Who was Jacob Moreno, how did he conceive psychodrama, and why is 1 April 1921 in Vienna seen as its birthday? Its story, key ideas and legacy in Turkey.
Someone who attends a psychodrama workshop for the first time at a university club usually goes home wondering about two things: "Who came up with this method, and why?" and "Why do we get up on a stage instead of talking?" Both questions lead to the same name: Jacob Moreno. Jacob Levy Moreno, to give him his full name, is regarded as the founder of psychodrama, and he named 1 April 1921, and the session he held at the Komödienhaus in Vienna, as the method's birthday. In this article we describe Moreno's life, the ideas that gave rise to psychodrama, the meaning of that evening in 1921, and how the method has reached the present day and Turkey, as far as the sources allow. Our aim is not to write a hero's tale but to understand how an idea was born.
Who Was Jacob Moreno?
Jacob Moreno was a Romanian-born psychiatrist who spent his youth and medical training in Vienna. His year of birth is given differently in the sources: some say 1889, others 1892. Even this small uncertainty reminds us that part of Moreno's life has been shaped by his own accounts, and that not every detail of his biography is certain.
Vienna at the start of the 20th century was one of the liveliest cities in the history of psychology. Psychoanalysis was developing there, and theatrical and literary circles were searching for new forms of expression. Moreno was part of this environment; yet his interest lay less in a person recounting their past while lying on a couch, and more in how people behave here and now, and how they relate to others.
As psychodrama sources often recount, Moreno observed children playing games in Vienna's parks and was struck by the way they spontaneously created scenes with their imagination. In play, children could become a mother, a king or a doctor; they could swap roles and replay a scene. In Moreno's view, adults gradually lose this flexibility and respond to new situations with old, rigid reactions.
Spontaneity and Creativity: The Core Idea of Psychodrama
At the heart of Jacob Moreno's thinking lie two concepts: spontaneity and creativity. Spontaneity is a person's capacity to respond to a new situation in an appropriate and lively way; to give a new response to a new situation, or a more fitting response to an old one. Creativity is what this capacity produces.
Moreno believed that a significant share of psychological distress arises from this capacity narrowing. For example, someone who raises their voice in every argument, or, on the contrary, falls silent at once, may have become trapped over the years in a single role they learned. Psychodrama makes it possible, in a safe setting, to step outside this role and try out different reactions; in a sense, to rehearse life.
This outlook set him apart from the dominant approaches of the time. For Moreno, the real issue was not only "understanding why we are the way we are" but "experiencing the ability to act differently". The stage was the place for that experience. Talking was of course valuable; but some things could only turn into real change through the body, the voice, and meeting someone's eyes.
Let us take an example from everyday life. Someone starting a new job finds themselves tongue-tied when introducing themselves at their first meeting; all that comes to mind are the moments at school when the teacher called them up to the blackboard. In Moreno's terms, this person is responding to a new situation with an old role. In psychodrama, a moment like this can be brought onto the stage; the person can replay the same meeting several times with different reactions. The aim is not to memorise a flawless speech but to build up a new experience in which the body and voice also take part.
What Moreno called the "warm-up" is connected to this idea. In his view, spontaneity does not appear out of nowhere; a person needs to be prepared both physically and emotionally. Just as athletes warm up before a match, psychodrama groups begin a session with small games, movements or sharing. This preparation helps participants approach the stage at their own pace, without being pushed.
The roots of this idea are often traced back to antiquity. Aristotle's Poetics describes tragedy as bringing about a purification, or catharsis, in the audience through pity and fear. Psychodrama, however, thinks of catharsis as the experience not of the audience but of the person living their own story on stage. If you are curious about the history of this concept and its use in psychology, you can read our article what is catharsis.
Vienna, 1 April 1921: Why Did Jacob Moreno Choose This Date as Psychodrama's Birthday?
Psychodrama is one of the few therapeutic methods with a known birthday. That is because Moreno himself set the date: 1 April 1921, at the Komödienhaus in Vienna. That evening, in a theatre hall, Moreno held an improvised session in which the audience also took part.
Accounts of exactly what happened that evening are given with differing details in different sources, and some of them rest on Moreno's own later recollections. It is therefore more sensible to focus on the meaning the date carries rather than on the details. At a time when society was deeply shaken in the aftermath of the First World War, Moreno tried to show that the stage could be not merely a place where a ready-made script is performed, but a space where people could spontaneously enact their own concerns.
In the years that followed, Moreno developed this idea through experiments with improvised theatre, and over time drew a clearer line between theatre and therapy. Psychodrama moved away from being a performing art and became a method of group psychotherapy, conducted under the guidance of a trained director, within a set of rules and a framework of safety.
It is no coincidence that psychodrama's birthday took place in a theatre; Moreno believed that the place where people express themselves most openly is sometimes not words but the stage.
Group Psychotherapy, Sociometry and Sociodrama
Jacob Moreno is known not only for psychodrama but also for his other ideas on group work. He is considered one of the pioneers of the concept of group psychotherapy. In his view, people are born into relationships, are wounded within relationships, and their healing too often becomes possible within relationships.
One extension of this thinking is sociometry: an approach that studies the relationships within a group, who chooses whom, who is left on the margins, and who stays close to whom. It aims to make visible the hidden networks of relationships in many kinds of groups, from school classes to workplaces.
Another is sociodrama. Whereas in psychodrama a scene from one person's own life is usually brought onto the stage, in sociodrama a shared social issue of the group is enacted: migration, generational conflict, discrimination, or the aftermath of a disaster, for example.
