This book offers an accessible, comprehensive resource to practitioners who wish to incorporate RPGs into their client-work. Tabletop role-playing games, RPGs, have long been associated with various unique emotional, cognitive, and social benefits, but only recently has the term 'RPG Therapy' entered into the mental-health lexicon. Presenting simple game- and storytelling mechanics, and demonstrating how they may be utilized in accordance with specific professional modalities, this supportive guide explores every step of the implementation process, from underlying therapeutic principles to initial creative exercises to actual in-session play, and encourages readers to have confidence in their own imaginative abilities. Written for practitioners of all levels of client- and RPG experience, this groundbreaking and authoritative book provides case examples and practical tools, along with pragmatic and straightforward advice on how to implement this exciting new form of intervention.

Harness the Therapeutic Power of the Superhero! Application of the Star Wars Adoption Narrative Emotional Literacy and the Incredible Hulk Batman and Trauma What Would Superman Do--An Adlerian Approach? With an incisive historical foreword by John Shelton Lawrence and insight from contributors such as Michael Brody, Patty Scanlon, and Roger Kaufman, Lawrence Rubin takes us on a dynamic tour of the benefits of using these icons of popular culture and fantasy in counseling and play therapy. Not only can superheroes assist in clinical work with children, but Rubin demonstrates how they can facilitate growth and change with teen and adults. Early childhood memories of how we felt pretending to have the power to save the world or our families in the face of impending danger still resonate in our adult lives, making the use of superheroes attractive as well, to the creative counselor. In presenting case studies and wisdom gleaned from practicing therapists' experience, Lawrence Rubin shows how it is possible to uncover children's secret identities, assist treatment of adolescents with sexual behavior problems, and inspire the journey of individuation for gay and lesbian clients, all by paying attention to our intrinsic social need for superhero fantasy and play.

Originally published: Roleplaying in psychotherapy. Chicago: Aldine, c1966, in series: Modern applications of psychology.

Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games provides a comprehensive approach to implementing therapeutically applied role-playing game (TA-RPG) groups for mental health practitioners. When facilitated by a trained professional, TA-RPGs are a powerful tool for insight, growth, and change for individuals and communities. The Game to Grow Method of Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games is a transdiagnostic, transtheoretical, group intervention developed over a decade of practice using Dungeons & Dragons and other popular tabletop role-playing game systems, as well as leveraging therapeutic factors from acceptance and commitment therapy, marriage and family therapy, drama therapy, and interpersonal process groups. TA-RPGs are conceptualized as a gaming system layered on top of established intervention techniques. They can accommodate a multitude of game systems and align with theoretical mechanisms for change found across therapeutic orientations. This work serves as a comprehensive training manual for TA-RPGs, providing a valuable resource for mental health professionals interested in incorporating TA-RPGs into their practice.

This handbook collects, for the first time, the state of research on role-playing games (RPGs) across disciplines, cultures, and media in a single, accessible volume. Collaboratively authored by more than 50 key scholars, it traces the history of RPGs, from wargaming precursors to tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons to the rise of live action role-play and contemporary computer RPG and massively multiplayer online RPG franchises, like Fallout and World of Warcraft. Individual chapters survey the perspectives, concepts, and findings on RPGs from key disciplines, like performance studies, sociology, psychology, education, economics, game design, literary studies, and more. Other chapters integrate insights from RPG studies around broadly significant topics, like transmedia worldbuilding, immersion, transgressive play, or player–character relations. Each chapter includes definitions of key terms and recommended readings to help fans, students, and scholars new to RPG studies find their way into this new interdisciplinary field.

This book offers an accessible, comprehensive resource to practitioners who wish to incorporate RPGs into their client-work. Tabletop role-playing games, RPGs, have long been associated with various unique emotional, cognitive, and social benefits, but only recently has the term 'RPG Therapy' entered into the mental-health lexicon. Presenting simple game- and storytelling mechanics, and demonstrating how they may be utilized in accordance with specific professional modalities, this supportive guide explores every step of the implementation process, from underlying therapeutic principles to initial creative exercises to actual in-session play, and encourages readers to have confidence in their own imaginative abilities. Written for practitioners of all levels of client- and RPG experience, this groundbreaking and authoritative book provides case examples and practical tools, along with pragmatic and straightforward advice on how to implement this exciting new form of intervention.

Role playing is the most naturalistic form of psychotherapy. In the safety and privacy of an office, psychiatrists and psychologists guide patients in more competent ways of living, and help patients see how they behave. Role playing, which is also used for diagnostic purposes by therapists, is an unparalleled procedure for letting patients see themselves in action, and helps them establish and assimilate in concrete fashion the insights achieved in the interview. From the point of view of the patient, psychotherapy has two main aspects; the personality of the therapist, which includes the attitude towards the patient and their understanding; and the procedures used by the therapist, such as how he conducts therapy. The therapist sees psychotherapy as a process which helps the patient to understand themselves, to modify their attitudes and levels of aspiration, and generate new ways of behaving. It is a process of change in the sense of abandoning old concepts, coming to new generalizations, and learning new behavior patterns for a current generation. Role playing as a psychotherapeutic technique is not as well understood as it merits. The beliefs that role playing is an exotic method which commits the user to a special school of thought, that it is used only in group therapy, or that it is difficult to learn, are common erroneous notions. This book gives a clear picture of therapeutic role playing, and explains how it is used and for what purposes. A rationale for its value and examples of its use are provided by the author.