Moreno's psychodrama as a method of psychotherapy: techniques

Did you know that human nature, his inner world and relationships with people around him can be explored using role-playing games? This is an unusual and very effective method. Psychodrama borrowed its form from the theater, spontaneity from play, and depth from psychoanalysis. The psychodrama participant (protagonist) becomes an actor for a while, trying to express his experiences through acting. From the article you will learn how this happens.

Definition of the concept of method

The author of the psychodrama method is American psychiatrist and social psychologist Ya.L. Moreno. The psychodrama method was founded in the 20s of the 20th century. If we talk about the opening briefly, Moreno was inspired by the role-playing games of children, the sincerity and openness of the participants. The name of the technique is derived from two Greek words: psyche, which translates as “soul”, and drama, which means “action”.

Psychodrama is a method of group psychological therapy based on plot-role play. One person is the main character. All other participants are performers who help the main character solve the problem. The roles are strictly assigned by the presenter (psychologist). The main character plays himself, the rest of the people copy the verbal and non-verbal characteristics of the characters they got.

In psychology there is still no single definition of the concept of “psychodrama”. However, all psychologists agree that this technique allows a person to reveal his creative potential, become better acquainted with his inner world, develop and improve skills in interacting with society, and change his beliefs, attitudes and attitude towards current events. This is the goal of psychodrama. Psychodramatic, emotional feeling is what underlies healing through psychodrama.

The founder of psychodrama, Ya.L. Moreno called this technique art. The psychologist gave the following definition to this method: “Psychodrama is a method in which the truth of the soul is learned in action.” The main thing in this technique is play, improvisation, action. To fully understand your problem, you need to fully feel it and live it. Playing back allows you to look at the problem from different angles, remember and see something important that was missed until that moment. Psychodrama helps a person look into himself and change his thinking and behavior.

Psychodrama involves 5 main elements:

Protagonist. This is the main participant of the session. He tries to understand himself, the other participants help him in this. He plays himself. The goal is the maximum disclosure of the true Self. It is extremely important that a person throws away all prohibitions and masks and becomes who he is. That is, it turns out that, on the contrary, he needs to stop playing, relax and give free rein to his feelings, thoughts, and emotions. During psychodrama you can do whatever you want.
Director (psychologist, presenter, therapist). He helps to recreate the situation and distribute roles, guides, supports, controls. He does not indicate what to do and to whom, the protagonist is in charge of everything, but the psychologist helps to interpret everything that happens. In addition, the psychologist monitors the safety and health of all participants in the process, maintaining communicative and emotional interaction.
Other Selves Follow the instructions of the presenter and protagonist, help the main character lose the problem. Others depict significant characters from the protagonist's life.
Spectators. Active observers, listeners. They express their attitude to what is happening, support or criticize. At this time, the audience themselves are charged with emotions, and the protagonist reveals himself more actively. At any moment, one of the spectators can become a participant in the unfolding drama.
Scene. The room itself, the platform where the action takes place. Moreno had a special, complex, multi-level design. Nowadays they don't pay much attention to this.

What is psychodrama

Psychodrama

is a group therapy method that is a role-playing game during which dramatic improvisation is used.

Simply put, psychotherapy is one of the methods of studying the inner world of a person. The group creates conditions for the spontaneous expression of emotions and sensations related to topics important to the client. Psychodrama is based on the principles of the game.

This correctional method was invented after an experiment carried out by the famous psychologist Jacob Levy Moreno after the First World War. Then he called his experiment “spontaneous theater.” The psychologist began to think about the therapeutic power of play techniques the day he noticed how children in Viennese parks translated their fantasies into play.

Subsequently, he developed his idea, becoming not only the founder of psychodrama, but also group therapy. Despite the fact that the method arose in the twentieth century, it has not lost its relevance to this day. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly widespread in the USA and many European countries. Basic concepts and terms of the method: spontaneity, role-playing games and roles, catharsis and insight, body.

Let's give them a brief description

Roles and role-playing games

It is important to immediately see the differences between psychodrama, as a method of therapy, and theatrical play. In plays, actors are given a clearly defined role, with little opportunity to improvise. In psychodrama, everything is different: there is no set script - it is created by the group members as the action progresses.

Spontaneity

By spontaneity we mean the naturalness of reaction and perception. The term can be found in different types of psychotherapy, since most patients are quite constrained by behavioral patterns and psychological defenses. That is, children's spontaneity is lost. The goal of therapy is to gain spontaneity, which allows you to get rid of many neuroses and complexes.

Tele

It is assumed that this concept has something in common with what Freud called transference. By this concept, the “father of psychoanalysis” meant the patient’s transference of feelings that were important to him to the psychologist. Many of Freud's followers also used the term countertransference, meaning by it the psychoanalyst's state of empathy for the patient's condition.

In his own method, Moreno combined the concepts of transference and countertransference, giving them the general definition of “body”. It is characterized by a two-way process of empathic perception - not only between the psychoanalyst and the protagonist, but also all participants in the process.

Catharsis

It is known that in ancient Greece this word denoted enlightenment achieved through suffering. Subsequently, Freud introduced the term “catharsis” into psychoanalysis, defining with it such a phenomenon as the discovery through emotional experiences of the true causes of neurosis. This is followed by a healing phase (relief). The term was and is used in most types of psychotherapy, and Moreno was no exception. In his method, catharsis received an additional interpretation. It must be experienced not only by the client, but also by other participants in the psychodrama.

Insight

In English, the word insight means sudden insight. Example: the state of Socrates, who made an unexpected discovery and exclaimed: “Eureka!” The definition is applicable in many types of modern psychotherapy, implying a sudden awareness by the client of his problem, or sudden changes in the perception of his own personality.

In psychology, insight often occurs through catharsis. The atmosphere and dynamics of psychodrama usually lead to this.

Before the session, the psychoanalyst conveys to the group the meaning of psychodrama, shares its stages, and tells how it will be implemented in practice. The theory is conveyed to the group in a volume appropriate to its level of preparation.

Basic principles

Spontaneity and creativity are the main principles of psychodrama as a method of psychotherapy. Only under such conditions can a person fully open up and heal. And the main components of psychodrama according to Moreno are the theory of roles, the theory of spontaneity and sociometry.

Spontaneity theory

This means a flight of creative energy. It is either suppressed by a person, or finds expression in rapid adaptation to new conditions and new reactions in response to old stimuli. Creativity is the search and creation of something new, self-expression. In a broad sense, our whole life is a creative process.

Sociometry

A special technique that allows you to identify likes and dislikes in a group, the nature of the relationship between all participants, microgroups within the group, obvious and hidden leaders, outcasts, stars and neutrals. The result of sociometry is a detailed psychological portrait of the group (sociogram). Sociometry is needed in psychodrama so that the presenter correctly distributes people into groups.

