1 Learning opportunities for children with impaired social-emotional development

Social-emotional problems of children often show up in primary school in the form of behavioural problems. Social withdrawal, lack of participation in classroom activities, and even cross-border and aggressive behaviour towards other children make it clear that it is difficult for affected children to relate to others in a constructive way and to remain in a relationship. Rejection and exclusion processes combined with reinforcement of problematic behaviour are usually the result.

Traumatic experiences and biographies are often found in affected children, which can lead to children and adolescents showing restricted social behaviour. This behaviour is to be understood as a consequence of a processing process through which children increasingly withdraw and no longer participate in social processes. The social network becomes weaker and a lack of social integration is the result. This also means a lack of social learning opportunities and coping mechanisms, which are necessary, for example, for dealing constructively with conflicts.

Pedagogical interventions should therefore aim to provide these children with ongoing learning spaces and learning opportunities to participate in social events in a constructive way. At the same time, the children concerned should have the opportunity to express their respective psychosocial situation in a creative way.

Psychodrama play with children and adolescents offers many possibilities to enhance the learning and development through creative and symbolic action and to strengthen their resilience (Kopatz and Mingers 2020; Mutafchieva 2020; Fröhlich-Gildhoff and Rönnau-Böse 2020). In the play, children and young people are dealing with their own feelings, such as fear, anger and sadness. A psychodrama group provides learning opportunities that social-emotionally impaired children do not usually find in everyday school life. Psychodrama with children offers various forms of social pedagogical support for psychosocially impaired and biographically burdened children. The acting approach in the group, the possibility of symbolisation in role play and the joint creation in the group open up possibilities for expression and learning to expand one’s own repertoire of actions (Meents 2022; Flegelskamp 2020; Aichinger 2014; Aichinger and Holl 2017; Kende 2017; Uschold-Meier and Wagner 2016; Krall 2007).

2 Social pedagogical/therapeutic setting of a psychodrama intensive group

The socio-educational setting should give children the opportunity to participate in a social group activity in their own individual way. Spontaneous and creative play in the group should be encouraged. At the same time, however, it must be ensured that there are no repetitive assaults, attacks, offenses and injuries. Therefore, clear temporal and spatial structures are needed that create opportunities but also set comprehensible limits.

The concept of the psychodrama intensive group described below was developed by Gabriele Biegler-Vitek and Monika Wicher (2017, 2014). The group, which provides a specific setting for children with different social learning needs, can accommodate 12–14 children aged 6–12. The entire work over a period of four days is led by two psychodrama directors who alternate or complement each other in their instructions and provide appropriate support as needed. In addition, each child has a support person who functions as an auxiliary ego (AE). If necessary and depending on the situation, one support person can also work with two children. These tasks as auxiliary egos are usually performed by interns or students.

An auxiliary ego has the task of supporting the child as needed during the four days and taking on specific roles according to the children’s wishes. As the name already suggests, the auxiliary ego is supposed to strengthen the child’s ego functions and support the child in coping with the psychosocial challenges in the group. If a child needs more boundaries, the auxiliary ego can take care of this. Similarly, the auxiliary ego can take on the task of initiating contact with other children and role-players. Or it can say out loud how the child is feeling at the moment or what the other person in a role play might be thinking. The auxiliary ego takes over functions which the child acquires step by step in its learning process.

With the group leaders, the children and their assisting auxiliary egos, there are about 25 people in the room, which corresponds to the size of a school class. This size is deliberately chosen to get the children used to independent social action in a comparable context.

3 Timing

The psychodrama intensive group is a group that runs over four days and follows a specific structure both on the individual days and over the four days. For the children, each day lasts from 9 am to 12.30 pm and is divided into the following phases:

  • A playful warm-up with the children in which the children are activated and can express their current state of mind. On the first day, the warm-up also serves to get to know each other in the group.

  • Subsequently, roles and scripts of individual scenes for a psychodramatic play are developed. Both the roles and the action scripts remain largely open—they are a kind of framework for a creative impromptu play—and can change or become more differentiated in the course of the play.

  • Once the roles and scripts are well rehearsed, the scenes that have been worked out are presented to the whole group. This is followed by a half-hour break in which the children are offered fruit, drinks and small snacks.

