Abstract
Using heuristic inquiry (HI), this article focuses on the ritual form of the Sesame approach to dramatherapy. It draws on the author’s practice of facilitating dramatherapy group sessions in a psychiatric unit, working with young people who have suffered severe mental health difficulties and pose a risk to themselves and/or others. The majority had a history of trauma and had previously expressed suicidal ideation. Through exploring the author’s own embodied reflexivity, the article examines the role of dramatherapy in young people’s psychiatric care and the importance of a relational approach.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bateson
G
(1972 ) Steps to an Ecology of Mind . Chicago, IL : University Press .
2.
Coleman
A
Kelly
A
(2017 ) ‘Two to one’ . In:
Hougham
R
Jones
B
(eds) Dramatherapy: Reflections and Praxis . London : Palgrave , pp. 123–143.
3.
Deane
M
(2003 ) Ritual in Sesame . In:
Pearson
J
(ed.) Discovering the Self through Drama and Movement . London : Jessica Kingsley Publishers , pp. 112–120.
4.
Eliade
M
(1958 ) Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth . New York : Harper & Row .
5.
Frankel
R
(1998 ) The Adolescent Psyche . London : Routledge .
6.
Gadamer
H-G
(1989 ) Truth and Method . New York : Continuum International Publishing .
7.
Grainger
R
(2014 ) Ritual and Theatre . London : Austin Macauley .
8.
Hougham
R
(2006 ) Numinosity, symbol and ritual in the Sesame approach . Dramatherapy 28 (2 ): 3 –17 .
9.
Jennings
S
(1979 ) Ritual and the learning process . Dramatherapy 2 (4 ): 1 –4 .
10.
Jung
CG
(1964 ) Man and His Symbols . New York : Doubleday .
11.
Lindkvist
MR
(1998 ) Bring White Beads When You Call on the Healer . Lousiana : Rivendell House .
12.
Merleau-Ponty
M
(1962 ) Phenomenology of Perception . London : Routledge .
13.
Moustakas
C
(1990 ) Heuristic Research. Design, Methodology and Applications . London : Sage .
14.
Pitruzzella
S
(2016 ) Drama, Creativity and Intersubjectivity . London : Routledge .
15.
Turner
V
(1969 ) The Ritual Process . New York : Cornwell Paperbacks .
16.
Van Gennep
A
(1960 ) The Rites of Passage . Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press .