Playing the role on life’s stage
In the current social, political, and environmental climate we are faced with an ever-increasing need to cope with change. The ways in which we react to change have a major effect on our health and well-being. To make or become different is a skill we all need to perfect as we rush through life taking on one role after another.
The psychologist [link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_L._Moreno"]Jacob Mereno[link] suggests that man is a role player that every individual is characterised by a certain range of roles which dominate his behaviour, and that every culture is characterised by a certain set of roles which it imposes with varying degrees of success upon its membership. He was the founder of an action based form of human development called Psychodrama.
As we move through the day we replace or exchange each role, the father, the manager, the lover, the mother, the sister, the nurse, the gardener, the repairer, the listener and so forth. As the pace of living has speeded up with faster communications and time saving technology we find there are increasing demands on us to be continually adjusting to the next situation or the next relationship in order to react appropriately.
Moreno’s theory was based on the multi-role personality. In order to maintain mental health he suggests that we have to develop the flexibility to move within a large repertoire of roles. Within each role we are required to have the appropriate actions for the situation at that specific time. Our personalities function at their most effective when they are embracing and integrating their particular selection of roles.
What happens when we act or react from an inappropriate role? Let me give you an example. A man is in his early forties and has been married twice and divorced and is now in a long term relationship, however all is not well. His relationship is not meeting his needs. He often feels lonely and rejected, yet his wife says she loves him. When they try talk about their issues it often makes it worse and they do not appear to be able to communicate. It is as though they are on the same stage, in the same play, but reading different scripts. Does this sound familiar?
It only when he is faced with losing his third wife to be that he finally sees the light. He has a pattern; he is locked into a particular role that is destroying his relationships with women. When he gets into a close relationship he is triggered into taking his “little boy” role, he is looking for the mother love. Unfortunately there is no way his partners can meet his needs. He is searching for the mother love that he had not experienced as a child. I use the word experienced here as his mother may well have said of course she loved him, but his experience was his reality.
This example demonstrates how when we are in the wrong role i.e. “unloved son” instead of “lover/partner”, the relationships is bound to fail or at the least be dysfunctional.
If we consider a normal day in the life of a woman in her mid forties, with children and a husband, then we can appreciate the vast variety of roles that she may have to take on in order to lead a stress-free life reacting in her relationships in the appropriate manner as each moment demands.
Throughout our lives our status quo is threatened by economic, psychological, and social Influences and in order to act in an appropriate way to these changes we must be able to react from the appropriate role. This requires creativity (i.e. we have to create a new role for ourselves) and spontaneity (acting in the moment)
Moreno believed that every person has the capacity to be creative and spontaneous, the innate skill to act in an appropriate way at any time, creating something new. That we have the ability to create new paradigms, transform old patterns, and modify behaviour.
Working with Psychodrama and action methods we can experience the variety of roles that we may be called upon to play. We can gain insight into the roles that others have to play; we can practice new roles for ourselves, and change old roles that have become inappropriate.
If you are interested in finding out more about psychodrama and action methods or attending a therapeutic retreat check out [link="http://www.casadellanete.com"]casadellanete.com[link] or email me at info@casadellanete.com
Tags: Psychodrama Action Methods Role Taking Theatre Change Coping Skills
