Dramatherapy is a mode of clinical treatment influenced by several
different theories and practices. This book provides detailed examples of the
major contrasting approaches.Dramatherapy, first established in the early 1960s, is being increasingly
practised in a range of therapeutic settings and is of growing interest to
theatre practitioners and teachers. The Handbook of Dramatherapy brings
together five authors who are all practising dramatherapists, working in
clinical, artistic and educational fields. Their clinical experience includes
preventive and community-based work, as well as dramatherapy in long and short
stay psychiatry, work with elderly people, forensic dramatherapy, work with
abused children and adolescents, and children with learning difficulties. An
easy-to-read introduction to the major contrasting models of dramatherapy, the
book looks at the developmental approach, the use of role theory, the ideas of
the theatre of expression' and the theatre of healing', and presents an
integrated model of dramatherapy. The authors explain the theoretical
background of these approaches, show how each works in practice in a particular
situation, and suggest how it might be adapted to other settings.; They also describe the historical background, explain the difference
between dramatherapy and psychodrama, discuss assessment and evaluation
techniques, and how to develop more appropriate research methods to address the
aims and goals of dramatherapy. The Handbook of Dramatherapy provides a
comprehensive basis for theory and practice, and will be a valuable source of
reference for all mental health professionals as well as students of
dramatherapy and theatre.
