An investigation into the experience of being a protagonist in a psychodrama

• Main Author: Martens, Marlyn Leslie
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Psychodynamic psychotherapy
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28831

The purpose of this study was to investigate the meaning of the psychodrama process as experienced by individuals who claim that it resulted in significant change. Using an existential-phenomenological approach, the study described the meaning of the experience for six adult co-researchers. The co-researchers were asked to describe their experiences before, during, and after their psychodramas. Two interviews were conducted and these were tape recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed and themes were formulated which were validated by the co-researchers and woven into an exhaustive description of the psychodrama experience. The exhaustive description was condensed into an essential structure. Both the exhaustive description and the essential structure were validated by all the co- researchers. The results support elements of both psychodrama and Gestalt theory, as well as current theories of group development. Implications for counselling and further research are discussed. === Education, Faculty of === Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of === Graduate