What is Drama Therapy?
Drama Therapy is a creative arts therapy that uses the performance arts to promote psychological, emotional and social change.
The description on The British Association of Drama therapists’ website is: “It is a form of psychological therapy, that focuses on the healing aspects of drama and theatre, using all elements of the performance arts. Drama Therapy uses drama as its main mode of communication to create distance from possible issues the individual may have difficulty addressing” (BADth, 2018)
Drama Therapy caters for every individual. Using storytelling, role play, small objects, arts materials, movement, music, fabrics, clay, mask work and puppetry, just to name a few. Despite its playful nature Drama therapy is suitable for adults and children and no artistic skill is needed. The goal is to recognise problems and to start a process of acceptance, change and personal development.
Drama Therapy works by identifying individuals’ problems and by creating unique psychological goals for the sessions. Drama therapy provides a safe and supportive environment where those problems are worked through to create a process of acceptance, change and personal development. As Drama Therapy does not rely solely on verbal communication, it can provide a safe space for the individual to express, explore, and understand their difficult thoughts, feelings or situations.
Especially for children, dramatic play can reduce the world to a size where it’s manageable and where the events of everyday reality can be played out safely. Drama Therapy allows for learning with the whole body.
In a typical Drama Therapy session, a child might engage in a warm up exercise such as a “mirror my movement”, a sensory based game or a mindfulness game. Then using characters and dramatization the child could be identifying strengths, difficulties and resources. Finally, the challenges might be woven into a story to be filmed or role played, linking awareness together. A similar adapted approach can be used for all ages.
Evidence-based and practice-based research is well established in all the creative arts therapies.
Drama Therapy can address issues including:
reducing feelings of isolation, frustration and anxiety
developing new coping skills and patterns
broadening the range of expression of feelings
experiencing improved self-esteem and self- worth
increasing sense of play, imagination and spontaneity
developing relationships and social skills
behaviour difficulties; • trauma
depression
bereavement
Drama Therapy sessions are suitable for people with ASD, ADHD, ODD, and other difficulties and diagnosis. Drama Therapy sessions typically last for up to an hour.