Therapeutic theater

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The Therapeutic Theater is a technique in psychotherapy and social therapy , which in 1908 by Vladimir Iljine was a medical researchers, biologists and philosophers founded. Aspects of therapeutic staging can be found in the concepts of analytical child therapy by Melanie Klein and Anna Freud. The theater therapy was further developed by Lebovici and Lemoine in France.

Concept and methodology

The methodological tools mainly consist of transferring concepts from theory and the theater network , such as role , character, scene , script , direction and staging, to complex social situations and to repetitive standard relationships in everyday life and work.
Communication, also in a psychotherapeutic context, is often determined by staged social roles , characters and scenes that are often fixed in their dramaturgy and seem to run according to “internal scripts”. “To be in the limelight” is part of every communication and every social interaction . The perspective from the perspective of therapeutic theater allows us to see and think in terms of staging and dramaturgy, as it were in images. This makes it possible to “grasp” people and characters in a social context, especially in complex social situations, and to find appropriate interventions.

This way of seeing has the resources and not the deficits in view, it facilitates the use of metaphors and images, humor and also acceptance and recognition of the story and scene that is being staged by the client. The question that can be asked internally is then something like: How does the client, or the family, stage their symptoms? What kind of script is there? What's the piece? . This also applies to standard situations such as conferences, team meetings, educational situations, etc .: Who is actually directing? Which roles and characters are represented? What repetitions are there?

Use in psychotherapy and supervision

As in conventional theater, there is a stage, actors, audience and applause. The stage is usually just a space for action, separated from the rest of the space by a line, which, as a work and therapy room, as a working medium and place of concrete action, enables emotional experience and rational insight.

There is no finished play for which the prescribed roles can only be filled. The roles are divided according to the possibilities of the participants, their body language , way of speaking and appearance. Everyone goes on stage and says a few sentences. The audience attributes the role. Then ideally there is a list of roles, characters and stereotypes with which the scenes are constructed and improvised.

Resource orientation vs. Deficit orientation

What a person is good at, even if it is more of a deficit in their eyes, is shown by them on stage. What can be seen on stage is not right or wrong, good or bad. If someone who suffers from shyness puts that shyness on stage and shows it off, they are very likely to be authentic and present and will get applauded. The audience, who are also witnesses of what is being seen, may say: “Nobody is as authentically shy as you, great, applause, again, da capo.” Even if the protagonist protests ( “I don't want to Always be the shy one, I also have other sides. ” ), he is offered the opportunity to understand his own staging as a resource and to see his behavior as a role that he plays well, whose movements and facial expressions he is good at and which brings him applause. With help from outside, he can also discover and present other resources of himself. He learns that he can choose between several - at least between two - behaviors.

Solution orientation vs. Problem orientation

Bringing the scene to a conclusion on stage that releases the tension - the protagonist can try this outcome as often as he wants, with changing behaviors and fellow players. In this way he can come to a solution in a kind of trial treatment. The solution only applies to the stage, not to his life, but the awareness arises that there are many solutions to a problem.

Reduction of complexity

When presenting or looking at a scene or “figure” it often becomes clear suddenly, in the sense of metaphor formation, which problem is present. In addition, strategies of hiding, hiding, etc., which occur in other forms of therapy, are excluded as far as possible. Everything is "shown", can be seen clearly and clearly. The verbal content, to which other therapists and clients often refer, plays a subordinate role.

The following principle applies: what can be seen on stage must not be analyzed psychotherapeutically afterwards. There is only applause and reactions from the audience. The audience is at the same time a witness of what happened, although the interpretations are often different: the protagonists experience something different on stage than what the audience sees and interprets. That too can be a rewarding experience for everyone involved.

Differentiation from psychodrama

The protagonist's intrapsychic conflicts, such as his fear, relationship with his mother or father, etc., which play a role in psychodrama , are not relevant to the theory and practice of therapeutic theater.

