A Form of Therapeutic
Role-playing and an Aspect of Storytelling Therapy
by Eric Miller (PhD in Folklore, MSc in Psychology),
Chennai, July 2019. Founder, Storytelling Therapy Association of India.1
This essay concerns one
type of role-playing: Conversing with characters within oneself. While the
essay focuses on the therapeutic value of such role-playing, this activity can
also be done for other objectives, such as personal self-discovery and growth,
and developing one's creativity and imagination. Role-playing is used in
numerous therapeutic processes, including:
·
Active
Imagination (Carl Jung)
·
Psychodrama
(Jacob Moreno), and various other forms of Drama Therapy
·
Gestalt
Therapy (Fritz Perls)
·
Neuro-linguistic
Programming (Richard Bandler and John Grinder)
·
Storytelling
Therapy. Conversing with characters within oneself is Step 5 in the 7-Step
Storytelling Therapy method I am using and helping to develop).2
During therapeutic
role-playing processes, the therapist always needs to monitor the client to be
sure things are staying on the level of imagination, and are being done by the
client with attitudes of play and pretend. If the client comes to feel the
characters within the client are "real," this could be considered a
hallucination, and could be a dangerous and/or unhealthy situation for the
client.
The 7 steps of the
Conversing with characters within oneself process that are explored in this
essay are:
1) Identifying characters
within oneself: memories, personifications of personality traits, etc. 2)
Speaking to the characters.
3) Speaking as the
characters.
4) Thinking about the
characters, including regarding where they are coming from.
5) Remembering real-life
experiences related to the characters.
6) Catharsis
(experiencing, expressing, releasing, and understanding emotion).
7) Going forward:
Interacting with the characters over time.
1)
Identifying characters within
oneself: memories,
personifications of personality traits, etc. A client's feelings, actions, and
behaviours may sometimes seem to the client to be swirling, fleeting,
confusing, ungraspable, and unmanageable. The client may feel the client is
going around in circles and is not getting anywhere, and that the client's
positive ideas and actions are not registering, accumulating, or building. 2 In
such cases, it can be helpful for the client to become more aware of familiar
"spirits," voices, attitudes, and feelings within the client, and for
the client to consider, in the client's memories and daydreams, some of the
figures that often pop up and confront, guide, advise, encourage and/or
discourage the client's conscious self; the figures the client often consults;
the members of the client's "internal team"; the animals, elements of
nature, emotions, and inclinations (all of which can be personified), and
memories of people, which often come to the client's conscious mind. The client
could personify the client's personality traits, for example, as a way of
getting a grasp on them. Getting a handle on them. Making a fleeting quality
addressable, and thus possibly manageable.
Expressing inner thoughts and
feelings in symbolic concrete forms can be a productive part of the therapeutic
process. One can access and express certain aspects of one's unconscious
through this kind of pretending, which could be considered a form of artistic
play.
Even though a character may be a
memory of an actual person, that memory has come to exist in the one's
imagination. For that matter, all memory -- and all that one perceives -- can
only be known to one through one's imagination.
A therapist could suggest to a
client,
You might take stock, take inventory,
of the characters of whom you often think, and with whom (in your imagination)
you often communicate (with or without language). You might seek to get a clearer
sense of your inner landscape, your inner cast of characters.
That is, in your imagination: With
whom do you consult? With whom do you talk? Whom do you listen to? With whom do
you share your life? Who is on your mind?
In addition to memories of people you
know (or knew), what other entities tend to be on your mind?
Are there ghosts or spirits (whether
or not one feels they are "real")?
What recurring emotions, thoughts,
and dreams (or dream images) do you experience?
A client may experience
20 or so regularly-present internal characters. In the client's imagination,
some of these characters may at times talk with each other.
One’s personality traits
(kindness, stubbornness, impatience, etc.), tendencies, inclinations, and
emotions (immediate reactions to specific stimuli) can all be personified.
A client may benefit from
seeking out and becoming "friends" with the numerous aspects of the
client's personality. Once a voice/character/aspect of a client's self is
discovered, once a relationship with it is established, the client's conscious
ego might seek help from this aspect of the client's unconscious. Being able to
access aspects of the client's unconscious can make a client a more resourceful
person.
The client being able to
access aspects of the client's unconscious is a central aspect of therapy. Only
by accessing such aspects can a client begin to integrate the aspects of the
client's self, to create a whole, unified self. Jung referred to this
integration process as "Individuation".
A good way for a client
to explore aspects of the client's unconscious is to produce images and voices,
and thereby cause aspects of the client's soul to surface. Then the client
could observe, interact with, incorporate, and utilise these hidden aspects of
the client's personality.
