Berne's formulation

Eric Berne

Eric Berne

Eric Berne was a Canadian-born psychiatrist best known as the creator of transactional analysis and the author of Games People Play.-Background and education:...

, the founding father of transactional analysis

Transactional analysis

Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. It is described as integrative because it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches...

, used the term "afterburn" to indicate the effect an atypical past event continues to exert on a person's daily schedule, activities and mental state even after it is over: to 'those occasions when it disturbs normal patterns for an appreciable period, rather than being assimilated into them or excluded from them by repression

Repression

Repression may refer to:* Memory inhibition, the ability to filter irrelevant memories from attempts to recall* Political repression, the oppression or persecution of an individual or group for political reasons* Social repression...

 and other psychological mechanisms'.

For Berne, afterburn is the flip side of reachback

Reachback

'Eric Berne defined the useful term reach-back. Reach-back, in Berne's lexicon, is the period of time during which an impending event begins to influence one's behavior 'Eric Berne defined the useful term reach-back. Reach-back, in Berne's lexicon, is the period of time during which an impending...

, which is the effect of the event on the person's life before it. He considered that 'in most cases one or the other can be tolerated without serious consequences. It can be dangerous for almost anyone, however, if the after-burn of the last event overlaps with the reach-back from the next...this is a good definition of overwork'.

Remedies

Berne considered that 'dreaming is probably the normal mechanism for adjusting after-burn and reach-back'; but that sex and holidays were also useful remedies. 'Most normal after-burns and reach-backs run their courses in about six days, so that a two-week vacation allows the superficial after-burns to burn out, after which there are a few days of carefree living....For the assimilation of more chronic after-burns and deeper, repressed reach-backs, however, a vacation of at least six weeks is probably necessary'.

Other views

In terms of exam stress management

Stress management

Stress management is the alteration of stress and especially chronic stress often for the purpose of improving everyday functioning.Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according to persons, situations, and severity. These can include physical health decline as well as depression. According...

, 'afterburn is the time needed after the exam to...set it to rest' - a period of 'afterburn time...[with] a host of unexpressed feelings and incomplete tasks'.

'Referring to soldiers recently returned from Iraq, Sara Corbett described this type of delay{ed reaction}

Postponement of affect

Postponement of affect is a defence mechanism which may be used against a variety of feelings or emotions. Such a 'temporal displacement, resulting simply in a later appearance of the affect reaction and in thus preventing the recognition of the motivating connection, is...most frequently used...

 as "psychological afterburn"..."My body's here, but my mind is there'.

With respect to therapy

Therapy

This is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...

, some consider that 'you are not ending well when you find that you are thinking about the person's problems after sessions. This is called afterburn'. Others however see opportunity in such occasions: 'You're sorting out your countertransference

Countertransference

Countertransferenceis defined as redirection of a psychotherapist's feelings toward a client—or, more generally, as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client.-Early formulations:...

, you're owning your projections, you're separating out you from the family' - in short you are usefully employing 'those lagging emotions that afterburn following a session'.

Goffman

Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman was a Canadian-born sociologist and writer.The 73rd president of American Sociological Association, Goffman's greatest contribution to social theory is his study of symbolic interaction in the form of dramaturgical perspective that began with his 1959 book The Presentation of Self...

has a related but rather different usage of the term 'to refer to a sotto voce comment, one meant not to be a ratified part of an encounter, an afterburn...a remonstrance conveyed collusively by virtue of the fact that its targets are in the process of leaving the field'.