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#1
Jan 02, 2012, 10:42 AM
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The idea of role play came up somewhere in a thread and I started to think about role play, how much I hate it and how T gently tries to get me to engage in it (he hasn't managed yet
 ).So I started to wonder about role play and: 1. What it actually is 2. What is it supposed to achieve 3. Can it help everyone (or even anyone?) 4. How is it the same or different to what we do here with each other on PC The friendships and interactions on here for me feel pretty real in a virtual kind of way, although hiding behind a computer I am more open and confident than I would be in real life - so I am guessing it is different to role play, but maybe there are some similarities? Actually I guess role play must aim to bear some similarlity to real life itself otherwise how could it benefit anyone. 
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Soup |
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#2
Jan 02, 2012, 11:45 AM
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I think role play is just an opportunity to imagine things from a different perspective. It is like acting but you are both characters, yourself and the problem or person "opposite" you. It is used a lot in Gestalt therapy.
http://www.psychologycampus.com/psyc...t-therapy.html Just using your imagination alone, you can engage in role play through day dreaming, if you pay attention to what you daydream about and "analyze" it for yourself. It is similar with regular dreaming, at night. It helps one get a different perspective. We (I think :-) stay ourselves when we discuss our problems or other people's problems here on PC. Sometimes it is possible to imagine we had the other person's problems (but notice, they aren't problems we have, we aren't really helping ourselves then because we aren't working on those problems "now") and remember how we worked on them in our own lives in the past or what we might try if they were our problems (how to go about making friends, for example) but we rarely "take on" that problem as if it were ours now.
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"Never give a sword to a man who can't dance." ~Confucius |
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#3
Jan 02, 2012, 12:51 PM
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Thanks for this Perna - that has helped me get a better understanding - love your signature, that has hit a spot in my brain somewhere - Soup
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Soup |
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#4
Jan 02, 2012, 03:23 PM
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Quote:
love to hear from people who roleplay in session to hear about an experience. |
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#5
Jan 02, 2012, 04:09 PM
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I don't think I would do it with a therapist as an exercise but I think I do it in life. For my partner to get the kind of comfort she wanted from me began as a sort of role play for me where I practiced it. When I am around people who are displaying a lot of emotion (or feeling - I did not quite understand the distinction in the other thread) and I need to respond in some supportive way -is like role play for me (I remember where a character I like from a novel did in a situation like this- and then I try to do it) Some of teaching or going to court is role play. Acting!
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#6
Jan 02, 2012, 10:41 PM
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A former T tried to get me to role-play with an empty chair representing someone in my life (the empty chair is Gestalt, but she was using redecision therapy). I couldn't do it and had panic attacks on and off for the next week afterward. It triggered something but neither she nor I could figure out what the trigger was.
I'll never do it again! 
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Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. - Henry David Thoreau |
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#7
Jan 02, 2012, 10:51 PM
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My t and I have done role playing before. One of the best times is when we were having a rough patch and I had the idea to have an intake session as "Meghan" a new client. He filled out all the paperwork and asked every question he would ask at the first session. We talked about why I was in therapy which helped me figure out what to talk about. I was having a hard time letting him in and seeing my need for therapy at the time. He actually came out to the waiting room and called for "Meghan." Then he introduced himself and shook my hand. At the very end of the intake he said that next time we would go over a therapy plan. He walked me out and told the receptionist that "Meghan needed an appointment for the following week." We carried on for a few weeks until I wanted to be me again. It was pretty awesome.
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#8
Jan 05, 2012, 11:37 PM
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I had unfinished business with someone who had left, so someone else played her role. I think it helped.
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Mr Ambassador, alias Ancient Plax, alias Captain Therapy, alias Big Poppa, alias Secret Spy, etc. Add that to your tattoo, Baby! |
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#9
Jan 05, 2012, 11:47 PM
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I become very anxious by the idea of role playing.....and my T is gestalt-based, so he's all for it. On one hand, I feel incredibly silly and self-conscious about the idea...yet on the other hand, I fear it intensely. My T wanted me to "talk to" my dad who passed away via the empty chair technique...and I wanted RUN as fast as I could. I refused to do it....just imagining my dad in that chair set me into a major panic. So, I imagine that it could be a very effective tool...I'm just too scared to use it.
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Don't follow the path that lies before you. Instead, veer from the path - and leave a trail... 
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 SoupDragon
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#10
Jan 06, 2012, 03:09 PM
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Quote:
__________________
Mr Ambassador, alias Ancient Plax, alias Captain Therapy, alias Big Poppa, alias Secret Spy, etc. Add that to your tattoo, Baby! |
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#11
Jan 06, 2012, 03:25 PM
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I've had Ts use the empty-chair role-play, which I'm never comfortable with. It was used in another context, though, that worked well--twice. I was being trained for a crisis line, a suicide & a rape line. Both were trained volunteers, & when we got to training for the interview we alternated, one roll-playing the caller. It was quite effective, and everyone seemed both involved yet at ease with it.
But I really think it's probably better as a teaching/training tool. IMO.
__________________
roads & Charlie |
| SoupDragon
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