Psychodrama Section

The Psychodrama Section

The Psychodrama Section aspires to cooperate with other IAGP Sections and disseminate information about psychodrama and related areas. Our aim is to serve as an international professional-scientific forum dedicated to the exchange of knowledge and ideas and the advancement of psychodrama, and to organize workshops and presentations at IAGP congresses. We encourage new ideas and the development of new lines of communication. Our aim is to build intercultural bridges.

For further information please reach out to Deniz at [email protected]

Deniz Altinay, M.A. Psych.

Psychodrama section chair

About Deniz Altınay: 

Psychodrama Group Psychotherapy Trainer; Group and Individual Psychotherapist Founder and President of the Istanbul Psychodrama Institute, the Turkish Union of Psychodrama Institutes, the Child Psychodrama Section, and the Istanbul Spontaneity Theatre.

Books: Psychodrama: 450 Warming-Up Games, Handbook of Psychodrama Group Psychotherapy, Spontaneity Theatre, Child Psychodrama, Selected Issues in Psychodrama, Contemporary  Applications of Psychodrama, and The Moment.

Editor of the IGPP E-Journal.

Board Member of IAGP; Chair of the IAGP Psychodrama Section.
Former Co-Chair of the IAGP Social and Collective Trauma Committee.
Member of FEPTO and EAP.

A Brief History of Psychodrama: Healing Through Action

Psychodrama is a powerful and experiential method of psychotherapy that uses guided dramatic action to explore and resolve personal and collective issues. Unlike traditional talk therapy, it brings the inner world into a tangible, three-dimensional space, allowing participants to gain insight, practice new behaviors, and achieve emotional catharsis. Its history is deeply intertwined with the life and vision of its founder, Dr. Jacob Levy Moreno, and represents a radical departure from the psychoanalytic mainstream of the early 20th century.

The Genesis: Jacob Levy Moreno (1889-1974)

The story of psychodrama begins with its charismatic and philosophical founder. Born in Bucharest and raised in Vienna, Moreno was a man of many talents—a poet, philosopher, physician, and sociologist. His early experiences, such as playing “god” with children in the gardens of Vienna and observing the spontaneous interactions in communities, shaped his core beliefs in spontaneity, creativity, and the moment – “here-and-now” (Moreno, 1977).

A pivotal moment occurred around 1911, before he qualified as a doctor, when he visited the Viennese gardens and observed children enacting imaginative play. He joined them, encouraging and structuring their fantasies. He later reflected on this as his first, unconscious psychodrama session, realizing the therapeutic power of enacted stories over mere narration (Marineau, 1989).

From “Theatre of Spontaneity” to Clinical Practice

In the 1920s in Vienna, Moreno established the “Theatre of Spontaneity” (Stegreiftheatre). Here, actors would improvise scenes based on suggestions from the audience or current events. This was not merely entertainment; it was a sociological and psychological experiment. Moreno witnessed how both actors and audience members experienced emotional release and gained new perspectives on their lives. This theatre was the direct precursor to the psychodrama stage (Moreno, 1947).

Emigrating to the United States in 1925, Moreno began to formalize his methods. In 1936, he established the first purpose-built psychodrama stage at Beacon, New York, and founded the therapeutic community “Hillside Hospital.” The stage, with its multi-level design (a living space, a stage area, and an audience gallery), became the sacred space where life’s dramas could be safely recreated, examined, and transformed (Moreno, 1969).

Core Concepts and Their Evolution

Moreno didn’t just create a technique; he built an entire system with interconnected components:

1. Psychodrama: The main method, involving a protagonist (the client), a director (the therapist), auxiliary egos (group members playing significant others), the audience, and the stage. The process unfolds in three phases: warm-up, action, and sharing.
2. Sociometry: Perhaps Moreno’s most significant scientific contribution. He developed tools like sociograms to measure and analyze interpersonal relationships within groups. He argued that social networks and hidden attractions/repulsions were key to understanding individual psychology and group dynamics (Moreno, 1953).
3. Group Psychotherapy: Moreno is credited with coining the term “group therapy” and pioneering its practice. He shifted the focus from the isolated individual to the individual within their social atom (network of relationships), recognizing the group as a potent agent of change (Moreno, 1946).

Expansion and Integration (Mid-20th Century to Present)

Following Moreno’s death in 1974, psychodrama did not stagnate. His wife, Zerka T. Moreno, became a vital force in its global dissemination and evolution. She refined the methodology, emphasized the role of the director as a compassionate guide, and wrote extensively on its theory and practice (Moreno, 2006).