Role theory

In psychodrama, the role is the participant’s habitual patterns of behavior. These are his verbal and non-verbal reactions in real life, his experience, beliefs, worldview. We constantly change roles depending on the situations and conditions in which we find ourselves.

Types of roles:

bodily (somatic), for example, the role of the eater;
mental, for example, the role of a jealous person, or a merry fellow;
social, for example, the role of daughter, mother, wife;
integrative (non-material), for example, the role of a believer or a person in love.

Roles are mastered in parallel with human development and precisely in the order in which we described them. Individual roles are repeated so often that they become the framework of the personality.

Psychodrama is a therapeutic method in which mental and psychosomatic illnesses are understood as a manifestation of disturbances in interpersonal relationships and interactions. To treat these disorders, spontaneous stage representation of them is used. Psychodrama is group psychotherapy and an active method. It is an approach that combines depth psychology and behavior therapy. It is described here in such detail because until now psychotherapy has been understood mainly as individual therapy, and the patient’s sphere of activity has been limited to the therapeutic lying on the couch.

Viennese physician Jacob Levi Moreno described psychodrama in 1920. At the same time, he used categories that before him lay outside psychotherapeutic thinking: play, meeting and theater. With this, Moreno marked the beginning of a new psychotherapeutic method.

Following Moreno’s provisions, the question “What is psychodrama?” one can answer: Psychodrama is a spontaneous play, Psychodrama is a meeting, Psychodrama is a representation of life in a stage performance, and thus is theater.

First, I will try to describe the most important characteristics of the method from a philosophical and anthropological point of view, and then I will talk about psychodrama as a psychotherapeutic method. As a game, spontaneous and relaxed, psychodrama almost unnoticed by the psychotherapists themselves crossed the previously taboo barrier of medicine. She crossed the line between the tedious, preconceived, largely unspontaneous world of adults and the richness of the child, designated as spontaneity, impartiality, ease and authentic being.

The fact that the relaxed and playful existence of a child is already understood in the philosophical and religious tradition of humanity as a manifestation of creative power and happiness can be illustrated by three quotes taken from a time span of more than 2000 years: Heraclitus believed: “Aion is like a child at play”; The Gospel of Matthew says: “Truly I tell you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” [Mat. 18.3]: Nietzsche writes in his article “Toward the Play of Creation”: “Innocence is a child, and oblivion, and a new beginning, a game and a wheel that unwinds from itself.”

All these quotes refer to the qualities of the child, which later, under the influence of disrupted interactions or other circumstances, more or less quickly and to a greater or lesser extent fade into the background or are completely lost. We are talking about the following qualities: spontaneity and authenticity, trust and playful actions. Instead, goals and coercion come to the fore on the basis of fear and mistrust - and distort a person, his world - which, however, in no case can be assessed exclusively negatively. If psychodrama quite consciously, through spontaneous play, returns to the child’s way of being, then this does not at all mean an escape from the world. Quite the opposite: psychodrama encourages a person to interact with the world spontaneously, authentically and creatively. Since from an anthropological point of view this interaction is mainly carried out through interpersonal relationships, the following important phenomenon is introduced into psychodrama: meeting (Begegnung).

Psychodrama is therefore a meeting because during the stage depiction of his interpersonal relationships and interactions, a person does not just talk about them, but rather directly and effectively communicates with the most important people from his environment.

To explain this kind of communication, Moreno (1925) used the image of a river in his early expressionist article “Invitation to Meeting” in 1915. Regarding successful communication, he writes: “therefore, the meeting does not seem to me like the flow of a river, devoid of bends and shoals that interfere with the flow.” Regarding the possible failure of the meeting: “...if I move too slowly, or do not move forward at all on my path, then on the way to my meeting with you, a discord, a crack, an illness, annoyance, imperfection arises. Therefore, I must ask about our position, about the situation between us, check our position, study our position and proceed from our position.”

So, this text poses three questions that we can consider today as the three main questions of psychodramatic therapy, namely: “What is the state of affairs? What can be done in this state of affairs? What follows from this state of affairs?

This text attempts to describe the use of psychodrama as a psychotherapeutic method, as well as the underlying role theory and interaction theory in group psychotherapy. Here the psychodramatic understanding of health as arising from the meeting (Begegnung, Encounter) of undisturbed self-development and self-realization is clarified. The same text prepared the basis for a psychodramatic understanding of illness: “If, when meeting with you, discord, cracks, illness, annoyance, imperfection arise (and also: there are violations in interactions), then the meeting will not take place, then the meeting seems to me like the flow of a river, on which there will soon be a cliff on the way of which there will be a traffic jam, then I walk very slowly or do not move forward at all.”

This image of stagnation and fixation later resulted in the concept of illness formulated by Moreno in the sense of blocking spontaneity and the resulting neurosis of creativity.

Let us now turn to the third basis of psychodrama - theater.

The place where, since ancient times, human suffering in its common inter-human relationship has been clearly demonstrated is called the theater. However, how does therapeutic practice achieve a meaningful connection between the theatrical presentation of human tragedies on stage and the tragic world of mental illness? The accumulated experience shows that this is impossible instantly and directly. The implementation of this fusion, as we will see, occurs in psychodrama.

But first, let’s take another look at the classical theater. The cathartic effect of drama, especially tragedy, on listeners has been known since ancient times. According to Aristotle, the tragedy of heroes should evoke “horror and compassion” in the public. However, these feelings only serve as an impetus for the psychohygienic action of self-awareness. The similarity of personal suffering in this situation is an important prerequisite for transcending and integrating experience. Although, is a seriously mentally ill person even capable of such transcendence?

Already in psychiatry in the 18th and 19th centuries, attempts were made to use theater to treat patients. One can recall the theatrical experiments of the Marquis De Sade, as well as the Gallic professors Reil and Hofbauer [Diener, 1971]. As spectators, the patients were somehow affected by the presentation of the story of someone else's life, however, this life was alien to both them and the actors.

Unlike these experiments, Moreno’s work was not about depicting other people’s suffering, but depicting his own suffering. It was not about skillful acting, but rather about spontaneous acting, not about influencing patients, but about their ability to express themselves. In his book “Theater of the Impromptu” Moreno [1923] writes in a still very poetic expressionist style: “The player is a resident of a private house. The excursion of a sequence of feelings, sensations and thoughts through the personal world can be carried out easily, fabulously and without any resistance. However, if any couple comes into conflict: to rejoice or suffer, then this state is a conflict. From the individual inhabitants of a private house, conflict creates a community. Remembering the conflict, bearing in mind the fact of the unity of time and space, they will become more and more entangled in each other. The fear in the house may turn out to be so great that neither silence, nor conversation, nor changes, even obvious ones, can help a couple or a group, since the violations are no longer rooted so much in the soul as in the body - this is death […] Everything seems in vain. They live in constant returns and deepening of the common misfortune; self-destruction here is the destruction of consciousness, but not of conflict.