  • After the break, the roles are continued according to the children’s interests. This is followed by a sharing from the roles in which the children tell how they experienced their play, what they liked or disliked, etc. This is important to help the children to observe and describe their own actions and thus adopt a meta-position. Here, too, the auxiliary ego can support and take on a “double position”—i.e. to perceive and say something for the child and thereby strengthen self-perception and the perception of others.

  • After the role feedback, the leader of the reflection process makes references to everyday situations, which is called “sharing” in psychodrama. Questions like: “Do you also experience moments in your life when you feel lonely?” Or, “Have you ever been able to reconcile well after an argument?” “What does it take?” With questions like these, a reference to the children’s everyday life is established in the reflection. The children are activated to tell stories and think along with others and can contribute their own experiences and ideas for solutions.

  • At the end of each day, there is a small farewell game or ritual before the children are picked up by their parents.

The process structure over the four days is also precisely specified. On the first day, the focus is on the play between the child and the helping self. Depending on the possibility, a game can also already develop in the small groups. On the second day, the child’s own place in the group is further developed through play by building a “shelter”. On the third day, the focus is on play in the small groups, which on the fourth day turns into open play across the small groups.

This structure over the four days ensures that the complexity of playful role-playing and social interaction in the whole group is gradually increased. With the support of the auxiliary egos, the children learn to cope with the challenges of everyday social situations in a playful way. Situational awareness, action regulation and affect control are practised in ongoing interaction processes and play actions.

4 Spatial structure

The joint work is clearly structured and demarcated not only in terms of time but also in terms of space. With the help of adhesive tape, the entire room, which is the size of a classroom, is divided into individual areas. Each child has its own area, which others may only enter with the permission of the respective child. This area has its own “shelter” (Fig. 1), which serves as a place of retreat for the children and can be individually designed. First, this shelter is symbolically indicated with chairs and a blanket, then on the second day, the shelter is created with a large cardboard box, which can be decorated or adapted according to their own ideas and wishes. Sometimes other objects are created instead of a shelter, such as a car, a train or a plane.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Example of a shelter

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In addition to the individual areas, there are demarcated areas for the respective small groups. These areas may also only be entered by members of the small group or with their permission. Between the groups there are free strips that everyone can use and a separate observer space for children who no longer want to play and retreat to the observer position (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2
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Structured space

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5 Accompanying practical research

An accompanying study examines how social interaction and role shaping develop in the children’s psychodramatic play and what significance the participating helpers have in this process. The empirical data collected within the framework of this process-oriented approach is based on video-based observations (cf. Bohnsack 2011; Reichertz and Englert 2011; Knoblauch 2009; Denzin 2009a), specially developed questionnaires for children and helpers as well as reflection interviews with the helpers. The different data sources are related to each other in the sense of methodological triangulation (cf. Flick 2011; Denzin 2009b).

Before the group begins, each child is assessed on five scales using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ questionnaire; Goodman 1997): Emotional Problems, Behavioural Problems, Hyperactivity, Behavioural Problems with Peers, Prosocial Behaviour. The norm scores are used to determine whether a child can be classified as “normal”, “borderline conspicuous” or “conspicuous”. Furthermore, specific tests can be used to draw conclusions on specific questions. In the following example, the anxiety and phobia questionnaire (PHOKI, cf. Döpfner et al. 2006) was used to examine the expression of specific fears in the child. The process-related questionnaires are filled out every day after the group by the children and the respective auxiliary egos. Given statements are rated on 5‑point Likert scales. For children, the answer categories are marked with corresponding smileys.

Likewise, every day after each phase of work with the children, there is a detailed debriefing of the directors in the group with the auxiliary egos. The experiences of the auxiliary egos are reflected on in detail in the form of a reflection discussion. Questions explore which social interactions took place and which roles were taken on by the child and the auxiliary ego, which challenges, changes and developments became visible. The reflections are recorded, transcribed and used for further analysis.

The questionnaires for the auxiliary ego focus on the content of the child’s social interactions and whether these were initiated by the child or by other children or the auxiliary ego. Furthermore, the questionnaire asks in what way the support person was able to be helpful for the child that morning. Three levels are distinguished:

  • Safety/well-being: e.g., the auxiliary ego supported the child “when the child was not feeling well”; “… when it protected the child in the group”.

