Parasocial Relationships with Fictional Characters in Therapy

Author

Kathleen Gannon, Lesley UniversityFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-18-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MAE - Master of Arts in Expressive Therapies

Department

Expressive Therapies

Advisor

Elizabeth Kellogg

Abstract

Parasocial relationships are unrequited relationships with persons or characters that the admirer is unable to meet. These attachments are important to explore with a client in their therapeutic process, since there are many reasons why the client developed this relationship. This thesis is a literature review that examined academic and scholarly journals, as well as blogs, articles and websites created by people in fandoms of different medias. The topics that are explored in the literature review are: how parasocial relationships are developed, how parasocial relationships influence the creators’ art making, and how to integrate the client’s parasocial relationships into the therapeutic setting. Areas for further research is presented with parasocial relationships in mind, as many clients have this type of attachment to fictional characters. The glossary in Appendix A defines terms that may be used by clients with different parasocial relationships. Parasocial relationships are part of many different clients’ lives and can be an important topic to include in the therapeutic relationship.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Gannon, Kathleen, "Parasocial Relationships with Fictional Characters in Therapy" (2018). Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses. 77.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_theses/77