dramatherapy? Psychodrama?

[HV Psychodrama]

here is what I took out of this long and wonderful article that directly answers the question...
Psychodrama evolved from  the Morenos and drama therapy evolved from several pioneers. Psychodrama as reality-oriented concerns protagonists playing the roles of themselves in relationship to significant others, whereas drama therapy is more often metaphorical, the dramatization of a fiction, with protagonists playing those other than self. Further, psychodrama is more directive than some forms of drama therapy, such as developmental transformations, where the therapist becomes an actor in the protagonist’s drama.  Psychodrama most often leads to a catharsis on the part of the protagonist, whereas in some forms of drama therapy, such as role method and narradrama, this is not necessarily the case. 

 

Classical psychodrama is a well-proscribed form, with clear techniques defined and handed down by the Morenos and their numerous students and trainees. Also, it is based, in part, in a theoretical model of role-theory, which has been articulated in the several major texts written by Moreno and refined by Zerka and others over the years. The Morenos’ theoretical work is also based in an understanding of sociometric principles that seek to explicate the social and political nature of human beings. The theory, however, is incomplete and difficult to quantify.

 

Drama therapy, on the other hand, is an eclectic form, with many techniques, some loosely defined. Several schools of drama therapy have been delineated in the United States, Britain and other cultures, such as role theory and method, developmental transformations, integrative five-phase model, narradrama, therapeutic storymaking, therapeutic theatre, ritual drama, transpersonal drama therapy, among others. As there are several models of practice, so, too, are there several theoretical models, although few are well developed and quantifiable. The most clearly developed theory in drama therapy is that attached to a more conventional field, such as psychoanalysis, as in the work of Eleanor Irwin and others, or play, such as developmental transformations. Role theory, as developed by Landy, has roots in Moreno’s role theory as well as that of the social psychologists in the mid-twentieth century and several theatre theorists, most notably Constantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski.

 

 

 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Edward Schreiber 
  To: HV Psychodrama ; grouptalk Listserv 
  Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2009 6:44 PM
  Subject: Re: dramatherapy? Psychodrama?


  Here is an outstanding piece of writing by one of the preeminent Drama Therapists who has been also a student of Psychodrama.
  Robert Landy has written a definitive book on the subject and in this piece he compares Drama Therapy with Psychodrama, looking at
  the differences and similarities.   This is one of the FOREWORDS to the book, "To Dream Again:  Zerka Toeman Moreno Memoirs" in publication
  now.


  Best,


  Ed






  FOREWORD:  Robert Landy

  Robert Landy, Ph.D., RDT/BCT, LCAT



  On a recent trip to Greece, working with a group of drama therapists, I gave myself one day to take on the role of the tourist.  I inquired about a meaningful excursion, within striking distance of Athens, and was urged by my friends to visit Mt. Parnassus in Delphi, the site of the ancient oracle of Apollo and the mythical home of Orpheus and the muses. I immediately became excited and wondered if it were still possible to consult the oracle. I had no particular question to ask, but always carried around with me the usual existential concerns, especially while in foreign lands. Arriving at the foot of Mt. Parnassus, I began my ascent and soon came to the temple of Apollo, demarcated by six Doric columns. My body usually registers the presence of a spiritual center, but I felt little as I gazed at the ruins. Neither the muses nor Apollo was present for me and furthermore, I had nothing to offer or to ask. And so I proceeded up the mountain and soon arrived at an amphitheatre just above the temple. Again, as I stood among the usual complement of Autumn tourists, I felt little in my body. But there was more of the mountain to traverse and so I trudged on. Catching my breath for a moment, I saw a sign that read: Stadium.  As I approached, I saw, high above the temple and the theatre, the sports arena that I later learned was the site of the Pythian Games, the forerunner of the Olympic games. I wondered why the stadium was placed at the zenith and the temple at the nadir? For some unknown reason, I had trouble leaving the stadium, the most intact of the ruins on Mt. Parnassus. And then I became annoyed as I really wanted to bask in the light of the gods below. Extricating myself from the stadium, I descended, and just as I reached the theatre, I experienced a small electric jolt at the top of my spine, a tingling that rose to my head. Although the question I needed to answer was not yet formulated, it came to me through my body. It was something like—what drew me here and what did this mythical place have to say to my psyche? And the answer came right away—what drew me here was the wisdom of the ancient Greeks in designing harmonic spaces in nature; and the message of Delphi was that in the design, it is clear that the theatre, standing between the temple and the stadium, is the central locus of healing. It is both a physical place and a principle that integrates the body and the spirit.  



  As I read the memoirs of Zerka Toeman Moreno--not read, actually, but traversed, as the reading was a journey--the images of Delphi kept appearing before my mind’s eye. Zerka’s story is about a journey in search of a center, an integrative principle that is powerful enough to hold together the body and the spirit. In Zerka’s life narrative, the body is both frail and resilient, competing not against others, but within itself, an even greater Olympian task. We find the body center stage in Zerka’s descriptions of the loss of her arm and the discovery of a phantom double, of her sister’s cycles of mental illness and recovery, of the sweet demise of her beloved Moreno, of her attachment and loss of Merlyn Pitzele. Zerka describes the corpus of Moreno’s life work as played out in situ or on a psychodramatic stage through bodies in action. 

  In Zerka’s life narrative, this spirit is most present in living through Moreno’s understanding of humans as cosmic beings and Teilhard de Chardin’s understanding that “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey; we are spiritual beings on a human journey.” In her many reflections upon her life with Moreno, Zerka refers to that relationship as a cosmic journey, full of mystery and challenge.



  At the center of Zerka’s corpus and cosmos, is, as I discovered in Delphi, the theatre, or, in Morenian terms, the principle of creativity/spontaneity. This principle not only led Zerka to the various psychodramatic theatres of America and indeed, the entire world, but also led her to the new world and her deep connection to Moreno, her mentor, collaborator and beloved. And so I will add that it is not only the theatre of spontaneity that stands between the corpus and the cosmos, but also the theatre of co-creation, of relationship.



  I came to psychodrama shortly after the passing of Moreno, in the mid-70s. I was on my own journey, seeking to discover creative forms of healing and to integrate my academic interests in theatre, psychology, education and literature. At the time, there was no organized field of drama therapy. I had studied Gestalt therapy in California with George Brown, who was chosen by Fritz Perls to transform public education through Gestalt principles. But despite Perls’ pronouncements, his work seemed derivative and incomplete in terms of its lack of focus upon the somatic and social dimensions of treatment. I also discovered the book Play, Drama and Thought by Richard Courtney, an Englishman working in Canada, who developed a field called developmental drama, based on the principles of educational drama, a practice that had been applied to primary and secondary education in England, Canada and the United States since the early part of the 20th century. Courtney became a mentor and I admired the breadth of his knowledge in social sciences, humanities, and dramatic arts, but after some time, I became disenchanted with his lack of focus and depth. Although their work was derivative of many of Moreno’s ideas, neither Perls nor Courtney spoke very much about Moreno.



  After completing an interdisciplinary doctorate, I began teaching theatre at California State University in Northridge and worked toward developing an integration of theatre and psychology. While there, I met Lew Yablonski, who introduced me to psychodrama and sociometry.  For the first time, I felt I found a form that spoke to my need for integration. Lew led me in many directions, the most important of which was to the work of J.L Moreno. At that time, in the mid-1970s, Lew was experimenting with directing psychodrama sessions on television, a plan dreamed up by J.L years before. When I moved from California to New York in 1977, Lew introduced me to Jim Sacks, who became my teacher and trainer and exposed me to the more classical from of psychodrama in a gentle and wise fashion. In 1979, I become a faculty member in Educational Theatre at NYU, where I eventually developed the Drama Therapy Program. In 1980, I had the opportunity to produce two televisions programs on WCBS devoted to psychodrama and I invited Jim to direct the sessions. Descriptions of those sessions can be found in my book, Handbook of Educational Drama and Theatre (Greenwood Press, 1982). 



