Do Actors Pay a Psychological Price for Our Entertainment?
July 17th, 2012
Actors are generally viewed as creative and flamboyant individuals. They tend to be able to easily shift from traditional ideals to nontraditional roles and can exhibit emotional extremes in order to fulfill the personality requirements of the character they are portraying. Many actors enter the arts because they have always possessed these unique behaviors. Others develop them over years of training and practice. Regardless of whether these attributes are inherent or acquired, they are traits that involve significant psychological shifting. Audiences celebrate actors with a wide range of emotional skills and benefit from their expertise. But it has often been theorized that these actors may pay a price for providing such entertainment.
Shifting from reality to fantasy is one attribute that can seem flawless when performed by skilled actors. But do these individuals ever blur the lines? Paula Thomson of the Department of Kinesiology at California State University recently led a study that compared the emotional processes of actors to those of nonactors. In her study, Thomson evaluated the emotional regulation, trauma resolution, mourning, and attachment behaviors of the participants using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and self-generated reports. She found that there were significant differences between the emotional stability of the groups.
In particular, Thomson discovered that the actors exhibited engagement processes when interviewed about traumatic life events. In contrast, the control group exhibited dismissing and avoiding behaviors, which suggests insecure attachment patterns. However, when both groups reviewed the traumas, the actors were more disorganized and disoriented than the nonactors. Additionally, the actors tended to refer to deceased abusive figures as still being alive. This finding could suggest that actors who take on traumatic roles could recall their own traumatic events and be more vulnerable to posttraumatic stress. Even though the actors displayed high levels of secure-autonomy, nearly half of them responded in ways that warranted further testing for dissociation, compared to less than 3% of the nonactors. Thomson added, “Our study adds to the body of research that suggests that there is a psychological cost for participants engaged in the creative arts.”
Reference:
Thomson, P., Jaque, S. V. (2012). Holding a mirror up to nature: Psychological vulnerability in actors. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0028911
© Copyright 2012 by www.GoodTherapy.org San Antonio Bureau - All Rights Reserved. 
-
Find the Right Therapist
-
4 Comments | Click here to leave a comment.
Comments
What?! Who cares. This is the life that they chose. It’s not like we ask them to get so involved in a role or whatever. They are the ones who do that to themselves. If you look at all the movies and things like that that make the most money or get the most attention, most of them have very little to do with being a good actor or the cast immersing themselves into the roles. It’s all about mindless entertainment. that’s what the majority of people are looking for. So why all the stress when really all they are asked to do is memorize a few lines and smile real pretty for the cameras?
I have a quite a few friends whom you may classify as “artsy” types, and having been around them I learned very quickly that the ones who are serious about their craft are never giving their performances or poetry ar artwork for themselves but always for the pleasure of someone else to enjoy.
And that can take quite a bit out of a person, always working for the enjoyment of others, trying so hard to please the crowds that they tend to forget about what things make them happy.
This is the life that they have chosen but the good ones know that really they did not have a choice. This was more of a calling for them, something that they feel compelled to do and to share. They should not be looked down upon for that but rather praised that they are so willing to give of their time and talents for the rest of us to enjoy.
I know a guy who was into theatre and was a professional but he took his roles so seriously and used to put in so much work and effort into learning about his role that at times he would remain depressed for days together due to having confined himself in his house researching about the role.
Although an admirer of his, this made me quite uncomfortable and i feel so much involvement is not a good thing after all.
When anyone has trouble between distinguishing fantasy from reality, well. that’s a problem no matter what career you are in.
Leave a Reply
By commenting you acknowledge acceptance of GoodTherapy.org's Terms and Conditions of Use.