The house where they live is the protection of their own ideas, the protection of the body that surrounds them, there is a seal on the meeting, there is a conflict - the internal reason is hidden very deeply. However, from this labyrinth of complications between father and mother, child and nanny, friend at home and enemy at home, from misunderstandings in the course of life, or as a result of growing understanding, the question arises of itself: How should lies, grief, chatter, pain, stupidity, self-deception , freedom, knowledge, knowledge, alienation, hatred, fear, horror, numerous associations of these states with each other, how should all this be saved?

Moreno answers: “Through subsequent theatricalization,” in other words: through psychodrama.

In contrast to the much discussed alternative of late, “Poetry or Conflict Theory?” This text provides an example of conflict theory acting as poetry. In addition, it provides an almost verbatim description of psychodrama: “...People play themselves, based on the need for fully conscious delusions, in other words, life. They no longer want to overcome being, they want to produce it. They repeat it. They are sovereign in the sense of their own being. Otherwise how could they do all this? After all, they are busy with so many things. Life as a whole unfolds, in all its complexities and temporary relationships, not a single moment is missed, attacks of fear, boredom, any question, coldness in relationships appear again.

It's not just the conversation they're having. Their body, their nerves, their heart fibers are also rejuvenated: they act out themselves as if from the most divine memory: all their actions, all their forces, all their thoughts arise in the original ratio, in the exact expression of the stages that they have already gone through once. Their whole past unfolds in an instant.”

I quote this 1923 text in such detail because it links together our already described ideas about play, meeting and theater with the theory and practice of psychodramatic therapy created by that time.

When I further reuse this text in parts essential for psychodramatic therapy, I do this because its content concerns today the theoretical foundations and other, especially new, psychotherapeutic methods, and also because it not only facilitates the knowledge of the most important moments of psychodrama in range of other methods of psychotherapy, but also an understanding of the place of psychodrama in the history of psychotherapy.

As we see from the quoted text, psychodramatic therapy is based on conflict and community, in other words, it presupposes a group. She suggests that: “The fear... is so great that... neither silence nor conversation helps anymore, since the disturbances are no longer rooted so much in the soul as in the body...” (later on we will say that they have already become “psychosomatic”)

Psychodrama therapy recognizes that conflict can become an “excuse for deepening oneself,” as is the case, for example, with repetition compulsion, which manifests itself in transference resistance. Psychodrama attempts to achieve healing through the free creative act that is stage performance.

“People play (note the word “play” - the game is voluntary) on their own, based on the necessity of life itself (...) Life as a whole unfolds, in all its complexities and temporal relationships (...) Their entire past unfolds in an instant"

An instant stage presentation in the present of past experiences is therefore of such great importance that it gives psychodramatic therapy the opportunity to see a person in the integrity of his words, actions, temporal characteristics and treat his conflicts as if along and across his life, and all this - hic et nunc - here and now.

We have come close to understanding psychodrama as therapy.

You, of course, ask: “How, exactly, does a psychotherapeutic meeting take place and what is said during psychodramatic psychotherapy?”

In answer to this question, I will briefly describe the most important psychodramatic techniques: role reversal and duplication, and explain the most important concepts of the method, such as, for example, the experience of evidence. A specifically psychodramatic approach to the use of resistance and transference will also be described.

If as the goal of psychodramatic therapy we call the release of patients’ spontaneity blocked by pathological interactions, and we understand this spontaneity as a prerequisite for their health, further development and creativity, then before describing psychodrama, let us turn once again to the definition of spontaneity given by Moreno [1967]: “Spontaneity is an appropriate reaction (response) to a new situation, or a new reaction in an old situation”

The fact that a mentally ill person fails to respond at all to a new adequate response is a sign of a disorder. The release and integration of spontaneity in psychodrama should, according to this definition, make the patient capable of new responses, first in the reversible game, and, finally, in the irreversible reality of life.

Now let's return to the process of psychodrama and the therapeutic process implemented in it. A psychodramatic session involves 8-9 patients, a psychodramatist-therapist and, sometimes, a co-therapist. Since seriously ill patients are rarely able to perform various roles, the presence of specially trained psychodramatist assistants in each group is also desirable.

Any psychodramatic meeting is divided into three phases: 1) warm-up phase; 2) game phase; 3) final phase.

In the unfreezing phase, the director of the psychodrama tries to create an atmosphere of trust, because even among animals, according to Por.

So, for example, the psychodramatist's attention to the description of the difficulties of the constrained patient, or to the stories of others, makes it very easy for that patient to talk about his situation. When the patient begins to talk about his conflict, the therapist immediately asks him directly whether it would be easier for him, instead of telling, to act out the situation so that everyone can imagine the full picture. At the same time, especially in short-term psychodramatic therapy, we are talking about quickly presenting conflicts and transferences that exist both outside and, possibly, within the therapeutic group in a psychodramatic game in stage images. After all, “transformation into images” is, according to Gadamer [1965], “transformation into truth. The game reveals what is.” If the patient agrees, and the group also agrees, then the therapist asks the main character, i.e. the patient, who has become the protagonist, is selected from among the members of the group of applicants who will portray his conflict partners.

As has been shown in my work since 1970 (Leitz, 1974, Leitz and Oberborbeck, 1980), all group members who are selected by the protagonist as play partners during the transition from the warm-up phase to the play phase will be during the game. precisely identified carriers of transference on the part of the protagonist. Through these participants, the actualization of those pictures that the protagonist has associated with the most important people from his immediate environment and which emerge in his consciousness in connection with the scenes being played out will occur. When, after the end of the game, the participants return back to the circle of other group members - back to their own roles - the transference that has arisen largely disappears.

If for some reason this does not happen, then the leader of the psychodrama must use special techniques that help remove the transference from the relevant persons, or contribute to the return of group members to their own roles.

Taking into account the way transference is used in psychodrama, together with Klosinski [1982], we can say that the group is considered as a “system of transference objects.”

The group as a “system of transference objects” arises, as Koenig [1977] described it in relation to psychoanalytic groups - with minimal structuring of the group in the first phase of psychodrama.

However, this kind of design of the first phase of psychodrama can cause increased fears and resistance, and, accordingly, complicate the transition to the game. The play phase of psychodrama proceeds more spontaneously, the better the protagonist was prepared during the first phase for the stage performance. Its “unfreezing” directly depends on the degree of liberation from fear. Spontaneity intensifies the game, which in turn enhances the spontaneity of the players. So, there is a relationship between warming up, spontaneity and play. Through their interaction, the hidden contents of consciousness more easily pass into the experienced, i.e. - into the minds of the players. This unfreezing effect in psychodrama finds support in Freud's [1975] considerations regarding resistance. Freud writes: “The unconscious, i.e. the repressed does not offer any resistance at all to the efforts of the doctor; it even itself strives only to break into consciousness, despite the pressure exerted on it, or to come to light through a real act. Resistance to treatment comes from the same higher layers and systems of the psyche that at one time produced repression.”

