skip navigation

Not in the United States?
change your preferences.

Drama as Therapy

Theory, Practice and Research

• By Phil Jones

• Price: $105.00
• Binding: Hardback (also available in Paperback)
• Pages: 384
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 9th August 2007
• ISBN: 978-0-415-41555-2

About the Book

This new edition of Drama as Therapy presents a coherent review of the practice and theory of Dramatherapy. With a unique combination of practical guidance, clinical examples and research vignettes this fully revised second edition considers developments in the field over the last decade and researches the impact of the 'core processes' on clinical practice.

The book shows how Dramatherapy can be used with a wide range of clients and applied to their individual needs. Therapists working in different parts of the world contribute examples of their practice, alongside their research interviews demonstrating the effectiveness of Dramatherapy. The book draws on studies ranging from child survivors of the tsunami in Sri Lanka to teenagers living with HIV in South Africa, from elderly clients dealing with psychosis in the UK to women in a refuge in Malaysia. Divided into four distinct sections it provides:

• definitions of core processes at work in Dramatherapy
• research into how Dramatherapists understand what they offer clients
• clear descriptions of the structure and content of Dramatherapy
• a wide range of clinical research vignettes from all over the world.

Drama as Therapy offers insights into how experienced Dramatherapists understand their work with clients. It will be of great interest to Dramatherapy students internationally, as well as professionals working with Dramatherapy.

Reviews

"Phil Jones' Second Edition of Drama as Therapy is a comprehensive, erudite, and grounded illumination of the field of drama therapy. He brings past, present, and future of the field to life in an active conversation among practitioners, researchers, and theoreticians. Jones' emphasis on the core processes underlying the therapeutic effects of drama, rather than the marketed "approaches," provides a solid understanding of drama therapy. He is a brilliant, open, and modest author whose book continues to be one of the most significant contributions to the drama therapy literature." – David Read Johnson, Director of the Institute for the Arts in Psychotherapy, New York, USA

"In this exciting new edition, Jones's "core processes of dramatherapy" have been tested in practice by a range of therapists, whose experiences have now been ploughed back to produce a book which is systematic but sensitive, comprehensive and focused - alive with the real presence of healing-in-drama." – Roger Grainger, Department of Psychology and Health Studies, Roehampton University, UK

"His exquisitely clear articulation of what dramatherapy is, how it really functions as therapy, and its value in today's world, especially with the inclusion of many exciting cross-cultural vignettes, make this expanded 2nd edition by Phil Jones, unquestionably, one of the best textbooks in our field." – Stephen Snow, RDT-BCT Coordinator, Graduate Drama Therapy, Department of Creative Art Therapies, Concordia University, Canada

Table of Contents

Preface. What is Dramatherapy? From Amphitheatre to Operating Theatre? Drama, Theatre and Therapy – A History. The Emergence of Dramatherapy. Dramatherapy and Philosophy: Belief and Proof. Dramatherapy: Therapeutic Core Processes. Dramatic Projection. Play and Playing. Role. The Dramatic Body. Symbol and Metaphor. Dramatherapy and Ritual. Assessment, Recording and Evaluation in Dramatherapy. Appendix 1

About the Author(s)

Phil Jones is a reader at Carnegie Faculty, Leeds Metropolitan University. He has lectured and written widely on the Arts Therapies across the world. He has been a principal lecturer and course leader at postgraduate and masters level for 20 years