Role Playing in Life and Therapy
Role playing is an extensive and versatile tool that has been used for years in human experience. In therapy and therapeutic supervision, role play is exercised as a means of helping individuals understand what a technique, tool, or skill can look like in execution in a variety of unique and individual circumstances. In entertainment, we see this practice as a way of showcasing a variety of emotional experiences and understanding varying perspectives on life, love, comedy, and drama. In our day-to-day lives we can use role play as a way of existing in another world for a while to pursue dreams or a greater understanding of human qualities we love, admire, or dislike. Principles of role play are crucial in our understanding of techniques of mentalization where we attempt to understand the subjective experiences of the other.
Table top role playing games present a format where many of these experiences can be realized, dependent on the type of game constructed. For some, the engagement of games such as Dungeons and Dragons is pursued more so for the sake of the competition of gameplay. For players such as these, finding the best loot and winning the most fights to get more levels and more cool skills may be the primary purpose of gameplay. However, for those who are interested in story telling, these worlds of endless possibility can be exciting playgrounds for experimenting with different approaches to various life goals, pathways, and issues. These individuals may also be able to develop more understanding of different subjective experiences of the world from many points of view. These elements are part of what make tabletop role playing games an incredibly versatile tool for both game play and storytelling.
Therapeutically, role play can be used by clinicians in sessions to help explore with clients different experiences people in their world may be having, as well as to experiment with different ways of approaching problem solving and engaging interpersonal experiences. Further, role play can be used in supervisory settings to help supervisees better understand where their clients cognitive and emotional states. Combined with the setting of a role-playing game such as Dungeons and Dragons, clinicians may be able to explore with clients a variety of psychological issues through characters in game before attempting to implement skills in the real world. This could take the shape of a group therapy facilitated by gameplay with particular therapeutic goals in mind, such as social skills, emotional regulation, assertiveness training, or mindfulness. Recreationally, individuals can also use the setting of role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons to facilitate experimentation with skills worked on in individual therapy.
Classically, Dungeons and Dragons and games like it are very social experiences where those participating engage each other in emotional expression, decision making, and collaboration towards a common goal. These elements make this sort of gaming an excellent tool for practicing a variety of therapeutic skills. In these games, players are asked to navigate a world developed by the game master in the pursuit of great deeds. Thus, this environment offers many moments to exercise interpersonal skills as players communicate with each other as well as with the non player characters crafted for the game. For example, individuals have opportunities as both players at the table and characters in the game to strengthen their assertiveness by asking for things they desire - “I believe my character would like to negotiate with the bandits rather than fight them.” There are often moments of conflict and frustration between players at a table and within the game itself that can offer areas for players to engage in emotion regulation techniques - “I haven’t rolled above a ten all session!” or communication skills “when you chose to attack that group so quickly, I felt as if I did not have a say in what our party decided and I would appreciate an opportunity to express my opinion next time.” While these games can be used to work on areas we would like to strengthen, they can also be used to promote as sense of competence and success - “I can’t believe we were able to take out the Demogorgon so easily!”
As a game master for a role playing game is able to write and construct the storylines the players navigate, it is therefore the perfect role for the leader of a therapy group to occupy. With the innumerable and versatile scenarios that the players can inhabit, the clinician running the group can craft scenarios particular to the treatment goals of the group that can help members exercise particular skills. Regarding social skills development, one can use a variety of settings and interactions where a successful use of social skills leads to peaceful outcomes or benefits in dangerous encounters. Concerning emotion regulation, a clinician can touch base with their players when something upsetting has happened in the game or at the table, and help individuals self-soothe or develop language for effectively expressing their experiences. In developing mindfulness, a therapeutic game master can work with players on understanding what is within and outside of their influence of control (radical acceptance) or on building patience for game sessions where they may not be the center of the story. There are countless options for therapeutic intervention that can be explored in a world of role playing games that is bound only by our imaginations.
