The psychodrama in the addiction treatment of pathological gambling and buying behavior

Abstract

Based on the diagnostic criteria for addiction according to DSM-5, this article aims to show the mechanism of addiction evolution of the pathological gambling and buying behavior, the psychodynamics of the player/buyer in accordance with the psychodramatic theoretical references and the use of the psychodramatic techniques in the elucidation of the personal contents that motivate the individual to the impulse to gamble and buy, usually unknown and unconscious. It will be exemplified through the reports of dramatized sessions and patients’ discourses. This work is important to provide visibility of the psychodrama as an efficient therapeutic approach in the treatment of the pathological gambling and buying behavior, under a solid theoretical foundation, which allows a domain of technical intervention, focus and specificity in the treatment.