The therapeutic effect of performing arts from a psychoanalytical perspective

Abstract

This work analyses the therapeutic effects of performing arts and the different psychological processes that this artistic modality puts into play from the perspective of Sigmund Freud y Jacques Lacan. For this, it analyzes the concept of identification, first as a way of satisfying repressed desires, and secondly as a constitutive way of identity. The importance of sharing the emotional effect of a fiction to affirm the representation of a subject is then analyzed. Next, the function of two basic elements of performing arts is established: the setting and the curtain. It also shows that the importance of repetition and historization is revealed in approachment of trauma. The benefits of performing arts as a sublimation are exposed from the artist’s savoir faire. As an original contribution, two structures that organize two models of artistic creation are established: beautiful creation and shocking creation. Finally, taking as reference the Sophocles Antigone, the ethical and moral function of the represented act is justified.