Ritual Reclamation: Exploring the role of ritual in dramatherapy for renegotiating trauma in ritual abuse survivors towards recovery

Abstract

The use of ritual theatre models of dramatherapy in working with survivors of ritual abuse is largely undocumented and frequently limited in clinical practice. This paper focuses on a single case study which explores the role of ritual models of dramatherapy in renegotiating trauma in survivors of ritual abuse. The case study applies a phenomenological approach using narrative thematic analysis to consider the lived experience and storytelling approach of the client. Emerging themes of boundaried existence, disconnection and ‘unfurling the knot’ are highlighted. The case study examines and details how these themes emerged and how they transitioned in the recovery process of the client. Related areas of research are explored in a review of the current literature with this case study aiming to add to the field of knowledge in this specific intersection of the research. The outcomes of this study show that particularities of narrative expression through individual ritual creation, the use of aesthetic distancing as a guiding principle for intervening in trauma symptoms and the explicit use of ritual models of dramatherapy with this client population have the potential to transform ritual’s role of abuser to one of empowerment in recovery through reclamation.