J.L Moreno explained psychodrama as the exploration of reality through dramatization. Psychodrama is based on spontaneity, creativity and action dynamics. It tries to enable people to examine their relationships, the problems they experience in these relationships, their conflicts and their inner world in a spontaneous way, by taking a role in a play and to reach awareness.
It is a group psychotherapy method developed by Austrian psychiatrist Dr. Jacob Levy Moreno in the 1920s. Psychodrama etymologically comes from the Greek words 'psyche' (soul) and 'drama' (action). Moreno says that not being able to use one's role possibilities, that is, not being able to live the roles one wants to live, will lead to distress, and that courage and confidence will develop by living the role. Suppressing the role leads to loss of confidence, anxiety and regression (regression to previous stages of psychological development). Moreno argues that the majority of people with poor social adjustment have damaged role behaviors.
Psychotherapy is the process of safely exploring your feelings, thoughts, beliefs about yourself and others, and personal experiences in the company of a properly trained professional. Psychotherapy is a journey to give hope, to teach skills, to find behavioral solutions, to gain emotionally corrective experience, to think about life as a whole. It helps people to increase their sensitivity and responsibility for their behavior and relationships.
Psychotherapy aims to give you insight into the difficulties or distress you are experiencing, to increase your motivation to make changes in your thinking and behavior, and to help you find appropriate ways to make these changes.
The concept of psychotherapy is categorized under 3 main headings in terms of the number of people served; individual psychotherapies, spouse and family therapies and group therapies.
Psychodrama is a group psychotherapy method.
In psychodrama, intense interactions during role reversal help the individual to experience and recognize new situations and experiences. In this way, the individual gains the opportunity to behave appropriately in new circumstances in the future. Psychodrama addresses and processes the relationship problems and internal conflicts of human beings through spontaneous role-playing, using unique techniques, and thus gives people the opportunity to work on these three abilities. In order to benefit from psychodrama, it is necessary to participate in psychodrama groups.
We can list the 3 basic dynamics of psychodrama as follows;
Action: People act out their feelings and thoughts on the psychodrama stage. Psychodrama is actually the discovery of truth through action. Action reveals the person. A person who gets sick in action and relationship is healed in action through psychodrama.
Spontaneity: It is the ability to respond appropriately to the situation one is in.
Creativity: It is putting forward a new thought, behavior or a new product. Human beings cannot be without action, they can live a healthy life with the help of their spontaneity, which allows them to use the full potential of their creativity and make it visible.
What are the elements of psychodrama?
Stage It is the place where psychodrama is done and lived. The stage is the only magical place where reliving can be created. The protagonist creates the stage. Anywhere can be a psychodrama stage.
Psychodrama facilitator: The person who conducts the psychodrama sessions and is responsible for how the session will go, and who brings psychodrama into existence in the group environment.
Protagonist: The protagonist is the main actor on the stage. He/she is the one who brings his/her own life to the stage.
Supporting actors: During psychodrama sessions, important people, concepts and emotions in the protagonist's life are portrayed on the stage by people chosen by the protagonist from the group. These people are called auxiliary egos. The partner is the person the protagonist chooses to play the role of himself/herself during the play.
Group: Psychodrama groups usually consist of 8-20 people. While the protagonist and the co-actors play the play on the stage, the other members watch the play. The individual lives a small sample of his/her real life in the group, corrects, realizes, changes and leads others to change.
Psychodrama is a way of life. It is a form of psychotherapy where therapy is done through drama. It is one of the most important treatment methods in psychiatry and psychopathology of the last century. The issues and problems dealt with in psychodrama are not limited to time or space. They can be about the past, present or future. The whole universe, mythology, fairy tales and dreams can find a place on the psychodrama stage. When people change, choices change, and when choices change, people change. Psychodrama is an option that improves people a lot in this regard, it is not learned by reading or listening.
What are the Psychodrama Session Stages?
A Psychodrama session is generally part of a process consisting of a series of sessions. There is a group that meets and works together 1-2 or 3 times a week for a certain period of time (which can range from 4 months to 4 years). The duration of the group can sometimes take the form of a seminar lasting 3-20 days. A psychodrama session lasts about 1.5-3 hours and consists of 3 phases.
The warm-up phase: This is a stage in which the psychodrama director, who prioritizes the group tendency and takes a non-directive approach, uses various games and techniques to ensure the integrity of the group, to increase the trust of the group members and to identify the protagonist.
Game phase: This is where the concept of here and now is realized. Past and future are brought here and now on this stage. The tell-do principle gains importance here. It is the stage of action where the protagonist stages the experience or dream he/she will work on. The protagonist can give the other members of the group or the objects in the room the roles of people, decor, even abstract concepts and emotions in order to act out the scene in his/her mind. In line with some of the techniques that the facilitator chooses to apply, the protagonist can replace the people (auxiliary ego) or objects (role reversal), replace himself/herself with another person (partner) and watch the same scene from the outside (mirror), change a scene according to his/her needs and re-enact it in a different way than it actually is (surreality). If other members watching the scene sense that there is something the protagonist is feeling but not saying, they can get behind the protagonist, put their hands on his/her shoulders and speak through the protagonist's mouth (mirroring).
Role feedback and sharing phase: In this phase, the protagonist, the co-actors, the psychodrama director and the audience share their feelings about the play phase. The alter egos can give role feedback and other group members can give identification feedback. The sharing stage is the stage where the product is collected and finalized. The basic rule of this stage is that group members should never comment, criticize or judge the protagonist.
What are the Basic Techniques of Psychodrama?
Pairing: In this technique, which aims to reveal the feelings that the protagonist cannot, does not want to say or is not conscious of at the moment, suppresses, the director or group members express these feelings through his/her mouth. While doing this, the partner stands behind the protagonist and puts his/her hands on his/her shoulders. During the pairing, the partner empathizes with the protagonist by imitating his/her body posture, gestures and mimics. He/she puts himself/herself in his/her shoes and expresses his/her feelings that he/she cannot express.
Role reversal: Here the protagonist puts himself/herself in the role of another person and thinks and acts as if he/she is that person. Thus, he/she can see himself/herself through the eyes of the person he/she is pretending to be. A psychodrama session without the role reversal technique is unthinkable. All the roles on the stage are first played by the protagonist, and then the alter ego plays the role as the protagonist shows him/her. As long as we can step into the role of the other person, we can experience the whole reality.
Mirror: This technique aims to allow the protagonist to look at himself from the outside. It is a technique in which the protagonist is played by the partner he/she chooses instead of the protagonist, and the protagonist can observe the play from the outside. Through this technique, the protagonist has the opportunity to evaluate and change his/her own behavior and emotions.
Plus reality: The protagonist, who observes the animated scene from the outside with the mirror technique, changes something, behavior or speech in the scene in line with his/her emotional needs. The scene is re-enacted as the protagonist desires.
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