ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Esther Tang, in the final stages of training in psychodrama psychotherapy in Hong Kong at the time of writing, shares her complex and delicate work with a young client presenting with elements of dissociative identity disorder. She contextualises the one-to-one work as part of a sequence of interventions, initially in a short-term group, followed by the one-to-one intervention, and finally within an open-ended psychodrama psychotherapy group. The case study focuses on the process of revealing the internal system of the client, which developed initially as a defensive “solution” to early relational trauma, but which now holds the client back from authentic connectedness with others, leaving her profoundly lonely. The psychodramatic method helps the client take tentative steps towards authentic relationship, but the author does not shy away from the challenges of this process for therapist and client alike.
