Table Of ContentENACTMENT
THE LIBRARY OF CIJNICAL PSYCHOANALYSIS
A Series of Books Edited By
Steven J. Elhnan
Freud's Technique Papers: A Contempomry Perspective
Steven J. Ellman
In Search of the Real: 7be Origins and Originali~y
q( D. W. Winnicott
Dodi Goldman
In One's Bones: The Clinical Genius q( Wimzicott
Dodi Goldman, Editor
The Language of Perversion and the Language of Love
Sheldon Bach
Omnipotent Fantasies and the Vulnerable Self
Carolyn S. Ellman and Joseph Reppen, Editors
The Neurobiological and Developmental Basis for
Psychotherapeutic Intervention
Michael Moskowitz, Catherine Monk, Carol Kaye,
and Steven]. Ellman, Editors
Enactment: Toward a New Approach to the
Therapeutic Relationship
Steven]. Ellman and Michael Moskowitz, Editors
ENACTMENT
Toward a New Approach to the
Therapeutic Relationship
Edited by
Steven J. Ellman, Ph.D.
Michael Moskowitz, Ph.D.
JASON ARONSON INC.
Northvale, New Jersey
London
This book was set in 10 pt. Cheltenham by Alpha Graphics of Pittsfield, NH, and printed and
bound by Book-mart Press of North Bergen, NJ.
Copyright© 1998 by Jason Aronson Inc.
10 9 8 7 6 54 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission from Jason Aronson Inc. except in the case of btief quotations in
reviews for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Enactment : toward a new approach to the therapeutic relationship f
Steven J. Ellman, Michael Moskowitz, editors.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-1-56821-584-6
I. Acting out (Psychology) 2. Psychotherapist and patient.
3. Psychotherapy. 4. Transference (Psychology)
5. Countertransference (Psychology) I. Ellman, Steven J.
II. Moskowitz, Michael.
RC489.A34E52 1998
616.89'17-DC21 97-45933
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper. For information and catalog write to
Jason Aronson Inc., 230 Livingston Street, Northvale, NJ 07647-1731. Or visit our website: http:/
jwww.aronson.com
Contents
Editors and Contributors vii
Introduction xi
Steven J. Ellman
Michael Moskowitz
1 Freud's Struggle with Enactment 1
Steven J. Ellman
2 General Problems of Acting Out 19
Phyllis Greenacre
3 Countertranference and Role-Responsiveness 29
Joseph Sandler
4 Acting Out: A Reconsideration of the Concept 37
DaleBoesky
5 On Countertransference Enactments 63
Theodore J. Jacobs
6 Clinical and Theoretical Aspects of Enactment 77
James T McLaughlin
7 The Evocative Power of Enactments 93
Judith Finger! Chused
vi Contents
8 The Role of Countertransference Enactment
in a Successful Clinical Psychoanalysis 111
OwenRenik
9 Between the Scylla and Charybdis of
Psychoanalytic Interaction: A Discussion of
Owen Renik's Chapter 129
Stanley Grand
10 Enactment: What Is It and Whose Is It? 139
Harriet I. Basseches
11 Is Enactment a Useful Concept? 149
Paula L. Ellman
12 Enactments Leading to Insight for Patient,
Therapist, and Supervisor 157
Fonya Lord Helm
13 The Fixity of Action in Character Enactments:
Finding a Developmental Regression 169
Nancy R. Goodman
14 Enactment, Transference, and Analytic Trust 183
Steven J. Ellman
Credits 205
Index 207
Editors and Contributors
Harriet I. Basseches, Ph.D., is President, Executive Board of the New York
Freudian Society. Co-chair of the Executive Board of the Confederation of In
dependent Psychoanalytic Societies of North America (IPS), she is also Asso
ciate Clinical Professor of Psychology at the George Washington University
Psy.D. Program in Clinical Psychology. She has a private practice of psycho
analysis and psychotherapy in Washington, DC.
Dale Boesky, M.D., is Training and Supervising Analyst at the Michigan Psy
choanalytic Institute and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Wayne
State University School of Medicine. A frequent presenter at the American
Psychoanalytic Association, he is former Editor-in-Chief of Psychoanalytic
Quarterly and served on the editorial board of the International Journal of
Psycho-Analysis.
Judith Fingert Chused, M.D., is Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at
the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, as well as Clinical Professor of Psy
chiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the
George Washington University School of Medicine. She is on the editorial board
of the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis and Psychoanalytic Quarterly,
and is an editorial reader for the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Asso
ciation and Psychiatry.
