Narradrama · Atlas

1. Introduction

Version followed: Pamela (Pam) Dunne's narradrama as named in Dunne & Rand, Narradrama: Integrating Drama Therapy, Narrative, and the Creative Arts (2nd ed., Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles, 2006, 172 pp., catalogued as a handbook with a terminology glossary; 1st ed. Possibilities Press, 2003), and in the "NarraDrama" chapter of Johnson & Emunah (eds.), Current Approaches in Drama Therapy (Charles C. Thomas). Neither text, nor any journal article by Dunne, is drawn on directly. A full-text thesis that quotes her (Bezuidenhout 2012, University of Johannesburg repository) is not drawn on, and no Dunne article is drawn on. Sources include Dunne's posts and training role (Psychotherapy.net), the 2nd-edition manual record (UPOL), and the chapter listing. The table of contents names ch. 7 "NarraDrama" (p. 206) by Pamela Dunne, Kamran Afary and Pam Paulson. That contents list runs past p. 561, so it is not the 519-page 2nd edition (2009); it belongs to a later edition [uncertain: year not confirmed]. Dunne's own phases, exercises and wording therefore remain unverified. This guide is built from catalogue records and tables of contents, Dunne's book titles, the publisher's description of her training video, two applied studies, and the Michael White narrative practices that narradrama adapts. A step is tagged as Dunne's only when a source supports it; everything else is marked [uncertain] or [synthesis]. [source: UPOL catalogue; obalkyknih ToC; UW–Madison catalogue; NADTA book list; Psychotherapy.net]

What it is. Psychotherapy.net presents narradrama as "a new therapeutic approach and alternative to traditional talk therapy". It integrates narrative therapy and drama therapy and draws on the creative arts and experiential activities rather than talk alone [source: Psychotherapy.net, Exploring Narradrama page]. One applied study describes it as "a drama therapy method that contextualizes narrative therapy with action-based interventions", citing Dunne (2009) [source: Savage 2015, Lesley record]. It was developed by Pamela Dunne, PhD. She is Professor of Theatre Arts and Dance at California State University, Los Angeles, Director of the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles (DTILA), a past President of the US National Association for Drama Therapy (NADTA), and runs a private practice in Los Angeles. She teaches narradrama workshops and training nationally and internationally [source: Psychotherapy.net video and expert pages]. Her training video shows narradrama run as a series of extended group meetings with a multicultural group of teens and staff in a community group home in South Central Los Angeles [source: Psychotherapy.net].

How change happens. Narrative therapy holds that the stories people live by shape their identity. Problems can be separated from the person (externalisation), so that dominant problem stories can give way to alternative and preferred stories [source: Hutyrová 2016 abstract, on narrative approaches generally]. Narradrama adds that a preferred story becomes real when it is enacted, embodied and given creative form (drama, movement, puppets, masks, drawing, poetry), and when it is witnessed by others [source: Dunne 1992 and 1996 titles, NADTA list; Savage 2015 witnessing session; synthesis of the mechanism]. One study frames the process as performance: everyday performances shape the stories people tell about themselves, so new performances can build alternative self-stories. That framing is the study's theoretical lens (performative psychology), not necessarily Dunne's own [source: Bezuidenhout 2012 abstract] [uncertain].

Professional frame. Narradrama sits within drama therapy. In North America the professional body is NADTA, which Dunne has led [source: Psychotherapy.net]. DTILA runs her training workshops and publishes her manuals [source: NADTA list; Psychotherapy.net]. NADTA's registered drama therapist credential (RDT) is not confirmed here [uncertain]. In the UK, drama therapists are a state-regulated profession (HCPC), with BADth as the professional association [uncertain]. The narrative ingredients (externalising questions, reflective documents) can be used within any psychotherapist's competence. Group enactment of trauma material should not be run without drama therapy or psychodrama training and supervision. This applies especially to embodying an abuser or a trauma scene, and to work with children who have been abused [synthesis].

