PSYCHODRAMA IN PONTIAC STATE HOSPITAL

Abstract

Every Wednesday afternoon a group of fifteen to twenty patients gather in the small auditorium of the Pontiac State Hospital for Psychodrama. This group is composed of white and negro adolescent and adult men and women, single and married, ranging in age from fourteen to fifty-five, in education from the fourth grade to college graduation, in economic status from marginal to very well-to-do. Diagnostically, this group consists mostly of schizophrenics with paranoid types predominating, some affective disorders, primary behavior disorders, and. psychopaths in different stages of illness, acute co chronic, over-active to very withdrawn, regressed and deteriorated. The majority of these patients reside in closed wards and arc· brought to the auditorium by psychiatric aides