And if I am allowed to add to the quote in this way, at the same time the playful, authentic children’s way of being is relegated to the background.

In this regard, let us remember that the use of games in the process of psychotherapy was considered as the most important characteristic feature of psychodramatic therapy, distinguishing psychodrama from other forms of therapy. In the game, the patient not only gets rid of the “depressing pressure” of the adult world, but also masters the richness of a child, characterized by ease and authentic being. If we also take into account that the philosopher Huizinga [1956] in his book “On the Origin of Culture in Play” writes: “In the sphere of play the laws and habits of everyday life have no meaning,” then it becomes obvious that this also applies to the laws of resistance . We understand that psychodrama generally deals with resistance differently than, for example, psychoanalysis. Resistance, according to Freud, “comes from the highest strata and systems of spiritual life, which at one time produced repression,” from the impossibility of overcoming it. In play activities, repression is weakened and, I quote Freud, “in spite of increasing pressure”, “bringing into consciousness or obtaining information through real actions” is facilitated.

“Obtaining information about the repressed through real actions” is carried out in psychodrama in the game phase and in the final phase when previously repressed contents experienced in the game are consolidated in the mind. The process and specific techniques of this third phase will be explained through the following practical example.

So what is the prerequisite for dramatization in psychodrama? For the stage presentation of a situation, a so-called psychodramatic auxiliary world is necessary (Moreno 1959), namely: the stage, i.e. a playroom in which the group sits in a semicircle, an alter ego to represent the participants in the situation, and images of time and space that will be used by the protagonist and the group.

An exact reproduction of the depicted scene is not required. Quite the opposite: as a quasi-script, it is replaced by the most important component of psychodrama, namely spontaneous play. As we have already been able to see, thanks to the spontaneity of psychodramatic play, the repetition in reality of previous situations that the client remembers exactly or only approximately, there is access to repressed contents, forgotten, past situations, dreams and unconscious factors.

Example: In a psychodrama self-support group, a practitioner mentioned an ever-increasing conflict with her assistant. A year and a half ago, with great joy, she announced the start of her medical practice and invited a young assistant to conduct the appointment. She was quite intelligent and had good skills, but she was always cocky in her interactions.

The situation is so bad at the moment that the doctor is considering whether to go into practice alone.

At the request of the client and with the consent of the group, the situation was played out in psychodrama in accordance with three main psychodramatic questions: “What is the state of affairs? What can be done in this state of affairs? What follows from this state of affairs? First, the director of the psychodrama asked the client to briefly describe the appearance and character of her young assistant and to choose from among the group members a woman who would play her role. Since the performer of the role of the assistant during the game will be the object of transference of the protagonist (i.e., the main character in the psychodrama), it is very important that she is chosen by the protagonist herself.

Initially, the time and room in which the conflict unfolds were determined on stage. For these purposes, the protagonist described the room in which she conducts the reception. She explained the situation with gestures, arranged the chairs from the props, and described the clear summer day and the lighting of the room.

In the first scene, the protagonist depicted how she and her assistant were preparing for a reception. Her partner, as instructed, often made impudent remarks.

However, this hindered the protagonist in her game. She told the head of the psychodrama that at the time being depicted, her assistant should not be so impudent. At this moment, the manager used the role reversal technique: (1) to correct what was being portrayed by the partner, who did not know the personal characteristics of the assistant; (2) to give the protagonist the opportunity to experience interactions from the position of the enemy and to look at the shortcomings of his own behavior from the point of view of this role. The partner, who has now played both the role of a doctor and an assistant, copies not only the content of the previous conversation, but also the corresponding gestures. The protagonist, now in the role of an assistant - to the surprise of the group - plays a rather resourceful and skillful, quite polite young girl. Returning to her original role, the protagonist came down from the stage and said to the therapist and the group: “Yes, that’s what the assistant was like in the beginning.”

When asked where and when the change in the state of affairs just depicted occurred, the protagonist acted out two scenes that took place shortly after the start of work, in which she, as an assistant, behaved very dominantly. Fully aware of herself as a doctor, her assistant received patients, spoke confidentially to them like an old friend, and did dressings without waiting for instructions. In his own role, the doctor friendly but persistently criticizes the assistant, to which in the role of the assistant she responds with arrogant objections when changing roles.

At the end of both scenes, feedback begins. The protagonist first talks about his impressions of the role of an assistant. In the first scene she felt completely normal, in the second scene she did not perceive the doctor as a boss, at best as a colleague. The partner's role feedback about the assistant's role was the same. Regarding the role of the doctor, the partner reported that while she still felt confident in the first scene, by the end of the second scene she felt helpless. In the final discussion, group members shared how they themselves felt in relevant situations in their own lives (one group member reported that interactions with her daughter often felt the same way). These messages support the protagonist, whose defenses and counterarguments in the role-playing game, as we saw it, were somewhat different than in reality.

After the discussion, the protagonist added, puzzled, that in order to improve the situation, she hired another assistant who looked very businesslike. However, the situation worsened even further.

The peak of the next (second) game phase was the moment when the protagonist, overloaded with work, stands at a distance from the register and sees how her assistants, listening to the radio and drinking coffee, do not listen to her comments at all.

The protagonist's quiet rage was quite obvious. The leader of the psychodrama now asks the protagonist to remain in the same position, but to talk out loud about his thoughts and feelings. The protagonist says: “Incredible, simply incredible! This brute has already ruined my new assistant. Most willingly, I would fire her without any warning, however, now this will not work.” She grinds her teeth and is silent. The leader of the psychodrama does not try to interrupt the game. Instead, he uses the "echo" technique, a form of psychodramatic duplication. He stands opposite the protagonist, and, imitating her posture, movements, tone and volume of voice, repeats like an echo: “I would most willingly fire her without any warning, however, now this will not work.” Then he adds, “because...” and leaves the sentence unfinished. To this, the protagonist, greatly offended, continues: “because I have to take her into account.” Since the strong anxiety and this last remark do not seem to be consistent with each other, the therapist repeats again: “Because, yes, because I have to take her into account.” But there is no justification, such as the employee’s pregnancy or anything else. Since, from the point of view of defining spontaneity, this reaction of the protagonist is not adequate to the real situation, the therapist proposes a transference situation.

Here the second psychodramatic question arises: “What can be done in this state of affairs?” The therapist asks the protagonist to fully focus on his feelings and close his eyes. Then he repeats several times with the same expression: “Because I must be considered” and asks with closed eyes to remember where and when the first time the protagonist was forced to reckon with someone.

