Often, behind an individual’s addiction exists a range of hidden feelings, emotions, and traumatic experiences they have suppressed over the years. It can be extremely difficult to deal with negative emotions and trauma all on one’s own. Unfortunately, many people who do not effectively heal and address these negative feelings may turn to drugs or alcohol to cope. In this article, you’ll learn more about what is psychodrama and how psychodrama group therapy can help you work through strong feelings you may have suppressed so you can lead a healthier life.
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What is Psychodrama?
Before diving into the many benefits of psychodrama group therapy for your recovery, it’s first essential to answer an important question: what is psychodrama? Psychodrama is a type of therapy that’s used to uncover root issues to promote healing in addiction recovery. Oftentimes, people turn to drugs and alcohol to find relief and cope with challenging emotions and circumstances in their lives. However, sometimes knowing why or what you are trying to suppress through drugs can be complicated and multi-faceted.
This is where psychodrama comes in. Psychodrama uses role-play and guided drama to help the individual work through traumatic experiences or strong feelings they may have suppressed. Trauma is extremely common, with one study finding that 70% of respondents reported being exposed to a traumatic event. Psychodrama helps process and heal trauma and other strong emotions in a healthy manner.
Because psychodrama involves role-playing, it is done in a group setting where a therapist guides the session among you and your peers with the goal of helping you heal from these suppressed negative experiences and feelings.
All in all, psychodrama aims to reenact certain experiences or circumstances of your past so you can heal and work through those struggles more effectively, rather than turning to drugs or alcohol to suppress them.
Benefits of Psychodrama Therapy in Recovery
Now that you know more about what psychodrama is, let’s explore the many benefits psychodrama therapy can have on your addiction recovery journey.
Work Through Strong Emotions in a Safe Space
Uncovering strong emotions or traumatic experiences from your past can be extremely challenging and uncomfortable. Psychodrama provides a safe space among a therapist and peers you can trust so you can effectively work through those emotions with others.
Build Trust and Support in A Group Setting
As previously mentioned above, the group aspect of psychodrama provides support essential to uncovering and understanding your struggles more clearly. Not only is group involvement essential for the role-playing aspect of psychodrama, but it also gives you support and feedback from others who can help you uncover those strong emotions of your past.
Use Real-Time Action to Work Through Issues
The whole point of suppressing emotions and experiences through drugs and alcohol is for you to try to forget those issues, rather than facing them head-on. Therefore, it can be difficult to fully heal these suppressed emotions through certain therapies, like talk therapy, all on its own. Psychodrama allows you to reenact certain experiences and issues through real-time action so you can work through those feelings in a healthy manner. Plus, it teaches you how you can handle those difficult situations in the future, rather than turning to drugs to cope.
Ready to Start Your Road to Recovery?
Now you know more about how psychodrama group therapy can help you work through past trauma that is getting in the way of leading a healthy life. You should never feel like you need to hide, ignore, or abuse drugs to cope with negative experiences of your past. If you’re struggling with drug addiction, it’s critical you seek professional support to regain control of your life for the better.
At Veritas Detox, our team of caring addiction specialists is here to help you regain control of your health. Gone are the days of struggling in silence with your addiction. Our holistic treatment center in Los Angeles offers a comprehensive range of treatment options and programs so you can receive the right care for your unique recovery needs. Ready to start your recovery journey? Contact us today!
