Drama therapy in obese patients: Description and evaluation of an application

This study evaluates the impact of Drama Therapy that utilizes both structured theatrical game exercises and improvisations on obese patients. 31 patients had five sessions of this theatrical Drama Therapy technique as part of an inpatient educational program. All patients completed the test/retest procedure (TO/TI) of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (Bagby, Parker & Taylor, 1994), the Toulouse scale of Self-Esteem (Esparbes, Sorders-Ader, Oubrayrie & Tap, 1993), the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (Garner, 1991), and the Brief COPE (Muller & Spitz, 2003). The results indicate a significant increase in self-esteem scores. The difference in self- esteem TO/TI is partially predictable by the TO scores pertaining to the future self, the difficulty in describing one's feelings, and the use of instrumental coping strategies. The alexithymia scores decrease while the scores of the use of coping strategies geared towards social support increase. The difference in alexithymia TO/TI is in part predicted by the TO scores concerning asceticism and humour. In terms of eating disorders, the scores on body dissatisfaction and inefficiency improve significantly. This study helps to advance the appropriateness of using structured theatrical exercises in dealing with obese patients. Furthermore, it leads to shaping the information/prescriptions derived from the quantitative evaluative elements which in turn could be translated into therapeutic targets.