A shiver ran through her body. Tears started running from her eyes. To the question: “Where do you see yourself now and at what age?” she replies, “In my aunt’s kitchen. I am 12 years old. My four year old brother is here too. He's hiding, as usual. I’m alone with my aunt, whom I don’t really like.” This situation is staged in the usual way. After the brother hides, there is a role reversal between the protagonist and her aunt. As the aunt, she says, “So, your mother is leaving the hospital this afternoon. You know how hopeless her condition is. The doctor gives her at most another six weeks to live. We all have to take her seriously now. Try not to let her notice anything and be very attentive to your mother.” Returning to her own role, the protagonist began to cry bitterly. The understudy stood behind her and expressed her feelings in the following words: “I can’t live without my mother at all. What can I do to prevent this from happening? It will be terrible to stay with this aunt, because I am not as small as my brother, and I will not be able to hide anywhere. When my mother returns from the hospital, I will be very attentive to her, maybe then she will not die?

The crying protagonist agrees with everything, nodding her head.

As an example of how she had to take into account the wishes of her mother, to the surprise of everyone, she speaks not about her relationship with her mother, but about another visit to her aunt, in whose role she again strongly reminds her, when saying goodbye to her niece, that her mother should be be considered. This story confuses the therapist. Remembering the previous scene and the limited lifespan of his mother, he asks the protagonist how long ago this scene actually took place, and where they lived then. The answer that it was three years later and that they lived at home with their mother surprised him even more. He carefully asks further: “So the mother did not die, as expected, after six weeks?” In response, he heard: “No, she is still alive.”

In the final phase, the protagonist was surprised to discover a connection between her current conflict situation and the expectation of her mother’s death that had traumatized her. She says: “In fact, from then on, I have to take everyone into account. I didn’t realize it until now.”

With these words, the client expressed what is understood in psychodrama as the experience of evidence. In psychodrama, as an active method, the experience of evidence takes the place of the interpretations and interpretations that therapists offer to patients as part of verbal therapy. In psychodrama, stage experience and catharsis can cause such a strong experience of evidence that, under these conditions, modification of the protagonist's behavior can occur by itself.

Creating a project for the purpose of behavior modification and training this behavior serves as a therapeutic answer to the third basic question of psychodrama: “What follows from this state of affairs?” In a psychodramatic “test of the future,” the protagonist sketches a “new reaction in an old situation.”

Our protagonist tried to definitely talk to her assistant in the game. Through feedback from her partner, she learned that her behavior was so inclusive that she failed in any attempt to contradict.

Since these interactions were also played out in a role-playing game, the protagonist received new experience in the form of experiencing evidence, and she had a need to create a project for new behavior and test it in fictitious interactions. In conclusion, other participants showed other forms of boss behavior that the protagonist (a doctor) was able to experience in the role of a hired assistant. Since she has since tried other methods of behavior on herself, in her role she will check which of the new patterns of behavior she feels will be the most acceptable for both interaction partners.

After such a psychodramatic “test of the future” [Petzold 1979], which always serves as a reality check, (in the so-called behavioral psychodrama - V.R.) the best behavior will also be trained by the protagonist. Positive reinforcement from the players, therapist and group is extremely important. “Since we are unable to directly penetrate into the human psyche and directly observe what the individual perceives and feels, in psychodrama involving patients in the external world, a gestalt of intrapsychic modes of action is created in order to objectify (and change) it in our explicit and controlled universe . The protagonist is preparing to meet himself. The goal is visibility and measurability of holistic behavior. At the end of this phase of objectification, the phase of re-subjectivation, reorganization and reintegration of what was objectified begins (in practice, of course, both phases go hand in hand).”

This quote from Moreno (1964) clearly expresses both the depth psychological, restructuring, and behavioral components of the method.

In conclusion, I would like to once again emphasize that psychodrama is a game, and note that psychodrama as such conveys to a mentally ill person with impaired creativity and spontaneity the experience of creativity, transcending and integrating his personal suffering, since, I quote Schlegel (1882) : “...All spiritual games of art are only a certain copy of the endless games of the world, eternally copied by works of art.”

Source: Psychological Navigator. Author: Leitz Grete Anna, translation: Vladimir Romek.

Grete Leitz is a doctor of medicine, psychotherapist, president of the International Society of Group Psychotherapy (1986 - 1989), laureate of the Moreno Prize, member of a number of European and international psychotherapeutic organizations, director of the world-famous Moreno Institute of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy in Germany.

Literature: Aristoteles (1961) Poetik. Reclam, Stuttgart Diener G (1971) Goethes “Lila”. Heilung eines Wahnsinns durch "Psychische Kur". Athenaum, Frankfurt aM Freud S (1975) Jenseits des Lustprinzips. Gesammelte Werke, Bd II, S Fischer, Frankfurt (S. Freud Psychology of the unconscious, - Beyond the pleasure principle, - M., Enlightenment, 1989, p. 391) Gadamer HG (1965) Wahrhiet und Methode. Mohr, Tubingen Heraklit (1934) Fragment 125. In: Diels (Hrsg.) Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Bd I. Berlin, S 162 Heuzinga J (1956) Homo Ludens. Vom Ursprung der Kultur im Spiel Rowohlt, Hamburg Klosinski G (1982) Problemlosungen im Psychodrama. In: Kreuzer KJ (Hrsg) Handbuch der Spielpadagogik, Bd IV. Schwann, Dusseldorf Konig K (1977) Strukturierende Faktoren in der Gruppenpsychotherapie und Gruppenarbeit - Wer oder was strukturiert einen Gruppenprozess? Gruppenpsychotherapie und Gruppendynamik, Bd II, S 211-220 Leutz GA (1974) Psychodrama, Theorie und Praxis, Bd I. Klassische Psychodrama nach Moreno JL. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Leutz GA, Oberborbeck K (1980) Psychodrama. Gruppenpsychotherapie und Gruppendynamik, Bd 15, s 176 -187. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Gottingen Moreno JL (1923) Das Stegreiftheatr. Kiepenheuer, Potsdam Moreno JL (1925) Rede uber die Begegnung, In: Einladung zu einer Begegnung, 2.Aufl. Kiepenheuer, Potsdam Moreno JL (1959) Gruppenpsychotherapie und Psychodrama. Thime, Stuttgart Moreno JL (1964) Psychodrama, vol 1. Beacon House, Beacon, NY Moreno JL (1967) Die Grundlagen der Soziometrie, 2. Aufl. Westdeutscher Verlag, Koln/Opladen Portmann A (1976) Das Spiel als gestaltete Zeit. In: Bayerische Akademie der Schonen Kunste (Hrsg) Der Mensch und das Spiel in der verplanten Welt. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munchen Nietzsche F (1955) Also sprach Zarathustra, Werke, Bd II. Hanser, Munchen Schlegel F (1882) Geschprache uber Poesie. In: Minor j (Hrsg) Friedrich Schlegels Jugendschriften

Directions of psychodrama

Modern directions of psychodrama:

Hypnodrama. The game is combined with immersing participants in a hypnotic trance. Under such conditions, the subconscious is included in the work as much as possible, the participants relax and recover, rest mentally and somatically.
Biodrama. People portray animals that they resemble. This technique is more often used when working with children, since it is easier for them to talk about themselves through other characters, for example, through animals.
Sociodrama. Within a stable group, a person acts out the conflict in which he became a participant in another group.
Puppet drama. Dolls are used instead of people. This direction is often used when working with children.
Improvisation. There is no script, all participants act freely.

