Dungeons & Dragons and RPG Therapy

Therapy through story, imagination and play

Role-playing games, or RPGs, are shared storytelling games. You create a character, enter a fictional world and make choices about what your character does. The story develops through conversation, imagination, decisions and, depending on the game, dice and other rules.

Dungeons & Dragons is probably the best-known example, but it is only one kind of role-playing game. Other games include Blades in the Dark, Cyberpunk RED and Call of Cthulhu.

Although Dungeons & Dragons is traditionally associated with medieval fantasy - think castles, magic and something closer to The Lord of the Rings - an RPG can take place almost anywhere. A story might be set in deep space, a modern city, a supernatural mystery, a dystopian future, a crime story or a world created specifically around the things that interest you.

What is RPG therapy?

RPG therapy is counselling or psychotherapy in which role-playing games are used as part of the therapeutic process.

The game is not separate from the therapy. Instead, characters, stories, choices and relationships within the game can provide another way of exploring what is happening in your life.

There is no single way that RPG therapy has to work.

For some people, most of the therapeutic work may happen through the character and the story. For others, the game might provide a starting point for conversations about things such as relationships, anxiety, confidence, identity, boundaries or difficult emotions.

Sometimes we might spend most of a session playing. At other times we might stop and talk about something that has emerged. The balance between talking therapy and gameplay is something we can decide together.

Why use an RPG in therapy?

Traditional talking therapy does not suit everyone.

Sometimes it can be easier to explore something indirectly through a fictional character or situation than to sit opposite somebody and talk directly about yourself.

RPGs can also create opportunities to experiment with different choices, relationships and ways of responding to situations within the safety of a fictional world.

You do not need to be good at acting, know the rules or have played Dungeons & Dragons before.

Equally, if you already love RPGs, therapy can make use of a form of storytelling and play that already feels familiar to you.

What would we actually play?

That depends on you.

We might use Dungeons & Dragons, another existing RPG, or adapt the game around the kind of world and story that interests you.

The game itself is less important than what we are using it for.

We would talk together about what you would like from therapy and decide whether and how an RPG could form part of that work.

Interested in finding out more?

I offer a free 30-minute introductory call where we can talk about what you are looking for, how RPG therapy might work for you, and whether I might be the right therapist for you.

There is no obligation to book therapy afterwards.

Get in touch

Email: jamesboltontherapy@gmail.com
Text or call: 07343014920