2. Framework

Dunne's own phase model was not available, so it could not be verified [uncertain]. The structure below has two layers. The macro-arc follows the narrative sequence that the sources describe. The session form is standard drama therapy practice [synthesis].

Macro-arc (over a course of sessions) [source: Hutyrová 2016; White 2004; CCT definitional ceremony page; sequencing is synthesis]

Engagement and safety. Goals: build the group, agree group norms and a stop signal, and give low-risk creative warm-ups. Assess readiness and choice of media. Move on when members can play, step in and out of role, and use the stop signal. [synthesis]
Externalising the problem story. Goals: name the problem, and give it a form (character, mask, puppet, drawing, movement) separate from the person. Map its tactics and effects. Move on when the person speaks of the problem as "it" rather than "me", and can describe its influence with some distance. [source: Hutyrová 2016 on externalisation; enactment form synthesis]
Finding alternative-story material. Goals: notice moments outside the problem story, and identify values, skills and allies, including people who contributed to the person's life (re-membering). Move on when there are at least a few concrete, specific counter-events or values the person owns. [source: Hutyrová 2016; CCT page on re-membering; White 2004 on prioritising sense of self]
Enacting and rehearsing the preferred story. Goals: dramatise the preferred story, rehearse future scenes, and make artefacts that carry it (masks, poems, scripts, media pieces). Move on when the person can step into the preferred role and describe what it makes possible. [source: Dunne media titles; Savage 2015 mask and media work; steps synthesis]
Witnessing and celebration. Goals: share the preferred story with chosen witnesses through a definitional ceremony or outsider-witness retelling, then take the story out into life. Close when the story has been witnessed and the person has named next steps. [source: CCT page; White 2004; Savage 2015 closing Witnessing Session]

Session count and format. Dunne publishes no session count that could be checked [uncertain]. Published applications vary:

six individual sessions per participant, followed by an optional closing witnessing session [source: Savage 2015];
a small-group intervention for children [source: Bezuidenhout 2012];
a series of extended group meetings in a residential home [source: Psychotherapy.net].

A workable default is 8–12 weekly group sessions of 90–120 minutes, with 6–10 members and two facilitators, plus a separate ceremony session [synthesis]. Two facilitators are needed for enactment, because one can attend to a member in distress while the other holds the group [synthesis].

Single-session form [synthesis, standard drama therapy shape]:

check-in;
warm-up (physical, then imaginative);
focus on the theme;
main creative or enactment work;
de-roling;
sharing and reflection;
closure ritual.

Roughly a third of session time should go to warm-up and, after the main work, de-roling and closure. Never end on the enactment.

Criteria for deepening or holding back [synthesis]:

Deepen (more embodied, less distanced work) only when the person stays able to reflect while engaged. Signs: speaks of the scene as a scene, keeps eye contact or orientation to the room, and can pause on request.
Return to more distanced media (puppet, drawing, third-person story) when there are signs of flooding: freezing, dissociation, rapid breathing, shouting the problem role "for real", or losing the as-if frame.

3. Guiding principles

The person is not the problem. Externalise first. Give the problem a name and a form outside the person, and talk to it and about it [source: Hutyrová 2016 on externalisation in narrative work]. In practice: any role or mask represents the problem, never the person.
Stories shape identity, and alternative stories already exist. Look for, and amplify, events and values the problem story leaves out [source: Hutyrová 2016]. In practice: every session should surface at least one piece of preferred-story material.
Sense of self before trauma memory. In work with trauma, White prioritises restoring a person's sense of self. He argues that dissociated memory can be re-associated only once that sense of self has been revitalised [source: Dulwich Centre, White 2004]. In practice: enact strengths, allies and values well before any approach to a trauma scene, and many groups never need to enact the trauma at all.
Action and creative form, not talk alone. Narradrama uses drama, movement, puppets, masks, drawings, poetry and journaling [source: Dunne 1992, 1995, 1996 titles, NADTA list; Lesley definition]. In practice: offer a choice of media and let the person pick the level of exposure.
Witnessing makes stories real. Preferred stories gain strength when chosen witnesses acknowledge them in a structured way [source: CCT definitional ceremony page; White 2004]. In practice: build in audience and witness roles, with rules about how to respond.
Choice and authorship. Participants choose whether, how and to whom they show their work. In Savage's study, attending the witnessing session was optional [source: Savage 2015]. In practice: every showing and every role is opt-in, and each person is the author of their own story.
Strengths and values in community context. The video presents narradrama with a multicultural group of teens and staff, showing participants uncovering their strengths and values and building mutual respect [source: Psychotherapy.net]. In practice: include the people in the person's world, such as staff, family or peers, and attend to culture and power in how problem stories are told.
Aesthetic distance as the safety control. In practice: use more distance when there is more risk. Order media from most to least distanced: object, puppet, mask, role, self [synthesis].
In role, then out of role. No one leaves a session still carrying a role, especially a problem or oppressor role [synthesis].
Safety outranks completion. An enactment can always be stopped, paused or moved into a more distanced medium. There is no pressure to "finish the scene" [synthesis].

