ˈpsychodrama
Also with hyphen.
[f. psycho- + drama.]
1. A form of psychotherapy in which a patient acts or performs extempore with or in front of fellow patients and therapists in a way that dramatizes the patient's problems or difficulties; an extempore psychotherapeutic play of this kind. Also fig.
| 1937 J. L. Moreno in Sociometry I. 9 The psychodrama is human society in miniature, the simplest possible setup for a methodical study of its psychological structure. 1952 W. J. H. Sprott Social Psychol. xi. 241 The meetings of the various committees..became in effect..psycho⁓dramas in which the emotional undercurrents came to the surface and were duly interpreted. 1965 New Statesman 9 July 38/1 Conflicts came to a head last February at the Mapai convention, a psychodrama in which BG's [sc. Ben Gurion's] ex-colleagues acted out years of resentment against the power and personality of the old leader. 1968 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 20 Dec. 15 Its methods centre around group therapy, psychodrama (Stanislavsky for tired businessmen), massage and Oriental philosophy. 1977 Time Out 28 Jan.–3 Feb. 59/1 (Advt.), Community. A University for the Person... Using encounter, gestalt, bioenergetics, reichian massage, re-enactment psycho⁓drama, transactional analysis, [etc.]. 1978 Listener 19 Oct. 500/1 Another therapy which believes the answer may lie in obtaining access to buried pains, repressed feelings and hidden desires is the treatment known as ‘psychodrama’. |
2. A play or film in which psychological elements are the main interest.
| [1927: see psycho a. 1.] 1963 Movie Apr. 22/2 A kind of psycho-drama about racial relationships. 1975 C. James Fate of Felicity Fark ix. 87 Flick's Wedding..was a waking dream, a psychodrama. 1977 Time 5 Sept. 26/2 Now comes Equus, Sidney Lumet's film of the long⁓running Broadway psychodrama. |