Abstract
When a patient carries a loaded handgun into a psychoanalyst’s office, he imbues the treatment with too much reality, closing down symbolic exploration. An improvisational role play is a generative enactment that unlocks the doer/done to dynamic and opens up a space for meaning making. This surprising turn leads to discoveries of the disavowed and possibilities for a new future.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Laura D’Angelo
Laura D’Angelo, MDiv, LP, is a psychoanalyst in New York City who works with individuals, couples and groups. She is a lecturer and supervisor at the National Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP), the Training and Research in Intersubjective Self Psychology (TRISP) and the Harlem Family Institute (HFI). She is a writer with credits in national magazines and newspapers as well as academic and psychoanalytic journals. She is a contributing author to Intersubjective Self Psychology: A Primer that was published by Routledge in 2019.