The Effects of Psychodrama on the Health of Adolescent Girls: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: During the growth process, young adults are often exposed to and involved in a number of risky behaviors which can have permanent social and health-related consequences. Moreover in clinical practice with adolescents, they frequently miss to comply with a therapeutic program. In this regard, designing proper interventions for adolescent behaviors is necessary. Psychodrama is a kind of non-scripted theater often used as a psychotherapy. The purpose of this review is to determine the effect of psychodrama on the health of adolescent girls. Methods: Resources were searched in the databases of Scopus, Ovid, Science Direct, PubMed, Web of Science, IranMedex, and SID, with keywords of "psychodrama", "adolescence", "teenager", "health", and "girls". Both English and Persian resources without time limitation were reviewed. Results: In total, 1840 relevant studies were found. By respecting inclusion criteria, 8 interventional studies were selected to be included in this review. In these studies, some of the effects of psychodrama, such as improving anxiety, depression, oppositional deviant disorder, hyperactivity, frustration, emotional regulation, aggression, conflict resolution skills, forgiveness, self-esteem, and communication skills were determined. Conclusion: The study results indicate improvement of some topics of mental or social health of the adolescent girls. It is suggested that other topics of mental and social health be investigated and more valid studies be designed on the effects of psychodrama on the mental and social and physical health of adolescent girls.

Therapeutic Mask: An Intervention Tool for Psychodrama With Adolescents

“…It is an age-appropriate technique for adolescents that complies with recommendations for creative techniques that join talking and playing, and reinforces clients’ appreciation of the experiential nature of psychodrama ( Orkibi et al, 2017 ). Mask-based psychodrama creates a therapeutic atmosphere that favors the establishment of interpersonal relationships, the solution encounter to intra and interpersonal problems as well as learning to deal with adolescents’ typical challenges ( Castro and Almeida, 2017 ; Orkibi et al, 2017 ; Daemi and Vasegh Rahimparvar, 2018 ). Our results provide preliminary evidence of masks as clinically relevant and appreciated therapeutic tools that can enrich psychodramatic interventions with adolescents.…”

“…Effective psychological intervention during adolescence has been identified as a protective factor throughout the life cycle ( Hoag and Burlingame, 1997 ; Daemi and Vasegh Rahimparvar, 2018 ). However, therapeutic work with adolescents can be difficult since their quest for autonomy may challenge therapists and hinder therapeutic engagement ( Oetzel and Scherer, 2003 ; Leggett, 2009 ; Bennett et al, 2017 ).…”

“…From the above, there is evidence that the mask technique facilitates important developmental tasks of adolescence, and could serve as a useful therapeutic tool in psychodrama with this population: it facilitates access to internal contents and promotes self-knowledge; it helps go deeper in one’s emotional experiences, to reach insights about oneself and life in general, to communicate clearly, promoting the emergence of a new self; it combines verbal and non-verbal expression of the inner world and behaviors, as suggested for therapeutic work with adolescents ( Castro and Almeida, 2017 ; Daemi and Vasegh Rahimparvar, 2018 ; Şimşek et al, 2019 ). However, to our knowledge, the integration of masks in psychodrama processes with adolescents have never been empirically studied.…”

The Impact of Theatre-Based Interventions for Sexual Health Education to Adolescents: A Systematic Review

“…For example, theater-based programs have reduced anxiety, depression, isolation, and physical complaints [49,50]. Also, the effects of school sex education are patchy and often short-term.…”

Effectiveness of drama-based therapies on mental health outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled studies.

“…The largest review to date was conducted by Wieser (2007) who included 52 studies, consisting of eight RCTs, 14 CCTs, and 30 naturalistic studies in routine practice without any control group and single case studies. After grouping all the study outcomes according to the categories defined in the WHO's International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10), and based on the statistical significance reported in each study, Wieser concluded that psychodrama is most effective for treating the ICD-10 category of “neurotic, stress-related and psychosomatic disorders.” More than a decade later, a systematic review of eight CCTs examined the effect of psychodrama on the health of adolescent girls (Daemi & Vasegh Rahimparvar, 2018). The results showed that psychodrama improved the mental health of adolescent girls, including internalizing (e.g., anxiety and depression) and externalizing (e.g., oppositional defiant disorder, hyperactivity) symptoms, among others.…”