Foundations of Dramatherapy

Overview

Dramatherapy is a form of creative arts psychotherapy that uses theatre, dramatic play, and performative processes as therapeutic tools. Unlike conventional theatre focused on artistic production, dramatherapy places the creative process in service of the participant's psychological well-being. It draws on the natural human capacity to play roles, tell stories, and engage in symbolic acts to explore and transform inner life.

Dramatic play provides a transitional space — in Winnicott's sense — where the participant can experiment with new ways of being without real-world consequences. This aesthetic distance allows difficult themes to be addressed with an emotional safety that words alone cannot always provide. Dramatherapy is suitable for all ages and applies across diverse contexts: mental health, special education, rehabilitation, personal development, and trauma support.

History of Dramatherapy

Modern dramatherapy emerged in the mid-twentieth century at the intersection of experimental theatre and psychotherapy. While Jacob Levy Moreno laid the groundwork for psychodrama in the 1920s, dramatherapy as an autonomous discipline took shape primarily from the 1960s-1970s in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Sue Jennings, a British pioneer, developed an approach centred on dramatic play with vulnerable populations from the 1960s onward. Her EPR model (Embodiment-Projection-Role) describes the developmental stages of play and remains a foundational reference in dramatherapy training. Phil Jones contributed to the discipline's theorisation by identifying the core processes of dramatherapy, while Robert Landy developed role theory and a taxonomy of over 80 archetypal role types that individuals can explore in therapy.

The profession progressively organised with the creation of professional associations: the British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth) in 1977 and the National Association for Drama Therapy (NADT) in the United States in 1979.

Key Concepts

Distancing is the central concept of dramatherapy. Borrowed from Brecht and adapted for the therapeutic context, dramatic distance allows participants to address painful personal themes through the protective filter of fiction. The dramatherapist continuously adjusts this distance: too close, and the participant is overwhelmed; too distant, and the work remains superficial.

Role is the fundamental unit of dramatherapeutic work. Each individual possesses a repertoire of roles — parent, child, rebel, protector, victim, hero — activated according to situations. Dramatherapy enables exploration of these roles, discovery of underdeveloped roles, transformation of rigid roles, and enrichment of one's existential repertoire.

Ritual frames sessions through meaningful repetitive gestures: opening rituals to enter symbolic space, closing rituals to return to everyday life. Performance here refers not to public spectacle but to the act of giving form to an inner experience, which can have a powerful transformative effect.

Therapeutic Indications

Dramatherapy is indicated for a wide range of issues including anxiety and depressive disorders, trauma and PTSD (where dramatic distancing allows symbolic approach to trauma without retraumatisation), communication and relational difficulties, autism spectrum conditions, identity issues, grief, and addictions. The bodily engagement and creative involvement mobilise resources often inhibited by psychological distress.

Typical Session

A dramatherapy session typically lasts 60 to 90 minutes and follows a three-phase structure. The warm-up phase (15-20 minutes) includes physical, vocal, and relational exercises preparing the group for dramatic work. The development phase (30-45 minutes) uses various dramatic techniques adapted to therapeutic objectives — collective storytelling, character exploration, mask or puppet work, or symbolic ritual creation. The closure and de-roling phase (15-20 minutes) allows participants to release played characters, return to themselves through body exercises, verbal sharing, and closing rituals.

Contraindications

Dramatherapy is contraindicated during acute psychotic episodes (the fragile boundary between reality and fiction may worsen confusion), severe dissociation (role-play may trigger dissociative episodes), categorical refusal of play (forcing participation is counter-therapeutic), and recent unstabilised trauma (premature dramatisation risks retraumatisation). Dramatherapy must be practised by trained professionals with regular clinical supervision.