  As my psychodramatic social atom began to expand, I came closer and closer to Zerka’s inner circle before directly meeting her. I collaborated with Peter Pitzele on several projects, including an exploration of the literary and spiritual figure of Ismael and that of the biblical figures of Mary and Miriam. Peter’s father, Merlyn, lived with Zerka after Moreno’s death, and Zerka speaks of their relationship very warmly in her memoirs. Peter and I sought to integrate our mutual love of performance and healing, literature and religion. Peter was the first person I asked to teach psychodrama at NYU and over the years, I was fortunate to have several major figures in psychodrama work in our program—Bob Siroka, Tian Dayton, and Nina Garcia. Jonathan Fox, the step-son of Merlyn Pitzele, taught Playback Theatre at NYU, and he and I spent many lively hours speaking about playback and psychodrama, politics and personal journeys, myth and baseball. From Peter and Jonathan I learned not only bibliodrama and Playback Theatre, but I also learned about the family legacies emanating from Zerka. In further collaborating and engaging in long conversations with Tian and Nina, I also learned to deeply appreciate the spiritual and relational dimensions of the Moreno worldview. All of these extraordinary individuals, both mentors and friends—Lew and Jim, Peter and Jonathan, Bob, Tian and Nina, brought me up to the door. The next step was to enter.



  I first met Zerka from a distance, in an old grainy film, shot in the 1960s. Moreno was working at Camarillo State Hospital with a young emotionally vulnerable man who, with some trepidation, was about to go home after an extended hospitalization. From Moreno’s interview with the young man, it became clear that his parents were not able to provide a good enough environment for him to flourish. At some point, requiring an auxiliary to enable the young man to face his infantilizing mother, Moreno brought in Zerka as the man’s ex-girlfriend. In this role and in the role of the young man, taken on through role-reversal, Zerka modeled the strength necessary for the young man to stand up to his mother. Moreno’s intensity and insistence was complimented by the containing feminine energy of Zerka. I must admit that I was at first surprised by her missing right arm and wondered how the young man in the film felt. But then I saw Zerka as a wounded healer, just the right person to take on the mantle of the strong maternal guide, leading this young man and scores of others toward discovery of their missing parts, toward completion. 



  I came closer to Zerka as I participated in workshops at professional conferences. And then, in 1997, I invited her to deliver the keynote address at a drama therapy conference at NYU, where I collaborated in presentations with both Tian Dayton and Peter Pitzele. Zerka’s address, published in The Qunitessential Zerka, was erudite and inspiring. It led me back to the Greeks, as innovators of healing through performance, and forward to the surprisingly fresh ideas of Moreno. 



  Most recently, as I conceived of a new book about the history and present status of the action psychotherapies, I invited Zerka to write the foreword. Not only did she write a challenging and provocative piece, but she offered to read the manuscript and provide an in-depth critique. As I wrote and edited and even as I allowed the completed book to float into the world, Zerka remained close. Her voice via email not only reminded me of details, but also fill in critical historical and conceptual holes. In these on-going correspondences, I sensed that I was connected to a source beyond any other that I could find in my research. Zerka lived through the history of action psychotherapy, and Zerka in large measure co-created that history. Like Laura Perls, who co-created Gestalt Therapy with her husband, Fritz Perls, Zerka’s voice was significant in building the foundation of a new discipline. Zerka spoke out, leading sessions internationally, taking over the Moreno Institute when J.L. became infirm, writing important articles, disseminating the message of psychodrama and sociometry throughout the decades. With the publication of these memoirs, Zerka solidifies her own place within the pantheon of “geniuses,” as Moreno referred to his favored students, who walked through the psychodramatic portals. 