One way for a client to
work and play with material from the client's unconscious is to personify it --
that is, to pretend the aspect has human-type personality and language ability.
Such a personification is a metaphor for a part of the client's self.
Examples of inner
characters -- In the process of my work as a Psychological Counsellor, I have
invited clients to converse with:
1) The client's angry self, and short
temper -- What can be done with this "Short Temper"? What triggers
it? Should he/she/it be locked up in a jail, a room, a container of some sort?
Should "Short Temper" be exiled? What has caused "Short
Temper" to grow?
2) The client's "Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" (ADHD) self -- This is an aspect of the
client's self that:
A) Gets distracted and distracts,
B) Doesn't want to do anything and
doesn't want the rest of one to do anything either.
C) Wants to escape reality.
D) Feels very incomplete, unsatisfied,
anxious, and agitated.
E) Can't start anything, and can't
finish anything.
What might this character look like?
In what ways might this character move?
The client might tell this character
that the character is an interesting character, but that it would not be
healthy for the client to listen to, or talk with, this character too much.
That is, the client may seek to set limits regarding how much attention the
client might like to give to this character. No need for the client to offend
the character, but the client might (in the client's imagination) seek to be
firm, self-protective, and practical in relation to this character.
I have also suggested
that my clients might communicate with these characters:
3) A younger version of the client's
self -- a child who feels emotionally neglected, injured, and/or
not-fully-nurtured. It may be helpful for the client to promise to take care of
the client's injured-child self.
4) A younger version of the client's
self -- a joyful child.
And also with this archetypal
character:
5) A Guide (Mentor, Senior Advisor,
Guru, Teacher). Walk in a forest. See a senior man or woman standing in front
of a tree. Walk up to this figure and ask, "Are you my guide?" If the
figure answers, "Yes", the client could then start talking with this
Guide about a matter at hand.
My experience has been
that clients who are comfortable creating imaginary personifications of
characters and conversing with them have this in common: An adult read or told
stories to the client when the client was young. This listening experience
seems to tend to create a receptive and active imagination, and a familiarity
with and fondness for metaphor, symbol, and fantasy. If a person did not have
this listening, sharing, and imaginative experience as a child, the person is
less likely to have an interest in creating and interacting with imaginary
characters.
A note regarding
characters based on people, personality traits, etc., in one's own life, as
opposed to archetypes: Figures from one's memory of actual people may also be
colored by social-cultural stereotypes, and thus may also be expressions of
archetypes (universal things, feelings, situations, and characters). In the
instance of what seems to be one's memory of each major "real-life"
character one carries within one, there is a place where one's memory of the
actual person, and one's imagination of an archetypal figure, meet. That is,
the character who lives on in one's imagination is a combination of the person
who was/is, and one's imagination of an archetype.
By the way: archetypes
can be defined as mental images:
·
inherited
from the earliest human ancestors,
·
shared
by all humans, and
·
present
in the collective unconscious
2)
Speaking to the characters. The client might greet the character,
and thank the character for appearing, for visiting the client's consciousness.
The client could tell something to
the character, giving some information, expressing some emotion, etc. The
client could also ask questions of the character, such as:
·
"Might
you want anything?" If yes, "What?"
·
"Do
you want to tell me, or ask me, anything?" If yes, "What?"
·
"Do
you know why are you presently so prominent in my thoughts?" If yes,
"Why?"
If a character might seem angry or
insistent, one could point this out to the character, and ask if the character
indeed feels this way. If the character might answer yes, one could ask the
character, "Why?"
3)
Speaking as the characters. After the client might address a
character, the client could then reverse roles and reply as the character.
After all, who would know better than
the client what the character might be thinking and feeling, and what the
character might say? By playing both roles, the client could increase the
client's understanding of, and empathy and compassion for. all concerned.
The therapist could also invite the
client to speak the thoughts of various aspects of a character, such as the
character's optimistic side and/or pessimistic side. (This is a widely-used
method in Psychodrama, where it is called, "Doubling.")
If the client might give permission,
the therapist could also participate in the roleplaying.
4)
Thinking about the characters, including regarding where they are
coming from.
After a role-playing process, the
therapist could invite the client to think and talk and/or write about how and
why the character came into existence, and why this character is so prominent
in the client's thoughts at this point in the client's life.
Especially if a character is
recurring in the client's conscious mind, it might be helpful for the client to
investigate the client's unconscious mind regarding this character.
A client might seek to remember or
create a "creation story" of characters within the client. A creation
story might explain how this character has come to be, and why it has such a
prominent place in the client's consciousness.
A creation story could be realistic
(based on the client's memory of childhood experiences). It could also be
fantasy, using symbols and metaphors that may represent the client's real-life
experiences.
