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Acting out broadly means to act following impulses, of which the person is generally unaware. It has a negative connotation and is generallly applied to problem behaviour. For example someone may self-harm and this may be interpreted as: they are 'acting out' of their needs for attention and care but do not know why they are doing it. It is generally implied that the observer,usually a professional, somehow has access to a the persons 'real' motivation and is in a better position to give an account of the behaviour than the person themselves. The power dynamic this position creates is not without its difficulties. Firstly it makes it difficult for the person themselves to subsequently account for their own actions, now they have been pathologised. Secondly it makes the defining authority open to the charge that they too are 'acting out', out of a need to establish social power through the control of definitions. Where such interpretations are accurate and sensitively given they can be helpful. Where they are inaccurate and imposed they can be problematic and psychologically iatrogenic.
Acting out is also a term meaning to act on the impulses of an addiction or to act in away designed to garner attention. The term is used in sexual addiction treatment and other twelve-step programs.
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