Stages of Living: Health and Healing through Dramatic Reality

Drama Therapy Counseling as Mental Health Care of College Students

“…There were two parts of the design of the study. One was that researchers revised the concept of group therapy according to the theory and technique of drama therapy [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15], the concepts of group and arts therapy [16,17,18,19,20,21], and the theory and practice of group psychotherapy. The other part was designing the strategies and implementation methods of the drama therapy counseling group.…”

“…Literally, it represents a form of drama as a form of therapy. “Drama” refers to a work (script) of “poetry” or “prose” for performers to perform on stage and to simulate the process of life, characters, or narration of a story through the “action” and “interpretation” of performers [6,7,8,9,10,11,12].…”

“…Drama therapy is a combination of professional basis, psychology, sociology and the pedagogy of the “action method” of “drama/theatre” as a tool of psychotherapy and counseling. The process of drama therapy is to overcome the painful limitations of fantasy and daydreaming, bring them to the realm of art, and give them “action performances” to help manage basic conflicts [6,7,8,9,10,11,12].…”

“…The “action and performance” process of drama therapy, whether through “theatre games,” “role-playing,” “storytelling” or “creative and expressive artistic activities,” aims at promoting physical and mental harmony and seeking a “mediocre way” in the mind, and these experiences can help individuals living in extreme situations to find out the meaning of life and rebuild their balance so as to acquire ability and try to play a new role; the increase of the role database in the treatment process can also help prepare for the conflicts between roles and situations in future life [6,7,8,9,10,11,12].…”

Arts therapies students’ scores in profession-related variables: Quantitative results of a longitudinal study

“…Piaget, 1962;Winnicott, 1965), that align the various art forms on one continuum. It has been suggested that the three art forms align successively along one developmental continuum from sensorimotor and kinesthetic movement, through projective visual art, to symbolic dramatic play (see Hinz, 2009;Jennings, 2008;Johnson, 1999;Lusebrink, 1991). One compelling example of a developmental application to the arts therapies context is Jennings' (2008) dramatherapeutic model of Embodiment-Projection-Role.…”