Acting out (defence)

Acting out is a psychological term meaning to perform an action to express (often unconscious) emotional conflicts. The acting done is usually anti-social and may take the form of acting on the impulses of an addiction (ie. drinking, drug taking or shoplifting) or in a means designed (often unconsciously or semi-consciously) to garner attention (ie. throwing a tantrum or behaving promiscuously). Acting out may be considered a form of projective identification.

The action performed is usually destructive to self or others and may inhibit the development of more constructive responses to the feelings. The term is used in sexual addiction treatment, psychotherapy, twelve-step programs, criminology and parenting.

Acting out painful feelings may be contrasted with expressing them in ways more helpful to the sufferer, e.g. by talking out, art therapy, psychodrama or  mindful awareness of the feelings. Developing the ability to express one's conflicts safely and constructivly is an important part of impulse control, personal development and self-care.

Interpretations
The interpretation of a person's acting out and an observer's response varies considerably, with context and subject usually setting audience expectations.

In parenting
See also: parenting

Early years "temper tantrums" can be understood as episodes of acting out. As young children will not have developed the means to communicate their feelings of distress, tantrums prove an effective and achievable method of alerting parents to their needs and requesting attention.

Ideally, as a child develops they learn to replace these attention gathering strategies with more socially acceptable and constructive communications. In adolescent years, acting out in the form of rebellious behaviors such as smoking, shoplifting and drug use can be understood as "a cry for help". The young person may seem to be disruptive - and may well be disruptive - but this behaviour is often underpinned by the need to regulate emotions that are too difficult to be handled in any other way.

In addiction
See also: addiction

The moral model of addiction states that addictions are the result of human weakness, and are defects of character. Those who advance this model do not accept that there is any biological basis for addiction. They often have scant sympathy for people with serious addictions, believing either that a person with greater moral strength could have the force of will to break an addiction, or that the addict demonstrated a great moral failure in the first place by starting the addiction. The moral model is widely applied to dependency on illegal substances, perhaps purely for social or political reasons, but is no longer widely considered to have any therapeutic value.

The disease model of addiction holds that addiction is a disease, coming about as a result of either the impairment of neurochemical or behavioral processes, or of some combination of the two. Within this model, addictive disease is treated by specialists in Addiction Medicine. Within the field of medicine, the American Medical Association, National Association of Social Workers, and American Psychological Association all have policy as to addictive processes representing a disease state. While there is some dispute among clinicians as to the reliability of this model, it is widely employed in therapeutic settings. Most treatment approaches involve recognition that dependencies are behavioral dysfunctions, and thus involve some element of physical or mental disease. Critics like Stanton Peele describe an absence of medical evidence for an implied physiological process (beyond that of simple mood state changes) that can be equated with the disease of addiction. Organizations such as the American Society of Addiction Medicine believe the research-based evidence for addiction's status as a disease is overwhelming.

In criminology
See also: criminology

Classical school criminology based on "rational agent" philosophies...

Positivist school ... psychoanalytic criminology

Papers

 * Google Scholar

Self help / informal psychology

 * Acting out More complete explanation from a psychological perspective.
 * Acting out Understanding acting out from outsiders and insider's perspectives, suggestions for developing positive potential from acting out traits.

Parenting

 * Acting out
 * Acting out Encyclopedia of Children's Health