Embrace your inner Ziggy Stardust – the power of personas in therapy

Creating different personalities can be key to personal growth. We could all learn a lot from David Bowie

It's a commonplace that we are different people in different social roles - mother, worker, friend, lover. We put on a face to meet the faces that we meet. Creating new personas, or using ones from other settings, is important in order to flourish.

David Bowie's life is a powerful illustration of how we can be more conscious of which persona should be the host of the radio show, so to speak. Three of his aunts and his half-brother had mental health issues. Bowie's consequent fear of insanity stalked him during the years of his greatest creations, between 1969 and 1973. It suffused his lyrics and was expressed in his stage personas.