Bibliodrama

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Peter Pitzele · 1982 · United States

What it is

Bibliodrama is a group role-play in which the roles come from biblical texts: named characters (Adam, Eve, Moses), figures inferred from the story (Noah's wife), minor characters, objects and even figures of speech. Participants step inside a passage and speak in the first person from a chosen…

Format

• Bibliodrama sessions are single group events or short series rather than a course of therapy. Reported formats: a 5 to 10-minute "bibliodrama moment" inside a lesson; a session of an hour or more; 90 minutes online; 2 hours (introductory) to half a day, with weekends or several days common in…
• Phases of one session (Pitzele's sequence as reported by Pohl-Patalong and the supplement; German phase names from Dörnemann):

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: Peter Pitzele's North American bibliodrama ("bibliodrama as midrash"), as set out in Scripture Windows: Toward a Practice of Bibliodrama (Peter and Susan Pitzele) and as taught by the Institute for Contemporary Midrash (ICM). Publication details: the Posen Library dates the book 1997 (place given as Katonah, United States); the edition now in print is Ben Yehuda Press, paperback, 25 January 2019,…
• For the psychotherapist: bibliodrama is not a regulated profession and has no licence. Pitzele has said that people need only some study preparation to use the basic techniques (Yudelson 2012). Training exists through the Institute for Contemporary Midrash (ICM: "Essentials of Bibliodrama Directing", about a week, plus 12 to 30-hour community trainings; no certification is mentioned) and, in German-speaking…

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?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• 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 early rather than late when a scene escalates.
• someone still visibly in a painful role; give that role a last word first.
• one dominant voice; widen by asking for "a different Abraham" rather than criticising.
• votes that become a public statement of belief; frame the question as about the character, not about faith.
• real interpersonal tensions in the group being played out through the roles; name the frame if it gets personal.

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.