Psychodrama began to cross-pollinate with other therapeutic schools. Gestalt therapy, under Fritz Perls (who was influenced by Moreno), integrated aspects of role-playing. Family systems therapy found natural allies in sociometry and role theory. Today, psychodramatic techniques are widely used in diverse fields: clinical treatment for trauma (e.g., using the stage to process PTSD), organizational training, education, conflict resolution, and community building (Kellermann, 1992; Blatner, 2000).

A Living Legacy

The history of psychodrama is a history of innovation—a move from the couch to the stage, from introspection to action, and from the individual in isolation to the individual in context. Moreno’s vision of healing through spontaneity, creativity, and encounter remains profoundly relevant. In a world often dominated by digital interaction and passive consumption, psychodrama offers a unique, embodied, and relational path to understanding, growth, and authentic human connection. It continues to evolve, proving itself as a dynamic and vital approach to psychotherapy and human development.

References & Further Reading

Blatner, A. (2000). Foundations of psychodrama: History, theory, and practice (4th ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

Kellermann, P. F. (1992). Focus on psychodrama: The therapeutic aspects of psychodrama. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Marineau, R. F. (1989). *Jacob Levy Moreno, 1889-1974: Father of psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy*. Routledge.

Moreno, J. L. (1946). Psychodrama, Volume 1. Beacon House.

Moreno, J. L. (1947). The theatre of spontaneity. Beacon House. (Original work published 1923)

Moreno, J. L. (1953). Who shall survive? Foundations of sociometry, group psychotherapy and sociodrama. Beacon House.

Moreno, J. L. (1969). Psychodrama, Volume 3. Beacon House.

Moreno, J. L. (1977). Psychodrama, Volume 1 (4th ed.). Beacon House.

Moreno, Z. T. (2006). The quintessential Zerka: Writings by Zerka Toeman Moreno on psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy. Routledge.

For those new to the topic, these resources offer a great starting point:

• The American Society of Group Psychotherapy & Psychodrama (ASGPP): https://www.asgpp.org/ (Provides definitions, training info, and a practitioner directory).
• Blatner, A. (2023). Acting-In: Practical Applications of Psychodramatic Methods. A highly regarded introductory textbook.

About Jacob L. Moreno

Photo: Jacob Levy Moreno, photographed in the mid-1930s.

Jacob Levy Moreno
(May 18, 1889 – May 14, 1974)
Born on May 18, 1889, in Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania, and died on May 14, 1974, in Beacon, New York, USA, Jacob Levy Moreno was a Jewish Romanian–Austrian–American psychiatrist, psychosociologist, thinker, and educator. He was the founder of psychodrama and is widely regarded as the foremost pioneer of group psychotherapy. During his lifetime, Moreno was recognized as one of the leading social scientists of the twentieth century.
Moreno was born into a Sephardi Jewish family. His father, Moreno Nissim Levy, was a merchant born in 1856 in Plevna, then part of the Ottoman Empire (today Pleven, Bulgaria). Moreno’s grandfather, Buchis, had moved to Plevna from Constantinople, where the family had settled after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. It is believed that the Moreno family left Plevna for Bucharest during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, following Rabbi Haim Bejarano in search of a more hospitable environment. Moreno’s mother, Paulina Iancu (or Wolf), was also Sephardi Jewish, born in 1873 and originally from Călărași, Romania.
In 1895, amid a period of great intellectual creativity and political turmoil, the family moved to Vienna. There, Moreno studied medicine, mathematics, and philosophy at the University of Vienna and received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1917.

Moreno extended and transformed psychoanalytic thinking by moving beyond intrapsychic processes toward a theory of interpersonal relations. He developed a comprehensive body of work that included psychodrama, sociometry, group psychotherapy, sociodrama, and sociatry. In 1925, he emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City, which he later described in his autobiography as the only place where he could freely pursue sociometric group research on the scale he envisioned—“the melting pot of the nations,” free from rigid preconceptions.

Moreno later held academic positions at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research. In 1932, he formally introduced group psychotherapy to the American Psychiatric Association. Over the next forty years, he continued to refine his Theory of Interpersonal Relations and developed innovative tools for the social sciences, which he collectively described as sociodrama, psychodrama, sociometry, and sociatry.

In his monograph The Future of Man’s World, Moreno explained that he developed these approaches as a response to what he called the dominant materialisms of the modern era: the economic materialism of Marx, the psychological materialism of Freud, and technological materialism.

In his autobiography, Moreno described his core position as threefold:
 Spontaneity and creativity are the primary driving forces of human progress, beyond and independent of libido and socioeconomic motives. While these motives may interact with spontaneity and creativity, they are not their source.

