Moreno, Jacob L (1892–1974)

Romanian-born psychiatrist. Educated in Vienna (MD 1917), he founded a theatre there in which would-be actors could improvise roles and dialogue. This evolved into the method of group psychotherapy he called ‘psychodrama.’ After emigrating to the USA, he introduced the term ‘group therapy’ (1932) and established the Psychodramatic Institute in New York (1942). From 1947, he edited the journal Group Pyschotherapy (originally Sociatry). Psychodrama as a therapeutic technique never spread much beyond a few small centres.