ABSTRACT
This chapter examines about Role Play. Role-playing is an important aspect of Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). A major use of role play in CBT is the application of countering. This used when clients have difficulty revealing key thoughts in their problematic relations with others. The therapist can play the person with whom the client experiences interpersonal difficulties. It is important that the therapist takes on the characteristics that the client ascribes to the other person if the role play is to have any verisimilitude For example: if the client says that a work colleague is rude and abrupt then the therapist should not play this person as polite and considerate as this will undermine the role play. In the following example, the therapist plays the role of the client's friend who is always critical of him and orders him around. The client wants to know why he puts up with such behaviour from his supposed friend.
