Fear of acting out on their own part and on the part of their patients are among the problems that most beset analysts who are insecure or inexperienced. Some therapists enforce the proscription against “acting out” either within or between sessions too literally as a result of their own anxieties and countertransference resistances—thus acting-out themselves. It is important for therapists to recognize the difference between rational actions required by the vicissitudes of life and those that are inimical to the client and analyst. The analytic task can sometimes only be accomplished by analyzing acting-out rather than by prohibiting it. Excessive zeal in enforcing the rule against acting out often is an acting out on the part of the analyst of panic, guilt, neurotic anxiety, self interest or an unconscious need to control the client's conduct.