Psychodrama and Family Therapy-What's in a Name?
Keywords:
PsychodramaAbstract
Of perennial interest in systemic therapy is the way meanings are created and maintained by social interaction. Psychodramatic role theory has a similar focus. Likewise, family therapy's more recent focus on narrative or story finds strong resonance in psychodrama, where narrative and story form the texture and the text of action methods. Role theory and narrative therapy are used as bases from which to explore ways in which family therapy ideas can influence action-methods practice and, conversely, the part action methods can play in family therapy. "What's in a name?" becomes a theme, as the author investigates ways of doing therapy that are neither psychodrama as such nor family therapy as such. A Batesonian "news of difference" framework is adopted as the principal theory for how people can change.
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