‘Theatre of Attachment’: Using Drama to Facilitate Attachment in Adoption

Abstract

Joan Moore describes an innovative drama therapeutic approach to facilitating attachment between adoptive parents and their children who suffered abuse and neglect in their family of origin. Children of hostile parents often display fear of adults' proximity. Play is proposed as the most natural way to increase empathy between these children and adoptive parents. Their joint engagement in ‘make-believe’ invites discovery of new perspectives and heightened self-awareness. The child's life story is explored, initially using metaphor as fictional contexts provide the privacy of distance that allow us to confront what may otherwise be too disturbing or painful. It is argued that working in the child's home, using sensory materials, assists transfer of learning from the therapeutic play space to daily life. Children begin to reassess their survival of adversity as ‘heroes’ rather than ‘victims’. Released from blame for events over which they had little control, children explore continuing troublesome patterns and, through theatrical enactment, create new ways of being. Parents' direct involvement in performance of the child's story (both fictional and real) leads to improved mutuality. The shared emotional experience brings parent and child closer, and parents gain improved confidence to support their children.

Oyun Kavrami Ve Siniflandirilmasina Yöneli̇k Bi̇r Değerlendi̇rme

“…Terapötik oyun, bir oyun terapisti kontrolünde gerçekleştirilen ve bireyin kendini rahatça ifade etmesine olanak sağlayan destekleyici bir tedavi tekniğidir. Yakın zamana ait bir terapötik oyun modellemesi, "Bağlantı Tiyatrosu" adı ile Moore (2012) tarafından geliştirilmiştir. Adından da anlaşılacağı üzere oyun, çocuk ve terapist arasında bir bağlantı görevindedir.…”

Attachment tHAIRapy

“…Rigorous, randomized controlled trials examining the effects of an attachment therapy intervention are scarce (e.g., Israel & Diamond, 2013; Spieker, Oxford, Kelly, Nelson, & Fleming, 2012), although they find promising treatment results in community-based samples. More commonly used in the literature are case studies describing potentially successful therapeutic interventions (Moore, 2006; Padykula & Conklin, 2010; Zilberstein, 2014). Padykula and Conklin (2010) effectively utilize a case example of an adult woman suffering from treatment resistant addiction to illustrate the self-regulation model (SRM), while Zilberstein (2014) provides a case vignette illustrating how to integrate cognition and trauma into treatment studies.…”

“…Seldom described in the literature are creative strategies to enhance attachment. Moore (2006) describes the use of drama as a meaningful therapeutic approach with adoptive parents and their children who suffered abuse or neglect in their family of origin, but he does not address cultural competency as a potential challenge or important consideration.…”

Clinicians’ Perceptions of Parent-Child Arts Therapy with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Milman Center Experience

“…In a group parent-child music and dance and movement therapy [ 11 ], the participants (20 dyads) noted that they felt considerable improvement in their mutual understanding in terms of their general relationship and as a result of the intervention, and that they felt less tense and calmer. Moore [ 12 ] described parent-child drama therapy with parents and their adopted children (21 dyads) and noted that at the end of the intervention, the parents reported that they experienced greater mutual understanding as well as improved communication.…”