Psychodrama with the "Children's Psychodrama- Puppets Kit"

Psychodrama with the "Children's Psychodrama- Puppets Kit" (by Leni Verhofstadt-Denève and Moira Verhofstadt (Belgium)) - ABSTRACT: After successfully using the ‘psychodramatic action-sociogram’ with young adults, we decided to adapt it for young children. As we needed a more concrete and playful method for young children, we constructed the Children’s Psychodrama- Puppets Kit, which enables children to personally identify themselves and their significant others by choosing clothes, wigs and mouths to dress puppets. The therapist also dresses a puppet for themselves and so all the dialogue between the child and others, including the director, takes place through these symbolic puppets enabling a less confronting experience. Children spontaneously take the role of others when the therapist questions the significant-other puppet. This method makes it possible to apply all basic psychodramatic techniques such as role taking, role reversing, doubling and mirroring in a playful context to provide a genuine psychodrama experience for young children. The paper starts with a short theoretical introduction that explains the underlying Phenomenological-Dialectical Personality Model. It then illustrates how the model is elaborated for young adults and then describes a practical application of the Psychodrama-Puppets Kit.

Moira Verhofstadt, Leni Verhofstadt-Denève, Psychodrama with the "Children's Psychodrama- Puppets Kit" in "FORUM" 2/2007, pp 95-112, DOI: