The Communicube: Further Clinical Developments of a New Therapeutic Method

Abstract

I introduced the Communicube as the Five Story Self Structure in my book, Drama, Psychotherapy and Psychosis: dramatherapy and psychodrama with people who hear voices (2004). Since then I have been doing workshops around Britain and therapists of many different orientations have been using it. I write this to bring you news of these developments in practice.

Facilitating parent-teenager communication through interactive photo cubes

“…A third category of support consists of devices that support communication with family members outside the home, for example, ASTRA [19] and Digital Family Portraits [20]. Most of these examples do not have the aim to support in-home communication between teenagers and parents, for example, they were designed to support reflection [15] or narratives [16], solve family disputes [17], close intergenerational gaps [18], or increase awareness of remote family members [19,20]. Two exceptions are Fida [13], a small device that encourages communication between young teenagers and divorced parents by allowing them to record messages and convey their feelings to their parents, and Photoswitch [14], a novel photo display that encourages Fig.…”

“…One way to do this is by explicitly encouraging family members to express their feelings and relations and reflect on them using interactive devices, as for example, Fida [13], Photoswitch [14], Communicube [15], and Cherish [16] do. More implicitly, family communication in the home can be supported through the use of games or game elements, such as the Family Contract Game [17] and Age Invaders [18].…”

“…Her study with 1,124 teenagers showed that these topics include the parent-child relationship and getting to know their parents and their parents' past. These findings were taken as a starting point in our study that aimed at supporting communication between parents and young teenagers (aged [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Through the design of an interactive product, we aimed at facilitating parent-teenager communication about the parents' past.…”