2. Gestaltdrama as an Integrative Psychotherapeutic Approach

• Main Author: Polínek Martin Dominik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2016-03-01
• Series: Review of Artistic Education
• Subjects: gestaltdrama; specific research; dramatherapy; theatrotherapy; fairytale-therapy; gestalt therapy; basic psychological needs; integration performance
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/rae-2016-0017

The following text is an overview study which defines the basic phenomena and effective factors of Gestalt drama and outlines some of the researches carried out in this area by the author during recent years. Gestalt drama is the name of a specific psychotherapeutic approach applied by the author in his practice, which combines Gestalt therapy with expressive approaches (especially with dramatherapy, theatrotherapy and fairytale-therapy). Linking Gestalt therapy and expressive techniques results in a specific psychotherapeutic approach whose versatility and holistic conception makes it suitable not only for psychotherapy but also for self-development of people with special needs, as it has the potential to meet the higher psychological needs even when the lower needs are not sufficiently saturated. The article further presents the interpretation of the partial results of research focusing on the analysis of integration performance where gestaltdrama techniques have been applied. These performances resulted from one-day dramatherapy workshops with clients suffering from mental retardation and with clients with behavioural disorders. This includes the analysis of differences between dramatical expression within the above target groups.