'Dramatherapy' opens at QMU to mixed reviews

As of January next year, Queen Margaret University (QMU) will be offering a course in 'dramatherapy', the first of its kind in Scotland.

The dramatherapy foundation certificate is designed for both drama students and healthcare professionals, and adds to the list of creative arts therapies already taught at the university.

Dramatherapy uses aspects of drama and theatre to help people explore difficult or painful life experiences. It is practiced as both individual and group therapy in many locations ranging from schools to mental health institutions, and it is used to treat a wide variety of patients.

The new dramatherapy certificate will strengthen QMU's position as the only Scottish university to offer training in creative arts psychotherapies.

These kinds of therapies are grounded in the historically recognised healing properties of artistic performance, but are also influenced by contemporary psychological theories and therapeutic practices – practices increasingly seen as effective alternatives to pharmacological intervention and more traditional practices in mental healthcare.

The new dramatherapy course at QMU will not qualify students to practice, but will serve as an introduction to the ideas and techniques involved.

If it is successful, the university may well create a qualifying postgraduate degree in the subject, as it has done for dance therapy.

The MSc in Dance Movement Psychotherapy is the first of its kind in the UK, and is the only programme in Scotland that produces qualified therapists.

QMU now boasts a unique set of courses in creative arts therapies, unrivalled by any institution in the country.

The university looks set to play a crucial development role in the future of mental healthcare in Scotland as alternative psychotherapies become more widely used and accredited.