In general,psychodrama involves a patient, a
stage on which the drama is played, a director or
therapist,“auxiliary egos”(other patients, therapeu-
tic aides, and others), and an audience. The director
assigns the patient a role, and the supporting cast is
made up of the auxiliary egos. The audience can
provide acceptance and understanding and may
even participate contemporaneously.
Moreno contended that acting out a situation,
listening to the responses of the auxiliary egos, and
sensing the reactions of the audience lead to a dee-
per kind of catharsis and self-understanding. He
believed that this is much more effective than sim-
ply“talking”to a therapist. Particularly for patients
who are inhibited or lack social skills, psychodrama
can lead to improved levels of self-expression and to
the development of heightened social skills. A
recent meta-analysis suggests that psychodrama is
an efficacious treatment, although this was based
on a relatively small number of studies (Kipper &
Ritchie, 2003).
Transactional Analysis. Eric Berne (1961) was
the developer of and the dynamic force behind
transactional analysis(TA).TA is essentially a process
in which the interactions among the various aspects
of the people in the group are analyzed. Analyses
often focus on three chief“ego states”within each
person: the Child ego state, the Parent ego state,
and the Adult ego state. Each state is composed of
positive and negative features. The positive Child is
spontaneous, uninhibited, and creative. The
negative Child is fearful, overly emotional, or full
of guilt. On the positive side, the Parent state may
be characterized as supportive, loving, or under-
standing. The negative Parent is punishing and
quick to condemn. The Adult ego state is less ori-
ented toward feelings and emotions and is more
involved with logic, planning, or information gath-
ering. But the Adult can be reasonable (positive) or
nonspontaneous (negative).
Depending on how a person was raised, he or
she will manifest various aspects of these positive
and negative characteristics. A child who was over-
supervised or overregulated by the parents might
develop an inhibited or guilt-ridden ego state. As
a result, if a person in the TA group setting discusses
sex in a pompous, authoritative way, and the inhib-
ited person is then asked to respond, she or he may
be unable to do so or may respond under great
tension. The therapist might then point out how
each person is playing negative roles (either Child,
Adult, or Parent). One person is playing a negative
Parent role by being pompous and authoritative.
The other person is responding in a negative
Child fashion by being inhibited and tense.
Repeated analyses of the interactions among
group members reveal the ego states that they typi-
cally employ. These analyses lead the patients
toward more rational, appropriate ways of thinking
that are closer to the Adult ego state (positive).
The units that are analyzed aretransactions—the
stimuli and responses that are active between ego
states in two or more people at any given moment.A:Even in this group, Z seems to keep aloof and won’t
let others get too close to her.
Z:It is as though my mother and I formed a combina-
tion against the whole world. My father left her,
and so she depended on me, and I was frightened
of the world by her, and so the two of us were
alone together, and I had little to do with anyone
else. It is a pretty bad situation.
Therapist:Let us try to understand this. I think you are
touching something of great value. Both you and
your mother formed a cabal against the world. I
think you resent her complete possession of you.But now you are aware that it isn’t only love you
have for your mother, but also hatred. However,
you begin to understand how you came to
depend on your mother, and also how she came
to depend on you. Finally, you are able to see how
you have been emotionally enslaved by her. But it
must be difficult to experience such emotions, and
you must feel alone.^1- FromMethods of Group Psychotherapy, by R. J. Corsini, pp. 160–161,
163 – 164. Copyright © 1957 by McGraw-Hill, Inc. Reprinted by permission
of the author.
GROUP THERAPY, FAMILY THERAPY, AND COUPLES THERAPY 435