4. Intervention inventory

The sources that could be opened name narradrama's media and its narrative aims. They do not give Dunne's exercise-by-exercise instructions [uncertain]. Each entry below says what is sourced. All step sequences and wording are illustrative [synthesis] unless tagged otherwise. None of them should be presented to clients or colleagues as Dunne's own protocol.

4A. Group enactment safety frame

A1. Screening and readiness assessment

Purpose. Decide who can safely take part in group enactment, and at what level of distance [synthesis].
Steps.
1. Hold an individual pre-group meeting.
2. Ask about current and recent trauma, and whether the person is still in contact with a perpetrator.
3. Ask about dissociation, self-harm and suicidality. Use your service's standard risk assessment, and screen for psychosis, mania, intoxication and acute crisis.
4. Note medical and mobility limits for movement work, and any history of difficulty with role play or with being watched.
5. Ask about cultural or religious limits on masks, touch, mixed-gender work or depicting certain figures.
6. Agree an individual "safe level". Distanced media only (drawing, puppets, objects) is the starting level for anyone with a recent trauma, active dissociation, or unclear readiness.
7. Exclude from enactment groups, or defer, anyone in acute crisis, with active psychosis, or currently in an unsafe situation. Offer individual work instead.
8. With children: get parental or carer consent and the child's own assent, explain the limits of confidentiality, and agree the safeguarding pathway in advance.
Example language (illustrative). "In this group we use drama, masks and drawing to tell stories about problems and about who you'd prefer to be. You never have to act anything you don't want to. Have there been times when acting, being watched or pretending felt unsafe for you?"
Watch for. Minimising ("I'm fine with anything"). Pressure from referrers to attend. Signs the person wants the group mainly to confront someone. Mixed groups where a member's abuser, or a person associated with them, could be present. Readiness is visible when the person can name what they do not want to do.

A2. Group agreement and stop signal

Purpose. Create the contract that makes as-if play safe [synthesis].
Steps.
1. Co-create rules: confidentiality and its limits, no physical contact without asking first, the right to pass, no commenting on other people's stories outside the group, and phones away.
2. Teach a stop signal (word or gesture) and a "pause" signal. Practise both in a game.
3. Mark the performance space (taped area, rug) and an audience area. Explain that inside the stage area things are pretend, and outside it everyone is themselves.
4. Agree how touch is handled. Touch is optional, asked for each time, and limited to hands, shoulders and back; never sexual or genital. Offer alternatives such as distance, a scarf or an object.
Example language (illustrative). "If anyone says 'freeze', everything stops, no questions asked. Let's try it now in the game."
Watch for. Members who never use the stop signal even when visibly distressed. Rehearse it again. If it is being used playfully all the time, repeat what it is for.

