Being Oneself or Exploring Other Selves?

A comparison of RfG (ES-P and Proxy Scenes) with Kelly’s Fixed Role Therapy

Daniel J. Wiener, PhD, RDT-BCT

July, 2025

In RfG, unlike therapies that help clients discover “who they are,” clients are invited to explore “whom else they can be.”  Three features of such explorations of identity in RfG are:

1. The foundational RfG technique, whereby therapists offer clients scenarios to be enacted in the playspace—clients then assume fictional personae and roles, playing characters improvisationally, usually in brief scenes.
2. Proxy Scenes, in which the therapist constructs a scenario (or a sequence of scenarios) in such a way that already-identified obstacles to growth are confronted during the subsequent enactments. Growth results from these encounters when clients are challenged to respond to the strategically-selected characters and dramatic conditions offered.
3. Emergent Sub-Personalities (ES-Ps), which are recognizable, enduring character features that emerge spontaneously from the enacting of multiple scenarios. ES-Ps are recognized a client creates/develops/uses a distinctive character that displays traits, personality features and dynamics that are both different in some respects from the habitual ones shown and used in previous enactments; and persistent—that is, they recur as recognizable characters/features that emerge when that player subsequently performs in different scenes. When first developing, ES-Ps range from a fleeting, isolated mannerism to full characters; when re-encountered in subsequent enactments, they usually expand in detail and complexity, particularly once the client-player’s awareness is focused upon them.

This Blog focuses on a comparison of these three RfG features with a prominent but lesser-known therapeutic approach, Fixed Role Therapy (FRT), developed over seventy-five years ago by the American psychologist George Kelly.^[i]

Description of Fixed Role Therapy (FRT)

Fixed role therapy (FRT) is a procedure whereby a client is invited to assume an identity other than his or her own for approximately a 2-week period of time in order to have a chance to experience the world differently. The client and therapist first collaborate to construct elements of an alternative identity so that the client “becomes someone else” for a short period of time. Clients are asked to approach the world as if they were a different type of person, just to see what that altered perspective may provide.

Goals of FRT

The main FRT goals are to enhance clients’ self-awareness, improve their interpersonal skills, and assist them to develop a stronger sense of identity.

FRT clients thus recognize that it is possible to change, rather than just finding some immediate solution to their presenting problem.

Fixed Role therapists view the FRT technique as a way to shock clients into a temporary new mode of thinking, expanding their perspectives and opening them up to alternate ways of behaving. From the perspective afforded by enacting a different role, the world appears to change due to the different perspectives implied by the role.

Characteristics of the Role in FRT

Fixed Role Therapy typically takes place in a carefully guided and structured group setting, facilitated by a trained therapist. Therapists assign clients roles that:

1. –intentionally contrast with their usual identities, so that normal life and the role do not merge, which might make it difficult for the client to reflect upon the feelings of engaging in a new role.  (for example, a shy individual might be assigned the role of a confident public speaker, encouraging them to channel and explore a different aspect of their personality).
2. –are not an ideal person. Kelly wrote, “Our thinking was that we would not devise the fixed-role sketch to correct all the client’s faults; rather, we would attempt to mobilize his resources. We looked for features in his self-characterization sketch which might be generalized and put to good use.”
3. –that create notable new experiences and feelings for the client that the client and therapist can examine in their following sessions.

 

The Protective Mask

Throughout FRT, the therapist reminds the client continually that the role is purely make believe (the “protective mask”).  The enacted role does not contain a hidden agenda to re-create the client as the character in the role play but simply expands the client’s abilities to perceive different roles, and gain confidence in acting in different ways, not necessarily in duplicating the character traits of the role.

