Role-Playing

Synonyms

Behavior rehearsal; Psychodrama

Definition

Role-playing is a technique, most often utilized in psychotherapy and skills training, whereby the child is instructed to reenact a response encountered in a specified situation. Widely used in the assessment and treatment of maladaptive behaviors characteristic of childhood disorders, the use of role-play provides an efficient means of sampling the child's behavioral skills and/or deficits [3, 2].

Description

Psychotherapy

Role-playing is a relatively nonthreatening technique used as a means of assessment, intervention, and engagement of children in psychotherapy. In general, due to the indirect and contrived nature of this technique, role-play can be used as an effective substitute to traditional "talk therapies," particularly with those children who present as suspicious, guarded, fearful, or depressed as it provides a mode of interaction wherein the child is partially removed from that which he or she may