The Handbook of Dramatherapy

Dramatherapy, first established in the early 1960s, is being practised increasingly in a range of therapeutic settings and is of growing interest to theatre practitioners and teachers. "The Handbook of Dramatherapy" brings together five authors who are all practising dramatherapists, working in clinical, artistic and educational fields. Their clinical experience includes preventive and community-based work, as well as dramatherapy in long- and short-stay psychiatry, work with elderly people, forensic dramatherapy, work with abused children and adolescents, and children with learning difficulties. A simple introduction to the major contrasting models of dramatherapy, the book looks at the developmental approach, the use of role theory, the ideas of "the theatre of expression" and "the theatre of healing", and presents an integrated model of dramtherapy. The authors explain the the theoretical background of these approaches, show how it might be adapted to other settings. They also describe the historical background, explain the difference between dramatherapy and psychodrama, discuss assessment and evaluation techniques, and how to develop more appropriate research methods.