Introduction
The pace of life of modern young people is gradually accelerating, and the pressure of work or life is gradually increasing.” Sleep disorders” gradually become an “epidemic” among modern young people. According to the medical definition, the most typical manifestation of “Sleep disorder” is “Insomnia”, the main characteristics of which include little sleep, much sleep and sleep rhythm disorder, etc.
Whenever we go to the hospital with these symptoms, we may be anxious to get a result, or perhaps the doctor wants us to leave with a satisfactory result, and we are more or less likely to receive some “medication” to treat them. But are these medications necessary? Do they have an impact on our health? Is it possible to replace these drugs with another way of relieving our ‘sleep disorder’? With these questions as a starting point, I set out to explore the theme of research into insomnia relief through drama elements.
Question
Drama therapy is a model of expressive arts therapy developed in Europe and the United States in the 1950s, which can give participants a relatively safe environment to heal their psychological problems. As such, sleep disorders that are partly due to psychological factors may be alleviated by drama elements rather than by medication.
So ‘How can apply elements of drama to interventions for the relief of psychogenic insomnia?’ is the direction of my research.
Research Methodology
Quantitative methods:
This anonymous questionnaire consists of 11 questions. The aim was to gain a better understanding of recent insomnia (including age, occupation, hours of study/work per day, level of insomnia and attitudes towards insomnia, etc.) in the modern 18-45-year-old age group. Seventy-eight participants responded and as not all surveys were fully completed, 63 findings were included in the analysis.
Link to Questionnaire: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeGLmYGgabLMsmNv-k9J0qb-EPvLJSwizVoyrQEWM0310DBA/viewform?usp=sf_link
Qualitative methods:
In order to gain a better insight into the possibilities of using drama elements to improve insomnia, I conducted interviews with experts and six stakeholders. The experts included Professor Yongwen Peng in the field of Drama, and Professor Russell and Dr. Neil in the field of Sleep. The six stakeholders were from different professions and two of the interviewees had attended yoga or sound bath workshops for sleep interventions.
Research
The 2021 White Paper on Exercise and Sleep, published by the China Sleep Research Association, shows that over 300 million people in China currently have sleep disorders. And according to a survey by the World Health Organisation, 27% of the world’s population has problems with sleep quality. Among my interviewed stakeholders, they expressed a strong need for relief from insomnia through means other than medication. They have tried to attend workshops such as yoga, sound baths, etc., but physical incoordination and fear of ethereal music prevented some from achieving a soothing effect in these forms. In contrast, theatre is much more inclusive of participants.
As early as the ancient Greeks, Aristotle referred to “purification” in his Poetics, a theory that amply demonstrates the “healing power” of drama. The definition of ‘Drama therapy’ also varies, with the most famous being the American drama therapist Robert Landy, who pointed out that drama therapy is drama-oriented and therapeutic in nature. At the same time, according to the Current Situation and Prospects of Drama Therapy Research in China and the West, although drama therapy has been developed in Western countries since early times, there was almost no research on drama therapy in mainland China before the 1980s. It is not yet widely used in the general population, and there is a gap in research on insomnia interventions.
Intervention
Two interventions have been completed so far. The scripts of the workshops for the interventions are recorded in my Blog.
The first intervention took place in Victoria Park with nine participants. The setting of the park was perfect for the scenario described in my script, it gave the participants a greater sense of trust. The workshop lasts approximately one hour and the participants respond to the scenario I have described, ending with a drawing.
Based on the feedback I received during the first intervention, I reworked the script and the second intervention was conducted online, with the aim of making the location more flexible. At the same time, the length of the intervention was adjusted to 15 minutes per session in order to better suit the time of each participant, in order to test the flexibility and wide application of the workshop.
Audience
Stakeholder: People who suffer from insomnia due to psychological factors.
While the majority of the participants in the first intervention were university students who had recently experienced insomnia, the stakeholders in the second intervention focused on the working group who often stayed up late and worked overtime. In my interviews, I found that this group had irregular sleep patterns due to their inevitable overtime work and expressed a strong need for some help to get them into a better and quicker lunch break to maintain a better mental state.
Concluding
Strengths
- The model of insomnia relief through drama allows stakeholders to avoid taking medication that affects their health to a certain extent.
- The Drama workshop was more tolerant of the participants, for example, according to some participants, their inflexibility made them too focused on their limbs to concentrate during the yoga workshop.
- Drama workshops allow for more flexibility in terms of time and space for participants to participate.
Weaknesses
- There are not as many practitioners in Drama therapy as there are in other forms such as yoga.
- There are not enough tests of interventions for Drama to alleviate insomnia and there is no script or training system available for widespread use.
- Public recognition still needs to be improved.
Reflection During my research, I have become broader in scope, but not deep enough in depth. My next step needs to be more critical thinking, as well as constantly challenging myself to reflect on new findings from the questions