Nov 10, 2011
Review of IPA Congress – Mexico City 2011. Nancy R. Goodman, PhD, FIPA
Enactment: Ubiquitous, Disquieting, and Illuminating
Chair: Nancy Goodman
Panelists: Batya Monder, Enactment: An Expanding Concept; Raquel Berman, Enactment and the Cruel Maternal Super-Ego; Elizabeth Fritsch (reader of Batya's paper).
Discussant: Antonino Ferro
Our panel was made up of three members of the CIPS study group on the topic of “enactment.” Nancy Goodman introduced the panel by speaking briefly about the history of the group and what we have been uncovering about the enactment process. The two papers are richly based on clinical experience as well as understanding of the literature on enactments. Batya Mondar and Raquel Berman truly brought the audience into the feel of the consulting room when action is a mode of communication. Elizabeth Fritsch joined us by reading Batya's paper and adding to the discussion. Batya Mondar's paper presents a few examples from her clinical work and her supervisory work demonstrating the importance of transference and countertransference actions. She presents a new idea of the intentional action of the analyst that is used to promote something in the analysis and in the frame of the sessions that helps keep the work going. Raquel Berman presented a case where action, and sometimes-chaotic action, was central to the unfolding of understanding the place of trauma and abandonment and overstimulation in the childhood of her patient. Raquel had to be the one who believed in the treatment and over and over again could face the "cruel maternal superego" as the forces of it were becoming known. Both presenters came forward with truths about the countertransferences they experienced in the cases.
Antonino Ferro brought the liveliness of his mind to the cases and ideas presented in the two papers. He found the papers to be excellent and as he put it "right.” He was so respectful of the hard work of each of the authors. His idea about the "field" brought a different perspective to the material as he showed the way stories are revealed with every aspect of speaking and doing being part of the field. The analyst attends to what is threatening containment and needing containment. His deep understanding of Bionian ideas and his own explorations of the analytic situation invited all of the participants, including the audience, to expand their thinking about the way action enters the analytic space. There was lively discussion from the audience as they presented their own case vignettes and their desire to understand enactments.
Chair: Nancy Goodman
Panelists: Batya Monder, Enactment: An Expanding Concept; Raquel Berman, Enactment and the Cruel Maternal Super-Ego; Elizabeth Fritsch (reader of Batya's paper).
Discussant: Antonino Ferro
Our panel was made up of three members of the CIPS study group on the topic of “enactment.” Nancy Goodman introduced the panel by speaking briefly about the history of the group and what we have been uncovering about the enactment process. The two papers are richly based on clinical experience as well as understanding of the literature on enactments. Batya Mondar and Raquel Berman truly brought the audience into the feel of the consulting room when action is a mode of communication. Elizabeth Fritsch joined us by reading Batya's paper and adding to the discussion. Batya Mondar's paper presents a few examples from her clinical work and her supervisory work demonstrating the importance of transference and countertransference actions. She presents a new idea of the intentional action of the analyst that is used to promote something in the analysis and in the frame of the sessions that helps keep the work going. Raquel Berman presented a case where action, and sometimes-chaotic action, was central to the unfolding of understanding the place of trauma and abandonment and overstimulation in the childhood of her patient. Raquel had to be the one who believed in the treatment and over and over again could face the "cruel maternal superego" as the forces of it were becoming known. Both presenters came forward with truths about the countertransferences they experienced in the cases.
Antonino Ferro brought the liveliness of his mind to the cases and ideas presented in the two papers. He found the papers to be excellent and as he put it "right.” He was so respectful of the hard work of each of the authors. His idea about the "field" brought a different perspective to the material as he showed the way stories are revealed with every aspect of speaking and doing being part of the field. The analyst attends to what is threatening containment and needing containment. His deep understanding of Bionian ideas and his own explorations of the analytic situation invited all of the participants, including the audience, to expand their thinking about the way action enters the analytic space. There was lively discussion from the audience as they presented their own case vignettes and their desire to understand enactments.
