ABSTRACT
The emergence of dramatherapy as a specific discipline and as a profession has taken place since the 1930s. There is documented evidence of the use of drama as a therapy from a wide range of countries: from Bellevue hospital’s work in Jamaica in the 1970s (Hickling 1989) to the development of the Greek Society of Theatre and Therapy in the 1980s (Robertson 1990). The nature of dramatherapy’s emergence can be said to be parallel in many countries. This chapter will trace dramatherapy’s development thematically, focusing upon material from these three key countries. The emergence is marked by a number of phenomena:
• Dramatherapy’s development of a separate identity from other main therapeutic and educational uses of drama and theatre. This includes a separation from psychodrama’s use of theatre processes and from the uses of theatre and drama in educational drama, child drama and what was known as ‘remedial drama’.
