University of Michigan researchers found improvisational theater classes improve anxiety symptoms and lessen uncertainty intolerance in adolescents in a February study. The new study focused on students enrolled in improv classes through the Detroit Creativity Project, is the third installment of a series — including previous installments published in 2019 and 2020 — investigating the link between improv and improvements in anxiety symptoms.
February’s study was the last paper of a three-part dissertation written by Peter Felsman for his Ph.D. at the University. U-M psychology professor Colleen Seifert, statistician senior Brandy Sinco and Joseph Himle, professor of social work and psychiatry, also contributed to the study.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Felsman said the new study’s focus on uncertainty intolerance — negative beliefs about uncertainty and negative reactions to uncertain situations — in the context of the real world sets it apart from the other installments of the dissertation. This study examines whether uncertainty intolerance and anxiety levels are correlated in a real-world improv situation.
“In the real world, this intolerance of uncertainty proposed mechanism seems to hold up,” Felsman said. “And that is really cool. So (for) people who don’t show up to improv with a high degree of social anxiety, but maybe they’re feeling depressed — learning to embrace uncertainty can be helpful to them.”
The Detroit Creativity Project works to bring improv classes directly to the schools of students in Detroit and neighboring cities. Seifert told The Daily the project was a good topic for their study because of its aim to bring improv to students who likely hadn’t had access to improv classes before.
“(Detroit Public Schools) is an area where it’s really low resource,” Seifert said. “ … So the brilliance of the Detroit Project’s plan is it’s right in the school classroom. … You just sign up for it if you want it. So it’s very accessible.”
The researchers asked study participants to take a survey screening for mental health issues both before and after taking an improv course. Seifert said though this approach allowed all students who wanted to participate in improv to take the class, this approach made it more difficult to determine causation.
“We didn’t want to deny anybody improv … so what we went to is called an A/B test,” Seifert said. “So you test them before they have the intervention, and you test them afterwards. And so you can’t claim that the intervention caused (decreased anxiety or uncertainty intolerance) because you don’t have a control group to see that it didn’t happen in that control group. Instead, what you do is infer a correlation.”
The survey consisted of 11 questions assessing social anxiety, uncertainty intolerance and social self-efficacy — one’s confidence in their ability to navigate social situations. The study showed decreases in both social anxiety and uncertainty intolerance after participating in the course, as well as a correlation between the two. The researchers conclude from these results that engaging in improv exercises decreases uncertainty intolerance, and that a decrease in uncertainty intolerance is associated with a subsequent decrease in social anxiety.
According to Felsman, facing situations that are unpredictable — such as those found in improv — can help people gain a more positive outlook on the prospect of uncertainty.
“Engaging repeatedly in the unknown in this fun and playful way would teach people that there’s something nice to be discovered in the unknown,” Felsman said. “It’s not always a terrifying thing.”
LSA senior Cassie Bergen is co-president of Midnight Book Club, an improv comedy group on campus. She spoke with The Daily about how she learned to deal with unpredictability by repeatedly facing uncertain situations with people she trusts in the group.
“In practice, you do this over and over again,” Bergen said. “You go into this uncertain situation with support over and over again (and) you learn that, okay, yeah, I can do this. Yeah, I can face uncertainty and be okay.”
Music, Theater & Dance senior Paul Legallet, the other co-president of Midnight Book Club, noted in an interview with The Daily that being able to live in the moment is not only essential to doing improv, but also helpful for improving mental health.
“To be really good at improv is to live in the moment you know, respond naturally to everything around you and being present,” Legallet said. “And if there’s one thing that eases anxiety or anything like that (such as) social anxiety, it’s just kind of putting yourself in the present moment.”
LSA senior Lelia Darmer, member of Midnight Book Club, also told The Daily living in the moment is a mental health benefit of improv.
“You’re really hanging on to every word, which forces you to be present in a way that’s really helpful for me, because maybe I’m thinking about something in the back of my mind, but then I’m in a scene and suddenly that’s all I’m thinking about,” Dormer said. “I’m so consumed by it. So it’s really helpful to kind of (reorient myself in the present) and to get out of my own head and really just be in a moment.”
Seifert noted how students in the study reported they felt more present as they got to know each other over the course of the improv class.
“It wasn’t like they were all fast friends,” Seifert said. “But you could see that they felt more present as a person, that they felt confident that they could play their role and (have it) go well. That’s really what I think you get out of improving.”
In addressing the advantages of engaging in improv courses over traditional therapy, Felsman said improv carries less stigma and is often more accessible. Felsman emphasized, however, that he believes the stigma around therapy should change.
“There’s way, way less stigma (surrounding improv) historically than with mental health treatment,” Felsman said. “I also don’t want to embrace that (stigma). Hopefully, there will be no stigma with traditional mental health treatment and this will be more just another option.”
Daily News Contributor Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.