M ashhad, capital of Khorasan Razavi Province, will host the first scientific conference on drama therapy early next year.
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, 48. He has authored ‘Drama Therapy in its Evolutionary Path’ published by the Tehran-based Danjeh Publications.
“The conference is slated for March 9. It will have four sections: lectures, article presentation, educational workshops, and finally ‘An Experience,’ a platform for sharing experience,” Amraee told Mehr News Agency.
Elaborating on the experience 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.
“Ten articles, five lectures and five educational workshops are planned. We will publish the synopsis 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 event is organized under the auspices of ‘Bachehaye Baran’ (Children of Rain), a charity empowering children based in the shrine city.
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, Amraee said.
“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 worked as a drama therapist to help war veterans and former POWs of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.