Psychodrama

Psychodramatic Methods in Family Therapy

Adam Blatner.

From:

Charles E. Schaefer & Lois J. Carey (Eds.),

Family Play Therapy. (October, 1994) Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

"Interpersonal understanding is another way of describing empathy, operationally defined as one person tuning in to what it’s like to be in the situation of another person. This includes some consideration of the uniqueness of that other person, the likelihood of different tastes, temperament, background. Empathy can be taught through the psycho-dramatic technique of role reversal, of having one person take the role of the other.

In that role, the person is interviewed, coached, and drawn out until he or she begins to experience a complex of imaginal associations. In order to be successful, role reversal requires that the individual’s feelings be engaged, not just his or her intellect."

"Another benefit of having people attempt to take each others’ roles in family therapy is that it promotes trust. It’s intuitively obvious that when one person attempts to feel into the situation of the other, the act of empathizing reduces barriers of insensitivity"