Video as an externalizing object in drama therapy

Drama therapy as a group process explores the many levels of metaphor that are a result of dramatic engagement among members of a group. To facilitate this process, drama therapists make use of a wide range of dramatic media (e.g., masks, puppets, photography, and video). Video in particular offers a number of possibilities, especially those that involve direct interaction between the patient and the video technology “in which the camera and monitor are themselves objects to be reckoned with” (Landy, 1986). This paper describes my work with Brian using video as an externalizing object, that is, as an inanimate object transformed by the patient into the role of a significant other so that a fictional relationship to real-life conflicts can be dramatically played out and explored. By directly engaging patients with the video through play, they can enact roles and transform the technology into objects from their real lives (e.g., the camera as mother who is always watching us, the microphone as the father who will not listen to us), their fantasy lives (e.g., the recorder who will remember us, the video-image of self that is gigantic or very small, or to erase what was bad and create something new), or as transitional object (e.g., the television set as babysitter). Through the process of “externalization” (Kernberg, 1970) or “projective identification” (Klein, 1932/1959), these internalized characters are played out in the external world using the video as a stand-in for the internalized object, not as belonging to the past, but as an object to play and interact with in the here-and-now. According to Winnicott (1953, 1965), the main thrust of therapeutic activity is for the therapist to be utilized as a transitional object, and to manage rather than interpret the transference so as to provide the patient with a sense of well-being, security, and cohesion. The therapist, by functioning as a transitional object, fills the deficit and enables an aborted maturational process to resume. For the drama therapist, video is similar to a transitional object introduced into the therapeutic setting. By using this inanimate object as a stand-in for objects from the patient’s inner psychic world and actual external world the drama therapist has a tool to examine and explore actual and desirable relationships. Here relationships that have become rigidified, stereotyped, and inflexible can be recast; a new balance in the expectations of others can be struck. This use of video as a stand-in for significant others from the patient’s life will be described here as an “externalizing object.” The following case history describes an experience in The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital (IPH) Adolescent Treatment Unit for emotionally disturbed adolescents. The patient was part of a drama therapy group designed for 12-14 year-olds who were having difficulty functioning at an age-appropriate peer level. The group, co-led by a drama therapist and a movement therapist, met for 14 one-hour sessions over a period of eight weeks. The composition of the group included Brian and three females: D age 12, post-traumatic stress disorder; E age 13, bipolar disorder; and B age 14, oppositional/atypical disorder. In terms of the intervention, I hope to