Psychodrama's Role in Alleviating Acute Distress: A Case Study of an Open Therapy Group in a Psychiatric Inpatient Ward.

Yiftach Ron

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02075

Abstract

Numerous studies point to the acute distress associated with experiencing severe mental illness and psychiatric hospitalization. Another strand of research describes how the unique features of psychodrama group therapy are useful in fostering spontaneity and creativity, and their benefits in treating particularly difficult populations where traditional psychotherapy is limited. This paper provides a framework for understanding the potential of psychodrama group therapy to alleviate the experience of loneliness and distress in psychiatric inpatients. A case study of an open inpatients psychodrama group in a psychiatric hospital in Israel demonstrates the role of therapeutic means such as the doubling technique and group sharing phase in creating and reinforcing empathy, relatedness, and support, which may offer at least partial relief of the distress and loneliness of psychiatric inpatients. The unique contribution of this study is the intimate encounter that it provides to researchers and practitioners with the processes that take place within the setting of inpatients therapy group.

Highlights

The case study presented in this paper is intended to serve as a framework for understanding the potential of psychodrama group therapy to alleviate the experience of loneliness and distress in psychiatric inpatients
This study presents findings from psychodrama group therapy in an acute ward of a psychiatric hospital in Israel and examines how group psychodrama may, to some extent, alleviate the distress and loneliness experienced by psychiatric inpatients in acute states
The first section is an illustration of psychiatric inpatients’ acute distress and the manner in which they expressed this distress, while the latter two sections focus on the role of specific therapeutic means in coping with this distress

Summary

Introduction

The case study presented in this paper is intended to serve as a framework for understanding the potential of psychodrama group therapy to alleviate the experience of loneliness and distress in psychiatric inpatients. Psychodrama in a Psychiatric Inpatient Ward illness “paints” a person’s entire perception and subjective experience She describes the social isolation, the feeling of failure, the detachment and alienation, which takes over a person following his or her diagnosis (Deegan, 2004). Other studies illustrate how awareness of the disease or medical diagnosis, in itself elicits symptoms of depression (Moore et al, 1999; Roe and Lachman, 2005) or even of post-traumatic stress in people coping with severe mental illness (SMI; Frame and Morrison, 2001; Mueser et al, 2002; Shaw et al, 2002). Self-stigma results in a loss of identity, it shapes one’s attitudes to recovery, provokes a sense of hopelessness and low self-esteem, and leads to social withdrawal and depletion of social connections (Yanos et al, 2011; Orkibi et al, 2014)

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion