The value of using role theory

Role Theory and the liveliness of the director, producer, manager, leader or therapist

When time is spent making a role analysis of a person either from a psychodrama or life enactment in a group or life enactment in the larger world there is always enormous value. The value comes from a number of different areas. Primary amongst these are a sense of wholeness that can be generated by having made a good fist of what has been seen and experienced.

Wholeness

What do I mean by “Wholeness that can be generated”. Well I mean that rather than boiling a person down to a few epithets such as “neurotic” or “problems with their mother/father/husband/children” or similar, making a role analysis tends to create a fuller picture of a person. A fuller picture is one where I can see many possibilities; I have not determined the “truth” or otherwise of my determination and there is an openness to further exploration and further ideas can be generated. The picture is incomplete but it is large. A large picture allows a person to look with interest and curiosity. A larger picture allows a person to work with language that relates to context and culture. A role analysis will have language that is related to the protagonist or other. The language will relate both to what has been presented and also the range of role names that a creative person can generate.

The outcome of this is that the person who has done the role analysis has the high potential of becoming excited, enthusiastic and full of life when contemplating the person they are working with in some form.

Q. What is the value of a person being excited, enthusiastic and full of life when contemplating the person they are working with?

A. Hint : This entirely relates to warm up and the warming up process of a person who works with others. Or to put it another way - the question was purely rhetorical.

Taking this slightly further, role analysis allows me to actively contemplate a person in such a way that includes both critical analysis of the other and critical analysis of myself. Added to this and of great significance is the high possibility that the critical analysis process will be generative and enjoyable. It will generate and experience similar to the development of spontaneity that occurs during creative processes such as writing poetry, creating music and flowing with life.

A written dialogue

The other value of using role theory is that it is not a solitary process like taking notes from a session or scoring questionnaires or evaluating a person through one or other psychological framework or even doing casework. It is not a solitary process when contemplating another person whether a therapist, a manager, a leader, a community developer or other. It is designed to be part of an ongoing dialogue between the writer and another person. Because a role analysis is designed to be discussed with the person about whom it is written.

I have found that when I am actively engaged in thinking creatively I am able to generate greater pictures of the other person, whether a therapy client, a supervision client, a colleague or friend. These pictures when presented to another person are often modified and discussed and dialogued about. Further expansion is done. Usually we end up with some pretty profound role names and questions to be answered.

This is very theoretical so as an example: I develop the role name of Laughing Buddha for a large senior manager. On discussing it with him he smiles and enlarges himself which is quite something for the large man that he is. He says "Yes the name fits. I am enormously accepting of others and I have a great sense of joy" and then we discuss the downside of him as a senior manager with an overdeveloped capacity to be a Laughing Buddha. He agrees that his capacity to be tough, determined and decisive is largely absent. We discuss that the absent role is one of maybe Donald Trump and he says this is not his favourite model and we have a good discussion about his worries to do with being tough (rough), determined (narrow minded) and decisive (autocratic). Such fun! 

It allows the client to frame their life rather than having a dead theorist to do it.

The development of a role analysis, when done in collaboration with the person whom the analysis is about, allows the person to frame their life in their own way, in their own frameworks and in their own script and narrative. It may in fact, when done in a truly collaborative manner,  enlarge their picture of themselves. And this enlargement will include the entirety of their own picture.

The dead theorist jab in the paragraph title relates to using frameworks that are too narrow for a living person. Rather than use a framework developed for another time and place when using a role analysis we are encouraged to use the behaviour we are witnessing, the actions we are seeing and the words and body language in front of us.  

Mirroring and doubling from a role analysis

A decent role analysis will lead to a person becoming more aware of their functioning and impact on others. A thoroughly good role analysis will lead a person to know that they are being effectively doubled. Like with directing when a protagonist if they have a double, we ask them "If your double is correct then repeat what they are saying and if they are not then please correct them."

This is very similar to discussing a role analysis with a client and asking them "If this is not correct what would you add or change in the anlalysis?" In this case the doubling happens when they are reading or being presented with the role analysis. The way the presentation happens is important and can effect the efficacy of the role analysis from a doubling point of view. As a psychodramatist knows mirroring at the wrong time can shame a person and doubling at the wrong time can skew the protagonist's warm up. So while a role analysis can be great, the value of it can be lost if it is presented, lets say from the role of Triumphant Therapist or Caring Know-it-All or All knowing Theorist or any other role that might be a one up position.

Encouraging others to do role analyses

This blog is about my enjoyment of both doing role analysis with others, encouraging others to do role analysis and teaching people how to do role anlaysis. Please contact me if you don't quite know what a role analysis is here.

I will write further blogs on role theory becasue it is so much fun.