ABSTRACT
Psychodrama is a method that integrates the modes of cognitive behavioral therapy with dimensions of experiential and participatory involvement. Psychodrama sessions are individually focused but utilize other members of the group to help “act out” situations in a person’s life. The psychodramatic protocol has three components: the “warming up phase” (preparing the protagonist), the “action phase” (locating the conflicting situation and acting it out), and the “sharing phase” (involving group members to contribute their personal responses to the protagonist).
Psychodrama is a systematized method of role-playing enabling an individual, within a group setting, to explore the psychosocial dimensions of conflicts, problems, interpersonal relationships, and life situations through enactment rather than solely verbal means. By physically reenacting experiences, the past is brought into the here and now, permitting one to process memories with the therapist’s/director’s guidance along with the participation of group members with similar traumas.
The cognitive behavioral group psychodramatic modality emphasizes constructivist theory, holding both a person’s individual sense of reality and the meaning found in life to be constructed from life experience. As a result of the model’s experiential nature, much of its power lies in the simultaneous involvement of three major human modes: negative thinking (cognitive), action (behavior), and affect (emotions). The combination of CBT and psychodramatic techniques helps provide a balance between an exploration of emotionally laden situations and a more concrete, data-based, problem-solving process.
The CBT techniques utilized in a group therapy setting are sufficiently flexible for application during any of the three phases of psychodrama. The technique deepens traditional psychodrama not only by emphasizing the cathartic aspects of psychotherapy but also by incorporating the more goal-focused, problem-solving aspects of CBT.
Moreno described psychodrama as the “scientific exploration of truth through dramatic method”. A core tenet of psychodrama is Moreno’s theory of “spontaneity-creativity.”
