very difficult to "catch", understand, track and realize, turns out to be physically before his eyes. He can consider it in detail, look at the whole situation from the outside. Try, “try on” other roles, enter them and look at yourself as if through the eyes of another person. And organize any action. And since everything is clear and the "main character" (protagonist) himself - the person whose inner world is put on the stage - participates in acting out, he has the opportunity to feel and understand what is going well and what is not. What needs to be changed so that it is the way he would like it. And then you can try to take a new step, a new action and check the result, and again look from the outside. And all this takes place in an absolutely safe therapeutic space, which is also very important.

For me personally, psychodrama is always like a little magic. Whether doing my own drama as the main character, or playing a role in someone's scene, or simply watching the action of psychodrama from the audience, I never cease to wonder how complex, very complex and often painful things and experiences become accessible to observation, understanding, and awareness. And how are the ways out of difficult situations found simply because it is possible to see, “touch” these situations in a safe psychodramatic format and do something with them.

Thus, Psychodrama is very effective due to clear theory, creative, spontaneous and creative basis in work, quick ways of identifying client difficulties through action, respect for the experience and views of the person. This method is considered the most gentle in relation to the client and is widely used in psychological counseling, in individual, group and family therapy, in business consulting, pedagogy and medicine, politics, art and other areas of human activity. Moreover, psychodrama is not limited only by its techniques and is perfectly combined with almost any other method that can be delicately woven into dramatization.

And I sincerely invite you to get acquainted with psychodrama: both in teaching this method (for specialists), and for the benefit of myself as an effective method that helps you solve your life difficulties.