A3. Warm-up and graded entry

Purpose. Build spontaneity, group trust and access to imagination before any personal material [synthesis].
Steps.
1. Physical warm-up (shake out, pass a clap, walking at different speeds), adjusted for mobility.
2. Imaginative warm-up (pass an imaginary object and transform it, group sculpture of a word).
3. Theme bridge, for example each person picks a scarf or object that stands for "something that has been bothering me".
4. Watch who is ready to move on and who should stay at a distanced level.
Example language (illustrative). "Pick something from the basket that could stand for a problem that has been hanging around. You don't have to say what it is yet."
Watch for. Over-arousal (silliness spiralling, aggression) or withdrawal. Shorten the activity or switch to a calmer one.

A4. De-roling

Purpose. Separate the person from any role they played. This matters most after a problem role, an oppressor role, or a role in someone else's story [synthesis].
Steps.
1. Take off any mask, costume or prop and put it back in its container, or with its owner.
2. Step out of the stage area.
3. The person says, in first person, one way they differ from the role, then their own name.
4. Shake off or brush off the role physically, if this feels acceptable.
5. If someone played a role in another person's scene, the protagonist addresses them by their real name.
6. Ask the role-player what it was like to play the role, then what it was like to come back to themselves.
Example language (illustrative). "I'm not the Worry. I'm Sam, and I like football." Therapist: "Thank you for lending your body to the Worry. Can you give it back to the box?"
Watch for. Anyone still speaking in the role's voice, still angry at a role-player, or staying in a problem posture. Repeat the de-roling and check in with them individually before they leave.

A5. Closure and transition out

Purpose. Contain what came up, and return members to everyday functioning [synthesis].
Steps.
1. Sharing round, focused on what members connected with (not advice or interpretation).
2. Brief grounding: feet on the floor, name five things in the room.
3. A closing ritual, such as a gesture, a word, or putting the day's artefacts away.
4. Store masks and puppets safely between sessions.
5. Check individually with anyone affected, plan their journey home, and confirm support.
Example language (illustrative). "Let's each say one word that you're taking with you, and one thing you're leaving here in the box."
Watch for. Anyone leaving dysregulated, dissociated or in tears without a plan. Stay with them, or arrange follow-up the same day.

4B. Narrative practices in action

B1. Externalising the problem as a character

Purpose. Separate the person from the problem. Externalisation is described as a basic narrative-therapy technique, used to locate dominant, alternative and preferred stories [source: Hutyrová 2016]. Narradrama gives the problem a dramatic or artistic form [source: Dunne 1992 title: drama, movement, puppets, masks, drawings]. The steps are [synthesis].
Steps.
1. Help the person name the problem in their own words, for example "the Anger" or "the Shame-Cloud".
2. Invite them to give it a form: draw it, choose or make a mask or puppet, pick an object, or find its posture or movement.
3. Interview the problem at a distance. Use a puppet, or have the person speak it in the third person, before anyone embodies it.
4. If the person wants to embody it, they play it briefly, or a trained co-facilitator plays it. Group members play it only after they have been briefed and with de-roling planned.
5. Explore its tactics, its allies, when it is strongest and when weakest, and what it wants for the person.
6. De-role (A4).
Example language (illustrative). "If the Anger were a character, what would it look like? What does it whisper to you before school?"
Watch for. Positive signs: the person begins to say "it" instead of "I", laughs at the problem's tactics, or takes a stance towards it. Warning signs: the problem figure starts to resemble a real abuser. In that case keep it distanced (object or drawing). Never have a group member play a real perpetrator unless an experienced drama therapist or psychodramatist judges it safe [synthesis].

B2. Mapping the problem story's influence

Purpose. Make the dominant story and its effects visible [source: Hutyrová 2016 on dominant stories; steps synthesis].
Steps.
1. Draw a large outline or map with the problem in the centre.
2. Mark the areas of life it affects (home, school, friendships, body, sleep).
3. Use objects or group members as "sculpture" to show how close the problem stands to each area.
4. Ask the person whether these effects are acceptable to them.
Example language (illustrative). "Where has the Shame-Cloud moved in? Is that OK with you, or would you want it somewhere else?"
Watch for. Problem-saturated talk that deepens hopelessness. Keep this short and move on to B3 in the same session.

