Psychodrama is a method of psychotherapy in which clients continue and complete their actions in the form of dramatization, role-playing, and dramatic self-expression. It is used in both verbal and non-verbal communication. Several scenes are played out, depicting, for example, memories of specific events of the past, unfinished situations, internal dramas, fantasies, dreams, preparation for future situations with possible risk, or involuntary manifestations of psychological states “here and now”. These scenes are either close to a real life situation, or bring out internal mental processes. If necessary, other roles can be taken by group members or inanimate objects.
Through the staging of episodes from his life (past, present and future), a person gets the opportunity, using his spontaneity and creativity, to come into contact with his own past and acquire skills that will be necessary for him in the future. Dzerka Moreno calls this process “a way to live with impunity, despite the mistakes made.”
The main thing in psychodrama, unlike Gestalt therapy, is action.
It seems that in psychodrama everything happens as if by itself, but it is based on a very difficult action, which is carried out consistently. Its Greek name is drama. A complex internal problem is dramatically depicted and brought into action. As a result of such psychodramas, the courage necessary to come into contact with forgotten memories, with the voices and images of the inner world grows. Psychodrama can become a turning point for a person in his life, in relationships with others, in a conflict situation. A strong experience has great consequences, like the circles that diverge in the water from a fallen stone. Such an experience continues to influence in real everyday life. It reaches to the depths of the soul, touches the content of the psyche and sets it in motion. The unconscious, repressed, long pushed aside content now needs work on itself, comprehension, and then, finally, significant changes take place in consciousness.
