Drama therapy (Jennings, Landy, Emunah)

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Sue Jennings, Robert Landy, Renee Emunah · 1994

What it is

Drama therapy (UK: dramatherapy) is a profession and a family of methods, not a single manualised therapy. NADTA defines it as the intentional use of drama and theatre processes (improvisation, theatre games, storytelling, enactment, projective play, purposeful performance, sometimes text and…

Format

• Closure: a game, ritual, review or song ends each session.
• Session length and frequency are not given in the sources used. A common format is 60–90 minutes weekly for groups and 50–60 minutes for individuals.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Culminating enactments. Goal: personal issues are acted out directly. Techniques: performance, psychodrama, Theatre of the Oppressed forums, deeper role-method work, Developmental Transformations. Each of these has its own training (see the separate guides on psychodrama, Theatre of the Oppressed and Developmental Transformations). Move on when: the planned ending approaches; never open new personal material in the…
• How change happens. Clients step into a dramatic reality that is separate from everyday reality. Inside it they can rehearse wanted behaviour, practise relating, and widen their repertoire of roles. The therapist regulates distance: fiction, metaphor, puppets and stories let clients approach painful material without being overwhelmed, and Jennings notes the paradox that clients often come closer to their own…
• UK: "Dramatherapist" is a protected title. Practice requires an HCPC-approved Level 7 (master's) dramatherapy qualification and current HCPC registration, renewed every two years. BADth states that a person who is not HCPC-registered may not practise dramatherapy or use the title. BADth is the professional association.

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?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• 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

• see Section 5 on overwhelm and retraumatisation.
• pressure from the group to "go deeper"; the protagonist's pace wins.
• the right distance shows as feeling plus continued ability to play and reflect.
• the child copying you rather than leading; step back and become audience if so.
• members who leave quickly or go quiet; follow up within a day if you are concerned.

Problems the guide addresses

• Overwhelm during enactment (flooding, panic, dissociation)
• Retraumatisation risk and after-effects
• Stuck clients
• Resistance and refusal
• Group problems
• Non-adherence and drop-out
• Children and young people
• Modality-specific difficulties

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.