PRE-DISCHARGE CONFERENCE PSYCHODRAMA

Abstract

There comes a time in the course of therapy with hospitalized patients, when the patient requests to be discharged. Multiple problems are involved with this request in that the patient frequently is not ready for discharge. The manner in which this premature request is encountered will have potent effects on the subsequent course of therapy. The primary danger here is that if the patient views the denial of the request in paranoid terms, either as a personal rebuke toward the patient by the therapist or as an attempt by the therapist to "imprison" the patient, the therapeutic rapport between the therapist and the patient may be threatened. Another aspect is that the denial of the request may result in frustration, manifested in the form of regression or violent acting out.