By the way: A metaphor is a thing
that represents some other thing. A symbol is a thing that represents an idea.
In some instances, it may also be
essential to investigate why a particular personality trait -- now playfully
personified as an inner character -- exists, and why it is so prominent and
powerful at this point in the client's life.
Conversing with inner characters is
generally not an endpoint or solution. A conversation with a character can be a
gateway to discovering any underlying distress the client may be experiencing.
This underlying distress, unresolved conflict, feeling of having been abused or
neglected, etc, may have contributed to a client having developed defence
mechanisms and other systems of thought and behaviour which may have limiting
and/or negative sides to them. In such cases, the underlying distress has to be
dealt with, processed with feeling and thought, and worked through.
5)
Remembering real-life experiences
related to the characters. The client could be invited to re-visit in the client's memory (that is,
imagination), experiences that relate to this character. This re-visiting may
bring the client to the source of the matter, helping the client to understand
what happened and how the client responded.
For example, a client could seek to
remember life experiences that relate to short-tempered-ness (of the client,
the client's parents, etc.)
6)
Catharsis (experiencing, expressing,
releasing, and understanding emotion). It is essential that a client also experiences the feelings
involved (a catharsis), such as pain, anger, and perhaps eventually forgiveness
of the people involved, if the client feels the client has been harmed.
Catharsis is the process of releasing
strong or repressed emotions through a particular activity or experience, such
as writing or even just talking.
It is a basic premise of
psychotherapy that clients may benefit from discovering the emotions and
experiences that helped to create the client's personality.
This process of releasing emotions:
·
helps
the client to understand those emotions, and
·
provides
relief from the emotions. Catharsis is a key concept in psychoanalytic theory
and practice.
7)
Going forward: Interacting with the
characters over time.
Once a client has gone through the above-described processes, the client could
go forward in life accompanied by a team of inner allies.
The client should be very cautious
about permitting the client's conscious ego to judge negatively any inner
"voice". Mutual respect between the client's consciousness and the
elements of the client's inner world is usually called for. Each has its
contributions to make to a healthy personality. The client should not seek to
fully control or erase certain inner emotions and inclinations.
Regarding some destructive inner
voices (characters, that is, aspects of oneself), which Jung referred to as
"Shadow" characters: once their root causes have been fully
investigated, and catharsis has to some degree occurred -- should be acknowledged
and left "wild", untamed, as long as they do not disturb the client's
consciousness too much. Such aspects could be permitted, imaginatively
speaking, to roam in a forest, and be told they can not visit human
habitations.
If a client attempts to suppress or
repress aspects of the client's self, among the things that can happen are:
·
the
"dead" might come back to life, to "haunt" the client
(things might just "pop out", "erupt"),
·
the
client might come to feel disorientated, dissociated (lack of connection
between aspects of the client's self), discombobulated (awkwardly
uncoordinated), and out-of-sync with the client's self; and experience
irritability, depression, and/or loss of vitality.
Suppressing or repressing a
"demon" is a temporary solution. It is usually better to seek to give
voice to, understand, if possible sublimate (transform into a positive
element), and contain, whatever challenging material might be coming up.
Mental health involves achieving a
balance between being controlled by one's consciousness and one's unconscious.
The client can compensate for limited consciousness by accessing the
subterranean riches, the buried treasures, in the client's unconscious. The
client's consciousness may be enlivened by the client's unconscious. This may
lead to feeling renewed, revitalised, and revivified; to feeling alive; and to
enjoying being alive. Material from the unconscious may also help a person to
choose to proceed in a new direction.
The unconscious, and the collective
unconscious, may have positive transforming influences on one's consciousness.
The entire self -- not just the
conscious ego -- contains one's vitality. The conscious ego is like a rider of
a horse. Results tend to be best when the rider and the horse work and play together,
in partnership, with mutual respect for, and understanding of, each other.
The process of individuation involves
becoming more conscious of and overcoming blockages and unresolved conflicts
within oneself, and along the way becoming one's entire, whole, and mature
self. The process of inner development and growth, of becoming increasingly
aware of who one is, involves developing towards understanding and fulfilling
one's potential, of blooming (to use a metaphor). Two aspects of the
individuation process are:
·
one
integrating the aspects of oneself, and
·
one
integrating oneself with society and the universe.
Getting in communication with one's
unconscious, by speaking with characters within oneself, may involve achieving
a feeling of increased "relatedness" with aspects of one's self, and
with aspects of one's environment.
NOTES:
1 1. Storytelling Therapy Association of
India,
2. A 7-step Storytelling Therapy
method is detailed at http://storytellinginstitute.org/216.html
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