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  5. Volume 45, Issue 1, 2024

Dramatherapy - Volume 45, Issue 1, 2024

Volume 45, Issue 1

Volume 45, Issue 1, 2024

Language: English
  • Editorial

      • Editorial: Embarking on a quixotic journey

        https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00001_2

        This editorial contextualizes the new phase of the journal () at Intellect, in light of the journal’s history. It presents its new features, its editors and its sections, briefly summarizing the articles that comprise the current issue. Engaging with Cervantes’s as an inspiring metaphor, the editors outline the adventure they have embarked on, defining it as a quixotic journey that requires to navigate the complexity of current global situations while supporting the values of acceptance, cooperation, mutuality, equality, love and respect for nature, that dramatherapy advocates both in its theory and in its everyday practise. The editors present the Call for Papers for the next Special Issue on ‘Diasporas in Dramatherapy’.

  • Articles

      • Global therapy: Advocating for a dramatherapeutic approach to formal education

        https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00002_1

        This article addresses the question of how we might set about building a kinder, more empathic world to counter the violence and inequality that characterizes so much of contemporary experience. Given that the school figures so prominently in the lives of most young people, the core suggestion is to align teaching much more closely with approaches traditionally associated with dramatherapy. For this to happen, schooling needs to be replaced by education where the experience of the learner is central to the process of learning and where dialogue is the principal means of transmission. Drawing upon the pedagogical imperatives of Paulo Freire, this approach to education is in tune with recent discoveries concerning the neurological structure of the human brain, which have demonstrated that we are wired for empathy. However, empathy alone is value neutral. An educational experience needs to offer opportunities to practise critical empathy, following the theatre aesthetics of Bertolt Brecht. Stories are at the heart of this experience since they are the most powerful vehicles for the practice of empathy and distance. We are a storytelling species and, through the stories we tell, we can develop our capacity for kindness without which it is impossible to imagine a better world.

    • A mixed-methods evaluation of the dramatherapy Meta-Processes Model of Change

      https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00003_1

      Investigation into the processes which are in action during dramatherapy is an emerging area of research interest. Models, such as the Meta-Processes Model of Change (MPMC) have, thus, emerged. This model proposes five meta-processes that underlie change in dramatherapy, which are said to be present across all dramatherapy approaches and are crucial to client change. Developed, initially, via a systematic review of dramatherapy, little analysis has been applied to this model since its inception. In order to understand UK dramatherapists’ perspectives on the model and to investigate its applicability to their practice, a mixed-methods study was conducted. Semi-structured interviews were employed with eight UK dramatherapists, and thematic analysis was applied to the data. Afterwards, the MPMC was introduced to the same eight participants before they completed a primarily quantitative short questionnaire. The findings suggest that there is considerable convergence between the MPMC and dramatherapy methods and techniques that the participant dramatherapists employed within their clinical practice. The findings also uncovered the perceived importance of the meta-processes to a UK dramatherapy sample; (e.g. via the use dramatic distance and ritual) was deemed to be the most important meta-process by those involved. As this study had a small sample size, and as there was limited knowledge of the model prior to participants’ involvement in the study, further empirical and client-centred research on meta-processes is required.

    • A review of literature on the therapeutic use of drama to support communication with young autistic children

      https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00004_1

      This literature review seeks to chart the current landscape of research related to drama, therapy and young autistic children needing support with communication. Beginning with key concepts to set out definitions for the review, I then demonstrate the search process as a scoping exercise and discuss the findings of two separate collections of studies: one of wider practices using drama as therapy, including group dramatherapy, and one collection of studies describing one-to-one drama as therapy. The aim of the review is to gather the available evidence of whether drama as therapy can support the communicative strengths of young children on the autism spectrum, in particular those described as non-verbal or minimally verbal. I then seek to extrapolate how this might occur through presenting the outcomes of a theme analysis of seven case studies of one-to-one drama as therapy.

