Roleplay as Therapy.

If you're any kind of hard-core gamer you know how much of a bad idea doing this is. But the fact remains that people still do this outside of a professional psychologist's domain. So I'm going to make this blatantly clear how bad of an idea this is, and if you have someone who just isn't getting it, direct them here.

An open letter to Anyone attempting to use Game-focused Role-play as Personal Therapy,

First I must say this. I know you have problems. Everyone has problems. Even I have problems. Some people have worse problems than others. It's not me being wishy washy about it, it's the bare facts.

No one's life is perfect, so I don't expect yours to be either. It's not unreasonable to want to work through your problems. It's not unreasonable to see role-play as a good sandbox to do so, and with a licensed psychologist or experienced counselor it's a perfectly valid and effective way to work through your problems.

However, your friends, your family, your role-play buddies are not licensed Psychologists or professional counselors. And even if that's their day job, they still aren't getting paid to help you work through your problems. They get no benefit whatsoever to being used for this purpose. What they get is extra confusion, and frustration, and lots of extra Work. Helping anyone out through role-play is a whole lot of headache.

Trying to use your role-play buddies as psychological therapy is not only unfair to them, it's unfair to you. It means you're not getting the help you actually need, and you're putting your mental well-being in the hands of people who may or may not have any idea what they're doing, or any drive to keep doing it when it becomes more stress than they can handle.

What's more, because your role-play buddies are not professionals, and certainly aren't getting anything out of the deal, they're even more likely to do or say something completely wrong, and actually make you backslide severely. Using them for this purpose is setting yourself up for failure.

If you need help, by all means Seek Help, but for your sanity's sake, and the sake of your friend's sanity, don't look at them for the answers to all your problems. They don't have them. There are two books I highly recommend called Control Theory, and Choice Theory. They can help you if you're determined not to seek professional assistance.

Best Wishes,
CowboyGhostie