Psychodrama Group Therapy for Social Issues: A Systematic Review of Controlled Clinical Trials

M. Angeles López-González, Pedro Morales-Landazábal and Gabriela Topa
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M. Angeles López-González: Department of Psychology/Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Avenida de Atenas s/n, Alcorcón, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Pedro Morales-Landazábal: Independent Scholar, 28016 Madrid, Spain
Gabriela Topa: Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, National University of Distance Education, 28040 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-22

Abstract: The aim of this study was to carry out a systematic review of controlled clinical trials in order to identify both specific populations and social issues which may benefit from the effective use of psychodrama psychotherapy. A search was conducted in the WoS, SCOPUS, PsychINFO, Medline, Academic Search Ultimate, ProQuest, and PubPsych databases, complemented by a manual search on relevant websites and in the reference lists of the selected studies. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs of group-based psychodrama psychotherapy were included. The Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) tool was adopted to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. The search identified 14 RCTs and one quasi-RCT evaluating the effects of group-based psychodrama psychotherapy. The total number of participants in the studies was 642 people. Seven studies were conducted in Turkey, two in the USA, two in Finland, one in Canada, one in Brazil, one in Italy, and one in Iran. The heterogeneity of the issues analyzed indicates that psychodrama improves the symptoms associated with a wide range of problems. Despite psychodrama’s long history, most clinical trials in this field have been published this century, which suggests not only that this psychotherapeutic practice remains relevant today but also that it continues to attract substantial interest among the scientific community. Nevertheless, further research efforts are required to understand its potential benefits for psychosocial well-being.

Keywords: psychodrama group therapy; systematic review; randomized controlled trials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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