This post is inspired by a conversation about a friend.
I have posted before about things I have achieved through the help of gaming. Fiasco has taught me not to be afraid of confrontation (if not the best way to confront people!). I have played games where I sometimes subconsciously and sometime consciously played characters who had issues that I wanted to work through (although maybe that’s unfair to other people at the table.) I recently had a very cathartic experience at a larp which led me to deal with some resentment I’d been holding onto to 14 years.
In short I am biased. I do believe that exploring these boundaries and pushing your limits, providing you know enough to keep yourself safe can help you move on from past trauma. I am currently designing a game which is literally about moving on and forgiving people who have hurt you.
But I am also going to play devil's advocate. We are not in general trained counsellors. If we open up old pain or raise issues during play that the person hadn't considered sympathy might not be enough to get them grounded again. I talked in a previous post about triggers and trauma and how best to avoid them - now I am writing about seeking them out.
So, if you do decide to do this make sure:
- You are around people you trust and preferably people who understand what you are doing.
- You can leave at any time.
- You know your personal limits, triggers and what is too much for you.
- There is a safeword for the particular game - whether it’s cut and brake, lines and veils,
the X card or just ‘can we take this in a different direction?’
5) You debrief afterwards.
Although this has been helpful to me I would hesitate to recommend pushing your boundaries and introducing your trauma into a game if you don’t have other ways of dealing with it, for example through therapy. My experience have been very positive and I am convinced in the right hands roleplay could be a powerful tool, however, I could also see how it could unearth buried trauma which the player might not know how to handle,
I would be very grateful for any thoughts on this. I am still undecided.
Great thoughts! My personal guideline that I'd add to that would be something like 'don't push too hard' -- if a game offers you the opportunity to explore several difficult areas at once, better to resist that, and stick to just one. You'll have future chances to work on the other stuff, and for the time being it's safer to stick with a manageable level of stretching.
ReplyDeleteGood articles on this area on general: Lizzie Stark http://leavingmundania.com/2014/02/27/primer-safety-in-roleplaying-games/
Kevin Burns: https://larparama.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/shoshana-kessock-ethical-content-management-and-the-freedom-to-create/#more-328
I am a psychotherapist and a registered mental health nurse and have a fair bit of experience with therapy, both as a client and a therapist. I have very limited non-boffer LARP experience. I ran A Flower For Mara a couple of years ago and thought it was excellent. It brought up a number of issues for people in the group which we all spoke about afterwards.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an intersting point about what happens to someone who might beome upset with the material raised in a LARP. I think that LARPs and RPGs need a bit of a warning. While the content cannot always be predicted I would always preface a game with information that potentially upsetting content might be present. Many are familiar with the 'Lines and Veils' conversations that occur. I much prefer veiling than lining. It is also worth tracking down Meguey Baker's post on how to deal with difficult material. She describes two approaches: 'No-one gets hurt' and 'I will not abandon you.' It is an intriguing take on how to deal with upsetting material.
There are a number of therapeutic approaches that use drama techniques in therapy, notably Moreno's psychodrama (the game 'De Profundis' uses the term psychodrama in a totally different way) and dramatherapy. There are also play therapy approaches also. I think if you are taking issues that are causing you pain and trauma into a LARP then there has to be a contract. I would feel uncomfortable turning up to a LARP not knowing that people might be introducing potentially difficult material for me or other people. What if someone in the course of a LARP discloses a truly dreadful experience and in doing so they have to leave the group. That's all well and good but what happens to the other individuals in the group who may all have experienced something similar and then who have to deal with the feelings that arise. In the context of a therapy group this can be managed by both the group and the therapist. In a LARP group, that might be meeting for a very short period of time this might be more difficult to manage.
As a therapist I am trained to put a lot of thinking into dealing with difficult matters and at times I have to take very calculated risks which I am expected to justify. I am insured for unlimited liability by the NHS and I also have a separate insurance policy for the small amount of private consultation I do. I am bound by two sets of Codes of Ethics (Association for Family Therapy and the Nursing and Midwifery Council) and if there are any doubts as to my probity there are a number of options that people can take to complain about my practice should the need arise.
LARPs do not do this. To me they are equivalent to watching a very challenging film, such as Festen, which deals with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and the way in which one of them confronts his abuser. It is brilliant but not an easy view. I also recommend Rachel Getting Married, which deals with addiction and the death of a child. Again, an incredibly powerful film but perhaps not for those who are dealing with those issues in their lives. If a LARP strays into difficult territory then who is accountable? The organisers? The individual who brought in the difficult material? The other attendees? With a film you can walk out at any point while being minimally disruptive to the rest of the audience. Not so with a LARP.
As a therapist I am hugely biased in saying this: the best therapy is therapy. CBT is available readily on the NHS as well as some other approaches, although this is a postcode lottery. The best indicator of therapeutic success is the quality of the therapeutic relationship rather than the type of therapy offered. Catharsis, the release of emotion is not therapy and there is evidence that a purely cathartic approach is ineffective. That release of emotion needs to be coupled with the ability to think and process the experiences behind the emotion.