Jacob Levy Moreno's Psychodrama

Overview

Psychodrama is a psychotherapy method created by Jacob Levy Moreno (1889-1974), a Romanian-born psychiatrist and philosopher. Based on spontaneous dramatic action, psychodrama invites the protagonist to enact inner conflicts, memories, and fantasies rather than simply talking about them. This approach rests on the conviction that human beings possess an innate capacity for spontaneity and creativity which, when liberated, enables psychic and relational transformation.

Psychodrama distinguishes itself from other psychotherapies through its use of concrete action: the patient does not describe difficulties from an armchair but plays them out in space, assisted by auxiliaries who embody the significant characters of their life. This enactment produces emotional insights impossible to achieve through verbalisation alone.

Origins

Moreno was born in Bucharest in 1889 and grew up in Vienna. A contemporary of Freud, he developed a radically different vision of psychotherapy, believing in the therapeutic power of action, encounter, and spontaneity. In 1921, he founded the Theatre of Spontaneity in Vienna, where actors improvised scenes from audience suggestions. He observed the cathartic effect of dramatic play on participants and emigrated to the United States in 1925, opening the first psychodrama theatre in Beacon, New York, in 1936.

He also founded sociometry — the quantitative study of interpersonal relationships in groups — and laid the foundations for group therapy. Psychodrama spread rapidly after World War II across Europe and Latin America, introduced to France notably by Anne Ancelin Schützenberger.

The Five Instruments

Moreno identified five essential instruments: the stage (the distinct play space symbolising the transitional area), the protagonist (the person who enacts their inner world), the director (the therapist guiding the process), the auxiliaries (group members playing significant characters from the protagonist's life), and the audience (witnessing group members who share personal echoes after the scene).

Core Techniques

Soliloquy invites the protagonist to speak inner thoughts aloud during the action. Mirror involves an auxiliary playing the protagonist's role while they observe from the audience. Role reversal — considered the most powerful technique — has the protagonist switch positions with the other character, gaining empathic understanding "from the inside." Doubling involves an auxiliary standing behind the protagonist expressing what they seem unable to say. Additional techniques include future projection, surplus reality scenes, amplification, and sculpting.

Applications

Psychodrama applies across numerous contexts: individual and group psychotherapy (relational conflicts, trauma, grief, identity issues), institutional psychiatry (social skills development, rehabilitation), professional training (healthcare, education, management), and organisational development through sociodrama — a collective variant exploring group dynamics and cultural tensions.

Typical Session

A group psychodrama session typically lasts 90 to 120 minutes across three phases. The warm-up (20-30 minutes) mobilises group spontaneity and identifies a protagonist. The dramatic action (40-60 minutes) involves scene construction with the director guiding techniques such as role reversal and soliloquy. The sharing (20-30 minutes) concludes the session with group members expressing personal resonances — empathic testimony rather than analysis or advice.

Contraindications

Psychodrama is contraindicated during decompensated acute psychotic states, for severe antisocial personalities (lack of empathy may compromise the group process), with unstabilised trauma (premature enactment risks retraumatisation), and during acute intoxication. Psychodrama must be directed by specifically trained professionals (3-5 year programmes) under regular supervision.