ABSTRACT
The enactment is meant to bring the story of our clients’ pathology into the presence not only to witness it as it happens, but also to experience it. Structural family therapists did so through what they labeled the enactment. If the enactment is not fully spontaneous, the therapist may help it along by signaling a client to respond directly to the other family member and what was said instead of responding to the therapist, thus prompting them to continue the interaction between them as they would normally do at home. Therapists’ emotional connection to the process will influence boundaries, patterns, and affective tones among members of the family during the enactment. Therapists also need to be self-aware of how they are influencing what is taking place among family members. Therapists must view themselves as personally part of the system that is activated in the enactment.
