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Stewart and Joines (1987) suggested this unconscious process was
usually learnt in the family.
In the persecutor role acting as an attacker or in an aggressive way, they
put others down or belittle them giving an implicit message that the other is
out of order. The rescuer offers help and this is often done not from an
equal positioning but from a one up position, seeing others as ‗not ok‘.
When the switch comes the rescuer feels hard done by; ‗I was only trying
to help‘. The victim invites others to help him/her using a ‗poor me‘
invitation because this person feels that he/she is ‗not ok‘. When the
switch happens for example, the victim may feel the person helping them
isn‘t good enough i.e. switching to persecutor role, that person is then
likely to verbally attack the rescuer. The original persecutor will then move
into victim role feeling ‗poor me‘, and ‗hard done by‘.
Sometimes referred to as racket feelings, one of the purposes of this game
is to block the honest expression of emotions by re-experiencing emotions
that are familiar from the past so that intimacy, collaboration and shared
meaning is not experienced (Bagshaw 2000). It is proposed that these
feelings are safer as they are familiar and that this is an unconscious
process (Berne 1975). I found this theory sometimes helped students on
my reflective practice modules or work-based learning modules, gain a
different insight into their practice. I noticed in nurses‘ stories that, rather
than caring for patients, they were sometimes inclined to rescue them, and
would feel really bad about a situation i.e. feel hard done by as a victim or
feel persecuted. The patient or colleague would present as a victim,
unconsciously inviting the nurse to make everything better for them, i.e.
rescue them. In the interactions of this game a person is always left feeling
hard done by; ‗I was only trying to help‘. Drawing attention to the effects of
The Drama Triangle game seemed to support nurses by encouraging
them to see that there is a fine line between caring for someone and
rescuing them. Blaming someone as a way of avoiding ones own
responsibility may potentially unconsciously invite the game to take place.
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