  • Social interaction: e.g., the auxiliary ego helped the child “… when he/she said something for the child in the group”; “… when he/she wanted to say something to someone”.

  • Action in play: e.g., the auxiliary ego helped the child “… to choose a role”; “… when giving the child ideas to develop play ideas”.

A descriptive evaluation of the feedback is done graphically and is used to reflect on the progress of the work with the child and on possible further steps. This procedure is illustrated by the following case study, which gives an overview of the work process of a child over the four days.

6 Neglect, self-debasement and social withdrawal—“Be brave and adventurous for once”

This case study describes the participation of Chiara in the psychodrama intensive group. Her family learned about the group from a social worker at the youth welfare office who offered family support measures and advocated Chiara’s participation.

Chiara is 11 years old and attends a secondary school. Mother and child were temporarily homeless and in a supported shelter. The mother has an older daughter whom she gave up to a foster family after birth. She does not keep in touch with her older daughter. Both parents consumed alcohol and drugs excessively. They were repeatedly in medical treatment due to various illnesses.

One day, Chiara’s father died unexpectedly. He was found dead in the flat by the mother and the daughter in the early morning. Following her father’s death, Chiara has gained a lot of weight. Chiara is considered traumatised due to the stressful social environment, the neglect and the unexpected loss of her father.

The mother does not want to lose Chiara—her second daughter. Chiara, in turn, is very worried about her mother and is afraid of losing her. Chiara appears neglected, wears unwashed clothes and has badly matted hair which she covers with a headscarf (e.g.: AE, pp. 235–242; pp. 337–341).

At school, Chiara feels discriminated and bullied by other children because of her unkempt appearance (AE, pp. 387–389). She says that she receives no support from the teachers. She is insecure in social situations and does not trust herself with anything (AE, pp. 388–389). Her school performance is average.

In the self-assessment of the SDQ, she is classified as “borderline” (i.e. in between average and abnormal) in the overall assessment. In particular, the subscales “Emotional problems” and “Behavioural problems with peers” show her as “borderline”. The PHOKI anxiety and phobia questionnaire shows that she has “very strong” social anxiety and the scores in the area “anxiety of social loss” are “elevated”.

7 Process and play in the psychodramatic intensive group

After the warm-up on the first day, Chiara chooses the role of a turtle for herself, who is “brave, adventurous and nice” (AE, p. 85). The role of a beaver, who is “nimble, dexterous, cuddly, strong”, is assigned to her auxiliary ego as her counterpart. With the help of hand puppets, these roles are developed in the game and a basis of trust is created between Chiara and the auxiliary ego. In the development of the roles, a script for individual scenes is created, which are performed in a first presentation in the group. Chiara repeatedly seeks the proximity of the auxiliary ego, who gives her a sense of security. In this phase, the auxiliary ego describes Chiara as child who needs a lot of support to lean on (AE, pp. 65–66).

On the second day, this interaction continues. After a playful warm-up in the group, she chooses the role of a “vet” for herself. A house is built together with the auxiliary ego. Chiara paints and labels the house. When presenting the house to the group, Chiara wants to do everything by herself, which is a big challenge for her. The house is described as stable and it has two beds (blankets) inside for the residents. In front of the house there is a meadow with flowers and a little river nearby, where the beaver (AE) and the turtle can relax and enjoy life. At the entrance of the house it says “Please knock”. You can come to visit them, but you have to knock first. The little river in the garden, a beaver and a turtle convey security and safety (AE, pp. 199–203).

Chiara is very oriented towards the auxiliary ego in social interactions in the group. Together, Chiara and her auxiliary ego go to visit others in their homes (or cars or planes). Chiara is invited by a boy in the group to ride in his car. Chiara first says yes, but then she doesn’t want to ride along (AE, pp. 220–230). She seems very insecure and needs a lot of support (AE, pp. 230–233). Chiara experiences stress when she comes into contact with others. In these moments, the auxiliary ego supports her through appropriate interactions, such as making contact or when she wants to be heard in the group (AE, pp. 169–177). Chiara is more present in the relationship for the support self and more noticeable than on the previous day (AE, p. 214). In the course of play on the second day, the focus is on building security and trust: overcoming social fears and exploring one’s own needs and expressing them in play. With the support of the auxiliary ego, other children are also visited.

