Enactments in the Analytic Situation

As an emergent concept in contemporary psychoanalytic
theory, enactment refers to situations in which the
patient s transferential expectations in some way
have been or appear to have been actualized in a way
that involves the mutual contributions of both
patient and analyst. This study focuses on five
analysts identifications, experiences, and
understandings of one to two examples of enactments
in their work. Focus is placed on both understanding
how these enactments manifested as meaningful
expressions of the patients issues and upon
exploring the role potentially analysts themselves
played in participating in and in the emergence of
these situations. The results strongly suggest that
enactments and their being worked through can be
understood in terms corrective emotional experience
and, thus, are integral to the mutative process and
goals of analysis. The results also help elucidate
the subtle complexities in form (both symbolic and
real) and process enactments can take as well as
demonstrate the degree of symmetry that exists in the
mutual contributions to enactments.