First Conference on Drama Therapy Slated for March 10
TEHRAN –(Iranart)- M ashhad, capital of Khorasan Razavi Province, will host the first scientific conference on drama therapy on March 10.
Drama therapy is the intentional use of drama or theater to achieve therapeutic results. The practice provides a context where participants tell their stories, set goals, express feelings and seek solutions.
Secretary of the conference is theater director, author, playwright and researcher in drama therapy Majid Amraee, 49. He has authored ‘Drama Therapy in its Evolutionary Path’ published by the Tehran-based Danjeh Publications.
“The conference will have four sections: lectures, article presentation, workshops and ‘An Experience,’ a platform for sharing experience,” Amraee told Mehr News Agency. “The first edition of the conference is being held at national level, but we’re trying to expand it internationally in the coming year when we will organize the meeting in collaboration with foreign experts.”
Elaborating on the experience part of the program, he said it is about cases drama therapy helped heal. Patients or those who have suffered trauma will speak about their drama therapy sessions.
“A total of 26 articles were submitted to the secretariat of the conference, six of which have been selected for presentation,” Amraee said.
Two lectures and two educational workshops are also planned. “One of the workshops is about drama therapy for the physically challenged. The other on techniques existing in the field.”
“We will publish the synopses of articles and lectures and contents of the workshops before the meeting. Full texts of articles and lectures will be available on the day of the conference,” he said.
About the reason for selecting Mashhad as conference venue, Amraee said the city is considered among the major rehabilitation centers in the country and the event is organized under the auspices of ‘Bachehaye Baran’ (Children of Rain), a charity empowering children in the holy city.
Other supporters of the conference are Visual Arts Department of Culture Ministry and provincial office of the Social Welfare Organization, he added.
Interaction Between Patients, Therapists
Drama therapy is among group therapy methods in which drama or theater processes as well as psychotherapeutic techniques are used to promote interaction between participants and therapists, as a means of catharsis.
The approach helps create a framework for participants to talk about their own encounters, express their feelings, seek solutions and get relief from strong or repressed emotions.
Drama therapist is a theater practitioner who has knowledge of applied psychology and psychodrama, a form of psychotherapy in which patients act out events from their past.
“The most important purpose of drama therapy is to help create an appropriate and rational equilibrium between the inner and outer worlds.”
Drama therapy thus recognizes body, emotions and their expression in a theatrical framework with self-produced plays.
For several years Amraee has worked as a drama therapist to help war veterans and former POWs of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.