Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
GROUPANALYSIS
XVII/3 (1984) 195-203
GROUP ANALYSIS
patient on the couch, for example, may be a woman who suddenly has an urge
to get up and dance, or talk to her husband whom she suspects of being
disloyal to her, or, ridden by a feeling of guilt, she may want to kneel down
and say a prayer (p ix).
Psychodramatic definitions of acting out include the following:
1. Living out, enactment through motor means;
2. Abreaction (ventilation of feelings);
GROUP ANALYSIS
Action-Terminology
The use of an action-terminology can replace the term acting out in a
beneficial way. For the purposes of psychological describing, I suggest
translating the above mentioned components of acting out into the following
new action-terminology: (1) counter-action (resistance), (2) abreaction
(ventilation), (3) communicative action (expression), and (4) repetitive action
(re-living in the transference) and that we refrain from using the multifaceted
199
GROUP ANALYSIS
Exampla
The following examples from group sessions illustrate my argument:
Let us consider the situation in which one patient gives the therapist a kiss.
Is this acting out? If so, when is the kiss constructive and when is it
destructive to the progress of therapy? It would be meaningless to say that this
is acting out for the word acting out is a blank that may be filled in with any
meaning the speaker or listener desires. The meaning of the kiss may be better
analyzed in terms of the four basic aspects described above. In this light, the
kiss may be understood as any or all of the following: (1) As a counter-action
it may be an attempt to seduce the therapist, with the patient refusing to
examine o r allow the group to examine the meaning of the action. As such, it
is destructive to the progress of therapy and if possible, should be minimized.
(2) As an abreaction it may be an affective discharge of pent-up erotic feelings
towards the therapist. Abreaction and catharsis are important to the group
therapeutic process. However, they are only partial processes and must be
complemented by other factors (Kellermann, 1984). (3) As a communication
the kiss may convey affection. With the inclusion of verbal as well as nonverbal expressions, communications are vital to the progress of therapy. (4)
As a repetition the kiss may represent a false connection between the therapist
and a person the patient had wanted to kiss years before, a re-enactment of a
kiss given in the past, or an experimental recollection, a primitive mode of
reconstruction (Ekstein and Friedman, 1957). Repetitive actions, or
actualizations in the transference, are generally considered to be indispensable
ingredients in psychotherapy.
The second example illustrates a case in which something happening outside a psychotherapeutic setting is a reaction to a situation prevalent within
the setting.
200
GROUP ANALYSIS
202
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