Comparing role assignment by the therapist in FRT with ES-Ps that may emerge from RfG improv enactments

As noted above, FRT therapists assign specific, structured roles to their clients, guiding them to step into a predefined identity to explore alternative perspectives and behaviors. This deliberate role assignment is designed to challenge habitual self-concepts and encourage cognitive and behavioral flexibility. In contrast, Emergent Sub-Personalities (ES-Ps) in RfG practice arise spontaneously through improvisational enactments. Rather than being prescribed by the therapist, these sub-personalities emerge organically as clients engage in playful exploration, revealing latent or underdeveloped aspects of their identities. Whereas FRT offers a controlled shift in self-perception, RfG fosters discovery through unscripted role-playing, allowing for a more fluid and intuitive self-exploration.

Comparing FRT and RfG procedures

Both Fixed Role Therapy (FRT) and Rehearsals for Growth (RfG) use structured role-playing to facilitate personal growth and self-exploration, but their procedures differ in emphasis and execution. In FRT, the therapist carefully designs a Fixed Role Sketch that the client assumes for a set period, typically outside of therapy sessions, encouraging them to embody new behaviors and perspectives in daily life. This structured process includes role formulation, enactment, and reflection with the therapist. RfG enactments, on the other hand, occur within the therapy session and rely on improvisational exercises where clients spontaneously explore different roles and interactions in a dynamic and playful manner. Though both approaches use performance as a tool for self-exploration, FRT follows an initially-scripted transformation, whereas RfG fosters emergent, in-the-moment discovery through improvisation.

Contrasting the practice of FRT with the uses of RfG Proxy Scenes

Though Fixed Role Therapy (FRT) and Rehearsals for Growth (RfG) Proxy Scenes both use role-playing as a means of psychological exploration, they differ in structure and application. FRT assigns clients a consistent role to inhabit for an extended period, outside therapy sessions, encouraging them to explore a new identity in various real-world contexts. This structured approach allows for deep immersion in an alternative perspective. In contrast, RfG Proxy Scenes occur within therapy sessions and involve clients enacting roles related to personal or relational dynamics in a more immediate and flexible way. Proxy Scenes allow for real-time feedback, therapist guidance, and a fluid adaptation of roles, while FRT provides a prolonged, immersive experience where the client independently integrates the role into daily life. Ultimately, FRT emphasizes extended identity exploration, while RfG Proxy Scenes facilitate in-the-moment relational and emotional insights.

Contrasting  the uses of role-play in FRT with RfG

Role-play in FRT and RfG serve different therapeutic purposes, operating under different methodologies. In FRT, role-play is structured and long-term, with clients assuming a prescribed role designed by the therapist, typically lasting days or weeks. This extended enactment encourages cognitive shifts and self-exploration through continuous practice. In contrast, RfG utilizes spontaneous, short-term role-play through improvisational games and exercises conducted within therapy sessions. RfG emphasizes flexibility, creativity, and real-time discovery, allowing clients to experiment with different ways of interacting without a predefined script. While FRT fosters gradual transformation through sustained role immersion, RfG provides immediate experiential learning and emotional insight through dynamic play and improvisation.

Contrasting the uses of fantasy/playspace between FRT and RfG

In FRT, clients are invited to assume a fictional identity that has first been chosen through a collaborative between client and therapist and then enacted in an immersive, real-life context outside of therapy. Thus, the lived experience of a client going through everyday life while role-playing a character requires that role-playing client to deal with actual life challenges in a realistic manner, thus relying on Survival Mind skills.

By contrast, RfG clients take on roles in a fictional context in which the outcomes of one’s choices are neither predictable (i.e., bound by realistic expectations) nor consequential (the dramatic frame is dissolved at the conclusion of the relatively brief enactment, so the fantasy-world evaporates at the enactment’s conclusion). Consequently, choices made when in character may be made within an Adventure Mind frame.

Conclusion

The boundaries of our ordinary social identity are continually being reinforced by our enactment of habitual roles and associated internalized prompts. This process operates largely outside of our conscious awareness. In both FRT and RfG, by contrast, we enter and explore roles in the playspace, weakening the constraints of self-conscious authenticity. We then allow ourselves the freedom to depart from such constraints, permitting us to discover, learn and grow.

 

[i] Kelly acknowledged the influence of J.L. Moreno in developing FRT.