How Subiksha Raman's dramatherapy could help you tap into your creative best

Aren't you an actress? Do you know anything about psychology? Subiksha Raman was asked these questions quite a few times when she introduced herself as a drama therapist. Sure, she has done quite a bit of amateur theatre but to assume that she doesn't know anything about psychology would be totally wrong. A qualified drama therapist, this Chennaiite also runs the Instagram page dramatically_yours, where she holds conversations on drama therapy, with an aim to make people aware and of course, normalise it.

We caught up with her recently and she patiently sat down to answer all the questions that we had about drama therapy.

Dramatherapy is a fairly new term for all of us. What is it all about?
Dramatherapy is all about using creative arts to help people express themselves better. We make use of dramatic techniques like storytelling, role-playing or improv. Through this, we're trying to bridge the gap between body and mind and trying to ensure that everything feels the way it is supposed to feel.

That sounds exciting. How and when were you introduced to it?
I did amateur theatre in 2014 and was pursuing my bachelor's in counselling psychology at that time. I often wanted to combine drama and counselling psychology and that was when a friend told me about this course.

What really happens in your therapy sessions?
There's a basic structure. Sometimes you need to have flexibility according to what the client is going through. Sometimes, they may coordinate with what you have in mind and sometimes they don't. You check-in, warm-up and then go to the main activity that the therapist suggests and is either agreed on or changed depending on the client's wish . After that, there's a de-roling, where the client gets out of the character. During these sessions, you can make stories, act, or do anything creative.