 Love and mutual sharing are powerful and indispensable principles of group life, requiring faith in the intentions of others—a faith that transcends obedience enforced by physical or legal coercion.

 A super-dynamic community, grounded in these principles, can be realized through new social and therapeutic techniques.Moreno died in New York City in 1974 at the age of 84. After a long illness, he chose to end his life by abstaining from food and water. At his request, his epitaph reads: “The man who brought laughter to psychiatry.”

Subsequent research has demonstrated the enduring relevance of Moreno’s work. Studies from the University of Vienna have highlighted the profound influence of his concept of the Encounter—introduced in Invitations to an Encounter (1914)—on Martin Buber’s I–Thou philosophy, and through it, on modern philosophy, theology, and psychology.
Moreno’s wife and collaborator, Zerka T. Moreno, wrote: “While it is true that Buber broadened the idea of the Encounter, he did not create the instruments for it to occur.” She emphasized that Moreno developed the practical methods—sociometry, group psychotherapy, psychodrama, and sociodrama—that made the human encounter experientially accessible.
Zerka Moreno, herself a leading expert in psychodrama and sociometry, continued her husband’s work for decades. Today, with training centers and institutes on nearly every continent, thousands of students and practitioners continue to expand and teach the Morenean Arts and Sciences, working toward Moreno’s vision of making these social sciences available to “the whole of humankind.”
Moreno is also widely credited as one of the founders of social network analysis, a branch of sociology concerned with the quantitative study of relationships within groups and communities. His seminal 1934 book, Who Shall Survive?, contains some of the earliest graphical representations of social networks.

References
• Biographical detail: article by Lucy Ozarin, Psychiatric News (Volume 38, Number 10),May 16, 2003. Retrieved on December 29, 2007.
• The Autobiography of J. L. Moreno, M.D. (Abridged), J. L. Moreno, Moreno Archives, Harvard University, 1985.
• Taught at Columbia University, evidenced in recollection: article by Mary Nicholas & Gene Eliasoph, The Group Circle (August/ September 2002), American Group Psychotherapy Association. Retrieved on December 30, 2007.
• New School for Social Research: short biography at SibiuOnline website. Retrieved on December 30, 2007.
• Johnson, David Read; Emunah, Renée, eds. (2009). Current Approaches in Drama Therapy (2nd ed.). Springfield, IL: Charles C.Thomas. p. 394. ISBN 978-0-398-07848-5.
• Psychotherapy Networker, Clinician’s Digest, January/February 2007.

• Psychodrama Network News, Zerka Moreno,winter 2007.
• “Zerka Moreno”. Psychotherapy.net. September 2004.
• Morenean Arts & Sciences: Moreno Institute East website. Retrieved on December 29, 2007.
• Marineau, René F. (1989). “Ancestors and family: the birth of a myth”. Jacob Levy Moreno, 1889-1974: father of psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy. Routledge. pp. 4–6.
• The Future of Man’s World, J. L. Moreno, New York Beacon House, Psychodrama Monographs, 1947.
• Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama & Sociometry

Moreno’s Concept of the Therapeutic World Order and Sociodrama:

Dear Psychodrama Friends, as the IAGP Psychodrama Section, we have launched our webinar series and have also planned several workshops. We are continuing our preparations for the second half of 2026 and for 2027.

In this period, when social and collective traumas are increasing, and the threat of war is knocking on our doors more than ever, our need for a “therapeutic world order” is greater than ever before. About a century ago, Moreno, with his visionary perspective, recognized and defined this reality. He pointed to psychodrama group psychotherapy as the path toward achieving a “Therapeutic World Order.” Beyond helping individuals within a group, he introduced to the world the methods of sociodrama and sociopsychodrama, which open the way to helping entire groups and societies.

Today, we need these methods more than ever. I would like to emphasize that “sociodrama large groups” are of great importance in all conferences and congresses to be organized, and that global issues should be discussed and worked through within these groups.

As the IAGP Psychodrama Section, we plan to bring these topics to the agenda in greater depth in the coming period. Moreno’s vision of a therapeutic world order continues to stand before us as the highest goal to be attained. I believe that we, as psychodrama group psychotherapists, carry a great responsibility.

I invite each of you to share your thoughts on this topic through the IAGP Psychodrama Exchange list.

With my deepest respect,

Deniz Altınay
Chair of the Psychodrama Section

The Future of Psychodrama on a Global Scale

See “The Future of Psychodrama on a Global Scale”, presented by Heloisa Fleury, Former IAGP President, at the Österreichischer Arbeitskreis für Gruppentherapie und Gruppendynamic in Vienna. *****ADD HYPERLINK  here