ACTORS CAN HELP THERAPISTS SHOW PEOPLE HOW TO LIVE

Thomas Szasz is known as "the anti-psychiatrist psychiatrist" because of his very controversial book, The Myth of Madness. Roughly his thesis is that -- instead of treating "mental patients" with drugs, electric shock, etc. -- they should be shown how to live, since this is their basic problem.

Now, I don't accept his generalization. But I believe it is so for many people. And his advice should be followed for some troubled humans. Therapists already use "psycho-drama", in which patients act out their problems. Why not have them act out their "cures"? With actors showing them how to ACT OUT A ROLE?

This would serve at least three purposes:

  1. Provide troubled people with aids not presently available.
  2. Give therapists another perspective in the therapy process.
  3. Provide a better (and perhaps more lucrative) source of income -- "between parts" -- than being waiters, taxi drivers, salespersons, etc. And one in which they are not putting aside their primary skills, but perhaps honing and testing them further.

FULFILL BY FILLING SOCIETY'S NEEDS! Happy teaching!