What is Dramatherapy?
Dramatherapy is a form of psychotherapy that utilises creative techniques to facilitate personal growth and promote mental health. It has been an established and evidence-based intervention in the UK since the 1930’s where it is a protected title. This means that only someone who completes a Master’s degree and the appropriate client hours, supervision and personal therapy can call themselves a Dramatherapist.
​
No experience in drama or art is required and you do not need to put on a performance in a dramatherapy session. Rather, creative arts therapies can help people tap into their own stories in a gentle and non-directive way and explore these safely. By using a creative medium and not simply relying on the spoken word, you may find the words to express what you are feeling and strengthen your emotional vocabulary.
​
By utilising drama and play, a session allows the client to reawaken their imagination through using metaphor. A dramatherapy session may look different every time and might use storytelling, puppetry, movement, art, improvisation, games, object sculpts or role play. If you prefer to just be creative and not talk that’s OK and if you would rather mostly talk and use just a little creativity to encourage communication that’s OK too!
​
Dramatherapy is a person centred, strengths-based approach and can be used with children, adolescents or adults and can be tailored to a clients age, interests, and therapeutic goals. It can be used to shift perspective, resolve problems, and imagine new ways of being. It can assist with developing self-awareness and improving self-worth, expressing emotions, and improving relationships. Dramatherapy can help get to the root of the problem by allowing the client to enact a problem and explore what a solution could be through nondirective play. For anyone who may struggle to verbalise and/or process their experience cognitively, dramatherapy uses the natural language of play and provides aesthetic distance so that even if you may not have the words as to why you feel a certain way, we can still explore this safely and seek solutions.
​
For those who want to know more, below is a fantastic video from Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre.