Participatory theatre and mental health recovery: a narrative inquiry (original) (raw)

Drama and Theatre for Health and Well-Being

Handbook of the Historiography of Biology, 2018

The rock art of indigenous communities from 20,000 years ago have been interpreted as early indications of how humans have connected performance, in a broad sense, with the health and well-being of ...

Theatre as research and catalyst for health promotion

Crisi e resilienza. Atti della Summer School 2022, a cura di A. Barzanò, C. Bearzot, E. Chiocchetti, Educatt Milano, 2023

This paper investigates the relationship between theatre participation and health and wellbeing. After a theoretical introduction where we define theatre and the concept of wellbeing, we summarize published research gathered by World Health Organization on theatre for/in health since 2000. Two programs conducted by the first author at the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida are then offered as specific examples of Theatre for/in Health. Theatre Connect, is a program for LGBTQIA+ teens, and Inside OCD: I am not my illness, is a program conducted with individuals affected by obsessivecompulsive disorder and their families. We conclude that participation in the theatre and the arts can contribute to human flourishing.

Applied theatre: performing health and wellbeing

Studies in Theatre and Performance, 2017

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The Impact of a Theatre Performance on Mental Health Service Delivery in the Context of User Involvement

This paper gives an account of a collaborative project between staff and service users of a statutory day service which, in the context of mental health service user involvement, aimed at examining the impact of a theatre performance devised and performed by mental health service users on improving care practice and mental health service delivery. The paper will consider the background of the project as well as giving a detailed account of the project itself and a reflection on the outcomes. In the context of dramatherapy, it opens possibilities for the use of performance as a platform for dialogue, and the identification and implementation of strategies for change at a collective level.

Towards a Poor Therapeutic Theatre

2020

This research paper summarizes the personal process of dramatic ritual and its healing effects within the creation of therapeutic theatre while exploring the research question: “How can dramatic rituals deepen the healing effects of therapeutic theatre, and how do performers benefit from ritual in a therapeutic theatre context?”. This paper includes the researcher’s reflections of the autoethnographic method, as explored through ethnographer Richard Schechner's (2011) three steps of naturalism, perception and exploration. This paper goes on to examine how dramatic rituals in therapeutic theatre benefit the self and communities through their inherent structure, safety and healing effects. Throughout the playmaking process the researcher examined rituals by performing them individually; understanding their effects, deepening his connections with his performers/actors, and gaining insight into the relationship between drama therapy and dramatic ritual

Theatre as a Transformative Practice

An exploration into the psychosomatic dynamics of theatre-based practices was undertaken using heuristic methodology (Moustakas, 1990). Twenty-two practitioners, some working independently, others working collaboratively, were interviewed about their approaches, focusing on their experiences of self-expressive performance as a way to work on the self and to induce healing and/or transformative growth. The heuristic approach also allowed for the researcher's direct involvement and participation in the practices under investigation, enabling her to explore firsthand the potential of theatre-based practice as a means to work on the self. Following heuristic methodology, the researcher created a Composite Depiction and a Creative Synthesis, juxtaposing the individual approaches of the research participants and highlighting the core elements of Theatre as a Transformative Practice. In doing so, she proposed that the practices explored facilitate an attunement of ego, some leading to deep, body-based introspection which in turn enables the practitioner to gain greater self-insight and internal balance through expressive engagement with felt senses and corresponding imagery. The researcher further suggested that Theatre as a Transformative Practice requires specific conditions under which the creative journey can lead to healing and personal growth. The chief condition identified was that the work be approached with mindful awareness of others and self in the performative relationship.

Playback Theatre: An Investigation Into Applied Theatre and Communities of Meaning, with Specific Reference to Education and Health

This thesis explores Playback Theatre (PBT) as a site for learning and healing, with meaning-making as the linking dynamic. This is done through: 1. the researcher’s own meaning-making of a performance; 2. a model locating PBT at the nexus of Narrative, Performance, Health and Education. 3. an analytical heuristic where the propositions implicit in the literature were made explicit, and used to search for empirical evidence using the lived experience of its participants; and, 4. the development of an emergent theory of PBT that was informed by this evidence. The research questions are in two categories— Empirical and Theoretical. The empirical questions asked about the lived experience of PBT, and the associated process of meaning-making. These questions were then re-ordered and expanded in light of the data, to include: what is inherent in the form that might make it rich with potential for learning-healing, processes used to work towards this potential, and impacts these may have on the social-emotional lives of participants. The empirical research covered one five month and one six month period. It involved interviewing 47 participants from nine performances and videoing rehearsals and a public performance. The investigation is post-positivistic and broadly humanistic using mixed methods: Phenomenology, Phenomenography and Grounded Theory. The theoretical propositions are established through review of literature, and NUD*IST (4) used to examine these in light of the interview data. As the propositions were supported by empirical evidence, they were used to construct an emergent theory of PBT. At the heart of this theory is a process of meaning-making. It asserts “telling”, “witnessing”, and “modelling” as essential elements of PBT and these activate individual and group learning that gives rise to new meanings. This can lead to emotional healing. The theory also asserts that healing increases potential for additional learning to occur because it makes telling, witnessing and modelling more salient. It is finally argued that the efficacy of PBT as a vehicle for meaning-making and, hence, learning-healing, reflects the particular social-aesthetic context of PBT. Suggestions are made regarding contributions that PBT can make to Education, and questions posed for future research.

COMPLEXIFYING THE SELF: THE BREAKING THROUGH OF THEATRE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL EDUCATION

Applying Education in a Complex world, 2023

The following text frames and describes main orienting principles and recent results of Irromper [Pt. breaking through], an empowerment lead, artistic and psychoeducational project within the field of theatre, which was devised with a group of patients diagnosed with different psychological disorders. The methodology used in this article is mainly based on auto-ethnographic description. This theatre project was one of the latest outcomes of a line of post-doctoral research initiated in 2014, intersecting Theatre, Psychology, and Education, in collaboration with Encontrar+se [Pt. to find oneself] an institution for the promotion of mental health, in the city of Porto, Portugal. Since then, we have been conducting, every week, theatre sessions that interweave artistic and scientific methodologies, to help individuals diagnosed with different psychological disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, among others) to cope with complex mental and bodily issues in a collective context. After several years of collective theatre practices and experiences by the Encontrar+se users (hereafter referred to as participants), in 2021, during the pandemic, the Portuguese General Directorate for the Arts (DGArtes) opened a call for artistic projects relating to theatre and mental health. The fact that the proposal Irromper was chosen in the highest funding threshold validated the artistic dimension of our proposal in addition to the therapeutical one, reinforcing the relevance of the arts as an important activity to address complex issues in the contemporary world.