See also

literature

  • Brook, Peter : The Empty Room. Berlin: Alexander Verlag (3rd edition), 1988. ISBN 3-923854-02-1
  • Carse, James P .: Finite and Infinite Games. The chance in life. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta (2nd edition), 1987. ISBN 3-608-93366-2
  • Fritsch, Sibylle: The truth lies only in feeling. A conversation with the director and playwright George Tabori about "psychological theater" - and the Germans' fear of great emotions. In: Psychologie heute (Issue 21/2), February 1994, pp. 40–42.
  • Goffman, Erving : We all play theater. The self-expression in everyday life. Munich: Piper, 1991. ISBN 3-492-10312-X
  • Goffman, Erving: interaction rituals. Over-behavior in direct communication. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, ​​1986. ISBN 3-518-28194-1
  • Imber-Black, Evan / Roberts, Janine / Whiting, Richard A .: Rituals. Family rituals and family therapy. Heidelberg: Carl-Auer Verlag (2nd edition), 1995. ISBN 3-927809-13-6
  • Johnstone, Keith : Improvisation and Theater. Berlin: Alexander Verlag, 1993. ISBN 3-923854-67-6
  • Kopp, Sheldon : role fate and freedom. Psychotherapy as theater. Paderborn: Junfermann Verlag, 1982. ISBN 3-87387-188-2
  • Müller-Weith, Doris / Neumann, Lilli / Stoltenhoff-Erdmann, Bettina: Theater therapy. A manual. Paderborn: Junfermann Verlag, 2002. ISBN 3-87387-513-6
  • Neumann / Peters, Als der Zahnarzt ....., humor, creativity and therapeutic theater in psychotherapy, counseling and supervision. Dortmund, Modern Learning Publishing House, 1996.
  • Petzold, Hilarion : The Therapeutic Theater. Vladimir N. Ilyine's method. In: Petzold, Hilarion (ed.): Dramatic therapy. New ways of treatment through psychodrama, role play, therapeutic theater. Stuttgart: Hippokrates Verlag, 1982. pp. 88-109. ISBN 3-7773-0522-7
  • Rapp, Uri: acting and watching. Investigations into the theater-sociological aspect in human interaction. Darmstadt: Luchterhand, 1973. ISBN 3-472-61116-2
  • Reitz, Gertraud; Rosky, Thomas; Schmidts, Rolf; Originuch, Ingeborg: healing movements. Music, dance and theater therapy. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 2005, ISBN 978-3-534-16615-2 .
  • Rotterdam, Erasmus of : The Praise of Folly. not specified, 1511.
  • Scheff, Thomas J .: Explosion of feelings. About the cultural and therapeutic significance of catarthan experience. Weinheim / Basel: Beltz, 1983. ISBN 3-407-54640-8
  • Sippel, Volkmar: healing art. Art and therapy with psychotically ill people. Studies on schizophrenia research Vol. 8. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac, 2005. ISBN 3-8300-1847-9
  • Stanislawski, Konstantin S .: The work of the actor on the role. West Berlin: Verlag Das Europäische Buch, 1981. ISBN 3-88436-116-3
  • Stanislawski, Konstantin S .: The actor's work on himself. Part 1. The work on oneself in the creative process of experiencing. West Berlin: Verlag Das Europäische Buch (3rd edition), 1984. ISBN 3-88436-113-9
  • Stanislawski, Konstantin S .: The actor's work on himself. Part 2. The work on himself in the creative process of embodiment. West Berlin: The European Book (3rd edition), 1984. ISBN 3-88436-114-7
  • Strasberg, Lee: Acting and Acting Training. Berlin: Alexander Verlag, 1988. ISBN 3-923854-21-8
  • Watzlawick, Paul : The possibility of being different. On the technique of therapeutic communication. Bern / Stuttgart / Vienna: Huber, 1977. ISBN 3-456-80433-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/imperia/md/content/studium/umwelt_medizin/psymed/artikel/artikelabjuli2005/arartikl.pdf
  2. ↑ a b Ingeborg Urspruch: Theater therapy - a milieu therapeutic extension of outpatient psychotherapy. In: Dynamic Psychiatrie, 26 (138–151): pp 73–89. 1993, accessed June 12, 2020 .