The Arts in Psychotherapy Theater for, by and with fibromyalgia patients – Evaluation of emotional expression using video interpretation

The healing function of theater is reflected in all human cultures. Today, therapists and scientists work with psychodrama and drama therapy, often describing theater as the art form closest to life itself. In a unique cooperation between professional actors and a dance movement therapist/pain researcher, patients with fibromyalgia have first been trained in body and voice expression and thereafter acted out a drama onstage together with professional actors. A video interpretation technique was used to help patients interpret theirownemotional expressions towardsotheractorsandevaluate theirperceivedpain and self-rated health. The results of this feasibility study show that the variation of emotional expression from video interpretation is dependent upon whether or not the patient acts with an actor. The intensity of emotional expression increases significantlywhenacting togetherwith aprofessional actor. The results also showan increase in self-ratedhealth and adecrease in pain after 3months of using this theater-based technique. A correlation between strong emotional expression and decreased pain was also observed. However, when patients did not actively participate in a theater play, their self-estimated pain was not significantly decreased. In this study, the cross-fertilization of culture/expressive arts and health care is presented as a new resource for pain treatment. In particular there may be a link between intense emotional expressions when acting with professional actors and decreased perceptions of pain. The paper also discusses the potential therapeutic value of working with professional actors in the treatment of other pain patients. Hopefully, this theater-related method can contribute to developing collaboration between actors and creative art therapists and stimulate controlled studies of evidence-based science. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.