Psychodrama and Systemic Therapy

Abstract

This is a short book of just over 100 pages plus references, but the author makes it clear that there will be a sequel that will expand on the interesting ideas that he puts forward in this volume. Dr. Fanner is a psychiatrist who is skilled in family therapy and is also a psychodramatist, well known in the United Kingdom. He lives and works in a hospital in Guernsey, and it is that factor that gives an added dimension to his book. In that small island community,families are often well known to each other, and it appears that professionals in mental health care may take multiple roles. The author, for instance, describes himself as the psychiatrist for one patient and also as her director in psychodrama, and then he appears to take a community role as he makes a visit to the patient's grandmother. Perhaps the emphasis on family and community makes the use of systemic family therapy most appropriate in that setting.