Psychodynamic Therapy: An Overview for Trainees and Their Teachers: Part 3-Enactment, Interpretation, and “Being With”

J Psychiatr Pract. 2025 Nov 1;31(6):329-332. doi: 10.1097/PRA.0000000000000888.

ABSTRACT

This column completes a 3-part series offering an overview of psychodynamic therapy for trainees and their teachers seeking an accessible summary of key theoretical and technical elements. In a sense, this series is a quick start guide to psychodynamic therapy. This third column in the series summarizes the concept of projective identification, explains how projective identification contributes to the phenomenon of enactment, and addresses the importance of learning to detect, analyze, and utilize enactments. It also addresses the tension between making the unconscious conscious and “being with” patients in psychodynamic therapy. Finally, this column offers comments on how to put together and utilize all of the elements provided in this series.

PMID:41325177 | DOI:10.1097/PRA.0000000000000888