What therapy is best suited to my problem? In Psychology there are many therapies precisely to adapt to the needs of each patient. It is not only about the problem to be treated, but also about the way of being of the person who is suffering from this disorder. But it is true that in all mental health problems there is a certain distance or disconnection between the body and the mind and that is why Drama Therapy is a tool that helps to recover the connection. Body and mind connected through the performing arts and with the help of a therapist. This is how Dramatherapy is presented. Do you want to know more about the psychological benefits of theater? In this article we tell you.
What is drama therapy
- Sometimes words are not enough to express what we feel, not even to understand it. It is time to seek the help of the body and through bodily expression we can come to understand what is happening to us. The connection between body and mind is also the connection with ourselves, it allows us to meet again, to see ourselves from another point of view. And with the extra touch of lightness that fiction brings.
- With this idea, many psychologists propose Drama Therapy to help their patients. Patients with all kinds of problems from anxiety to depression through self-esteem problems. Dramatherapy is an exceptional tool to express the deepest emotions and also to connect with them. You can find it under the name of Drama Therapy and many times they will recommend Theater Therapy, but, ultimately, the objectives are the same. And what are the objectives of Dramatherapy?
- Solve problems. When a person goes to a psychologist it is because he needs help to solve a problem. What kind of problem? Generally, emotional discomfort causes mental confusion that makes us lose control of all areas of our lives. And Dramatherapy can be a good option to clarify what happens to us.
- With Dramatherapy we are able to understand ourselves better. It happens as with Writing Therapy, when we use fiction as a therapeutic tool to observe our life from the outside, from another point of view.
- Liberation, cleansing or catharsis is another of the objectives of this Drama Therapy that relies on body expression to let out all the emotions that are making us sick.
- Accompanied by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dramatherapy is one more push to transform those unhealthy behaviors that have led us to suffer emotional problems. We are not talking about addictions, or not only about addictions, but about all those mental habits, thoughts and attitudes towards life that are harming us.
- Improve social skills. Problems of low self-esteem, problems of insecurity, shyness or in social relationships are rapidly improving through Dramatherapy.
- In addition, added to all this, the doctoral thesis of MaDolores Lopez Martinez on Art Therapeutic Intervention for the University of Murcia adds that Drama Therapy ” helps people resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce tension and increase self-esteem and self-knowledge.
What is a Dramatherapy session like?
- This Drama Therapy uses very different practices from what we are used to. The image of going to the psychologist to answer your questions or to express what you feel changes radically and, in this case, we (the patients) are the main actors. Dramatherapy is organized mainly in group therapies, but it can also be done in individual sessions.
- How do you imagine a Dramatherapy session? First of all, the therapist makes an approximation to see with what state of mind we arrive at the therapy. Based on that he will decide one activity or another. Then the warm-up begins, which prepares the body for movement and the mind for imagination. Let’s not forget that we are dealing with a fictional activity.
- It is time to move on to action, performance or the main activity that the therapist recommends. It is time to let ourselves go, to explore our emotions, our limits and our senses. And then the session will close, where the therapist will explain to us how the activity went and what we have achieved that day. In fact, valuing the achievements made is one of the strengths of this therapy, since we are achieving goals almost without realizing it, without thinking about them and without putting pressure on ourselves to achieve it in a certain way.
- There are many ways to achieve achievements and they don’t always correspond to the plan we had drawn up.
Dramatherapy Techniques
A wide variety of activities are used in this Drama Therapy, but it has some techniques that we are going to find more commonly.
- The therapist assigns us a certain role or role in a fictional story and we act accordingly.
- We don’t always need the words to represent a scene and we don’t always find the words to express what we feel. Mime is based solely on body language and to express ourselves we have to think differently.
- Spontaneity and lack of foresight make it easier for us to bring out our essence.
- We don’t have to be great dancers to move our body. In this way, when we move, not only the energies are set in motion, but we also allow our emotions to express themselves freely.
- What would we be able to do if no one recognized us? Sometimes it is necessary to put yourself in the place of a different person, without all the burdens we carry, without all the expectations that have been placed on us. Sometimes with a mask on our true personality emerges.
- By its very name, Dramatherapy includes performances and characterizations. If we’re in group therapy, we can act out a full-blown work of fiction, playing different characters and putting ourselves in different skins.
The therapeutic benefits of theater
- The psychological benefits of theater are well known and we have always heard of the transformative experience of acting or playing a character. There is no doubt that Dramatherapy helps us to discover aspects of ourselves that we were unaware of, to overcome our limits, to free ourselves from corseted ideas, social pressures, and insecurities.
- Theater also helps us to relate to others in a different way, which is why this therapy is used above all in cases of pathological shyness, low self – esteem or insecurity. But there is more. Because thanks to the theater we dare, to what?
- To go further, to park shame, to be ourselves, to try new ways of being and acting, to propose new goals, to be the main actors in our own lives. Dramatherapy also develops empathy, self-confidence and, something that interests us especially, helps us manage anxiety. Do you dare to try Dramatherapy?
