ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the therapist’s subtext—their non-verbalized reactions to clients, which can be read in their eyes and facial expressions. As clinical performers, therapists can practice awareness of their subtext and even learn to make conscious use of it, the way actors do. For screen actors in particular, the art of employing subtext is one of their most necessary skills. Actors who play for the camera must be aware of how their idiomatic reactions, feelings, and thoughts register, even subtly, on their faces. In the actors’ medium, much of the story is told through subtext. While their mouths utter a few dry lines, their eyes express something far more evocative, perhaps even the complete opposite of the words they speak (e.g., When a therapist says, “Tell me about your question?” with their mouth, and how DARE you ask what I’m thinking?! with their eyes). This chapter suggests that therapists benefit from thinking like screen actors. Especially when they want to respond to questions of the, “What’s up with your face?” variety with ease and presence of mind.
