"Acting in" is a psychological term which has been given various meanings over the years, but which is most generally used in opposition to
acting out to cover conflicts which are brought to life inside therapy, as opposed to outside.
One commentator, noting the variety of usages, points out that it is often "unclear whether 'in' refers to the internalization ''into'' the personality, to the growth in ''in''sight, or to the acting with''in'' the session".
Patients
With respect to patients, the term 'acting in' has been used to refer to the process of a client/patient bringing an issue from outside the therapy into the analytic situation, and acting upon it there.
The therapist is advised to respond to the issue immediately to prevent further and more disruptive acting in.
Hanna Segal
Hanna Segal (born Hanna Poznańska; 20 August 1918 – 5 July 2011) was a British psychoanalyst of Polish descent and a follower of Melanie Klein. She was president of the British Psychoanalytical Society, vice-president of the International P ...
distinguished positive acting in from destructive acting in - both being aimed however at affecting the analyst's state of mind, whether to communicate or to confuse.
Posture
The term was used in 1957 by
Meyer A. Zeligs to refer specifically to the postures taken by analysts in a psychoanalytic session.
Therapists
Psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
also describes as 'acting in' the process whereby the analyst brings his or her personal
countertransference
Countertransference, in psychotherapy, refers to a therapist's redirection of feelings towards a patient or becoming emotionally entangled with them. This concept is central to the understanding of therapeutic dynamics in psychotherapy.
Early ...
into the analytic situation - as opposed to the converse, the acting out of the patient's
transference
Transference () is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which repetitions of old feelings, attitudes, desires, or fantasies that someone displaces are subconsciously projected onto a here-and-now person. Traditionally, it had solely co ...
.
The result is generally agreed to produce a chaotic analytic situation which hampers therapeutic progress.
The term was used rather differently however by
Carl Whitaker in the 1960s, so as to refer to the technique whereby therapists increase their involvement in a session in such a way as to ramp up the patient's
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...
for therapeutic ends.
[G. Connell et al, ''Reshaping Family Relationships: The Symbolic Therapy of Carl Whitaker'' () p. 101]
See also
References
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Further reading
* Adam Blatner, ''Acting in'' (1996)
* Patrick Carnes, ''Don't Call It Love'' (1991)
* L. E. Abt/S. L. Weissman, ''Acting out'' (1996)
External links
Sophie de Mijolla-Mellor, 'Acting out/Acting in'
Psychotherapy