RELIEF OF AN ANXIETY STATE BY A SINGLE PSYCHODRAMATIC SESSION

Abstract

This was the second psychodramatic approach of a neurotic patient at the Dispensario de Higiene Mental del Municipio de la Habana" (a Mental Health Dispensary under the auspices of the City Hall of Havana). The case: A white female, 32 years old, who came from the interior of the Republic, complaining of neurotic symptoms.

History: Married at an early age to a gambler, she soon began to suffer from her husband's temper and ways of earning a living, of which she was not aware before her marriage. He began to quarrel with her out of jealousy, although she stayed alone at home most of the time without social contacts, except for her mother's visits. From the beginning he was opposed to having children, confessing to her at last that he could not for biological reasons. Under those conditions, the home life of the patient became most distressing. She began to create a defensive pathoplastic reaction against her growing anxiety: nervousness, insomnia, tachycardia, epigastric pulse, shortness of breath and cephalae.