French analytic psychodrama

Domain I · Psychodynamic & depth psychology · Lebovici, Diatkine, Kestemberg · 1958 · Paris

What it is

This is a psychoanalytic technique, not a manualised protocol. No official treatment manual exists. The founders' texts give a setting, roles and a clinical stance, and practitioners learn mostly through supervised team work. Step-by-step instructions below are therefore partly and are labelled as…

Format

• Session format
• Weekly. Reported lengths run from about 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• use it sparingly. It must not turn into running interpretation.
• the group dynamic itself must also be thought about, not only the play.
• progress shows in scenes moving from strict reality to fantasy, dream or animal and object roles.
• splits in the team that mirror the patient's splitting; a player who keeps "forgetting" the patient.
• strict repetition with no change suggests compulsion to repeat. Name it, rather than replaying it again.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.