Dramas assist with issue resolution

Li Weihua, teacher at the Positive Psychological Experience Center of Beihang University in Beijing

Since 2016, my university has hosted annual psychological situation drama performances. The aim is to help students deal with mental health problems by learning from the experiences of others.

All the dramas are created, directed and performed by the students, who integrate information about psychology into the scripts under the guidance of professional teachers.

Through a combination of lighting, sound effects and artistic performance, these dramas illustrate the deep motivations and aspirations of university students in daily life and disseminate knowledge about mental health and psychological intervention methods.

We feel that such information is more vividly and profoundly presented to the audience in the form of performances rather than traditional classroom education.

Beihang's new approach to mental health education aims to enlighten students through art under the guidance of positive psychology to cultivate positive mental traits and tap their potential.

This much-loved innovative project has become a major source of psychological knowledge inside and outside the university, bringing good educational results and attracting widespread participation from students.

Since the project began, more than 70 performances have been given by students and the elective courses on psychological drama have been taken around 4,000 times. During the latest performances, held in June, students acted out their anxieties, from preparing for final exams, finishing writing papers before deadlines, dealing with long-distance and parental relationships and their inability to handle problems.

In one performance, a mother and her daughter quarreled about eating fish, as the mother insisted that fish contains lots of nutrition that can boost mental ability.

The student refused because she didn't want her mother to control every aspect of her life. "You must eat the fish today. One small detail can influence your life," the mother said.

Many students who watched the performance said that they could relate to the play as it reminded them of all the nutritious food and supplements their parents made them eat during high school to help them prepare for the college entrance exam.

Some said they want to tell their parents that they are mature enough to deal with their difficulties themselves, while others said they still miss having their parents' help in life, rather than dealing with problems alone.

Vivid portrayals of real-life problems can trigger a lot of empathy from the students and can help them heal from their own problems.

Li Weihua spoke with Zou Shuo.