Are Games, Enactments, and Reenactments Similar? No, Yes, It Depends

Abstract

This article examines the similarities and differences between games, enactments, and reenactments. The author explores how the multiple definitions of each of these constructs make comparisons between them difficult and concludes that, despite possible theoretical similarities, there are important clinical reasons for seeing them as separate. These reasons are discussed and explored using case vignettes.

Transactional analysis and our philosophical premises: 70 years on

“…Traditionally, transactional analysis theory, like the era it was born into, was upbeat and optimistic. With a goal of autonomy and a belief in treating each other with mutual respect, we have worked hard to taboo games (see Berne, 1964; or ‘acting out’ defensively—my definition) and enactments (eruptions of a traumatic nature, see Novak, 2015). In Jungian psychology, our efforts to behave well could be interpreted as a defence against the shadow.…”

“…This may be changing in some forms of contemporary transactional analysis which has sought a different inquiry into psychological states. Many integrative, co-creative and relational practitioners (see Bonds-White & Cornell, 2001;Erskine, 1993;Hargaden & Sills, 2002;Little, 2013;Summers & Tudor, 2000, 2015 have been interested in the need to make space for symbolic and non-verbal communications-even if they seem primitive and unformulated (Stern, 2011). Some developments in the professional and academic canon have struggled to permeate the culture in the international transactional analysis community.…”

“…The range of writers within an integrative tradition, include Barbara Clark (1991), Petruska Clarkson (1993) and Richard Erskine (1993). There has been the innovative launch of co-creative transactional analysis (Summers & Tudor, 2000, 2015, drawing on mutual conscious and unconscious influence and bringing together psychodynamic, political and person centred perspectives in transactional analysis. Contemporary transactional analysis is also influenced by the relational movement in psychoanalysis and, here, has been compelled by depth in understanding subjective and unconscious relating with a focus on transference and countertransference (see e.g., Hargaden & Sills, 2002).…”

The Role of the Imagination in an Analysis of Unconscious Relatedness

“…There is clearly a link with games theory to be made here, and for those wishing for a more definitive discussion of the similarities and differences between games and enactments, I recommend Novak's (2015) excellent article on the subject. Here I will concentrate only on the theory of enactments.…”

Failing to Do the Job

“…This situation, as unsettling as it was, could have been an impasse or period of enactment that could have served the treatment (Cornell, 2012; Cornell & Landaiche, 2006; Kantrowitz, 1996; Little, 2012; McLaughlin, 2005; Stuthridge, 2012). Contemporary therapeutic tales of impasses and enactments in the transactional analysis literature have often portrayed difficult moments in treatment that led to insight and transformation (Cook, 2012; Maquet, 2012; Murphy, 2012; Novak, 2015; Shadbolt, 2012; Stuthridge, 2012, 2015). But the crisis with Samantha proved to be much more catastrophic than informative or reparative.…”