Abstract

This research paper reflects upon the kind of psychological and cultural development the human species would need in order to master its more and more fateful destructive instincts, in the light of Jung's archetypal psychology. Our archetypes, to which we are predisposed from our birth, are the inner engines and behaviour patterns of our life which, when our environment frustrates them, can cause mental health problems. There is our inner need to live according to these life forces and this is the prerequisite of mental health. The personal shadow part of our self carries our negative characteristics. Someone can become aware of, accept, and successfully integrate his/her dark side through the therapeutic use of drama and theatre. However, even this painstaking kind of work with the shadow is not enough in itself. The shadow work, first of all, is a moral problem. As moral choices are always situated between specific people and context, drama therapy is not only the right medium to help clients to become aware of their unconscious shadow side, but also in this light, to help them make their important moral decisions. Drama therapy is an excellent therapeutic tool as it provides the inter-subjectivity and the fictive context so necessary in this work of mastering the turmoil of communal life caused by the human shadow