Dramatology Revisited: The Person as Doer and Dreamer

ABSTRACTThe author revisits his previous papers on dramatology published in 2009, 2011, and 2015, adding the results of new research. The additions are ideas about dramatic action by philosophers William James and John Dewey and literary theorist Kenneth Burke. There is a new discussion of the relation between dramatology and narratology. The approach is a retrospective application of dramatization to Freud’s method in analyzing the famous cases of Dora and Schreber. A new finding is dramatization in DSM-5 diagnoses. Another new interest is applying dramatology to Freud’s mass psychology and world-wide events as dramas of history.KEYWORDS: Actdramadramatizationdramatologynarratologytrauma Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Additional informationNotes on contributorsHenry Zvi LothaneHenry Zvi Lothane, M.D., is Clinical Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Distinguished Life Member of American Psychiatric Association, and Member of International Psychoanalytical Association and American Psychoanalytic Association. He is the author of In Defense of Schreber: Soul Murder in Psychiatry and a new book on Sabina Spielrein, in press. He was also the guest editor of Psychoanalytic Inquiry Volume 38, Number 6, “Free Association.”