Countertransference and enactment

Journal title PSICOANALISI
Author/s Antonio Pérez-Sánchez
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2026/1
Language Italian Pages 19 P. 85-103 File size 84 KB
DOI 10.3280/QUA2023-117008
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

This paper examines the relationship between countertransference and enactment, particularly in analytic situations in which primitive and psychotic levels of mental functioning become predominant. Enactment is understood not only as action replacing thought, but also as a disturbance in the analyst’s capacity to maintain the analytic function under the intense pressure of the patient’s projective identifications. In agreement with contemporary psychoanalytic thinking, the analyst’s enactment is viewed not simply as an obstacle or technical failure but, once recognized and analysed, as an indispensable tool for accessing primitive and non-representable levels of experience. Particular attention is given to what the author describes as “enactment by omission”: situations in which the analyst, faced with emotionally overwhelming conflicts in the patient, is unable sufficiently to recognize and interpret them, thereby contributing unconsciously to an escalating series of enactments in both patient and analyst. Detailed clinical material, including dreams of both patient and analyst, illustrates the oscillation between enactment, containment, and reparation, as well as the restoration of analytic thinking through the working-through of enactment.

Keywords: countertransference , Enactment , Enactment by omission , Analytic function, Projective identification, Reparation.

  1. Bion W.R. (1957). Differenziazione della personalità psicotica da quella non psicotica. In Second Thoughts (1967). Londra: Karnac Books, 1984.
  2. Bohleber W., Fonagy, P., Jiménez, J.P., Scarfone, D., Varvin, S., & Zysman, S. (2013). Verso un migliore utilizzo dei concetti psicoanalitici: un modello illustrato utilizzando il concetto di messa in atto. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 94: 501–530.
  3. Freud S. (1912). Raccomandazioni ai medici che praticano la psicoanalisi. In: S.E., vol.12, London: Hogart Press, pp. 109–120.
  4. International Psychoanalytical Association. Messa in atto. In: Inter-Regional Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. https://www.ipa.world/IPA/Encyclopedic_Dictionary
  5. Joseph B. (1999). Dall’Acting-Out all’Enactment. Citato in Bohleber W. et al. (2013). Verso un migliore utilizzo dei concetti psicoanalitici: un modello illustrato utilizzando il concetto di Enactment. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 94, 501–530.
  6. Joseph B. (2003). Etica e messa in atto. Psicoanalisi in Europa, 57: 147–153.
  7. Klein M. (1946). Notes on some schizoid mechanisms. In: The writings of Melanie Klein, vol. 3, London: Hogarth Press, 1987 (trad. it. Note su alcuni meccanismi schizoidi. In: Scritti di Melanie Klein, vol. 3, Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 1978).
  8. Money-Kyrle R. (1956). Controtrasferimento normale e alcune delle sue deviazioni. In: Meltzer D. & O’Shaughnessy E. (eds.). The Collected Papers of Roger Money-Kyrle. Perthshire: Clunie Press, 1978, pp. 330–342.
  9. Rey H. (1996). Principi universali della psicoanalisi nel trattamento dei pazienti psicotici e borderline. Londra: Free Associations Books, 1994.
  10. Rosenfeld H. (1971). A contribution to the psychopathology of psychotic states: The importance of the projective identification in the ego structure and in the object relations of the psychotic patient. In: Spillius E.B. (ed.), Melanie Klein Today: Developments in Theory and Practice. London: Routledge, 1988.
  11. Sandler J. (1976). Countertransference and role-responsiveness. International Review of Psychoanalysis, 3: 43–47.
  12. Steiner J. (2000). Contenimento, messa in atto e comunicazione. Rivista internazionale di psicoanalisi, 81, 2: 245–255. DOI: 10.1516/002075700159973
  13. Steiner J. (2006). Atti interpretativi e contesto analitico. Rivista internazionale Di Psicoanalisi, 87, 2: 315–320. DOI: 10.1516/F283-H4RJ-X1DT-GF3

Antonio Pérez-Sánchez, Controtrasfert ed enactment in "PSICOANALISI" 1/2026, pp 85-103, DOI: 10.3280/QUA2023-117008