In later years Moreno continued his work in the United States, and from there psychodrama spread to many countries around the world. You can find detailed information on the method itself, how a session unfolds and the techniques used in our article what is psychodrama.
Jacob Moreno's Legacy: What Has Endured in Psychodrama Today?
Many of the elements Moreno introduced remain the cornerstones of psychodrama today:
- Protagonist: The person who brings their own story onto the stage.
- Director: The trained person who guides the process and looks after safety.
- Auxiliary egos: Group members who play important people in the protagonist's life.
- Audience and group: Participants who watch the scene and, at the end, share their own experiences.
- Stage: The space, set apart from everyday life, where the story is enacted.
Sessions usually move through three stages: the warm-up, in which the group prepares; the action, in which a scene is enacted; and the sharing, in which participants talk about similar experiences from their own lives. Techniques such as role reversal, the mirror and doubling are also part of Moreno's legacy. In role reversal, a person might, for example, step into their mother's place and look at themselves; this offers a chance to experience the other person's point of view from the inside.
In the mirror technique, the person watches the scene from the outside while another group member plays their role; they get the chance to see their own posture, voice and reactions as an observer would. In doubling, a group member stands behind the protagonist and tries to voice out loud a thought or feeling the protagonist has not been able to express; the protagonist can accept, correct or reject these words. What these techniques have in common is that they allow a person to look at their own experience from different angles. According to this approach, people can learn to see themselves not only through their own eyes but through another's eyes too, and this can open a new door in a relationship that feels stuck.
These techniques are used today in different forms not only in psychodrama groups but also in drama therapy, family work and some individual therapy approaches. However, an honest note is needed here: research on the effectiveness of psychodrama is ongoing, and the sources this article draws on did not confirm a robust systematic review specific to psychodrama. The method is valued by experienced practitioners and participants; this should not be confused with the strength of scientific evidence.
Psychodrama in Turkey: From Jacob Moreno to the Present
In the arrival of psychodrama in Turkey, the name of Prof. Dr. Abdülkadir Özbek stands out. According to accounts, Özbek was influenced by a lecture given by Moreno in 1958 and in subsequent years played a role in the institutionalisation of psychodrama in Turkey. This process is also described on the Turkey page of FEPTO, the federation of European psychodrama training organisations.
In Turkey, psychodrama training is still provided mainly through associations and institutes rather than university programmes. According to FEPTO, until 2001 three associations in three different cities provided this training. Psychodrama groups are more common in large cities; some psychiatric clinics, university hospitals and private centres also run group work.
When reading about Moreno's life, it is worth paying attention to one more point. The stories of founding figures can turn into legend over time; some anecdotes grow or become simplified as they are passed from book to book and from training to training. The fact that even Moreno's year of birth is given differently in the sources shows that not every detail of his life should be read as established fact. The value of the method does not depend on the accuracy of every anecdote about its founder's life; but respect for history requires separating what is known from what is told.
One reason psychodrama has attracted interest in the Turkish context may be that in our culture feelings are often expressed indirectly, through stories and hints, rather than said outright. For someone who says "I could never tell my father" or "There has always been something unspoken between my mother-in-law and me", trying it out on a stage can be like rehearsing a conversation that has long been put off. Of course, this may not suit everyone; for some people, working with emotions in front of a group can feel too intense.
Considering Joining a Psychodrama Group? When Should You Seek Support?
Psychodrama workshops are sometimes presented as personal development activities. Yet the method can open up powerful emotions; especially when working with trauma, grief or family experiences, a safe framework, a slow pace and a good closing are very important. Before joining a workshop, you might ask yourself the following:
- How emotionally resilient do I feel at the moment?
- Have I recently experienced a heavy loss or a shocking event?
- What would it be like for me to cry, get angry or appear vulnerable in front of a group?
- Will there be space at the end of the session to talk about what I have experienced?
Let us say a university student enacted a scene with their father at a drama event on campus and, days later, still cannot shake off its effect. This may show that what they experienced is not trivial and that something worth attending to has been touched. In such a situation, talking about the experience in an individual session may help.
If there is long-lasting low mood, intense anxiety, memories from the past frequently flooding the mind, or difficulty keeping up with daily tasks, it may be helpful to speak to a mental health professional. If there are thoughts of self-harm or of ending one's life, call 112 (emergency services) without delay.
In therapy, role work is a tool that some approaches also use with adults. In individual therapy, too, work such as rehearsing a conversation or trying to express what could not be said to someone can be done to the extent the person feels ready and in line with their preferences. For those who would like to work within a group, group therapy may be a different option.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Jacob Moreno create psychodrama?
Moreno named 1 April 1921, and the session he held at the Komödienhaus in Vienna, as psychodrama's birthday. However, the method did not emerge in a single day; it developed over the following years through experiments with improvised theatre and group work.
What is the difference between psychodrama and theatre?
In theatre, actors perform a ready-made script for an audience. In psychodrama, a person enacts a scene from their own life under the guidance of a trained director and for a therapeutic purpose. The aim is not performance but experience and awareness. That is why no acting talent is required; there is no such standard as "acting well" on stage, and what matters is that the person can connect with their own experience.
What did Moreno mean by sociometry?
Sociometry is an approach that studies the relationships, preferences and hidden bonds within a group. It aims to make visible who is left on the margins and who is close to whom. It has been used in a range of settings such as schools, workplaces and therapy groups.
How long has psychodrama been known in Turkey?
According to accounts, Prof. Dr. Abdülkadir Özbek was influenced by a lecture given by Moreno in 1958 and played a role in the institutionalisation of psychodrama in Turkey. Today training is mostly provided through associations and institutes.
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Eda Erkan Alapala
Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.
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