Archive

Psychodrama in different countries-Austria

PSYCHODRAMA IN AUSTRIA
by Jutta Fuerst

COUNTRY

Area: about 84.000 sq. km Inhabitants: about 8 million Capital: Vienna
Language: German (98%). Religion: 80% Roman-Catholic, 5% Protestant
History: Austria a neutral country, starting its history 803 was always a bridge between the eastern and western part of Europe. The Austrian history is closely connected with many countries in Europe. In the parliament of the Austro-Hungarian Empire eight languages were spoken
Government: Austria is a federal parliamentary democracy divided into nine provinces. Austria is a member of the EU, the United Nations and various UN sub-organizations. The Vienna International Center is headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

PSYCHODRAMA

History of psychodrama in Austria
J.L. Moreno lived in Vienna and Bad Vöslau (Lower Austria) from about 1896-1925 and started there with the development of the psychodrama.
The first psychodramatists in Austria were trained by Adolf Friedemann, Heike Straub and Grete Leutz. 1976 Barbara Farkas Erlacher supported by Raoul Schindler founded the section of psychodrama as a part of the ÖAGG http://www.oeagg.at
The first ongoing training groups started in Innsbruck, Vienna, Salzburg and Graz in the middle of the seventies.
The section of psychodrama developed constantly and the high quality of the training attracted many students. It started with one trainer and has now 15 main trainers and 20 trainers for defined parts of the training or special applications. In 1990 the psychotherapy law was installed that considered psychotherapy as an own profession controlled by the government. It was a great success that the method was proofed to be a scientific psychotherapeutic treatment in 1993.
2001 started a psychodrama training course for psychotherapy at the University of Innsbruck (Institute for Communication in Professional Field and Psychotherapy) with the support of the psychodrama section. http://www2.uibk.ac.at/zwiko/
2005 the Donau University Krems started another university course for psychodrama in cooperation with the psychodrama section of the ÖAGG. The graduated students get the title “master of science” in psychotherapy. http://www.donau-uni.ac.at

Psychodrama today
There are about 500 psychodramatists in Austria and nearly 300 of them are working as psychotherapists.

Psychodrama in psychotherapy
For psychodrama is accepted by the government everyone who want to become a psychotherapist has to pass a basic general psychotherapeutic study of 1350h. After that one has to choose a specific psychotherapeutic method to be trained in. After having been graduated by an officially accepted training institute one can apply for registration as psychotherapist at the Ministry of Health. Psychodrama psychotherapists are working in hospitals, social services or privately.

Psychodrama in other fields
The ÖAGG is at the moment the only organisation in Austria that offers psychodrama training for application in different fields. It provides also a special training for psychodrama for supervision and coaching and for psychodrama with children and adolescents. The graduated psychodramatists work with refugees, in schools, with organisations, at universities and in many more fields.

Special developments:
The Austrian psychodrama is triadic, based on the Morenian theory and emphasizes the aspect of group dynamic.
The Austrian psychodramatists developed a special way in the psychotherapeutic work with a single patient where the therapist never takes up an antagonist role in the play of a client.
The work with children can be characterized as non analytic and non interpretative one. The attentive support of the own development of the child is a main factor.

PSYCHODRAMA TRAINING PROVIDERS IN AUSTRIA

1.Section for Psychodrama, Sociometry and Role-playing of the ÖAGG (Austrian Association for Group Psychotherapy and Group Dynamics).

– methodenspezifische Ausrichtung: PsychodramaUniversität Innsbruck:
Institut für Kommunikation im Berufsleben und Psychotherapie
Schöpfstr. 3
A-6020 Innsbruck
http://www.uibk.ac.at/
zwiko@uibk.ac.at

AUSYRIAN PSYCHODRAMA PUBLICATIONS