The flow of enactive engagement

The author explores the idea that enactment can be regarded as a contemporary form of free association. He conceptualizes enactment as the key to the therapeutic action of a contemporary psychoanalysis. The author recasts free association as enactment that happens in psychoanalysis and fully involves both analyst and patient. He suggests that the advancement of the treatment process is best helped when the analyst recognizes the power of this emergent field or relationship and his or her role in it, and maintains an unobtrusive position in regard to that field's development. The author borrows from the work of British independents such as Winnicott and Enid and Michael Balint in describing the stance of the "unobtrusive Relational analyst" () to flesh out this position. He suggests that the analyst not impede or obstruct the emergence of the flow of enactive engagement. The author examines that the flow of enactive engagement evokes the involvement of both analyst and analysand.