Drama Therapy and Intellectual Disability

Drama therapy is one of the few therapy forms that is beneficial for people with an intellectual
disability (ID).


Here in New Zealand, people with an ID diagnosis often miss out on receiving therapeutic
interventions. Frequently, they are told that their ‘psychological’ issues are disability related, and therefore, no funding is made available for therapeutic assistance.


If depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (e.g. sexual abuse) or anxiety is diagnosed, no suitable therapies are provided by the Mental Health Services that hold the funding. Clients that I work with, have been offered CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy), only to be told after a few sessions that due to their disability, they were unable to follow this therapy. Instead of being offered suitable ‘non-verbal’ therapies, they were sent away.


Drama therapy is a form of therapy that works on the sub-conscious layer of the thought processes. This means that changes are made and established while working in the creative therapeutic module (drama, music, art or dance). By creating a safe environment, the clients are encouraged to experience and experiment with feelings, thoughts, and issues to change their perspective and integrate new coping mechanisms.


I have listed below some of the goals drama therapy is able to achieve for people who have an ID.

• Expression and regulation of emotions



• Expansion of frustration tolerance



• Diminishing impulsive behaviour



• Improvement of reality orientation



• Improvement of social interaction and interpersonal skills



• The ability to set boundaries



• Expansion of behavioural skills



• Improvement of self esteem



• Change and expansion of self view



• Diminishing the fear of failure



• Developing control mechanisms



• Exploring new thoughts and feelings



• Self-actualisation (development of self)



• Development of self reflection



• Dealing with bereavement



• Dealing with grief



• Dealing with change

Introducing Drama Therapy

Welcome to our new weekly updated blog about drama therapy.

As drama therapy is relatively unknown in New Zealand we decided to make our blog , so drama therapists and people with an interest in using its techniques in New Zealand, and overseas can contribute and share ideas.

As a quick introduction: We are from Wellington, New Zealand, where we work as drama therapists.

We have experience in a diversity of fields, using drama therapeutic and action methods. They include the disability sector (intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, Aspergers, Autism, brain injury), elderly sector (Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Age Care), mental health sector (post traumatic stress, Depression, Psychosis and Neurosis) and we also use our skills in clinical supervision, management training and team building.

In our weekly updates we will talk about different techniques we use in the different settings/sectors. For example, projective techniques (like masks and puppets) psychodrama with people who have cognitive difficulties, slowing down the deterioration in people suffering dementia, and which techniques we found most successful.

We would also love to hear about your experiences in using drama processes when working with your client-base.