Lockdown – the impact on contact with others and our own mental health
As it is currently the first ever International Dramatherapy Week I thought I would do some, back to basics, blogging and look at what dramatherapy is. Dramatherapy is the use of drama with a healing intent. But what is it? Drama means Action or To Do. The word drama can be understood in two ways: an exaggerated version of reality-
Orla is the silent prince. Born deaf, his parents can not understand why he does not respond to his own name and ask “What are we doing wrong?” When they find out he is deaf they search for a cure. Orla is poked and prodded and shouted at; He is frustrated but he is still deaf. His parents despair “He
Isma Alma is a lesbian, Muslim, British-Asian. Isma is married to a woman and together they decided to adopt. In this stand up comedy routine, Isma shares some stories from her own life and what lessons she has taken into the journey to become an adopted mother. Isma has sometimes been discriminated against for being Muslim and also for being
I’m spending 10 days at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and wanted to share my dramatherapy thoughts on some of the productions. First in the spotlight “The Words Are There” by Nth Degree Productions. In this one-man show we meet Mick as he recounts moments of his relationship with Trish (absent except for a mop as an avatar and a voice-over).
Trixie by the @UnDisposables. A play about love. A play about a dog. A play about how we attach to others. How we used Attachment Theory in the rehearsal process.
Yesterday I went to see the new movie Instant Family. The movie starts with Pete and Ellie Wagner, who have been putting off children until the right time – when they had a home, when they had careers, when they had money. When Ellie’s sister suggests they will never have children they begin to talk about their family plans. Pete
Research from the Princes Trust shows that the number of teenagers who think life is simply not worth living has doubled to 1 in 5. Teenage suicides have also nearly doubled in 5 years. These are stark statistics. It also means that most teenagers have at least one friend who thinks about killing themselves. I have spent years learning about
Adam has some personal revelations and decides to make some changes after joining the dramatherapy group in this weeks cold feet, but how accurate was the portrayal of dramatherapy?
Nothing breaks like a heart Everybody sometimes feels angry, sad, scared, jealous, disgusted, or worried – these are all normal emotions. For some people one or more of these normal emotions can feel like they are “Too Big” to manage or like they are taking over. Sometimes this feeling lasts for a short time but can feel very intense, other