Recently I gave a presentation on Dramatherapy to a large group of third year college students majoring in Psychology. These are some of the questions which were asked...
Q1. Why Dramatherapy and other forms of Creative Arts Therapies work?
A: One of the reasons is that because it uses projective method. In dramatherapy what comes up through the creative tools such as the object work, story making, acting, art work are the thoughts and feelings of the client/s. Some of which the client/s may not be aware of.
Therefore it works very well, especially when words alone fail to describe the depth of one’s thoughts and feelings. Especially when language is a barrier in communication for certain individuals. Some people also use words to create a wall between them and the therapist. They sometimes hide their emotions and thoughts behind their words.
The other reason why it works well is that most of the time it uses fiction to create a distance between the client and his/her problems. In this way the client is able to look at their problems more objectively , (be a witness to their problems) and able to find solutions without being overly caught up in being in the problem which sometimes paralyses a person into taking steps to improve their situation.
Some of the feedback I get from my clients are also that they actually look forward to the sessions because every session we do different activities which they find interesting and the other comment I usually get is that they feel relaxed after the first few minutes of being in the dramatherapy session. These factors motivate the clients’ regular attendance in the sessions (resulting in faster progress in resolving their problems) rather than trying to avoid the sessions. Especially when therapy can be difficult since its purpose is to work on difficult issues which is not usually a ‘walk in the park’ for most people.
To be continued on my next blog entry... till then, enjoy the dance of life :-)
