---
title: “Acting out”
description: "One of those very important therapy ideas that came out of psychoanalytic thinking into more general psychology and psychotherapy use and which has also become a term much used generally. #### Details It is generally seen as pejorative both by…"
url: "https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/acting-out/"
updated: "2026-10-27"
category: All OM book glossary entries
---

# “Acting out”

One of those very important therapy ideas that came out of psychoanalytic thinking into more general psychology and psychotherapy use and which has also become a term much used generally.

#### Details

It is generally seen as pejorative both by professions and as a lay term. Technically it simply meant the behavioural enactment, outside of therapy sessions and largely or wholly unconscious, of conflict not being bearably contained in the therapy. That's not such a pejorative idea and if one believes in the analytic unconscious then were are probably all prone to do things in other settings triggered by unconscious conflict. Damn hard to research or evaluate and it's probably now largely out of fashion though I think that's more through general denigration of psychoanalytic thinking. A pity as it's important and the containment of complex unconscious things being stirred up in therapy is a function of us as therapists, not just our clients. Probably a loss that it has dropped out of fashion though perhaps the term was so corrupted that we will need to reinvent or rediscover it under a new name.

#### Try also

[The unconscious](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/the-unconscious-ucs/)
[Psychoanalytic theory and therapies](https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/glossary2/psychoanalytic-theory-and-therapies/)

#### Chapters

We followed the herd, and perhaps safety, and didn't use the term in the book!

#### Dates

First created 15.viii.23, improved and links activated 27.x.26.