On the third day, she takes on the role of “veterinarian Chiara” again (AE, pp. 341–351). She immediately takes Sarah the turtle lovingly onto her lap. At the same time, however, she is insecure when it comes to recruiting patients for the veterinary practice. The auxiliary ego takes over the function of approaching others (AE, pp. 366–368). However, Chiara also independently makes contact with another girl in the group, who then becomes a friend. The girl S. has built an aeroplane instead of a house. She invites Chiara and others to fly with her. Chiara would like to be a passenger on the plane, but because of her insecurity she needs the support of the auxiliary ego. Together they take a flight. Afterwards, Chiara attends a birthday party of the ladybird (M.). After the birthday party, the ladybird comes to her veterinary practice where she treats him. It becomes clear that Chiara increasingly gains confidence in the game and acts more autonomously and no longer seeks the closeness of the auxiliary ego so strongly. After the game, Chiara says that it was “mega fun” for her as a vet.

On the fourth day, the work process in the group begins again with a playful warm-up. Then Chiara and her auxiliary ego continue to build the house. New ideas come up and Chiara wants to change her role. The veterinarian becomes “Chiara the teacher” and the auxiliary ego is assigned the role of “Flora the flower seller”. During the playful development of the roles, a scene emerges in which the teacher Chiara becomes friends with the flower seller Flora. Flora is “nice, funny, brave and popular with the pupils”.

After a break, the idea is brought up in the group to form a music band. Chiara wants to join the band as a singer. The music group gives itself the name “Sunshine” and immediately organises its first performance, which is supported by the enthusiastic audience of the other participants in the group. Chiara enjoys being “fun and brave” as a singer and experiencing so much positive support in the group. In the feedback as a teacher and as a singer, it was “hilarious” and “mega-mega …” for her. The auxiliary ego had been a “best friend” for her. As the project week comes to an end on the fourth day, Chiara and the auxiliary ego say goodbye to each other with postcards. On the postcard, Chiara writes to her auxiliary ego: “I will miss you very much …” (AE, pp. 613–616).

8 Social interaction and role development

A summary assessment of the observations and feedback from the auxiliary ego shows that Chiara achieves a clear improvement in social interaction with other children and in role development in psychodramatic play. In the questionnaires, the auxiliary ego describes that Chiara expresses her need for withdrawal on the first day, but also her need for contact. The auxiliary ego is given the role of a beaver who is a “like-minded friend” and supportive. Chiara is described as “in need of affection” and “lonely”. She is very insecure and needs “encouragement” when expressing her needs. With the help of the chosen hand puppets, wishes indirectly emerge, namely to be “brave and adventurous” like the chosen turtle.

On the second day, Chiara dares to present her work in front of the group. The auxiliary ego is asked to play the role of helper in building the house and co-presenter. Encouraging, giving recognition and praise is the auxiliary ego’s job.

On the third day, Chiara succeeds in presenting herself to the group in her desired role as a veterinarian. The auxiliary ego is in the role of the veterinary assistant. Chiara becomes more active in the group, addresses her own needs and increasingly translates her own ideas into actions. She appears more confident in contact with others.

On the fourth day, her role action is expanded. She becomes more active in contact with others and presents herself as a singer. The auxiliary ego plays a guitarist in the joint band and as a florist she is a “best friend”.

Overall, Chiara needs support from the auxiliary ego to a large extent for her social actions. The auxiliary ego takes over important functions, such as establishing and maintaining contacts. Likewise, it provides a lot of support in the area of security and well-being in the group.

9 Summary and outlook

All in all, it can be shown on the basis of the observations and feedback that with the help of psychodramatic role play, a structured procedure and support from an auxiliary ego, an improvement of social interaction and role development can be achieved. However, this does not ensure that these experiences can be transferred to the child’s everyday social life in the same form. Four days are too short to achieve a sustainable positive change in school interaction, for example.

However, if learning processes in behaviour can only be achieved through concrete action combined with positive self-experience, then—as the above-mentioned case study shows—symbolic role-playing in a social context of a group of peers opens up great learning opportunities. Further research is necessary to study the long-term learning effects on social interaction of multiply burdened children with social-emotional problems.