Interesting! Moreno did not leave direct instructions and theoretical foundations of psychodrama. Psychologists had to recreate the theory bit by bit using the materials that had survived. Therefore, there are many varieties of this technique, but the principles and structure are preserved.

Psychodrama Moreno

Moreno himself stated that he first used his technique after talking with a young theater actor. He spoke about the difficulties in his relationship with his beloved. Taking advantage of the assistance of the guy’s colleagues, the psychoanalyst managed to bring him onto the stage, where he invited him to talk about his experiences in an improvisational form. This experience turned out to be useful not only for the actor, but also for the entire troupe.

Moreno continued his exciting experiments with group play, complementing them with formalized methods. He began to develop techniques that later turned out to be an essential part of therapy. Working on his methodology, the psychoanalyst was based on the opinion: any individual has a natural ability to play and transform into certain roles. This gives him the opportunity to creatively approach problems and internal conflicts. When starting to act out the situation, the client begins to use creativity and spontaneity. There is a real emotional connection between group members, as well as catharsis leading to increased creative activity.

Jacob Levy Moreno stated that psychodrama is a science that tries to achieve truth through dramatic means. He noted that the main task of the method is to resolve personal contradictions in the microscope of the world, which is the group. A person acts out his fantasies, fears, ambitions. Therapy implies the serious involvement of all members of the representation in the analysis of current problems in their real form, as well as in the form of memories and first impressions.

The basis of therapy is action. Moreno argued that the method helps "the truth of the soul to know itself in action." Many people prefer to mentally analyze their troubles in order to get to the point. We draw conclusions “within ourselves,” and there we determine the cause of what happened. Psychodrama works differently, transferring the problem into action. A person can look at it from an unexpected angle, more comprehensively. It’s as if what happened unfolds in time and space, appearing again in the present. There is an additional opportunity to consider everything from different points of view, guided by different functions of the psyche: sensations, thinking, intuition.

It may seem that in therapy everything goes effortlessly, without unnecessary effort, but it is based on a complex action carried out step by step. This means drama. Internal conflict must be portrayed dramatically, a complex internal problem must be brought into action. All this allows a person to work through forgotten memories and analyze them, relying on their inner voice and worldview. Many people who experienced psychodrama themselves called it a turning point in their lives, which directed their relationships with others in a different direction.

Most of us have encountered strong experiences that, even after a long time, remained in the back of our minds and somehow manifested themselves in real life. This means that they are firmly rooted in the soul, touching important strings of the psyche. This experience has been suppressed, perhaps it is unconscious, unanalyzed. However, it continues to manifest itself, requiring serious rethinking. Psychodrama is most suitable in such cases, when it is necessary to release your emotions.

Kinds

Moreno identified the following types of psychodrama (forms of psychodrama):

A psychodrama led by a protagonist. The pain of one of the participants is played out.
Psychodrama that focuses on the group. A problem involving a group of people is being sorted out.
Psychodrama focused on the theme. A problem that is relevant to everyone present is discussed. We can talk about both internal conflicts and events in the outside world, including global news.

Psychodrama techniques

In the process of psychodrama, various techniques are used, which are used as needed:

Introducing yourself is giving information about yourself, the problem, and other participants in the situation. Here the client decides what to disclose and what to talk about.
Playing a role that can be played by both the client and other participants.
Double.

The main directions of psychodrama are:

Biblodrama is the acting out of situations from the Bible, which depicts the main conflict events between people.
Monodrama - personality traits are reflected not by a person, but by objects.
Axiodrama is a reflection of a person’s basic values.
Sociodrama is the acting out of situations that most people face.
Play-back theater is the acting out of a situation by a person who at the same time takes the position of a simple spectator.
Dramatherapy is the acting out of various stories from literature.

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Types of relationships

Moreno identified three types of relationships between people from the perspective of psychodrama (three types of connection):

Transfer. One person attributes to another such negative qualities and actions that he actually does not have. Usually this happens for a reason, but based on trauma. For example, a person transfers his mother’s cruelty to all women who look somewhat similar to her.
Feeling (in the author's terminology). A person perceives another as a separate and unique person, tries to understand him, look at the situation through his eyes, feel what that person feels.
Tele. By this Moreno meant mutual understanding between people or mutual alienation.

The last two types are related to adequate perception and self-perception. The ability to empathize with another person and understand his attitude towards his opponent is a sign of mental health.

Basic principles and concepts

To understand on what principles psychodrama works, you need to know its basic concepts, which help to comprehend the essence of this direction.

Sociometry

This is a tool for measuring interpersonal relationships, intragroup connections, and hierarchy. The group, which is the center of psychodrama, is a living, constantly changing organism - an open system. Sociometry allows you to understand what is happening in it at the moment. If earlier this diagnostic method was the property of Moreno (he is the author) and psychodrama, today it is actively used in almost all areas of psychology and psychotherapy.

According to sociometry, in each group people perform different roles:

clear leaders - those who do not hide their superiority and are ready to lead others,
hidden leaders - those who remain in the shadows, but at the same time can secretly push others to make decisions that are important for the group,
stars are those who command respect and sympathy from others,
neutrals - those who do not evoke special emotions among their classmates,
outcasts are those who are not accepted by the rest of the group.

These group roles are identified quite easily. Everyone is asked the same question. As an example: “Who would you like to be on a desert island with? Select 2-3 people from your group.” After this, the number of points is calculated (how many people chose this or that groupmate). The maximum are leaders, the minimum or zero are outcasts.

Psychodrama involves dividing people into groups so that there are no outcasts in them. It excludes the principle of spontaneity: a psychodrama therapist will never do this alphabetically or by drawing lots. First - on a voluntary basis, then - based on the results of sociometric surveys. It is important that each participant in the process is respected and accepted by those who work with him on the same script. This creates a comfortable environment, people feel more confident, get rid of complexes and open up fully.

Sociometry is the most important theoretical basis of psychodrama. Moreno practiced it both in small groups (students resettling 2-3 people per dorm room) and in large groups (students resettling an entire Indian reservation).

Spontaneity

The second most important theoretical basis of psychodrama after sociometry. It is characterized either as a new reaction to an old situation, or as an adequate response to something unusual. Without it, it is impossible to manifest creative potential, which instills fire in every role played on stage (in a group).

