First Advisor

Rebecca Davis

Date of Award

Spring 6-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Psychology and University Honors

Department

Psychology

Language

English

Subjects

Mental Health, Acting Impacts, Pretend Play, Role-Play, Drama Therapy

DOI

10.15760/honors.1718

Abstract

Acting has been a profession since before 400 BCE, and still is to this day through theater, television shows, movies, voice acting, and more. While studies consider the impact of acting on the audience, there are significant gaps of information for the psychological impacts this profession has. This thesis conducts a literature review of topics such as pretend play, role-play, drama therapy, and acting, to examine what is known about the topic, and a thematic analysis of fifteen publicly available interviews with a total of twenty-two actors to investigate what is known of the experience of actors. Six themes highlighted include getting into character, short and long-term impacts, social bonds, self-care, and safety concerns. Overall, we can see that the profession of acting seems to have an impact on the mental health of actors, with further research being required to investigate what variables have the most impact and why.

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43825

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