Looking for you in me: interpersonal change following psychodrama group-therapy.
Abstract:
In psychodrama theory dysfunctions in the most relevant relationships to significant others, so called “socio-atomic” disorders, are seen as main trigger for the development of psychological symptoms. According to this assumption, the objective of psychotherapy should be the restitution of damaged or dysfunctional social atoms.In a pre/post designed outcome study the interpersonal changes following a 10 session psychodrama group-therapy were assessed using two social atom questionnaires (Social Network Inventory – SNI, Moreno Social Atom Projective Test – MSAPT) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-C) in a sample of outdoor psychotherapy patients with different diagnoses. Additionally, symptom changes were evaluated with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). The main outcomes show that short-term psychodrama group-therapy is effective in reducing interpersonal problems (effect size: d=0.43) and depressive symptoms (d=0.70). In the social atom questionnaires minor changes could be observed, including a slight increase of relationships. In case reports the qualitative changes in the social atoms following the therapy process are described.The results confirm that psychodrama group-therapy is an effective treatment for the reduction of interpersonal problems and is able to facilitate the forming of important relationships. In this study the social atom questionnaires (SNI, MSAPT) proved to be useful tools for the assessment of interpersonal changes following group-therapy.
Keywords: psychodrama group-therapy, outcome research, interpersonal change
About the author: Maria-Theresa Barbist, born in Schwaz, Austria in 1979, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, psychodrama training in Innsbruck, Austria under the direction of Jutta Fürst, working at the University Clinic for Medical Psychology in Innsbruck, Austria.
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