B3. Finding and enacting alternative-story moments

Purpose. Locate events that contradict the problem story, and give them form [source: Hutyrová 2016 on alternative and preferred stories; enactment synthesis]. Dunne's own term for these moments was not verified [uncertain].
Steps.
1. Ask about times the problem was weaker, or the person did not go along with it.
2. Choose one specific moment. Gather sensory detail: where, who was there, what was said.
3. Stage it briefly, with the person as themselves, or let them direct a group member who plays them.
4. Freeze the scene and ask what this moment shows about the person's values or skills.
5. Title the scene.
Example language (illustrative). "Tell me about one time this week the Worry told you to stay in your room and you didn't. Let's set that scene up. Who was there?"
Watch for. The person discounting the moment ("that was luck"). Ask what it took. Working well looks like: they name a value or skill, and generate more examples on their own.

B4. Re-membering conversation

Purpose. Bring forward people who have contributed to the person's life and identity, as allies for the preferred story [source: CCT page, adapted from White 2011].
Steps.
1. Prompted by a current situation, ask about someone who has contributed to the person's life.
2. Ask what that person invited them into, and what that person appreciated about them.
3. Ask how the person took up that appreciation, and what their own presence might have meant to the other person [source: CCT].
4. Optional drama adaptation: place an empty chair, prop or puppet for the ally, or let the person speak a few lines as the ally about them [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative). "Who would be least surprised to see you standing up to the Anger? What did they see in you?"
Watch for. Grief, if the ally has died. Slow down and keep the focus on what was valued. If the person chooses someone unsafe, steer gently towards someone else.

B5. Enacting and rehearsing the preferred story

Purpose. Let the person live the preferred identity in action, and rehearse it for real-life situations [source: Lesley definition of narradrama as action-based narrative therapy; White 2004 on re-authoring; steps synthesis].
Steps.
1. Agree a preferred-self role and give it a name and a physical posture.
2. Choose a near-future scene (classroom, family dinner).
3. The person plays it in the preferred role. Peers play the others after being briefed.
4. Replay with variations: the problem character tries to interfere, and the person responds.
5. Debrief what the person did and what made it possible.
6. De-role.
Example language (illustrative). "Show us how the Brave-Sam walks into class tomorrow. What does the Worry try now? What does Brave-Sam do?"
Watch for. Rehearsal turning into a test the person can fail. Keep it playful, and allow do-overs. Working well looks like: spontaneous new responses, and reports of trying them outside the group.

B6. Outsider-witness retelling and definitional ceremony

Purpose. Strengthen the preferred story by having chosen witnesses acknowledge it. White counts definitional ceremony and outsider-witness practice among his main ways to restore a sense of self after trauma [source: Dulwich Centre, White 2004]. Savage closed her mask and media project with an optional Witnessing Session [source: Savage 2015].
Steps [source: CCT page for the three-stage structure; preparation and safety synthesis].
1. Prepare the witnesses in advance. They respond only to what they heard. They do not applaud, praise, advise or give their own life story at length.
2. Telling. The person tells or shows their story, through a scene, a mask, a poem or a film, while the witnesses listen in silence.
3. Outsider-witness retelling. Each witness says:
  - which words or expressions stood out;
  - what images these brought up about what matters to the person;
  - what in their own life resonated;
  - what difference hearing it will make to them.
4. Response. The person says what stood out to them in the retellings and how it connects with their values. They say what now seems more possible and name first steps.
5. Thank everyone and close.
Example language (illustrative). To a witness: "What phrase from Ana's scene is staying with you? What does it suggest she holds precious?" To the person: "Of what you heard, what landed?"
Watch for. Witnesses who start advising, praising or competing. Redirect them to the four questions. The person may feel exposed, so they choose the witnesses and can show their work through an artefact rather than live. Working well looks like: the person adopts witness phrases in their own language about themselves.

