Psychodrama With Trauma Survivors: Acting Out Your Pain

In a world where natural, social and political disasters are a daily reality, the therapist is increasingly called upon to find rapid and effective methods of treating the survivors of trauma, including sexual abuse, torture, war-related trauma, addiction, depression and bereavement. The contributors to this book provide persuasive evidence of how psychodrama can safely be used to create paths of change for even the most severe traumatization and they also discuss the possible transmission of trauma patterns across generations. Research following World War II, neurobiological studies and other recent research into PTSD has shown that many trauma symptoms are unconscious, non-verbal, right-brained experiences which cannot be accessed through talk therapy. Psychodrama creates a place to act out unprocessed trauma within the containment of therapy, in order to stop the obsessive repetition of the past.

Psychodrama with Trauma Survivors documents the impact of trauma and explores the development of treatment, providing integrated models of experiential treatment for clinicians to use. It is an invaluable resource for those interested in psychodrama and those working with trauma survivors.

Peter Felix Kellermann is a clinical psychologist who qualified as a practitioner of psychodrama at the Moreno Institute, New York. He teaches psychodrama in Israel and around the world. He is the author of Focus on Psychodrama, also published by Jessica Kingsley. M.K.Hudgins is a clinical psychologist and psychodrama trainer in the USA. She is chair of the board of directors for the Therapeutic Spiral International Charity, created to fund psychodrama with trauma survivors in the global community.