54-5 The Experience of Doubling in Psychodrama: A Phenomenological Research

Shu-Yu You Wei-Yun Tsai
University of Taipei Employee Assistance Programs Center


 
This study aims at revealing the experiential structure of doubling in psychodrama using a phenomenological method. Five participants with the interpersonal issues were chosen and invited to be the protagnists. Five auxiliaries and five doubles were invited to attend the double-training workshop. In the workshop, the researcher designed a doubling scene to warm up the protagnists. The doubling scene included the protagonist, the auxiliary (who played the person and had interpersonal issue with the protagonist), and the double (who sat beside the protagonist). The director facilitated verbal dialogue between the protagonist, the auxiliary and the double. And the dialogue lasted for 30-60 minutes. The researcher collected the experience-describing of the doubles. Phenomenological analysis (Lee & Lai, 2009) was applied to the descriptions of experience. The experiential structure of doubling in psychodrama consisted of two dimensions of behaviors. One was the horizontal dimension, indicating the interpersonal verbal and nonverbal communication. The double listened to the verbal and nonverbal behavior of the protagonist and the auxiliary, listened to the interaction between the protagonist and he auxiliary. The double arouse bodily feelings and doubled for the protagonist. The other was the vertical dimension, indicating the words-bodily feelings connection. By role-playing or by interacting with the protagonist or the auxiliary, the double experienced the inner and bodily feelings, the double understood the protagonists' experience and was in the role of the double and doubled for the protagonist. There are five experiential themes in the experiential structure of doubling in psychodrama. The first experiential theme was that the double was in the role of the double by role-playing. The second experiential theme was that the double was to reveal the protagonist's inner experience. The double played the role of the protagonist, listened to the verbal and nonverbal behavior of the protagonist and the auxiliary, and listened to the interaction between the protagonist and the auxiliary. The double arouse bodily feelings and was in the role of the double, with an aim to understand protagonists' experience. The double revealed the protagonist's inner experience. The third experiential themewas that the double facilitated the protagonist's inner dialogue. The double listened to the verbal and nonverbal behavior of the protagonist and the auxiliary, and listened to the interaction between the protagonist and the auxiliary. The double arouse bodily feelings and was in the role of the double and doubled the protagonists. The double facilitated the protagonist's inner dialogue. The fourth experiential theme was that the double empowered the protagonists by bodily movement. The double listened to the verbal and nonverbal behavior of the protagonist and the auxiliary, listened to the interaction between the protagonist and the auxiliary. The double empowered the protagonists by bodily movement. The last experiential theme was that the double kept the spontaneous doubling process. The spontaneous doubling experience was that the double listened to the verbal and nonverbal behavior of the protagonist and the auxiliary. The double listened to the interaction between the protagonist and the auxiliary. The double arouse bodily feelings and keep being in the role of the double and doubled the protagonists. The double revealed the protagonist's inner experience, facilitated the protagonist's inner dialogue, and empowered the protagonists by bodily movement. The spontaneous doubling process kept going. The researcher reveals the experiential process which the double is stuck and out of stuck. The researcher revealed two situatedness of the double. One situatedness was that the double was isolated with the protagonists' experience. The other situatedness was that the double was refused by the protagonist and the auxiliary. By being doubled by the director, the double was out of stuck and keep the process of doubling. Based on the results of the study, various significant features regarding the experience of doubling in psychodrama were clarified.

Keywords
Bodily feelings, doubling, hermeneutic phenomenology, psychodrama.