The Sociodrama of Life or Death
Young Adults and Addiction Treatment
Keywords:
sociometry, sociodrama, addiction, young adults, adolescence, life, death, step-in circle, group psychotherapyAbstract
The continued opiate epidemic has severely impacted young people as drug overdoses have
reached unprecedented levels. Young people, more than ever, have been seeking addiction
treatment with mostly unfavorable outcomes. Adjusting our treatment approaches to the
specific needs of young adults is necessary. Many treatment programs for young adults can
be improved by incorporating engaging, experiential treatment groups into their models,
including sociodrama and sociometry. This article emphasizes the effectiveness of
sociometry in meeting the developmental needs of young adults in addition to recounting
the Sociodrama of Life or Death, which manifested spontaneously in an inpatient group at
Mirmont Treatment Center and has been enacted with many different groups since. The
walk toward life in sobriety or toward death by addiction is a walk that many are facing
each day. Using future projection and surplus reality, the sociodrama brings these two
paths, side by side, into the room for the group to experience.
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