    • ‘I see them speak, I can hear their movements’: Playfulness and personal growth in playback theatre groups for older women

      https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00005_1

      Recent studies have confirmed the positive effects of playback theatre groups for the older population. This article presents part of a larger study that examined the experiences of older women in Israel who took part in playback theatre groups in community centres. It explores one theme from the findings that centred on promoting change and growth. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with women aged 62–81 ( = 17) who had been involved in playback theatre groups for over six months. The data were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. Five subthemes emerged from the analysis: (1) the creative process promotes change from introversion to openness; (2) expanding the self through bodywork and movement; (3) playfulness in playback theatre creates an ageless experience; (4) development in the group is assimilated into daily life and (5) the importance of the role of the conductor in the participants’ development. The findings highlight the importance of playback theatre and its contribution to promoting personal development and self-expression in older women. Through embodied expression, these women reported experiencing a meaningful connection to their ageing body. These results may provide the basis for developing community-based intervention programmes grounded in playback theatre for older women.

    • The multidimensional grief of siblings: An exploration of story enactment in children’s hospices

      https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00006_1

      In this article the author reflects on her experience of facilitating story enactment within an arts therapies group for bereaved siblings at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, in London. The author is originally trained in the Sesame Approach and has practised as a dramatherapist in the field of bereavement for over ten years. Through a phenomenological approach, the article examines how the enactment of symbolic images from fairy tales supports children processing their grief following the death of a sibling due to a life-limiting condition. The clinical vignette, presented as a constructed case study, provides an illustrative example of using the framework of the hero’s journey to delve into symbolic expression, intersubjectivity and embodiment. In analysing the clinical material, the author combines the Sesame Approach in dramatherapy with the novel Multidimensional Grief Theory, developed by psychologist Christopher Layne. This integration serves to illustrate the fundamental role of story enactment in group therapy for bereaved siblings in paediatric palliative care.

    • The creative arts therapists on the continuum of practice within Arts in Health in the Netherlands

      https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00008_1

      Arts in Health, also known as Arts for Health, is an umbrella term used to describe the domain of using the arts to enhance our (mental) health and well-being. It involves a heterogeneous range of professionals who use the arts in various ways, with different goals and outcomes. The practices of these professionals can be placed on a continuum based on the variety of goals and outcomes, ranging from promoting social connection or well-being to treating (mental) health conditions. Recent discussions in the Netherlands have raised questions about the position of creative arts therapists on this continuum. This opinion paper addresses this issue by providing a brief overview of the development of the profession of creative arts therapists, the working areas of creative arts therapists and the growing evidence base of creative arts therapeutic interventions. The practices of creative arts therapists are positioned on the continuum, where the emphasis on and accountability for the clients’ (mental) health increases and evidence-informed use of the arts within a more clearly delineated and legally safeguarded professional framework are present. Knowing where the practices of creative arts therapists are placed can assist in identifying when to choose creative arts therapists, other professionals combining arts and healthcare, or a combination of professionals.

    • Open dramatherapy: Embracing Open Science in the further development of our field

      https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00009_1

      This issue of () is its first published as Diamond Open Access, which promises to stimulate engagement and encourage further research in dramatherapy. It also connects our field to the progressively advancing Open Science revolution, which seeks to reduce barriers to research and support collaboration in and around academia. This brief commentary seeks to review Open Science practices within the field of dramatherapy and envisions how its community may benefit from further implementation of Open Science principles. It also notes some of the challenges of an Open Science approach. In closing, it names three recommendations for students, practitioners and researchers of dramatherapy that may facilitate approaches of Open Science within our field and promote scholarship and collaboration.

  • Creative Contribution

      • The mask and the mirror

        https://doi.org/10.1386/dj_00010_1

        After retiring from the field of drama therapy in 2018, I resumed my career as an artist, making theatre, music and visual art. Since that time I have focused most on creating both actual and digital images through photography. In February 2024, I completed an exhibition of 60 images launched on an international platform, , in March 2024. The exhibition concerns a series of photographs I created in the late 1970s of people wearing masks that I made on my face. The early photographs were very much about my fascination with masks as self-portraiture. I paired the old images with new ones of new masks of my face on some of the same people 45 years later, and some new people. In this creative contribution, I present my artist statement for the exhibition and then one photograph that was in the show. And below that is a playful image visually expressing an idea that has been with me for more than fifty years – that a human being is multiplicitous and that, like an actor onstage, has the potential to play many roles.

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