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Containment, enactment and communication.

J Steiner

    The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis
    |July 13, 2000
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    This study examines how primitive defense mechanisms disrupt patient communication, leading therapists to enact roles that, while impeding progress, reveal underlying personality structures and object relations. Understanding these enactments is key to comprehending psychic retreats.

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    Area of Science:

    • Psychology
    • Psychiatry
    • Psychoanalysis

    Background:

    • Communication in psychotherapy can be disrupted by primitive defense mechanisms.
    • Patients may exhibit fragmented thinking or dissociation between affect and language.

    Observation:

    • Therapists may be drawn into enactments, attempting to "fix" communication deficits.
    • These enactments can interfere with containment and understanding.
    • Enactments offer insight into patients' desired object relations.

    Findings:

    • Patient-therapist interactions can become psychic retreats, hindering development.
    • Therapist's internal state reflects patient's unmanageable affects.
    • Recognizing the therapist's enacted role illuminates the nature of the psychic retreat.

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    Implications:

    • Understanding enactments is crucial for analyzing pathological personality organization.
    • Therapeutic interventions must address the function of psychic retreats.
    • This dynamic offers a pathway to understanding and potentially modifying personality structures.