Dramatherapy

What is dramatherapy?

Dramatherapy is a form of psychotherapy. The British Association of Dramatherapists says its practitioners are trained in both therapy and theatre.

You need no experience of theatre or acting. The association says it can help if you find talking limiting.

Taking a role puts a little space between you and the thing itself. From there you can look at it. That distance is the method rather than a detour around the work.

Sources: BADTh: dramatherapy, BADTh: how it helps

How it works

Dramatherapists use a wide range of dramatic techniques, with words and without them. The medium may include drama, story-making, music, movement and art. Movement matters as much as speech.

Therapists draw on their knowledge of theatre and of therapy together. Both halves are part of the training.

You might take a role, tell a story, or move rather than speak. The work often approaches the hard thing sideways. Nothing has to be named head on.

Sources: BADTh: dramatherapy, BADTh: HCPC registration, BPA: psychodrama

What sessions look like

Dramatherapy runs one to one or in a small group. Like most therapy, a session usually lasts about fifty minutes.

An NHS trust running arts therapies says you need not be good at drama. It adds that the aim is not an accomplished performance.

You will not be asked to perform for anyone. There is no audience. What happens in the room is for the work, not for show.

Sources: BADTh: dramatherapy, BACP: counselling, SABP: arts therapy

Who it might suit

It can be a good fit if you:

• Find that talking straight at a problem closes you down
• Would rather show something than describe it
• Keep falling into the same role with other people
• Can tell a hard story about someone else but not about yourself
• Think better on your feet than sitting still

The British Association of Dramatherapists calls it inclusive across ages and cultural or social differences. It names physical and learning ability too.

Source: BADTh: how it helps

Who provides it

Dramatherapist is a title protected in law. The Health and Care Professions Council keeps the register. Using a protected title with intent to deceive is a criminal offence.

BADth says registration needs a master's degree from an approved course. Its training page names courses at five UK universities.

In September 2026 the register held about 6,200 arts therapists. That count covers drama, art and music together, because the regulator does not split it.

Sources: HCPC: protected titles, HCPC: misuse of title, BADTh: HCPC registration, BADTh: training, HCPC: register summary

The evidence

The research here is thinner than for art or music therapy, and we would rather say so.

Cochrane reviewed drama therapy for schizophrenia in 2007. It found only five trials. Between them they covered just over 200 people.

Its authors concluded that the benefits or harms are unclear. No one has updated that review since it was published.

A 2024 review of dramatherapy for adults with psychosis screened more than 8,000 papers. Eleven of them met its criteria. Its authors called for stronger research in the field.

Thin evidence is not the same as evidence of no effect. It means the trials to settle the question have not been run.

NICE says to consider offering arts therapies to people with psychosis. Its guidance for children and young people names dramatherapy among them. Consider is a weaker word than offer, which NICE uses elsewhere in the same guideline.

NICE does not name dramatherapy in its guidance on depression. NHS Talking Therapies does not list it either, so the NHS route runs through community mental health services. An NHS trust running arts therapies says there has been little research to show conclusively that they help.

Sources: Ruddy & Dent-Brown 2007, Melvin et al. 2024, NICE CG178, NICE CG155, NICE NG222, NHS England: talking therapies manual, ELFT: ERA trial

Psychodrama

Psychodrama uses guided dramatic action to examine a problem a person brings. It was conceived and developed by the psychiatrist Jacob L. Moreno.

Psychodramatist is not one of the four protected titles. The British Psychodrama Association is accredited by the UK Council for Psychotherapy. It requires its UK practitioners to register with that council individually.

If you are weighing up a few options, our guide to the different approaches sets them side by side.

Sources: BPA: psychodrama, HCPC: protected titles, BPA: overview