Coping with Acting‐Out in a Psychoanalytically‐Oriented Adolescent Unit

Abstract

ABSTRACT. In a psychoanalytically‐oriented inpatient unit for adolescents with severe emotional disorders, acting‐out can at times be most effectively coped with by way of an act of suspension. In this paper we follow the development of the concept of acting‐out, explore its operative meaning within an adolescent inpatient unit, and finally arrive at the means of coping with it which are necessitated within such a setting. Suspension is extensively discussed with emphasis on the conceptual dilemmas it presents the therapist, as well as its implications for the individual treatment of the severely disturbed adolescent.