Exploring a cross-theoretical approach to dramatherapy: Linking aesthetic distance, window of tolerance and affect intensity

The capacity to experience and regulate a wide range of emotions is crucial for navigating daily life. When individuals function within their optimal arousal levels, they can more effectively integrate emotions, thoughts and behaviours. This concept of emotional regulation aligns with theories of aesthetic distance in theatre, psychotherapy and dramatherapy, which can be understood through Siegel’s window of tolerance (WoT). Intersecting the concepts of aesthetic distance and WoT with affect intensity through a dramatherapy lens, the authors offer practitioners insight into how these three phenomena may influence one another. Considerations of the relationship between affect intensity and aesthetic distance, as well as the client’s relationships to affect intensity and aesthetic distance in dramatic reality, are discussed.