Using drama to explore the inner self can allow people to experience hidden emotions and find new ways to find solutions
Release date – Saturday, July 23 at 12:30
go through Aparna Gupta, Moitraj Das
How people think, feel and act is the foundation of mental health. Nearly 15% of the mental health burden in the world can be attributed to severe mental health problems in India. There is also a considerable treatment gap in the country. While there are multiple explanations for this, stigma is the root cause.
Therapy is a type of medical care used to treat emotional distress and mental health problems. It is researching and understanding the life choices and challenges facing an individual, couple or family. Therapy is important because it allows you to examine your thoughts, feelings, and behavior patterns. Additionally, it can help you develop new coping mechanisms and ways to deal with the everyday stress and symptoms associated with your disease.
drama therapy
Drama therapy is a therapy that incorporates multiple drama techniques. This healing technique is rooted in the belief that all human beings have an innate sense of creative expression. Therefore, using drama to explore their inner selves allows them to experience hidden emotions and find new ways to find solutions. It is a positive and practical approach to helping people cope with a variety of challenges, including trauma, mental illness, marital conflict, and creating personal purpose. One of these challenges is bullying.
Drama therapy sessions can be one-on-one or group sessions, and can be done alone or in combination with other approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Drama therapists help clients cope with challenging life circumstances, process painful emotions, and reflect on the past. This approach allows individuals to explore a range of resolutions to conflict through activities such as role-playing, vocal exercises, and movement exercises. For example, a bereaved person will be asked to explore the situation with varying intensities of emotion and by “acting it out.” They can express their feelings with their bodies, voices, projections and props.
fight bullying
Physical, violent and verbal forms of hostility due to power imbalances are known as bullying. According to a World Health Organization (2017) survey of students in 40 countries, 79% of young people have experienced bullying. This can be further divided into overt bullying and covert bullying. Public bullying is more common among boys and takes the form of physical violence and overtly expressive behavior. Covert bullying, on the other hand, is more common among girls because they are affected by social institutions, isolation, and emotional harm.
Girls were more likely to be bullied than boys when it came to their appearance, as 17 percent of female teens said they were bullied because of their appearance, compared to 11 percent of male teens.
Experiential learning is designed to engage emotions and feelings to understand and develop social skills. This is done by working in groups and the children have to interact and communicate with each other. The need to communicate enables them to listen, think, understand, and then respond to what their collaborators have to say. The team’s communication and performance techniques are based on the fundamental principles of role-playing.
Bhukhanwala (2014) argues that role-playing can be therapeutic because it provides a forum for participants to express their thoughts about bullying, how to deal with bullying, and how to view bullying. The main purpose of role-playing is to allow children to create characters. These characters may be inspired by real life or fictional. In the case of bullying, children need to improvise in hypothetical situations that are closely related to their real lives. Through critical thinking and sensitivity, children take on the role of others and try to see situations from different perspectives. This merging between self and other fosters discussion, shared experiences, and empathy.
Shirley Brice Heath (2005), a researcher at the National Center for Conflict Resolution, asserts that, rather than focusing on crime and negative behavior issues, programs that use children’s strengths and channel frustration into creative expression produce more positive outcomes. good result.
In a study conducted by Kalie Rae (2009), she looked at different models of drama therapy used in schools. The main five steps in all of this are Warm Up, Dramatic Presentation, Discussion, Audience Performance and Closing. The first step is a warm-up, which includes fun drama games and exercises for the children to get to know each other. The second step is dramatic projection, where children are free to show their feelings. Dramatic projections have also had successful effects on children with psychosocial problems. This includes external problems such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, and self-confidence.
close contact
Jones (1996) stated that “in drama therapy, there is a strong connection between life and drama.” The integration of what students learn through drama and role play into their daily lives is a major goal of bullying prevention. During theatrical screenings, children can scream, swear, speak softly, and use punching motions from a distance. This helps them express their inner feelings and emotions.
As stated before, Nicole Ventura (2021) recommends establishing school-based aid that would allow students and families to access free care without worrying about transportation or parental supervision. Opportunities for practitioners to practice in-person have been limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A YouTube video on the same topic might help with this. Another study by Kalie Rae (2009) concluded that such programs can help students develop effective communication and problem-solving skills, and can even reduce bullying if taught regularly as part of the curriculum. These interventions can help children act on their feelings and take charge of their behavior. However, more research is needed to determine the effectiveness of such programs.
