ACtor Mental Health During Intense Scenes: Tips From a Psychotherapist
Note: The information listed in this article are simply ideas and not a replacement for professional healthcare treatments! Every person is different. Consult with your certified mental health professional and/or physician for help finding the right plan for you.
Whether you have experienced trauma related to a scene or character you are playing in film, TV, or theatre, or not, working on intense and heavy material can be a daunting task for many actors. It’s important to care for your mental and emotional wellbeing before, during, and after performances of this nature. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, I chatted with certified holistic psychotherapist Michelle Shlafman about her suggestions for actors working on scenes involving highly triggering or draining material. She mentioned that this process can work for actors who have faced a severe amount of personal trauma in their lives outside of work as well as actors who haven’t, but might be deeply impacted or “caught up in” their work.
Use “parts work” when tackling these scenes
When asked about her suggested approach, Michelle said, “This is one of my favorite questions to answer for actors. We have so many different personality traits and parts of ourselves in our minds. We are whole and we are separate all at once. If someone has a role that brings to the surface their past trauma or anxiety, I highly recommend using ‘parts work’.”
Parts work is identifying and acknowledging the different “parts” of ourselves, particularly those that might be at play, or likely to come to the surface during that particular scene on set. Michelle suggests talking to that traumatic part of themselves as if it were a person, even as if it were the child version of yourself or yourself at the particular age that the particular trauma took place. This can help you speak to yourself with compassion and clearly outline what you are about to do and why.
Michelle explained, “You can say, “Hey, we’re doing this together”, or “This is something we are doing together for my career, for this role”.” She said it’s important to emphasize to the self that the on set acting experience doesn’t mean that the personal trauma is going to come to the surface surface as if it’s real and IS real in this moment.
Listen to the full episode with certified psychotherapist Michelle Shlafman on The It’s a Slate of Mind podcast Episode 90.
Create a “manager” part of the mind
Once you’ve identified and spoken to that “trauma part” of yourself, Michelle said it can also be helpful to identify the “manager” part of yourself to act as a guide or monitor throughout the actor’s day working on the scene.
She explained, “Talk to the trauma to let it know that you are there for it. If that trauma part is needed to produce the scene, also bring forward a sense of comfort or the “manager” part of yourself. The “manager” part of you might say, “Hey trauma, I’m here and I’m watching you. This is probably going to be really challenging for you, but I have you, we have a plan for decompression.”
The combination of these two parts will help allow you to feel seen and known, but also held and safe - all within your own mind. It might feel silly, but there is immense power in actually telling yourself these specific phrases and outlining what is and isn’t happening on set at work that day.
Have a Ritual for after the scene
As mentioned above, Michelle says it is important to have a process in place to help your body and mind decompress and release the heavy emotions and experiences from your day of acting., “Have a practice to release and come out of the role. Take that costume off, sit outside in the fresh air, sing a song, eat food to ground the body, and we’re going to release whatever we need to.”
While this ritual can look different for every actor, it’s key that you select activities and items that help you feel grounded, safe, and physically signaling that you are stepping out of your character and back into your personal self. (Michelle also mentioned that this ritual is key for anyone taking part in a method acting practice as well). If you’re going to set or a stage, be sure to plan ahead and pack these items to bring with you. That could be your favorite sweatshirt to change into, your favorite chocolate bar or tea from home, a playlist of happy songs that make you want to dance, essential oils or incense to cleanse the senses, and so on.
When summarizing the practices of using parts work for the actor, Michelle said, “It’s almost like working with yourself as if you were multiple people all at once. That’s a way you can support going into an experience that’s bringing up something that’s very hard for the actor, but also letting them know it’s going to be taken care of after, and that they’re going to be taken care of during.”