  I have many reactions to Zerka’s memoirs. Keeping with the motif of journey, Zerka’s story is one of criss-crossing geographical, historical and psychic borders to find her place in the world. A risk-taker who is always a few steps ahead of her time, she leaves Europe as the Nazis march forward to the inevitable destruction and holocaust. She leaves New York City and a safe entry-level job to cast her lot with the charismatic and married Moreno and move to the exurb of Beacon, New York. She returns to New York with Moreno as he establishes an institute on Park Avenue and the Upper Westside. Of the many stories she tells of her commutes between New York and Beacon, the most moving to me are those of the aging man and young woman returning home on a snowy evening from the Beacon train station late at night, after a long day of office work and psychodrama training in the city, walking silently, side by side, each in their own separate thoughts, each deeply attached to the other. As Moreno’s health fails, Zerka again ventures out into the world, most poignantly returning to Europe and re-visiting her past. And then after Moreno’s death, Zerka expands her geographical horizons, bringing a life’s work that is now her own to new continents and cultures, such as China and Taiwan. She is able to bid goodnight and goodbye to her adored husband and venture forth again into a new relationship with Merlyn, and then, once again having lost the territory of intimacy, to continue the journey with more travels, more trainings, more writing and then, re-settled in Virginia, to embrace her extended family and reflect upon a life deeply-lived. 



  Another motif that catches me fully is that of the double. Not only do we learn about the origins of Moreno’s double in psychodrama, but we also are privy to Zerka’s broad understanding of the concept as it plays out in psychodramatic treatment, in literature, in early childhood development, as exemplified in her observations of her son, Jonathan, and even in her own life. I think of Zerka’s complex relationship with various psychic doubles—her mentally ill sister through whom she meets Moreno; Moreno, himself, who refers to Zerka as his instrument and yet through whom she discovers her singularity and ability to become the one to spread and expand the canon of psychodrama and sociometry; her son, through whom she discovers her maternal role; Merlyn, through whom she discovers another side of her femininity; and most deeply, her right arm, through which she discovers her creativity, unique beauty and integrity, and through which she discovers her primary role as wounded healer. Not only was Zerka J.L. Moreno’s right hand, she was also the one to embody the ideas and deliver them wholly formed, not only in words, but also in the double of words, in action.   



  Zerka speaks often to the genius of Moreno and the fact that he often referred to his committed students as geniuses. Although not directly characterizing Zerka as a genius, she learns secondhand that he saw her as such. So what is the genius of Moreno? And what is the genius of his instrument, Zerka, who becomes a force and a voice in her own right?



  For one, Moreno’s life and work exemplified the range of modernism and existentialism in art, therapy and culture. His example set the stage for intellectuals and practitioners in various disciplines. One example is Martin Buber, in the fields of theology and philosophy, whose notions of encounter and dialogue were preceded and influenced by Moreno in his thought and publications. 

       

  In theater, Moreno’s work led to the movement of improvisational drama and theatre which has a long history stemming from the  Greeks to the Italian commedias of the Reanissance, but which became popular in the mid-twentieth century in many forms. Viola Spolin popularized theater games in the 1950s which have been used in theater performance, in education and various forms of arts therapy. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with the advent of such groups as the Living Theatre and the Open Theatre, who stood for a radical re-thinking of the cultural conserve and indeed, the conservative culture, improvisation reached an audience of young people yearning for change, if not revolution. These experiments were highly influenced by Moreno’s early work in forms of spontaneous and transformational theatre. 



  Although there is no evidence of Moreno’s connection to his contemporary, Bertolt Brecht, the great German playwright and innovator of socially conscious theatre, Moreno’s experiments in sociometry and sociodrama foreshadowed many of the epic theatre ideas and intentions. Moreno’s ideas also inspired Augusto Boal who introduced theatre of the oppressed to South America and Europe in the mid-twentieth century. Even Moreno’s early theatrical texts presaged the modernist experiments of such writers as August Strindberg, William Butler Yeats and Samuel Beckett. 



  In the field of psychotherapy, Moreno’s work provided a clear model for those who developed active forms of treatment, with or without attribution to Moreno. The entire discipline of group psychotherapy was in fact based in many of Moreno’s seminal ideas concerning community, encounter and relationship. Before Moreno, group psychotherapy was rarely practiced, if at all. Moreno began his group experiments in Vienna in the early part of the twentieth century and later advised governmental and community organizations following the two World Wars as to the efficacy of group treatment of emotionally disabled veterans, long before the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder became accepted by mainstream psychiatrists. Moreno’s ideas were recapitulated by many of the pioneering group psychotherapists in several schools of psychotherapy. Examples include psychoanalysis exemplified by the work of the Americans, Hyman Spotnitz and Lou Ormont, and the British, S. H. Foulkes and Wilfred Bion. Other group therapists whose work reflects that of Moreno include Irvin Yalom in existential therapy, Fritz Perls in Gestalt therapy and Eric Berne in transactional analysis, as well as many who developed encounter groups in the 1960s. Moreno also influence the field of family therapy as can be seen in the work of Virginia Satir and others who regularly used role-playing and role-reversal in their treatment.