Imagine a family with many years of experience living together. The wife is exhausted by the indifference of her husband, who after so many years no longer sees in her a beautiful woman worthy of love. The problem is that spontaneity is no longer present in the scenario of their marriage. Psychodrama quickly solves the problem of such couples, offering them only to change their usual reactions to the situation. The husband brings his wife coffee in bed in the morning, writes flirting text messages to her throughout the day, gives her flowers in the evening and invites her on a date. She, in turn, exchanges the greasy robe for a seductive dress, turns on all her feminine charm and makes her husband fall in love with her again, like many years ago. Usually couples leave such sessions satisfied and understanding in which direction they need to move.

Spontaneity is a necessity of existence. There are always unexpected moments in life that need to be responded to quickly and adequately. The quality of existence and the harmony of the inner world depend on this. They said the wrong thing, did the wrong thing - and now the feeling of guilt and corrosive regret gives rise to complexes. Psychodrama helps to behave correctly in such moments, not to be afraid to improvise and to be confident in what is said and done.

If spontaneity is suppressed and does not find a way out, this becomes the main reason for the development of neurosis.

It is the initial stage of any creative process:

spontaneity - motive, insight, impetus for creative movement forward, energy charge, inspiration,
creative (stage 2) - giving spontaneity a specific form, choosing the direction in which to move,
cultural conservation (stage 3) - preservation of a creative product over time.

Spontaneity is present in other areas of psychology and psychotherapy, but is called differently: libido (Freud), orgone energy (Reich).

Role theory

The third theoretical basis of psychodrama. There are several classifications of roles that people play in life (and then automatically transfer them to work in a group).

Depending on the motives

Psychosomatic roles (determined by vital necessity): frightened (when the self-preservation instinct is triggered) parent,
psychological (determined by internal motivations): angry, angry, virtue, manipulator,
social (determined by the rules of behavior in society): passenger, boss, customer, businessman.

Depending on the conflict

Functional Roles

Characterized by successful resolution of conflict situations. They allow you to collaborate with other classmates, establish useful connections, and promote personal growth. There are stable functional roles that have long been familiar to a person and which he regularly uses. For example, to quell a scandal in a couple, a wife arranges a romantic dinner for her husband. There is another type - those who are born, who are not yet fixed in consciousness. The goal of psychodrama is for patients to learn the correct functional roles and be able to reproduce them in life if necessary.

Dysfunctional roles

The opposite of functional roles. Not only do they not help resolve conflict situations, but they also create them. As a result, they lead to the destruction of personality from the inside. They can be stable, manifesting themselves constantly. For example, in response to a parent’s prohibition (to go for a walk, watch TV, play on a tablet), a teenager always does the same thing: slams the door, locks himself in his room and refuses to communicate. This behavior only makes the situation worse.

Dysfunctional roles can be outgoing, that is, periodic. Example: a typical situation is that someone stepped on someone else’s foot on a trolleybus, but the same person can react to this differently at different moments. If he's in a good mood, he'll pretend he didn't notice anything. But, if everything is bad for him, he is tired and irritated, and can provoke a quarrel in a raised voice. This is the outgoing dysfunctional role. If it is constantly repeated, it will become generalized and become stable.

coping

Somewhere between functionality and dysfunctionality. Not as creative roles as the first ones, and not as destructive as the second ones. They help to delay the resolution of a conflict situation and relieve tension for a certain period. In psychodrama they are divided into three groups. “Moving towards” means adjusting to the aggressor so that he calms down. “Move away” - ignoring the opponent. “Movement against” is a sharp attack that disarms and temporarily shocks the opposing side.

The main goal of psychodrama is to transform a person’s dysfunctional and coping roles into functional ones.

Psychodrama also uses the following concepts:

“tele” is a two-way process of transferring emotions between all participants, feeling for each other (the cement that holds the group together),
catharsis - a sensory shock, an explosion of emotions, insight, internal cleansing, which both the audience and the actor himself must experience at the climax of the action,
insight - awareness of exactly how to solve a problem.

The goal of psychodrama is the maximum manifestation of all three moments in sessions: “body”, catharsis and insight.

Stages of psychodrama practice

There are three phases of psychodrama:

Warming up At this stage, the facilitator offers the participants several exercises for unity, getting to know each other, and recreating a trusting atmosphere. This is important so that participants can be open and talk about personal things. At this stage, topics for discussion are identified.
Action. Direct dramatization of the selected problem. The presenter appoints the protagonist and helps him assign other roles.
Schering. Analysis of the situation, active discussion of the completed game. The protagonist talks about what conclusions he made. The facilitator helps interpret what the person is feeling.

Participants choose one of the psychodrama techniques: duplication, mirror or role exchange.

In the first case, the other person becomes a reflection of the main character's subconscious. The understudy speaks out, portrays what is suppressed in the main person. If the understudy is right, then the hero agrees and repeats it.

Basic methods of psychodrama

Psychodrama is a therapy that has numerous variations, and its main methods are considered to be: the double method, display, monologue, role exchange.

Double

What is the principle of the technique? One of the group members, who is chosen by the rest, either the protagonist herself or the psychologist, becomes the understudy of the “main character”. He carefully analyzes his monologue, preparing to pick it up at any second, continuing his search for a solution to the problem instead when he begins to plunge into it. This method has a variation: the double tries to say for the main character what was “left behind the scenes.”

This method assumes the ability to empathically understand the protagonist and the ability to identify him with oneself. In psychodrama, doubles and protagonists are regularly changed so that everyone takes on different roles.

The participation of other group members is allowed, acting as auxiliary selves - they complement what was not expressed by the double and the main character.

It is important to understand: the double cannot speak on his own behalf - he must feel the protagonist within himself, his inner voice. Different types of doubles are encouraged - ironic, skeptics, active, frank and others. The diversity of characters will allow all participants in the process to see from the outside not only the feelings of the main character, but also their own. Representatives of the vast majority of types of psychotherapy believe that the key to mental health is a comprehensive perception of one’s own personality, others and general reality.

Display

The method implies a feedback mechanism. The protagonist begins to observe how other members of the group portray him. He sees himself through the eyes of others - this gives him a more complete opinion about himself, making some corrections to his usual worldview and behavior.

Monologue

Statements by the main character and his auxiliary selves. The monologue sounds on a topic important to the protagonist. He tries to fully convey it to the listeners, simultaneously rethinking it. Analyzing the group's reaction, he finds new important facets in the exciting issue.

Exchange of roles

In psychodrama there is an exchange of roles. The client can be a double, a protagonist, an auxiliary self. This is how he learns to analyze what is happening around him, to better understand others, and himself.

The methods are divided conditionally, because in each of them common elements are combined - just in different proportions. An experienced group leader will be able to successfully combine them, sensing the moment in time for a successful replacement.

