Effectiveness of Identity-based Psychodrama Educational-therapeutic Program on Identity Styles and Neuroticism

Abstract

Background: Neuroticism is one of the serious mental health problems of people. No study has been conducted on the impact of identity issues in the treatment of neurotic people. Objectives: This study aims to formulate, design, and investigate the effect of identity-based psychodrama educational program on identity styles and neuroticism. Materials & Methods: This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test design using a control group. The study participants were 40 people aged 15-30 years referred to Pendare Nik Counseling Center in Najafabad City, Isfahan Province, Iran, in 2020. They were selected using a convenience sampling method and randomly assigned into the intervention (n=20) and control (n=20) groups. The data collection instruments were Berzonsky Identity Style Inventory (1992) and McCrae and Costa 5-factor inventory (1992). A Researcher-made Identity-Based Psychodrama Program (2020) was used for the intervention. The collected data were analyzed using ANCOVA in SPSS v. 23. Results: The educational-therapeutic program significantly affected identity styles and neuroticism (P<0.001). It significantly reduced the neuroticism level of people in the intervention group (F=200.71, η2=0.84). Conclusion: The identity-based psychodrama program reduced diffuse-avoidant, normative, and informational identity styles and neuroticism and promoted the achieved identity style.

Developing the Identity-based Psychodrama Package and Comparing It With Psychodrama on Neuroticism

“…Hence, with the promotion of identity, the symptoms of neuroticism have further decreased in psychodrama. This finding is consistent with the results of Zolali et al (2021) on the effectiveness of identity-based psychodrama on identity styles. Compared to educational-therapeutic methods, more techniques are used in an identity-based psychodrama.…”

“…Positive identity means successfully passing all the items of identity achievement from exploration to commitment. Identity promotion has been shown in previous studies (Ferrer-Wreder et al, 2002;Zolali, Atashpour, & Sajjadian, 2021). So far, no specific combination of psychodrama and identity has been used, and no comprehensive research has been done in the field of factors and components affecting identity achievement qualitatively.…”