The Acting-out; a Transfer Event

Abstract

Several remarks dealing with acting out come forth originated in clinical experience with children, adolescents and adults, the way it appears in different situations and the reply it stirs in the analyst. Acting out is a type of expression or body communication which appears at times of great anxiety which has not been mentally processed. It is more frequent in children who are developing their psychic apparatus, with their operational thought, with fewer chances of abstraction of symbolism which makes them act in a priviledged way in body action where action andacting are hard to tell apart. The analyst places himself before the child using his own words but his body and action are also requested to enable communication. The author reports similar circunstances of urgent demands of adolescents and adults which go beyond words due to impossibility of processing anxiety not tolerated mentally, and
the situation iii which the analyst is set facing them. The author questions if listening or verbal interpretation are enough In these cases in which possibilities to symbolize are limited, and would it be more profitable for analysis to thread through this acting using countertransference, facing the patient in its unconscious acting and leaving for a second thought the wordiness, for which symbol and metaphor availability are essential. Several clinical examples are reported from experience, in which the author thinks that some of this has already been used in action and reports her doubts on the matter.