B7. Preferred-story artefacts and documents

Purpose. Give the preferred story a lasting form the person keeps or shares. Examples include a mask, a puppet, a poem or a short digital piece [source: Savage 2015, self-mask animated into a 30-second mock public service announcement; Dunne titles]. Written documents, such as certificates or letters, are a common narrative-therapy practice, but no opened narradrama source describes them [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis].
1. Decide together on the form.
2. Gather the person's own words from earlier sessions.
3. Create the artefact.
4. Agree who, if anyone, will see it, and where it will be kept. Online sharing needs consent for anything identifiable, and carer consent for minors.
Example language (illustrative). "If your story had a 30-second message for other young people, what would it say? Whose voice would say it?"
Watch for. Identifiable trauma details in anything that might be shared publicly. Keep public versions free of these.

4C. Creative media

Dunne's books name drama, movement, puppets, masks, drawings, poetry and journaling as narradrama media [source: NADTA list: Dunne 1988 Media in drama therapy, 1992, 1995 Creative journal, 1996 Double stick tape]. Her exercise handbooks for these media are not drawn on, so the specific exercises below are [synthesis].

C1. Masks

Purpose. Embody a problem, a preferred self or an ally, with the protection of the mask. Contrast the face shown to others with what lies inside [synthesis]. Savage's participants made plaster self-masks [source: Savage 2015].
Steps.
1. Choose between a ready-made blank mask and a cast mask.
2. Decorate the outside (how others see me, or the problem) and the inside (what I keep, or the preferred self).
3. Wear the mask briefly, speak a line in role, and take it off with de-roling.
Physical safety. Face casting with plaster bandage needs:
- explicit consent, with an alternative offered;
- a barrier (petroleum jelly), and nostrils and mouth kept clear at all times;
- no casting over the eyes for anyone anxious;
- quick-release on request;
- a check for skin allergy;
- casting avoided for anyone with a history of suffocation, strangulation or restraint trauma, or with claustrophobia or breathing problems. Use non-toxic paints and glues, and supervise sharp tools [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative). "Paint the outside the way the Worry makes you look to others. Paint the inside the way you'd like to feel."
Watch for. Panic during casting. Stop at once. Distress at seeing one's own face. Taking the mask off quickly is part of the frame.

C2. Puppets

Purpose. The most distanced way to give the problem, the self or allies a voice, especially for children or people with limited language [synthesis]. Puppets are among the media in Dunne's 1992 title [source: NADTA list]. Bezuidenhout's group was for children with mild intellectual impairment, using creative activity for self-expression [source: Bezuidenhout 2012].
Steps.
1. Choose or make a puppet for the problem and one for the self or a helper.
2. Let the puppets talk to each other.
3. The therapist interviews the puppets, never the child about the puppets' content at first.
4. Put the puppets to bed.
Example language (illustrative). "Mr Grumble, what do you do to make Lily stay quiet? Helper-puppet, what would you say back?"
Watch for. Play that re-enacts abuse. Keep the play safe and do not interpret it as disclosure. Follow safeguarding procedure if a child makes a verbal disclosure. Puppet play is not evidence of abuse [synthesis].

C3. Drawing and story maps

Purpose. Externalise and map stories on paper before enacting them [source: Dunne 1992 title; steps synthesis].
Steps.
1. Draw the problem.
2. Draw a time when it was smaller.
3. Draw the preferred future.
4. Arrange the three as a storyboard.
5. Select one panel to enact.
Example language (illustrative). "Make a three-panel comic: the problem, a time it was weaker, and where you'd like the story to go."
Watch for. Self-criticism about drawing skill. Stress that stick figures are fine. Drawings are not diagnostic.

C4. Movement

Purpose. Embody the problem's posture and the preferred posture, and find the shift between them [source: Dunne 1992 title; steps synthesis].
Steps.
1. Show the problem's shape.
2. Show the preferred shape.
3. Move slowly from one to the other.
4. Name one movement to use in daily life.
Safety. Clear the space, use a non-slip floor, adapt for mobility and pain, and give no-contact options [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative). "Show the shape the Shame-Cloud puts you in. Now find, slowly, the shape of you standing tall."
Watch for. Body memories or freezing. Slow down, ground, and allow eyes open and chair-based options.

