Unveiling the Mask: Hope and Healing through Drama Therapy

Dietrich, Carol

Saturday, March 24, 2012: 10:40 AM-12:10 PM

Crystal A (The Charleston Marriott)

Women with eating disorders often refer to a "monster" inside that controls their life and defines their identity. Attendees will learn how drama therapy, through dramatic projection and enactment, empowers a positive sense of self. Teaching methods will include lecture, discussion and experiential exercises.

Presentation Outline

I. Definition of Drama Therapy

II. Conceptual Sources of Drama Therapy

A. Dramatic Play

B. Theatre

C. Role Play

D. Psychodrama

E. Dramatic Ritual

III. Major Psychological Influences

A. Psychoanalysis

B. Behaviorism

C. Humanism

IV. Goals of Drama Therapy

A. Expression and containment of emotion

B. Developing the observing self

C. Expansion of role repertoire

D. Modification and expansion of self-image

E. Facilitation of social interaction and development of interpersonal skills

V. The Integrative Five Phase Model of Drama Therapy

A. Phase One: Dramatic Play

B. Phase Two: Scenework

C. Phase Three: Role play, expansion of role repertoire

D. Phase Four: Culminating Enactment

E. Phase Five: Dramatic Ritual

VI. Drama Therapy, Eating Disorders and Neuroscience

A. Evokes positive feelings and qualities: spontaneity, playfulness, expressiveness, resourcefulness, imagination, humor, empathy--qualities that are frozen in the individual with an eating disorder. Stimulating the right hemisphere of the brain.

B. The use of masks as a projective technique in externalizing the eating disorder. Integrating right and left hemispheres.

VII. Experiential Single Session using the Integrative Five Phase Model and Masks

A. Dramatic Play--emotional expression, trust, physical activation.

B. Scenework--improvised scenes, development of observing self.

C. Role Play--expansion of role repertoire, rehearsal for life.

D. Culminating Enactment--continues the expansion of role repertoire and modification and expansion of self-image as the mask is confronted.

E. Dramatic Ritual--celebrating, giving back.

VIII. Summary/Benefits of Drama Therapy in the treatment of eating disorders

IX. Closing Remarks

Women with eating disorders often refer to a "monster" inside that directs their life and defines their identity. Unable to trust their own judgment, they retreat to an inner world of isolation, identifying strictly with their eating disorder. Constant self-criticism and unrelenting perfectionism prevent them from living a balanced life. With the left hemisphere of the brain overly activated by self-recrimination and linear reasoning, the therapeutic strategy is to reach the individual through exercises that stimulate growth in the right hemisphere of the brain. Neuroscience research indicates that individual flexibility is increased when therapeutic interventions that stimulate the right hemisphere are integrated with the left hemisphere. Noted psychiatrist Daniel Siegel also states that creativity is enhanced when the left and right sides of the brain are functioning together. This creativity is a powerful tool for women who describe their experience as being trapped in their eating disorder. The Integrative Five Phase Model of Drama Therapy stimulates creativity by utilizing treatment methods that promote spontaneity, awareness, imagination and empathy. This presentation will introduce the application of Drama Therapy in the treatment of eating disorders. Particular attention will be given to the use of masks for dramatic projection and enactments that assist the client in separating from the eating disorder and integrating a compassionate voice of recovery. Attendees will see how this externalizing process creates a transformative space, allowing for a more fully embodied and empowered sense of self to emerge. Included will be a lecture, discussion, experiential exercises and an opportunity to participate in a simulated drama therapy session.

Primary Presenter:

Carol Dietrich, RN, MA, LMFT

Carol Dietrich, RN, MA, LMFT is a registered nurse, psychotherapist and drama therapist who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders. For over a decade, she has worked in a hospital-based intensive outpatient and day treatment program as an individual, group, family and drama therapist and is the former Program Director of the Intensive Eating Disorders Treatment Program at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA. In addition to her hospital work, she maintains a private practice and is the experiential therapist for the La Ventana Treatment Program in San Francisco. She is a member of AED, IAEDP, NADT, IEATA.

See more of: Proposals

<< Previous Proposal | Next Proposal >>