Psychodrama for Substance Abuse Counselors

Jeanne Burger, EDD, LPC, LMFT, TEP

I.

Why Use Psychodrama to Work With Addiction?

Psychodrama is a powerful action method of group psychotherapy. It is especially

useful for working with the adult children of alcoholics and people in recovery from the
diseases of chemical dependence and co-dependence. A major factor in recovery is the
process of rebuilding social and emotional connections that were either destroyed by the
disease process or had been poorly developed prior to it. Chemical abuse affects the
feelings and relationships of all family members so that they become blunted, denied
and distorted. Self -esteem is low so that recovery involves rebuilding a relationship
with ones self as well. Psychodrama is uniquely suited to these tasks, since it facilitates
the development of self-awareness and self-esteem, and the expression of feeling and
awareness of others that is essential to recovery.
This training will be experiential and will consist of a series of psychodramatic
exercises to demonstrate the methodology and to us warm -up to collaborative
learning. We will practice sociometric and action methods to develop group support and
empower ourselves and clients to recognize strengths and competencies (role
expansion in psychodramatic terms) in order to avoid or deal differently with future
situations (role training). Participants in the training will experience the exercises and be
invited to participate in warm-ups and drama so that they might understand how their
clients might experience psychodrama. Some of the beginning interventions that will be
taught are role reversal, doubling, empty chair and talking with an auxilliary
representing a significant other. Scene setting, theme centered warm-ups, and
enactments relating to family attitudes, enabling behaviors, future projections and
decision making may be taught as the group progresses.
I am Dr. Jeanne Burger, a licensed professional counselor and a licensed
marriage and family therapist in private practice. I fell in love with psychodrama fifteen
years ago and I am certified as a trainer, practitioner and educator (TEP) and served on
The American Board of Examiners for psychodrama, sociometry and group
psychotherapy. I use psychodrama in my private practice with individuals and couples
as well as groups. I have taught graduate students at Old Dominion University. I have
been a presenter of psychodrama nationally and internationally.
I hope participants in this workshop will be able to apply many of the learned
methodologies immediately to your own work with clients.

II. What is Psychodrama?

Psychodrama is an action oriented form of therapy that promotes change

through self-awareness and increased sensitivity and understanding of others.
Conceived by J.L.Moreno, M.D. and developed by him with the collaboration of
his wife, Zerka T. Moreno over a period of sixty years, Psychodrama offers a
unique and powerful way to creatively encounter the challenges and opportunities
of life and relationships. Participants are guided to enact significant events of the
personal past, present and future in order to help identify and express the
thoughts, feelings and perceptions which "make meaning" of experiences. By
sharing these experiences with others, participants gain the insight and
compassion needed for personal integration and interpersonal harmony.
Creativity and spontaneity are fostered.

The three phases of psychodrama are: warm-up, enactment and sharing.

The warm-up consists of exercises designed to create cohesion and
comfort within the group and to identify areas of concern. The sociometry of the
group (a measure of the relationships) is explored and a protagonist is selected
to enact his conflict or issue.
The enactment phase of a psychodrama is a dramatization of the
protagonist's issue. To begin the action, the director guides the protagonist
(known as the primary ego) to set the scene and to choose group members
(called auxiliary egos) to play the roles in the drama. Some production
techniques unique to psychodrama are role-reversal, double, soliloquy, aside
and mirror.
The role-reversal is the most important therapeutic agent of psychodrama,
allowing the protagonist to see the self through the eyes of the other by actually
exchanging roles with an important other as portrayed by an auxiliary ego and

addressing the self from that role.

The double is one of the most frequently used techniques and is effective
for helping the protagonist to express feelings and thoughts not yet verbalized
and at times not yet conscious. The double is an auxiliary invited by the
protagonist to be an inner voice and reflection of the protagonist.
The soliloquy is the spoken running commentary of the protagonist about
immediate thoughts and feelings. It is often used to bridge the reflections to the
actions in the drama.
The aside is a comment made by the protagonist to make overt his/her
thoughts to the audience without interrupting the action of the scene.
The mirror technique allows the protagonist to step out of the scene and to
observe someone else enacting his/her role. The protagonist can then see
him/herself as others see him/her. This often allows a new perspective of the
protagonist's own actions and may suggest a different way to interact.
Special production scenes include the empty chair, the sculptured social
atom, the future projection scene, the wished for scene and the as-if scene.
The psychodrama enactment usually ends when a protagonist experiences
a shift in perspective and a new and effective method for approaching the issue is
tested.
The sharing phase is germane to Psychodrama. Every drama is closed
with communication from the group members to the protagonist about the
personal emotions and associations evoked during the enactment. There is no
analyzing, advise giving or confrontation of the protagonist. This phase is to
allow group members to express their feelings and connection to the drama and
for the protagonist to be re-integrated to the group.
The diagragm shows the Hollander Curve, the relationship of time to
emotional involvement as we go through the three phases during a session. It
also shows how these three phases relate to the 12 step programs as well as to
motivation theory.
Psychodrama is a specialized action modality that encourages participants
to explore not only what and why events occurred but what should have occurred.

We examine the "what if". This is called surplus reality when the scenes are not
enacted as they occurred or may not even be possible in actuality.
Further information about Psychodrama can be obtained from:
The American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama (ASGPP)
301 North Harrison Street, Suite 508, Princeton, N.J. 08540
phone (609) 452-1339 fax (732) 605-7033 www.asgp.org
A complete list of practitioners and trainers and requirements for
certification can also be obtained by contacting the American Board of Examiners
in Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy
Box 15572, Washington, D.C, 20003-0572 phone (202) 483-0514
abepsychodrama@yahoo.com
III. Role Theory
Experiential participant introduction by not using a role to identify self
Demonstration of 5 phases of role development: role see; role take; role
make; role create; role forsake. Participants to experience these phases in a
role of their own with consideration for roles abandoned and reasons for not
continuing roles began.
IV. Safety Circle
Experiential exercise of identifying individual strengths and marking a stage
area by using scarves to represent what we bring for the co-creation here.
Discussion of what is needed for safety: structure, knowledge of who is
here and what to expect, confidentiality, additional needs as named by
participants.
V. Sociometry

Definition as a study of the relationships and choices of any particular

group. A way to know our place in this group
Experiential sociometric exercises: reasons for attending this workshop;
clustergrams of roles, professional and personal; step-in circles of questions to
ask others; sociograms of how many others each person knows, who each
person knows longest, best; spectograms of comfort working with addiction,
working with experiential therapies and previous psychodrama experience.
Discussion of ways to use sociometry and these exercises in groups with
recovering clients.
VI. Sound and Motion as Group Doubling
Exercise of saying name to experience emotional doubling technigue.
Sharing of experience.
V.Doubling Dyads
Discussion and demonstration of the psychodramatic skill of doubling.
Working in dyads to practice skill of doubling.
Sharing of dyad experience.
Processing of dyad experience.
VI. Full Psychodrama Experience
Warm-up: Empty chair
Protagonist Selection

Psychodrama
Sharing regarding psychodrama
Processing of psychodrama
VI. Demonstration of Using Psychodrama At Different Recovery Phases
Demonstration of drama for testing relapse resources
VII. Question & Answer Period