C5. Poetry, journaling and writing

Purpose. Put problem and preferred stories into words, especially for adolescents [source: Dunne 1996 Double stick tape: Poetry, drama, and narratives as therapy for adolescents; 1995 Creative journal; NADTA list; exercises synthesis].
Steps.
1. Write a short poem as the problem ("I am the Worry, I...").
2. Write a reply poem from the preferred self.
3. Read both aloud, or have a peer read them aloud.
4. Optionally stage them as a duet.
Example language (illustrative). "Write four lines in the problem's voice, then four lines answering back."
Watch for. Literacy barriers. Offer dictation or recording. Writing that reveals risk (suicidal content) must be followed up with a standard risk assessment.

C6. Parent–child and staff–resident joint work

Purpose. Bring the people around the person into the new story. Dunne has published a handbook of drama therapy activities for parents and children [source: NADTA list, 1993], and her video shows staff and teens working together [source: Psychotherapy.net]. The handbook's content is [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis].
1. Hold separate preparation sessions for each side.
2. Use joint warm-ups.
3. Each side externalises a shared problem, for example "the Distance" between staff and residents.
4. Enact a scene of a preferred interaction.
5. Each side witnesses the other's story.
Example language (illustrative). "What has 'the Distance' cost staff, and what has it cost residents? What would a day look like with it smaller?"
Watch for. Power imbalances (adults dominating), and safeguarding concerns within families. Do not run joint work where a parent is the alleged abuser.

5. Handling problems

The narradrama sources that could be opened do not include a troubleshooting section [uncertain]. Except where a source is named, the guidance below is [synthesis] drawn from general drama therapy and group practice.

Overwhelm and retraumatisation during enactment [synthesis; principle from White 2004]

Signs. Freezing, a glazed or dissociated look, hyperventilation, or sudden crying that does not settle. Others: losing the as-if frame (speaking to a role-player as if they were the real person), and aggression towards a role-player.
Response.
1. Call "pause" or "freeze". Step the person out of the stage area and de-role everyone at once.
2. Ground them: orient to the room, slow breathing paced by you, name the date and place, and offer feet on the floor or a cold drink.
3. Speak in the present tense, in plain language, using their name.
4. The co-facilitator holds the rest of the group with a calm, low-key task.
Afterwards.
- Do not resume that scene in the same session.
- Return to more distanced media and to sense-of-self material: allies, values, skills. White argues that the sense of self must be restored before work with trauma memory [source: Dulwich Centre, White 2004].
- Review the person's safe level, and offer an individual session before the next group.
Prevention.
- Keep problem figures as characters (the Anger), not real people.
- Do not stage the trauma scene itself in a group.
- Use the distance ladder: object, puppet, mask, role, self.
- Keep scenes short.
- Use two facilitators.

A role-player is affected by the role. Group members who play a problem or oppressor role can be shaken, or can be targeted by others afterwards. Always de-role them by name (A4) and thank them publicly. Ask how it was to play the role, and do not cast the same member as the antagonist repeatedly [synthesis].

Vicarious distress in the audience. A member's story can trigger others. In the sharing round, ask about connections without asking for details. Offer a check-in afterwards, and remind members of the stop signal applying to the audience too [synthesis].

Disclosure of abuse or current risk. Pause the creative work and follow your safeguarding or mandatory-reporting procedure. Record the person's exact words, not your interpretation of the art or play. Artwork, masks, puppet play and enactments are not diagnostic evidence of abuse, and must not be presented as such. With children, apply the safeguarding duties of your jurisdiction and inform carers as the procedure requires [synthesis]. Bezuidenhout's group served children with mild intellectual impairment who had been sexually abused [source: Bezuidenhout 2012]. With such groups the following need special care: simple language, concrete visual cues, short activities, extra staff and clear touch rules [synthesis].

Suicidal or self-harm content in stories, poems or roles. Treat it as you would in talk therapy. Do a standard risk assessment, collaborative safety planning, and lethal-means counselling (storage and removal), and inform the team. Never ask a person to enact self-harm [synthesis].