  Individual psychotherapists who used action and dramatic approaches in their theory and practice were also indebted to Moreno’s pioneering work. Several of these include psychoanalysts such as Carl Jung, Wilhelm Reich and Sandor Ferenczi; feminist and relational psychotherapists such as Carol Gilligan, who regularly applies theatre to her understanding of human behavior;  cognitive- behavioral therapists who often employ forms of behavior rehearsal;  constructivists, such as the pioneering George Kelly, who used a dramatic approach called fixed-role therapy; and expressive therapists in movement, drama, poetry, art and music, who apply so many of Moreno’s ideas and techniques. The influential Henry Murray, who directed the Harvard Psychological Clinic for many years and who was credited with inventing the Thematic Apperception Test, built a psychodrama theatre at Harvard and developed and supported various dramatic, projective approaches toward assessment and treatment of a range of social, cultural and psychological phenomena.  



  Within the field of psychodrama, itself, Moreno has influenced each new renovation. These include axiodrama, bibliodrama, Playback Theatre, sambadrama, as well as many new forms of sociodrama and social theatre. In educational drama, Moreno has also influenced socially relevant forms of Theatre-in-Education, applied theatre, theatre in prisons and ethnodrama.



  Moreno’s genius was in his invention of the healing forms and cultural forms of psychodrama, sociodrama and sociometry, based in the simple and elegant principles of creativity and spontaneity. As will become clear in the reading of these memoirs, Zerka’s genius was first in co-creating, developing and sharpening many of the original ideas and practices. Secondly, her genius was in assuring that Moreno’s influence would continue unimpeded in philosophy, theatre, psychotherapy and education, in fact, all disciplines that subscribe to the primacy of creativity and spontaneity as essential means of making sense of human existence. Within the history of action psychotherapy, J.L. Moreno and Zerka Toeman Moreno are the architects, builders, renovators and restorers of a system with roots in ancient civilizations and braches that reach far into the future. 



  Throughout my career as a drama therapist, I am often asked about the differences between psychodrama and drama therapy. I often respond in a simple fashion by saying that psychodrama evolved from the Morenos and drama therapy evolved from several pioneers. I also say that psychodrama as reality-oriented concerns protagonists playing the roles of themselves in relationship to significant others, whereas drama therapy is more often metaphorical, the dramatization of a fiction, with protagonists playing those other than self. Further, psychodrama is more directive than some forms of drama therapy, such as developmental transformations, where the therapist becomes an actor in the protagonist’s drama.  Psychodrama most often leads to a catharsis on the part of the protagonist, whereas in some forms of drama therapy, such as role method and narradrama, this is not necessarily the case. 



  Classical psychodrama is a well-proscribed form, with clear techniques defined and handed down by the Morenos and their numerous students and trainees. Also, it is based, in part, in a theoretical model of role-theory, which has been articulated in the several major texts written by Moreno and refined by Zerka and others over the years. The Morenos’ theoretical work is also based in an understanding of sociometric principles that seek to explicate the social and political nature of human beings. The theory, however, is incomplete and difficult to quantify.



  Drama therapy, on the other hand, is an eclectic form, with many techniques, some loosely defined. Several schools of drama therapy have been delineated in the United States, Britain and other cultures, such as role theory and method, developmental transformations, integrative five-phase model, narradrama, therapeutic storymaking, therapeutic theatre, ritual drama, transpersonal drama therapy, among others. As there are several models of practice, so, too, are there several theoretical models, although few are well developed and quantifiable. The most clearly developed theory in drama therapy is that attached to a more conventional field, such as psychoanalysis, as in the work of Eleanor Irwin and others, or play, such as developmental transformations. Role theory, as developed by Landy, has roots in Moreno’s role theory as well as that of the social psychologists in the mid-twentieth century and several theatre theorists, most notably Constantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski.



