Enactment and Dissociation: A Retrospective Journey Applying Relational Theory

Abstract

Relational theory was not yet an endorsed psychoanalytic model 30 years ago. This composite case identifies a process of struggling with a classical theory education that collided with the then young analyst’s immediate clinical experience. Ambivalence about the best therapeutic course contributed to delays and enactments, and ultimately to effective interventions. This article describes the clinical growth process of the analyst progressing toward integrating aspects of what now would be mainstream relational technique. This shift was necessary to bring into open clinical discourse the dissociated self-state experiences and enactments that were paralyzing patient and analyst. The here-and-now interpersonal exchange, including identifying transference and countertransference, allows conflicts and developmental gaps to be clarified; their significance then worked to accelerate self-cohesion and self-esteem. Selective self-disclosure, authentic engagement, and self-recognition in dialogue, which would now be embraced by relational theory, are presented here as the analyst’s and the composite patient’s journey toward a core sense of self that had been sacrificed to dependence on external authority.