THE FUNCTION OF THE AUXILIARY EGO IN PSYCHODRAMA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS

Abstract

One of the reasons why very few psychotherapists undertake to treat the psychotic person is that it requires personal traits of great versatility and creativity to stay ahead of the fantasy world of the psychotic. The practitioner is often swept away by the majesty and the horror of the patient's production, fascinated but immobilized. Even though psychodrama can deal with this fantasy world more satisfactorily and completely, there is so much awareness of the pitfalls that even its practitioners stay away from this area of application. This is altogether regrettable. Since Moreno first introduced the psychodrama tic approach to the major psychoses, no new reports have come from others and no practitioners have established themselves in this arena. With Moreno's death in 1974, there is a large gap which no one seems able or willing to fill.