From inner impulse to being seen: dreaming a dramatherapy approach to embodying contemporary archetypal expressions of an emerging Self

Abstract

This research investigated the combination of elements of Authentic Movement, mask making and a witnessed ritual as a process to explore the concept of an emerging sense of Self within the frame of an applied dramatherapeutic intervention. This was done through personal interactions with archetypal expressions. This research as an investigation into an emerging sense of Self, not only places focus on the intrapsychic process of the client, but also looks towards the way in which the Self is expressed in relationship. It further investigated how we can find ways of involving a process of communal witnessing in the therapeutic space as a moment of external confirmation for the purpose of better integration of the interpersonal transformation that one might experience. The rationale to conduct this research and look towards the potential for the designed-and experienced process for future application in dramatherapy contexts, lies in my belief that therapeutic spaces that can hold both processes of internal transformation. I also believe that external communal confirmations are needed in order to facilitate emerging expressions of Self within the concept of wholeness as a measure of health