ABSTRACT
Like the corrective emotional experience (CEE), interpretation through action (IA) is experiential in its emphasis, and also like the CEE, can lead to, or be accompanied by insight as well. With greater refinement of the meaning and use of IA could also come a greater willingness amongst analysts to consider the legitimacy of this kind of intervention. IA can have particularly important clinical utility, in that it can take the form of either a therapeutic stance or of a specific intervention. Actions without specific clinical intent on the part of the therapist should not fall under the purview of technique. By contrast, IA does require an intention. The Vanderbilt psychotherapy research group, led by Strupp and Binder reached the same conclusions that Alexander and French had over years earlier: that patients need from therapists both a new understanding and a new experience in order to change.
