Date of Award

Spring 5-5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Major

Expressive Therapies

First Advisor

Dr. Angelle Cook

Abstract

There is a strong need for novel treatment approaches for adolescents with problematic sexual behavior (PSB), considering that historically, treatment approaches for adult sex offenders have been blindly applied to youth. Adolescent boys with PSB are at risk for poor treatment outcomes when they engage in anti-social behaviors and group hostility. Dramatic reality, a core process in drama therapy, may assist in transforming the experience of boys in their capacity to exhibit prosocial behavior, given that dramatic reality inherently augments reality. This community arts workshop used purposive sampling in a day treatment center for adolescent boys with PSB and explored improvisational play as a container to observe prosocial behaviors which emerged in the group. The participants were nine adolescent boys admitted to a treatment center with an age range of 15-18. Multiple types of prosocial behaviors emerged, with compliant prosocial behavior being most common. Other types of prosocial behavior were observed, although at times in contexts that may not be considered positive. The author crafted dramatic masks as a form of arts-based research to analyze the data. The study suggests that professionals working with this population should consider creative and playful interventions that encourage prosocial behavior, breaking up patterns of social rejection and hostility and encouraging the formation of an ensemble.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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