Let's briefly look at some other methods used in psychodrama.

Candle technique

During the lesson, each group member gets to be a double, a protagonist, an auxiliary self.

Projection of the future

The main character voices fantasies of what will happen in the future (near or distant).

Conversations by candlelight

The main character stands with his back to the group, listening to how other group members discuss his behavior, fantasies, and thoughts.

Elements of psychodrama have found application in every type of group psychotherapy. The therapy is also successfully used in the treatment of alcoholism, mild and severe nervous disorders, drug addiction, and behavior correction.

Exercises

Let us briefly consider several popular exercises using psychodrama.

Shop

Participants are divided into sellers and buyers. Subsequently, dividing into pairs or subgroups, the participants reproduce conflicts and find a way out of them. Different themes are used, and participants often change roles. This exercise helps develop social and communication skills. Each participant learns to defend their position and overcome conflicts with dignity and seek compromises.

Bus

All participants are divided into “hares” (free riders) and controllers. The first sit in the inner circle, the second in the outer. Free riders make excuses, and controllers try to shame them, but at the same time put themselves in their position. At the end of the action, the participants discuss each other's game. During interaction, internal blocks, complexes and problems of people are identified, those features that prevent them from interacting with society. Each participant learns to defend their opinion, refuse, resist, and maintain composure in uncomfortable situations.

Family

The protagonist distributes roles in the game, also assigns his role to someone and describes what situation from his family the participants should reproduce. This exercise allows the main character to look at himself from the outside and look at other family members differently. After reproducing the situation, a discussion is held.

Stages

Psychodrama is sessions of acting out various situations that show the patient the objective state of affairs, help to make the right decision and establish connections with the outside world. They represent a clearly organized action in which the main phases can be distinguished.

Stage 1. Warm up

Most often, this is a motor exercise or meditative practice that energizes and puts participants in the right mood (corresponds to the theme of the psychodramatic session). This stage determines how successful all other stages of the process will be. Main goals: to liberate, stimulate spontaneous reactions, focus on the problem. Warming up can be directed and undirected, verbal and non-verbal.

Stage 2. Choosing a protagonist

A sociometric survey is conducted, and the psychodrama therapist, based on it, selects a leader - a person who will play the main role over several sessions. In a sociodrama there may be two or three of them.

Stage 3. Action

The main action is also divided into stages.

Stage 1. The protagonist plays out a scene that excites him several times, independently choosing participants from the group for it. At the same time, he tries to change the scenario every time, answering the question: what will happen if I do this? what if it’s different? But what happens if the secondary hero of the drama behaves differently?

Stage 2. When the protagonist has played all possible (from his point of view) roles in the situation that worries him, the contract with him is terminated. He is replaced by another person (the hidden leader or star of the group). And the script is run again. As practice shows, spontaneity allows you to discover new facets of conflict resolution every time.

At this stage, the question may arise, what does the protagonist’s game give to the rest of the participants? The fact is that the psychotherapist initially selects group members with identical problems. That is, they see their own situation “on stage”. The second point is that the specialist tries to ensure that everyone participates in it during the two stages of the main action, introducing their own version of the development of events into the dramatic session.

Stage 4. Sharing

The final stage of psychodrama. Participants share their emotions, feelings, impressions of what happened. There are two stages in it.

Stage 1. I am in the role. The participants briefly tell how they felt on stage, what the psychodrama they were playing gave them.

Stage 2. I am in life. Each participant tells his own story from his life, which is identical to the one that was just acted out.

Stage 3 (preservation). I am working on mistakes. Each hero of the psychodrama draws a conclusion about what he did wrong in life, what mistakes he saw with the help of the scene being played out, and how he can correct them in reality.

It is at the sharing stage that the psychodrama therapist comes out of the shadows. Here he must perform the following tasks:

de-roling - help participants step out of role and receive feedback;
restore their emotional stability after the action ends;
provide them with a comfortable state.

Sharing is the main stage of psychodrama. It may take several sessions. The most important thing is to let all participants speak. At the same time, the specialist must voice in advance the prohibitions that apply in this phase: when analyzing what is happening, it is categorically forbidden to criticize or ridicule the protagonist and other group members, make comments to them, or express one’s own judgments about their play. The whole process should take place on a positive wave.

Techniques, methods, methods

Self-presentation

The simplest and mandatory method of psychodrama. It is a monologue or a series of short scenes in which the protagonist portrays himself. He is the only participant in the action. His goal is not only to introduce himself to other group members, but also to identify his problem.

Duplication

The essence of the technique: after the protagonist has played all possible roles in his situation, he is replaced in the skit by another member of the group. The latter tries to “duplicate” it and the conflict, but at the same time unconsciously introduces his own vision, a spontaneous reaction, which may unexpectedly turn out to be a way out of the problem. But still, the main task is to try to completely repeat all the actions of the main character.

Indications for the use of the duplication technique:

stress,
loneliness,
resentment,
depression,
fears.

The duplication technique cannot be used if:

the participant must make an independent decision,
the protagonist is open and copes well with his role,
members of the group are schizophrenics or persons with paranoid personality disorders.

Psychodrama also involves the use of multiple duplication techniques, when several participants in the action try to take on the role of the protagonist.

Exchange of roles

It differs from the duplication technique in that the new hero should not repeat the actions and words of the leading protagonist. He must play the role as he sees fit. This can give a completely new perspective on the situation. Moreover, the main character becomes secondary, replacing the one who became him.

Indications:

the need for a new vision of the problem,
removing psychological protection from the protagonist (playing a secondary role, he forgets about it),
resolving conflicts between loved ones.

Contraindications:

panic fears, phobias, psychotraumas,
psychotic personality type,
physical and psychological fatigue.

This technique is often used in children's psychodrama. It helps schoolchildren and adolescents socialize and self-integrate. For example, children willingly play in such scenes of parents and teachers, demonstrating how they personally see the resolution of a conflict situation.

Mirror

First, the protagonist plays out his problematic situation, then leaves the hall and watches what plays out next through an online video recording. At this time, his role is taken on by another member of the group, with whom the psychodrama therapist has worked in advance. He doesn’t just mirror everything the main character just said and did. He grotesquely emphasizes some specific feature of his behavior, which prevents him from making the right decision and adequately responding to the problem.

Indications:

autism, closed-mindedness, social maladjustment,
apathy, lack of will, indifference, fatigue from life, reluctance to change something and make responsible decisions,
depression, inappropriate behavior, obsessions, obsession with fantasies.

Contraindications:

high sensitivity,
low self-esteem,
suicidal tendencies,
paranoia.

After mirroring, the protagonist comes out of the shadows and tries to play the situation correctly, correcting the trait (mistake, reaction) indicated to him. This technique is often used for teenagers so that they can see and evaluate themselves from the outside.