Lights, Camera, Action..The Effectiveness of Drama Therapy

Creative expression as a form of healing and therapy has been widely accepted in many cultures ever since the dawn of civilization. The roots of drama or theater therapy in particular, go way back to the ancient Greek civilization in which theater was such an integral part of their life that it formed an important channel to express social impacts of life and change. This is not surprising, considering the effect psychotherapy in general has on individuals struggling with their mental health. In fact several research reports suggest the same. For instance, a review of research studies conducted by the American Psychological Association states that Psychotherapy is effective, helps reduce the overall need for health services and produces long-term health improvements. And that’s not it! The official journal of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), European Psychiatry, published a study in 2009 that stated that drama therapy decidedly reduced symptoms of social anxiety among people who practiced it. Moreover, a qualitative case study was conducted on a couple undergoing therapy using this technique. The study was published in Drama Therapy Review and it reported positive progress as a result of their drama therapy work.

Aspects of the theatre have routinely come into play in therapy and forms a large part of what today constitutes “theater” or “drama” therapy. Typical theater practices include role play, an exercise in which two people express themselves by pretending to be either each other or someone else, for example, a mother and daughter. Drama therapy, however, goes a step further and allows the patient to express their emotions by not just “pretending” to be a particular character, but actually “being” the character and separating themselves from the actions using their emotions to drive the action.

Drama therapy is similar to the Stanislavski method of acting, a method of acting founded in the early 1900’s by Constantin Stanislavski, a russian actor, director and administrator of The Moscow Art Theater. This method is still used by actors today wherein they draw believable performances by thinking about an emotional memory which they then focus internally to portray their character’s emotions on stage.

Research demonstrates that drama or performance therapy is effective for a variety of mental health issues and across a spectrum of demographic and groups. Perhaps the most intriguing fact is that the average effects of therapy are said to be more imposing than the effects produced by many medical treatments. Therapy teaches patients life skills that last beyond the average course of their treatment and rarely produce harmful side effects. As an empirical and active form of psychotherapy that includes the drama and theater process, drama or performance therapy has proven to be extremely effective in treating and healing deteriorating mental health conditions.