ABSTRACT

Enaction, a concept introduced by Serge Lebovici, arises from the strong emotion felt by the analyst in his body at a certain moment in the consultation. Emotion and bodily sensations thus become a source of new representations. What is involved is a controlled action of the analyst's body, where the idea, thus thinking, is a-corporated. A passage from the body towards the psyche thus occurs in the analyst, which differentiates enaction — even though it involves a physical movement. Indeed, there is no short-circuit of the capacities for representation. Enaction is an action of language with bodily roots. In English, the verb “to enact” belongs to legal vocabulary, where it means to promulgate a law. However, it also used in the theatrical register, where it means to “represent”, to “play a role”. It was in the course of his practice of parent/baby consultations that Lebovici was led to develop this concept.