Paula L. Ellman, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist-psychoanalyst in private
practice in Rockville, MD. She is a member of the New York Freudian Society
and a graduate of its Washington, DC Program. Assistant Clinical Professor of
Psychology at George Washington University Psy.D. Program in Clinical Psy
chology, she is on the faculty of the Washington School of Psychiatry where
she supervises and teaches.
viii Editors and Contributors
Steven J. Ellman, Ph.D., is Past Co-Chair of the Independent Psychoanalytic
Societies. He is Past President and Program Chair of the Institute for Psycho
analytic Training and Research (IPT AR) in New York City, Professor in the Doc
toral Program in Clinical Psychology at the City University of New York, and
faculty member and supervisor in the New York University Postdoctoral Pro
gram in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. His books include Freud's Tech
nique Papers: A Contemporary Perspective and The Mind in Sleep.
Nancy R. Goodman, Ph.D., is a psychologist-psychoanalyst in private prac
tice in Bethesda, MD. A member of the New York Freudian Society, having
graduated from its Washington, DC program, she teaches and supervises in
various programs including the Washington School of Psychiatry and George
Washington University. Dr. Goodman researches and writes on psychoanalytic
listening, Holocaust trauma, and female development.
Stanley Grand, Ph.D., practices psychoanalysis in New York City. He is a Fel
low and Past President of IPT AR. He is also Training and Control Analyst at
the New York Freudian Society and Supervising Analyst at the New York Uni
versity Postdoctoral Program. Dr. Grand is Professor Emeritus at The Health
Sciences Center, S.U.N.Y., Downstate.
Phyllis Greenacre, M.D. (1894-1989), served as President of the New York Psy
choanalytic Institute where for many years she was Training and Supervising
Analyst. She was Director of the outpatient clinic at the Payne Whitney Psychi
atric Hospital and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell University Medical
College. She also served as President of the American Psychoanalytic Associa
tion. Her many publications include the classics Emotional Growth: Psychoana
lytic Studies of the Gifted and a Great Variety of Other Individuals and Trauma,
Growth, and Personality.
Fonya Lord Helm, Ph.D., is a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist practic
ing in Cabin John, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC. She is Assistant Clinical
Professor of Psychology at George Washington University and Instructor at the
New York Freudian Society's Washington, DC training program in psychoanaly
sis. Currently a faculty member of the Washington School of Psychiatry, Dr. Helm
for ten years was Chair of the Dynamics of Psychotherapy Training Program.
Theodore J. Jacobs, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein
College of Medicine. He is Training and Supervising Analyst at the New York
Psychoanalytic Institute and the Psychoanalytic Institute at New York Univer
sity, and also President of the Association for Child Psychoanalysis.
Editors and Contributors ix
James T. McLaughlin, M.D., is Training and Supervising Analyst at the Pitts
burgh Psychoanalytic Institute. He is Clinical Associate Professor Emeritus
of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, as well as
current or former editorial board member of Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Jour
nal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the International Journal
of Psycho-Analysis.
Michael Moskowitz, Ph.D., is a publisher at Jason Aronson Inc., and Adjunct
Associate Professor in the City University of New York Clinical Psychology
Program. He is co-editor (with RoseMarie Perez and Rafael Art. Javier) of
Reaching Across Boundaries of Culture and Class: Widening the Scope of Psy
chotherapy and (with Catherine Monk, Carol Kaye, and Steven Ellman) of The
Neurobiological and Developmental Basis for Psychotherapeutic Intervention.
Dr. Moskowitz is a member of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training andRe
search (IPTAR) and in private practice in New York City.
Owen Renik, M.D., is Training and Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco
Psychoanalytic Institute. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Psychoanalytic Quar
terly, Chair of the Program Committee of the American Psychoanalytic Asso
ciation, and former Secretary of the Board on Professional Standards of the
American Psychoanalytic Association.
Joseph Sandler, M.D., is Training and Supervising Analyst in the British
Psychoanalytical Society and former President of the International Psycho
analytical Association and the European Psychoanalytical Federation. He has
published numerous papers and books on psychoanalysis and allied topics,
most recently What Do Psychoanalysts Want?: The Problem of Aims in Psycho
analytic Therapy( with Anna Ursula Dreher) and Freud's Model of the Mind: An
Introduction (with Alex Holder, Christopher Dare, and Dreher). In 1995 he was
awarded the Sigourney Prize for outstanding contributions to psychoanalysis.
