Once she had “evidence” in hand, doing nothing became intolerable. In the psychoanalytic tradition, what Cara did is called “acting out.” Conflicted about her feelings, she found relief in changing something. She took action that had no certain relationship to the “readout,” but it was action that made her feel temporarily in control. Talk therapy encourages reflection when we are seized by the need to “fix” something—and now! The psychoanalytic tradition suggests that action before self-understanding is rarely a good way to improve one’s situation.
