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acting out

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.
acting out /act·ing out/ (ak´ting out) the expression of unconscious feelings and fantasies in behavior; reacting to present situations as if they were the original situation that gave rise to the feelings and fantasies.
acting out,
the expression of intrapsychic conflict or painful emotion through overt behavior that is usually pathologic, defensive, and unconscious and that may be destructive or dangerous. In controlled situations such as psychodrama, Gestalt therapy, or play therapy, such behavior may be therapeutic in that it may serve to reveal to the patient the underlying conflict governing the behavior. See also transference.

acting out
Child psychiatry Self-abusive, aggressive, violent and/or disruptive behavior Psychiatry A form of displacement in which a Pt's behavior is a response to a current situation. See Displacement.


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As Edith Jacobson suggests, the point of the acting out is to deny this anxiety.
Acting out splits the trauma scene, divides and conquers, at least for the time being, the immediate evacuation effects of the first strike of loss, and thus skips the downbeat of psychotic shutdown.
 
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