ABSTRACT
Close links This chapter is concerned with the close links between separation anxiety and acting out. I should point out that I am here using the term ‘acting out’ in its original sense, as defined by Laplanche and Pontalis (1967:4), without distinguishing between acting in and acting out as some authors have done. While there is a relatively substantial body of psychoanalytic literature on the various aspects of acting out, contributions on acting out as a manifestation of separation anxiety are far less numerous considering how common this phenomenon is. This is surprising, as clinical experience shows that the frequency of acting out increases particularly at the time of between-session, weekend and holiday breaks, and especially in the event of an unforeseen interruption such as a missed session.
