Audience and witnessing: research into dramatherapy using vignettes and aMSN messenger

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This article describes the process of research undertaken to examine therapists’ responses to the concept of the core processes of change in dramatherapy. The research uses a combination of vignette description and analysis using aMSN messenger. The article describes the theoretical underpinning and rationale to the approach, and the implementation of the research with illustrations from the findings. The research vignette, the research conversation and the use of aMSN messenger are discussed, placing the research project as a whole, and each of these elements, within a context of research literature. The article orientates the research within enquiry concerned with narrative approaches. Illustrative findings from the research, concerning practice within the prison system and within a mental health context, are presented and discussed. The processes of role, witnessing and the relationship between empathy and distancing are reflected in the selected material.