Healing Mechanisms of Therapeutic Theatre for Adolescent Mental Health: A Dual Case Study

Abstract

As adolescent mental health has risen to the top of the national policy agenda, interventions delivered through theatrical arts such as drama and musical theatre have been emerging rapidly in China, yet their healing mechanisms remain poorly theorized. Combining literature review with case analysis, this study examines two cases: the therapeutic musical theatre Feier and the stage play This Is Not Child’s Play, China’s first therapeutic production on adolescent mental health. Analysis proceeds along four dimensions: creation mechanism, narrative structure, healing mechanism, and social effect. Findings are fourfold. First, the two works achieve healing functions—emotional externalization, role reversal, the safe container, and cognitive restructuring—through a “narrative–music–interaction” framework and a strategy of “comedic narration, dual spatiotemporal settings, and clinical collaboration.” Second, music plays a key role in bypassing linguistic defenses and activating emotional channels, while comedic framing constitutes a “defense-bypassing” strategy for adolescent audiences. Third, deep involvement of professional expertise draws the critical boundary between therapeutic theatre and ordinary psychologically themed works. Fourth, moving from isolated “projects” to a replicable “model” requires resolving three bottlenecks: effect evaluation, talent training, and context adaptation. The study proposes a four-stage healing mechanism model of “emotional externalization–cognitive restructuring–relational connection–meaning making,” offering a theoretical basis for the locally grounded construction and standardization of therapeutic theatre.