Using Drama Therapy to Do Personal Victimization Work With Sexual AggressorsA Review of the Research (From Handbook of Sex Offender Treatment, P 31-1 - 31-23, 2011, Barbara K. Schwartz, ed. - See NCJ-243091)

• NCJ Number: 243122
• Author(s): Barbara K. Schwartz, Ph.D.; John Bergman, M.A.
• Date Published: 2011
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Civic Research Institute, Inc
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Technical Assistance; Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter reviews research on the treatment objectives, components, and effectiveness of drama therapy as a tool in addressing sex offenders' childhood victimization, with attention to issues of confrontation and touch.

Abstract

A review of the course of research on the treatment of sex offenders' personal victimization notes the trend toward integrating behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches to sex offender treatment with the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)/addictions models, thus incorporating sex offenders' personal victimization into a holistic treatment model. The literature describes a variety of techniques for exposing patients to traumatic material in a therapeutic setting. Meichenbaum (1994) describes a variety of behavioral techniques for use with exposure therapy. One technique is a "reenactment of the abusive experience." In addressing this method, the current chapter first identifies four essential differences between psychodrama and drama therapy, followed by examples of psychodrama that have been used with male sexual abuse survivors. The chapter then discusses the use of "games" and other intense encounters in therapeutic communities. These highly confrontational therapeutic encounters may include various rituals, role plays, and intense verbal exchanges. This is based in the belief that negative evaluation and highly critical language is essential to trimming back inflated behaviors and pretentious exaggerations. The chapter then turns to the use of role plays with sex offenders, which typically involves the offender playing the part of the offender or the victim or both. Physicality in drama therapy is then discussed, because both drama therapy and psychodrama use the total person in the therapy session; how to guide the use of the body is of paramount concern. The chapter's concluding sections discuss the advantages of using psychodrama/drama therapy with sex offenders and the cautions therapists must exercise when using these therapeutic tools. 53 references