Drama triangle

Hello everybody. Today my message is about the "drama triangle". (Credit to Dr Karpman)

The "Drama Triangle" is a social model of human interaction. The triangle highlights a type of destructive interaction that can be experienced when people are in a conflict situation. It is possible to be any of the three or all of the three types within the triangle.

1: The Persecutor: A critical, controlling, blaming, superior thinking human and attacker who keeps victims oppressed through buylling and threats. They are often resentful of rescuers as rescuing is seen as unappreciated.

2: The Victim: The victim feels powerless, helpless, hopeless and can have a feeling of shame and embarressment. They are poor problem solvers and decsion makers. The have poor insight and hope to be saved by the rescuer over and over and are drawn to the persecutor. They are overwhelmed by their own vulnerability.

3: The Rescuer/Saviour: They need to feel needed and are enablers to victims. They are soothing and often empathic. By helping victims to a point of trying to fix or change them it takes the focus off themselves.

These three types can be interchanged or one can be all three in the triangle. You will find this kind of situation occurring in your work place and personally. It is a repetitive pattern especially when emotional attachments comes in to play.

It is good to identify which of these types you see. By recognising which type you are in a situation you can correct the balance. Good boundaries and supportive understanding will help disolve this type of behaviour for yourself and others. All three of these types within the the triangle cause anxiety.

So often this “Drama Triangle” situation is experienced in your family with in-Laws. When one cannot take sides or form an alliance. Eg: Mother vs wife, brother vs sister in-law etc.