What is the grief therapy technique called role-playing psychodrama?

• A. The patient describes the death in a formal lecture
• B. When the patient speaks to someone who is pretending to be the deceased person
• C. When the patient writes a letter to the deceased
• D. When the patient avoids discussing the death

Answer: (B)

In grief therapy, role-playing psychodrama uses live enactment to help you work through emotions connected to a loss. A key moment in this approach is when you engage in a scene where someone acts as the person who has died, and you speak to them directly as if they were really there. This allows you to voice unresolved feelings, say things you wish you could say, and rehearse conversations to gain closure. By acting out these interactions, you can experience a sense of catharsis, gain new perspectives, and begin to integrate the loss into your life story.

The described scenario—speaking to someone who is pretending to be the deceased person—embodies this enactment and is the hallmark of role-playing psychodrama. The other options describe more passive or different coping strategies (talking to the deceased in a lecture, writing a letter, or avoiding discussion), which do not involve the live, interactive role-play that this technique centers on.