Psychodrama and Psychoanalysis: Two Theaters for Mental Drama

Abstract

A comparison of certain aspects of psychoanalysis and psychodrama shows that although there are indeed a number of radical differences between these traditions, they do have a certain similarity in content (i.e., not merely at the formal, organizational level). Since the days of Freud, psychoanalysis (and psychoanalytic theory) has acquired a distinctly "psychodramatic" dimension. And psychodrama, since the time of Moreno, has acquired marked "psychoanalytic" qualities. These two "therapeutic theaters" represent not only contiguous but also mutually penetrating traditions.