Interview with Dr. Scott Hoye on “Psychology Talk”
Interview with John T. Maier on “The Anomalous Mind”
Interview with Dr. Grant Brenner and Dr. Farah White on “Doorknob Comments”
Actress Robin Weigert (the therapist on Big Little Lies) discussing The Performing Art of Therapy on the podcast “You Might Know Her From.”
Interview with performance artist/ “psychotherapist,” Dr. Lisa on Radio Free Brooklyn.
Character Work
What Therapists Can Learn From Actors
Should Therapists Go Back to an Office
Deepening Our Work Offstage
The Radical Act of Embodying Your Voice
How to Take SpaCe and Make Space
Therapists can flop in their “performance” with clients, coming off as inauthentic or over the top. In this article I discuss a case in which my experience as an actor helped me to authentically embody the kind of “scene partner” my client needed me to be.
Seeing clients through the COVID-19 crisis has shown us not only that psychotherapy can be effective outside the traditional frame—complete with an office, couch, and a therapist who never breaks character—but also that shattering the frame when necessary, and allowing our humble humanness to be present, is actually necessary to connect with each unique client.
A new book from a renowned speech coach invites us to reflect on how we embody our true voices in our lives—and in the therapy room.
How to Choose Your Therapist
Tips to help you “audition” potential psychotherapists
Choosing the right psychotherapist for you is like casting the right actor for a production. You want to look for someone who is not only qualified for the job, but is also someone with whom you’d like to spend a good deal of intimate time. Here are a few guidelines to help with the casting process:
The Performing Art of Being A Couple
Thinking of ourselves as "performers" can enhance all of our relationships.
My experience as an actor prepares me to engage in a collaborative, creative, and empathic process with all of my "scene partners."
Actors develop their own voices so as to inspire the voices of other people. And in that sense, as therapists we are all actors: we use ourselves to help bring other people’s authentic selves to life.
As both an actor and a therapist, the author of this article describes his personal connection to Atlas/Aron’s concept of dramatic dialogue in the therapeutic situation, and emphasizes his own conception of psychotherapy as a performing art in itself—one in which our reflections on our idiomatic process are more crucial than the technical actions we enact. Two pairs of vignettes help to illustrate his points, each including a significant learning moment for him as an actor, and a corresponding revelation as a clinician. These narratives illustrate how the author’s use of self serves a “generative and prospective function” for him as a performing artist—in and out of session, on and off stage.