the low oF enaCtive engagement Welcome to （法律制定的参与度低的欢迎）.pdf

ROBERT G ROSSMARK , Ph.D. the Flow oF enaCtive engagement Abstract. In this article, I offer a concept of therapeutic action that I call “the flow of enactive engagement.” I advance the idea that this flow of enactive engage- ment is the fulcrum of a contemporary psychoanalytic treatment, just as free as- sociation was once to classical psychoanalysis. Analyst and analysand live within the field of the treatment that is created by the two participants but is greater than the sum of its parts. Just as Freud saw free association as the road to psychoana- lytic cure and advised the analyst to not intrude on the analysand’s associations, I suggest that an unobtrusive Relational analyst can allow the process of the field to emerge and tell its own story. This approach is distinguished from the tradi- tional Relational/Interpersonal approach that sees the constant examination of the therapeutic interaction as the key to therapeutic action. I offer a brief vignette that captures the analytic benefits that accrue when the analyst allows the flow of enactive engagement to unfold. Keywords: Enactment, therapeutic action, free association, unobtrusive Relational analyst, the field, flow “The enactment is the interpretation” —Clifford Geertz (1972) HIS ARTICLE WILL ADVANCE THE IDEA that enactment can be re- Tgarded as a contemporary form of free association. Freud (1959b/ 1913) regarded free association as the key to a successful psychoanalytic process. Likewise, I conceptualize enactment as the key to the therapeu- tic action of a contemporary psychoanalysis. Freud recommended that the analysand say “everything that occurs to him without criticism or se- lection” (Freud, 1959a/1912, p. 112) and that the psychoanalyst should maintain a neutral position that allows these associations to flow freely without obstruction. Although we, as