Psychoanalytic Social Work: How to Do Things with Words and How to Say Things with Deeds

Abstract

Abstract This article reviews how psychoanalytic theory has described talking and action, especially talking in opposition to action. Starting with a paper of William “Bill” Meyer about psychoanalytic social work and using theories of the philosopher J. L. Austin and the psychoanalyst Thomas Ogden, the article questions an apparent dichotomy in psychoanalytic theory between speech and action. This apparent dichotomy has left reverberations for psychoanalytic social work that require further attention. Using a clinical vignette along with further contributions from the work of William “Bill” Meyer, the paper attempts to highlight and work through the tensions between interventions of word and interventions of deed and to develop a theory of “interpretive social work action.” The paper argues that the legacy of our theories may lead to unwitting exclusions within the field of psychoanalytic social work. It then addresses some implications for this field in general and for dynamically-informed clinicians in agency settings in particular.