Midday  Connection     Anita  Lustrea,  Host  

Ray  and  Nancy  Kane   Rayandnancykane.com    

Drama  Pattern  Roles  and  Purposes  

Victim,  Persecutor,  Rescuer     We  all  want  to  have  meaningful  and  effective  relationships.  Yet  drama  seems  to  be   everywhere.  We  all  have  experienced  relationships  that  seem  to  carry  a  lot  of   emotional  stress.  Unresolved  pain  in  one’s  past  perpetuate  drama  patterns  that   elicit  from  others  certain  dysfunctional  responses.       The  Drama  Triangle  is  a  model  of  relationship  interaction  created  by  Dr.  Stephen   Karpman,  in  his  1968  article  "Fairy  Tales  and  Script  Drama  Analysis".    The  Drama   Triangle  involves  three  roles  –  a  Victim,  Persecutor  and  Rescuer.  The  covert  purpose   for  each  role  is  that  each  player  in  the  drama  gets  their  unspoken  emotional  needs   met  in  a  manner  they  feel  justified  without  having  to  take  their  personal   responsibility  for  their  part  in  the  broader  dysfunction.  As  such,  each  player  is   acting  upon  their  own  selfish  needs,  rather  than  acting  in  a  genuinely  responsible   or  altruistic  manner.       Drama  patterns  manifest  in  relationships  with  a  boss,  co-­‐worker,  spouse  and   children.  Drama  patterns  prevent  you  from  being  all  that  you  can  be  and  hampers   productivity,  drains  energy  and  meaning  out  of  relationships.     Characteristics  that  people  play  out  in  drama  patterns  include  the  following:       1.   Each  person  becomes  disconnected  from  true  intimacy  and  being  known  and     loved.     2.   Roles  are  implemented  in  order  to  distance  and  disconnect  from  each  other.     3.   Each  person  solves  to  feel  safe,  feel  important  and  falsely  empower     themselves.     4.   Each  person  will  perpetuate  patterns  of  being  stuck  in  lies.  They  will  blame     and  shame  others.  They  will  manipulate  and  perpetuate  crises.   5.   Each  person  will  lacks  empathy  towards  the  other  and  present  themselves  in     a  self-­‐absorbed  manner.   6.   Real  problem  solving  never  occurs  because  the  drama  is  more  important.     7.   Poor  or  nonexistent  boundaries  occurs  in  the  relationship.   8.   Each  person  finds  a  false  sense  of  identity  in  a  role  and  seeks  the  drama  to  fill     emptiness.     9.   They  will  tend  to  look  at  others  as  all  good  or  all  bad.     10.   Manipulators  love  drama  as  a  source  of  power  along  with  creating  confusion     and  upset  in  others.