num_pages: 250
description: As the author of the twelve essays included in this book written over a period of five years, one of his major concerns is to examine the possibilities of letting go and the notion that by doing so, individuals can move closer to an effective closure. Throughout this book, the assumption is held that an effective closure will come as individuals attempt to complete their unfinished business - the many unresolved, uncomfortable moments that are avoided or denied, that spring from uneasy intimacies and unsatisfactory attachments, from the failure to speak one's mind, to assert one's will, and to acknowledge and correct a real or imagined wrong. This volume attempts to lay more of the groundwork within a consistent framework of theory and practice. Rather than an anthology of many voices, it offers a single voice intoned in many keys. This book focuses upon theory and practice, but it moves into new territory by addressing issues of assessment, supervision and termination. And it does so in a style that becomes increasingly personal, measuring the meaning of the process of drama therapy against the writer's awakening as a teacher, healer, scholar, father and son. Notable in this volume is attention to cultural and spiritual issues, the former represented by an essay concerning the author's dialogue with Chinese culture in Taiwan. In the two essays, 'Fathers and Sons' and 'Open Cabinets,' the author attempts to integrate most fully the theoretical and the personal in wrestling with issues of intimacy and responsibility. Throughout the book, the author plays with some of the intricacies of a model that springs from that of role, counterrole and guide (R-CR-G). To complete unfinished business, the author suggests that individuals need to invoke imagery rich enough in paradox, in role and counterrole, and work with it as long as it takes to cut loose from the ghosts, those frightening figures from the past that sail into the unconscious at will, and that to live safely on the dry land of consciousness, one needs to have sailed out on dark unconscious seas again and again.
language: English
title: New Essays in Drama Therapy: Unfinished Business
titlecomplete: New Essays in Drama Therapy: Unfinished Business
ratings_count: 1
publisher: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd