What is psychodrama?

The psicodrama It's a psychotherapy created by J.L. Moreno that, unlike other therapies that consist of talking, the person represents his inner world, interpersonal conflicts and situations that give him an important degree of suffering, through his action, body and objects, and as a protagonist of his processes of change through his awareness and thus alleviating his symptoms.

One example could be that of P. (40 years) who goes to consultation after numerous therapies and has learned how to communicate assertively and self-regulate because he argues with his mother. After a psychodramatic session, in which he represents with his body how he relates to his mother, he becomes aware that every time he argues with her, he feels on the floor as he did when he was little, and from then on he can use other forms of communication, going beyond what techniques to use, exploring how and from where he does it with the help of objects such as puppets.

What is a psychodramatic session like?

The psychodramatic session It is divided into three parts:

1. Warm-up: The person arrives at the consultation and comments on how they are feeling and how their day has gone since the last session, in this way an issue is found to work on during the session.
2. Enactment: At this stage, the person makes their representations, using the necessary psychodramatic techniques.
3. Comments: The person expresses how they felt about the representation, making an evaluation of the representation.

How does it work?

Taking into account that a healthy personality consists of the integration of what we think (cognitive), what we feel (emotional) and where we feel it (body) and what we do (behavioral), this psychological therapy model deepens through work from the symbolic, thanks to creativity and spontaneity with respect, as it is the person at the stage of dramatization, who connects with their body and thus with the emotional, and then reflects at the stage of comments about what has been experienced at the cognitive level.

What difficulties can it be used for?

The conflicts that can be treated are fears, anxieties, self-esteem, social, family, work and relationship conflicts, internal conflicts and other psychopathologies, among others.

Examples of their use

1. (aged 25) says she still feels “love” for her former partner. She notices a tingling in the pit of her stomach whenever she sees him with his current partner (warm-up). She uses modelling clay to give the sensation a shape and makes a hammer (enactment). She then realises that what she is feeling is anxiety, not the emotion she first named. Seeing him reminds her that she is alone (sharing).

Reeling Myths about psychodrama

The Psychodrama in particular there are many myths that undermine the method as:

• psychodrama is a pseudoscience and has no scientific validity. psychodrama is a psychotherapeutic method, that means that it has been tested through systematic observation, experimentation and formulation and analysis and modification of hypotheses, as with any other scientific method.
• The psychodramatic techniques are used with and without. The techniques have a concrete process and useful, and that's why we need specialist training in psychodrama.
• "Faith of method"That's a great mistake as several theories have been supported as the core of the self and the Rojas- Bermudez Roules Scheme that explain the maturation process of the NN (Nervous System) from birth to adulthood and how the environment influences the development of the individual, issues that have to do with neurobiology, psychology, physiology and psychiatry.

Can we have an online psychodrama?

Yeah, you just have to have a space where you feel comfortable and secure and good Internet connection. We can use materials such as plastic, pics and pencils.

References

• Mercader Larios, C. (2013). Teoría y técnica del psicodrama. Apuntes de Psicología, 31 (3), 321-325.
• Ramírez, C. A. (2013). Aplicación de técnicas psicodramáticas en un taller de autoestima. Apuntes de Psicología, 31(3), 373-378.
• Rojas Bermúdez, J. (1997). Teorías y técnicas psicodramáticas. Barcelona: Paidós.
• Rojas García, B. (2013). Anorexia nerviosa y psicodrama: intervención a través de la silueta. Apuntes de Psicología, 31 (3), 379-384.