Dramatherapy with Children and Adolescents

265 Pages·1995·4.62 MB·English

by  Sue Jennings

Dramatherapy with children and
adolescents
The development of the dramatic imagination is the means by which we
can consider the implications of our actions. Failure to provide dramatic
structure for the dramatic imagination can result in chaos, and confusion
and imagination out of control leads to chaos in the community. Thus the
role of drama in the healthy development of every individual is increas­
ingly recognized, and especially its importance in working with children
and adolescents. Dramatherapy with Children and Adolescents addresses
in practical ways direct approaches to work with both individuals and
groups and provides firm guidelines and theoretical frameworks for
therapeutic intervention.
The first three chapters are concerned with the play of young children
from contrasting approaches. The next three look at the context of drama­
therapy work and some specific issues of theory and practice. These are
followed by three chapters describing specific applications of drama­
therapy with different groups of adolescents. The book closes with three
chapters which look at the development processes of the dramatherapist
and the family, and the themes of psychopathology and creativity.
The contributors - from Britain, Denmark, Greece, Israel, the Nether­
lands and the USA - draw on a wide background of experience in using
drama with children.
Dramatherapy with Children and Adolescents will be invaluable to all
professionals who work with children, including social workers, probation
officers, nurses and teachers, as well as dramatherapists and play therapists.
Sue Jennings is Senior Research Fellow at the London Hospital Medical
College and a dramatherapy consultant to courses in Israel, Norway,
Denmark and Greece.
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Dramatherapy with children
and adolescents
Edited by Sue Jennings
R
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Croup
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1995
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York NY 10016
Transferred to Digital Printing 2010
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
© 1995 Sue Jennings, selection and editorial matter; individual chapters,
the contributors
Typeset in Times by J&L Composition Ltd, Filey, North Yorkshire
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested.
ISBN 13:978-0-415-11041-9 (pbk)
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent.
This book is dedicated to
Sophie and Harry
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Contents
List of illustrations ix
Notes on contributors xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
Part I The play of young children 5
1 The dramatic world view: reflections on the roles taken and
played by young children 7
Robert J. Landy
2 Fear and tension in children’s games 28
Iona Opie
3 Dramatherapy with children who are trapped in their
spontaneous play 40
Galila Oren
Part II The context of dramatherapy work 61
4 The role a role-play may play: dramatherapy and the
externalization of the problem 63
Torben Marner
5 How individual is individual therapy? The use of contextual
therapy principles in the treatment of children and
adolescents in dramatherapy 75
Jan-Berend van der Wijk
6 Dramatherapy for survival: some thoughts on transitions and
choices for children and adolescents 90
Sue Jennings
viii Contents
Part III Dramatherapy with adolescents 107
7 Pinocchio - a handicapped brother: working with healthy
siblings through dramatherapy 109
Pamela Mond
8 From adolescent trauma to adolescent drama: group drama
therapy with emotionally disturbed youth 150
Renee Emunah
9 Images and action: dramatherapy and psychodrama with
sexually abused adolescents 169
Anne Bannister
Part IV Developmental framework 187
10 Shall I be mother? The development of the role of the
dramatherapist and reflections on transference/
countertransference 189
Di G rims haw
11 Families and the story of change 210
Simon Dermody
12 The labyrinth dance of adolescence: journey through darkness
and light 233
Yiorgos Polos
Name index 243
Subject index 245
Illustrations
FIGURES
4.1 Graph plotting the power of the Troll between the fifth
and sixth sessions 71
6.1 Integration of the person 92
6.2 Integration of society 92
6.3 Integration of person in relation to the world 93
6.4 Integration of preventive and curative theatre through the
mask 93
6.5 Integration of historical facts with the dramatic ‘as if’
principle 94
6.6 How medicine, theatre and religion were intertwined 96
6.7 Relationship of the dramatic development of the child
through Embodiment, Projection and Role (EPR), leading
to character formation 97
6.8 Relationship of the two realities through dramatic playing
and games 98
6.9 The relationship between development stages in the
maturational process 100
6.10 The relationship of ‘staying or going’ or ‘settling and
wandering’ 102
6.11 Integration of the dramatic processes of theatre art 105
7.1 Drawing by a 12-year-old girl showing her sister (lying
on a sofa-bed) and herself 117
7.2 Drawing by a 10-year-old girl showing herself and two
sibs in relation to their handicapped baby sister 119
7.3 Pictures used for creative writing activity in relation to
issues arising from the Pinocchio story 131
7.4 ‘Before’ and ‘after’ work on the Pinocchio story 137
7.5 ‘Before’ and ‘after’ figure drawings 143
7.6-7.7 ‘Before’ and ‘after’ family drawings 144/145
11.1 Family spectogram of a 7-year-old boy 220