In psychodrama, participants explore internal conflicts by acting out their emotions and interpersonal interactions on stage. Protagonists examine their relationships by interacting with the other actors and the leader, known as the director. This is done using specific techniques, including mirroring, doubling, soliloquy, and role reversal. The session is often broken up into three phases - the warm-up, the action, and the post-discussion.
During a typical psychodrama session, a number of clients gather together. One of these clients is chosen by the group as the protagonist, and the director calls on the other clients to assist the protagonist's "performance," either by portraying other characters, or by utilizing mirroring, doubling, or role reversal. The clients act out a number of scenes in order to allow the protagonist to work through certain scenarios.[9] This is obviously beneficial for the protagonist but also is helpful to the other group members, allowing them to assume the role of another person and apply that experience to their own life. The focus during the session is on acting out of different scenarios, rather than simply talking through them. All of the different elements of the session (stage, props, lighting, etc.) are used to heighten the reality of the scene.
The three sections of a typical session are the warm-up, the action, and the sharing. During the warm-up, the actors are encouraged to enter into a state of mind where they can be present and aware of the current moment and are free to be creative. This is done through the use of different ice-breaker games and activities. Next, the action section of the psychodrama session is the time in which the actual scenes themselves take place. Finally, in the post-discussion, the different actors are able to comment on the action, coming from their personal point of view, not as a critique, sharing their empathy and experiences with the protagonist of the scene.
The following are core psychodramatic techniques:
Mirroring: The protagonist is first asked to act out an experience. After this, the client steps out of the scene and watches as another actor steps into their role and portrays them in the scene.
Doubling: The job of the “double” is to make conscious of any thoughts or feelings that another person is unable to express whether it is because of shyness, guilt, inhibition, politeness, fear, anger, etc. In many cases, the person is unaware of these thoughts or at least is unable to form the words to express how they are feeling. Therefore, the “Double” attempts to make conscious and give form to the unconscious and/or under expressed material. The person being doubled has the full right to disown any of the “Double’s” statements and to correct them as necessary. In this way, doubling itself can never be wrong.
Role playing: The client portrays a person or object that is problematic to him or her.
Soliloquy: The client speaks his or her thoughts aloud in order to build self-knowledge.
Role reversal: The client is asked to portray another person while a second actor portrays the client in the particular scene. This not only prompts the client to think as the other person but also has some of the benefits of mirroring, as the client sees him- or herself as portrayed by the second actor.