  Many in drama therapy claim that drama therapy, based in ancient healing forms, such as those practiced by the pre-Christian Greeks or earlier non-western shamanic healers, precedes psychodrama by thousands of years.  Further, some, like John Casson (2004), argue that drama therapy evolved from early performative experiments in mental institutions in nineteenth century Europe and later theatrical developments in Russia in the early twentieth century. 



  Many in psychodrama argue that Moreno’s forms of action sociometry and psychodrama, originally developed in Vienna in the early twentieth century, precede drama therapy as a coherent discipline by some 50 years. These same people argue that many of the techniques regularly employed in drama therapy are derived from classical psychodramatic warm-ups and such standard fare as empty-chair, doubling, mirroring and role-reversal. 



  My point of view, articulated in The Couch and the Stage (2008) is that psychodrama and drama therapy are more alike than different and that determining comparative origins is much like unraveling the mystery of the chicken and the egg. Both disciplines are essentially dramatic, in that an actor assumes a role and explores unresolved issues within the safety of the role. Both believe in dramatic action as the preferred method of treatment. Both encourage emotional expression, favoring catharsis characterized by a balance of feeling and reflection, a moment referred to by Moreno as a catharsis of integration. Both work with the notion of a move from everyday reality into dramatic reality, referred to by Moreno as surplus reality and status nascendi and by drama therapists as the playspace and the imaginal realm. Both offer a structure of warm-up, action and closure, the latter of which, in most cases, concerns a reflection upon the therapeutic enactment. Both view the creative process as the primary path toward healing, and both place the spontaneous moment of the here and now at the center of the healing process. Both view human beings as integrative and psychological treatments as pertaining to the whole person in mind, body, emotion and spirit. As such, both forms work simultaneously and three levels: personal, relational and cosmic.



  I am a drama therapist who is conversant and at ease in psychodrama and sociodrama, in bibliodrama and Playback Theatre. When I approached Zerka in 2006 and asked her to write the Foreword to my new book, I received so much more than I anticipated. Zerka opened the door and all I needed to do was to enter. Once inside, I realized that I had entered a house with many new rooms that, when illuminated, looked very familiar.  When Zerka in 2008 asked me to write the Foreword to her memoirs, I retraced my steps even as I ventured out further into a history that remains in process, unfinished, as are all old, stalwart homes. The theatre that I discovered in Delphi, standing between the stadium and the temple, was the home that Zerka invited me into. It holds the past and the future firmly in the present. It holds the old world of classical Europe and the new world together in the tiny sphere of the whole world. It holds those who have passed and those who are arriving in its shiny crucible. It holds the corpus and the cosmos together in the axis of creativity-spontaneity. It welcomes all of you who will read this marvelous memoir to come hither and celebrate the journeys of Zerka and through her eyes, that of a small circle of geniuses whose lives are dedicated to procreating that which is most vital, most brilliant and most simple in us all. 



  References

  Casson, John (2004). Drama, psychotherapy and psychosis: Dramatherapy and psychodrama with people who hear voices. London & New York: Brunner-Routledge. 



  Courtney, Richard (1989). Play, drama and thought. Toronto: Simon & Pierre Pub. 

  Landy, Robert J. (1982).  Handbook of educational drama and theatre. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.



  Landy, Robert J. (2008). The Couch and the Stage: Integrating Words and Action in Psychotherapy. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.



  Moreno, Zerka T. (2006). The quintessential Zerka: Writings by Zerka Toeman Moreno on psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy. London & New York: Routledge.





  On Jul 19, 2009, at 10:39 AM, HV Psychodrama wrote:


    Has anyone come up with a clear and concise explanation of the difference between drama therapy and psychodrama...I would like to post this on my website as I frequently get calls from people seeking training or therapy who are confused between the two.
    Rebecca
    Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute
    68 DuBois Road  
    New Paltz, NY 12561
     
    Ph: (845) 255 7502  
    E-mail: hvpi at hvc.rr.com
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