Stuck: the person cannot find any alternative-story material. Widen the search to small moments, to other people's views of them (re-membering, B4 [source: CCT]), or to times before the problem. Use a group witness to name observed strengths. Work through a fictional character facing a similar problem before returning to the person's own story [synthesis].

The problem is fused with identity ("I am the anger"). Start with externalisation through an object or drawing (B1). Use playful questions about the problem's tactics. Accept partial separation [source: Hutyrová 2016 on externalisation; steps synthesis].

Resistance to drama ("acting is stupid"). Offer distanced media first: writing, drawing, puppets, or media and film for adolescents (Savage used an iPad mask animation [source: Savage 2015]). Give an audience or director role rather than an actor role. Never require performance [synthesis].

Over-arousal, clowning, aggression in adolescent groups. Use structure: a shorter scene, a clear stage boundary, a role for the disruptive member as director or camera operator. Revisit the group agreement. If someone is unsafe, give them time out with the co-facilitator [synthesis].

Non-attendance or dropout. Contact the person after the first missed session. Ask what made it hard, and offer an individual bridge session. In residential settings, involve key workers without disclosing session content [synthesis].

Rupture with the therapist or the group. Acknowledge it openly. Ask what was unhelpful, in or out of role, as the person prefers. Repair before any further enactment. Narrative practice positions the person as the author of their own story [source: Psychotherapy.net on strengths and values; synthesis], so invite them to direct how to proceed.

Witness responses that harm. If a witness gives advice, judgement or a long personal story during the definitional ceremony, interrupt kindly and redirect to the structured questions [source: CCT for the structure; synthesis for handling]. Prepare witnesses beforehand.

Cultural mismatch. Masks, role reversal, depicting elders or sacred figures, and mixed-gender touch may be inappropriate for some members. Ask during screening, offer alternatives, and let members name problems in their own cultural terms [synthesis]. The video shows narradrama with a multicultural group [source: Psychotherapy.net].

Materials or physical incidents. Stop the activity and give first aid. For plaster casting, follow the airway and consent rules (C1). In movement work, keep space clear to prevent falls (C4) [synthesis].

Practising beyond training. If you are not a trained drama therapist, keep to distanced media and narrative questioning. Do not stage embodied trauma or perpetrator roles, and seek supervision from a drama therapist or psychodramatist [synthesis].

Sources

Sources:

Further reading (not drawn on; details from the catalogue records above):

Dunne, P. B., & Rand, H. (2003). Narradrama: Integrating drama therapy, narrative, and the creative arts. Possibilities Press. 2nd ed. 2006, Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.
Dunne, P. B. (1992). The narrative therapist and the arts: Expanding possibilities through drama, movement, puppets, masks, and drawings. Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.
Dunne, P. B. (1988). Media in drama therapy: An exercise handbook. Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.
Dunne, P. B. (1993). Drama therapy activities for parents and children: An exercise handbook (rev. ed.). Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.
Dunne, P. B. (1995). Creative journal. Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.
Dunne, P. B. (1996). Double stick tape: Poetry, drama, and narratives as therapy for adolescents. Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.
Johnson, D. R., & Emunah, R. (Eds.) Current approaches in drama therapy. Charles C. Thomas. The 2nd edition is 2009 (519 pp.; NADTA lists 2010). The table of contents, from a later edition, lists ch. 7 "NarraDrama" (p. 206) by P. Dunne, K. Afary and P. Paulson. Neither the 2nd edition's chapter author and pages nor the later edition's year were confirmed [uncertain].
White, M. (2011). Narrative practice: Continuing the conversation, as cited on the CCT page [uncertain].

Further reading (not drawn on): the full-text PDF of Bezuidenhout (2012) in the University of Johannesburg repository. Searches for Dunne's own articles in The Arts in Psychotherapy or Drama Therapy Review, and for theses quoting her with page numbers, found no accessible text. Unofficial uploads of her chapter were seen and deliberately not used.

← Previous · VIII-112Six-Part Story Method (Lahad)Next · VIII-114 →Rehearsals for Growth