Question: Acting!.!.!.is it therapy!?!?!?
i asked this in mental health but i was wondering if this section would get more!.!.or better responses!.!.!.I heard a couple of actors beat depression without meds and all that extra stuff!. I've been thinking about acting a long time!. I read a book on emotions and stuff that helps actors be the best they can be!. They feed off of the bad in their lives!.!.past and present!. I somehow see myself doing that same thing!. I was wondering is it known that acting is some form of therapy!? I'm sure it is but I was wondering everyone else' input!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I believe it is, you can chanel your built up emotions and use them on the stage!. Someone who uses raw emotion when they act is very believable, and I would think a good source of therapy!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
The therapy for depression is exercise and taking action against the cause of the depression!. Acting should not be therapy nor used for therapy, except by a qualified shrink!. When acting is therapy, it is not art!. At least if we define it by its purpose!. It was not created to be therapy!.
By the way, therapy is not a proper way to learn to be an actor!. Those who would employ physcology to acting training, are missing the point of acting, which is a way of playing!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
no acting is not therapy!. i think it is theraputic because it allows people in a state of depression to escape safely!. plus in the training, you condition yourself to react!.!.!.if it doesn't work then you just alter the reaction, thus you learn how to best respond to situations, i've found!. i feel like if you can get out of your own head, as far as simple depression is concerned, then you've already won the battle and using your imgagination, which is the real basis for acting, takes you not only out of your head but away from that which usually drives our depression!.!.!.our own negetive thoughts!. watch children!. how they can get sOOOOOOO mad about something and act like it's the end of the world and then 20 seconds later they're giggling!. they just don't take themselves that seriously so they forget that it was ever that encompassing for them!. i've also noticed a trend with psychiatrist!.!.!.a lot of them now have some sort of theatrical background, usually in performance!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I knew a friendly outgoing individual who had community acting experience!. I felt it had a positive effect on his attitude!. He was successful in business, and he maintained a cheerful disposition!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
One thing my directing teacher taught me was this: As a director, you have to be father, mother, friend, and therapist to your actors!. They will always turn to you with their problems just for someone to listen, and it's your job to do that!. In that sense, it is therapy!.
There's also this, though: On stage, all of my problems are gone, because I am no longer myself, I am a character of my creation with completely different problems or possibly none at all!. Actor/ Comedian Kevin Pollak says this about acting, "You'll hear many stories of people feeling really sick backstage, flu, cold, whatever, and then ten minutes into their act, they're completely well!. It's a euphoria that can't really be described, other than to say it transcends all illness; it transcends all stress, and problems of the day!." While he is mostly referring to physical health, I believe that it applies to mental health as well!.Www@QuestionHome@Com