ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author describes enactments in the countertransference, spanning fantasies, actions, words, and sexual responses to patients. The origins and reverberations of the analyst’s enactments are explored in an effort to understand whether they have obstructed progress or created special moments in the therapy where shifts in the patients’ inner world, or further understanding on the part of the analyst, could occur. The author illustrates her themes with clinical vignettes from work with several patients, although she focuses mainly on work with patients who present with hysterical personality. She examines the role of rescue fantasies in the creation of an enactment. She shows what has probably been stated many times before: an enactment is jointly created by the unconscious of patient and analyst. what has probably been stated many times before: an enactment is jointly created by the unconscious of patient and analyst.