Repetition compulsion

Last updated

Repetition compulsion is the unconscious tendency of a person to repeat a traumatic event or its circumstances. This may take the form of symbolically or literally re-enacting the event, or putting oneself in situations where the event is likely to occur again. Repetition compulsion can also take the form of dreams in which memories and feelings of what happened are repeated, and in cases of psychosis, may even be hallucinated.

Contents

As a "key component in Freud's understanding of mental life, 'repetition compulsion' ... describes the pattern whereby people endlessly repeat patterns of behaviour which were difficult or distressing in earlier life". [1]

Freud

Initial description

Sigmund Freud's use of the concept of "repetition compulsion" (German : Wiederholungszwang) [2] was first defined in the article of 1914, Erinnern, Wiederholen und Durcharbeiten ("Remembering, Repeating and Working-Through"). [2] [3] Here he noted how "the patient does not remember anything of what he has forgotten and repressed, he acts it out, without, of course, knowing that he is repeating it ... For instance, the patient does not say that he remembers that he used to be defiant and critical toward his parents' authority; instead, he behaves in that way to the doctor". [4]

Beyond the Pleasure Principle

He explored the repetition compulsion further in his 1920 essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle , describing four aspects of repetitive behavior, all of which seemed odd to him from the point of view of the mind's quest for pleasure/avoidance of unpleasure.

All such activities appeared to Freud to contradict the organism's search for pleasure, and therefore "to justify the hypothesis of a compulsion to repeat—something that seems more primitive, more elementary, more instinctual than the pleasure principle which it over-rides": [7] : 294  "a daemonic current/trait", [8] [9] "a daemonic character", [8] [10] [7] : 292  a "daemonic compulsion", [8] [10] likely alluding to the Latin motto errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum ("to err is human, to persist [in committing such errors] is of the devil"). Following this line of thought, he would come to stress that "an instinct is an urge inherent in organic life to restore an earlier state of things" [7] : 308  (an explanation that some scholars have labeled as "metaphysical biology"), [11] so to arrive eventually at his concept of the death drive.

Along the way, however, Freud had in addition considered a variety of more purely psychological explanations for the phenomena of the repetition compulsion which he had observed. Traumatic repetitions could be seen as the result of an attempt to retrospectively "master" the original trauma, a child's play as an attempt to turn passivity into activity: "At the outset he was in a passive situation ... but by repeating it, unpleasurable though it was, as a game, he took on an active part". [7] : 285 

At the same time, the repetition of unpleasant experiences in analysis could be considered "unpleasure for one system [ the ego ] and simultaneously satisfaction for the other [ the id ]. [7] : 290  In the second edition of 1921, he extended the point, stating explicitly that transference repetitions "are of course the activities of instincts intended to lead to satisfaction; but no lesson has been learnt from the old experience of these activities having led only to unpleasure". [7] : 292 

Later mentions

Five years later, in Inhibition, Symptom and Anxiety, he would quietly revise his earlier definition—"There is no need to be discouraged by these emendations ... so long as they enrich rather than invalidate our earlier views"—in his new formula on "the power of the compulsion to repeat—the attraction exerted by the unconscious prototypes upon the repressed instinctual process". [12]

Later psychoanalytic developments

It was in the later, psychological form that the concept of the repetition compulsion passed into the psychoanalytic mainstream. Otto Fenichel in his "second generation" compendium The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis stressed two main kinds of neurotic repetition.

On the one hand, there were "Repetitions of traumatic events for the purpose of achieving a belated mastery ... seen first and most clearly in children's games", [13] although the "same pattern occurs in the repetitive dreams and symptoms of traumatic neurotics and in many similar little actions of normal persons who ... repeat upsetting experiences a number of times before these experiences are mastered". [14] Such traumatic repetitions could themselves appear in active or passive forms. In a passive form, one chooses his or her most familiar experiences consistently as a means to deal with problems of the past, believing that new experiences will be more painful than their present situation or too new and untested to imagine. In the active, participatory form, a person actively engages in behavior that mimics an earlier stressor, either deliberately or unconsciously, so that in particular events that are terrifying in childhood become sources of attraction in adulthood. For instance, a person who was spanked as a child may incorporate this into their adult sexual practices; or a victim of sexual abuse may attempt to seduce another person of authority in his or her life (such as their boss or therapist): an attempt at mastery of their feelings and experience, in the sense that they unconsciously want to go through the same situation but that it not result negatively as it did in the past. [15]

On the other hand, there were "Repetitions due to the tendency of the repressed to find an outlet". [16] Here the drive of the repressed impulse to find gratification brought with it a renewal of the original defence: "the anxiety that first brought about the repression is mobilized again and creates, together with the repetition of the impulse, a repetition of the anti-instinctual measures". [16] Fenichel considered that "Neurotic repetitions of this kind contain no metaphysical element", and "even the repetition of the most painful failure of the Oedipus complex in the transference during a psychoanalytic cure is not 'beyond the pleasure principle'". [16]

Later writers would take very similar views. Eric Berne saw as central to his work "the repetition compulsion which drives men to their doom, the power of death, according to Freud ... [who] places it in some mysterious biological sphere, when after all it is only the voice of seduction" [17] —the seduction of the repressed and unconscious id.

Erik Erikson saw the destiny neurosis—the way "that some people make the same mistakes over and over"—in the same light: "the individual unconsciously arranges for variations of an original theme which he has not learned either to overcome or to live with". [18] Ego psychology would subsequently take for granted "how rigidly determined our lives are—how predictable and repetitive ... the same mistake over and over again". [19]

Object relations theory, stressing the way "the transference is a live relationship ... in the here-and-now of the analysis, repeating the way that the patient has used his objects from early in life" considered that "this newer conception reveals a purpose ... [in] the repetition compulsion": [20] thus "unconscious hope may be found in repetition compulsion, when unresolved conflicts continue to generate attempts at solutions which do not really work ... [until] a genuine solution is found". [21]

Later formulations

By the close of the twentieth century, the psychoanalytic view of repetition compulsion had come into increasing dialogue with a variety of other discourses, ranging from attachment theory through brief psychodynamic therapy to cognitive behavioural therapy.

Attachment theory saw early developmental experiences leading to "schemas or mental representations of relationship ... [which] become organized, encoded experiential and cognitive data ... that led to self-confirmation". [22]

The core conflictual relationship theme—"core wishes that the individual has in relation to others"—was seen in brief psychodynamic therapy as linked to the way in "a repetition compulsion, the client will behave in ways that engender particular responses from others that conform with previous experiences in interpersonal relationships". [23]

Psychological schemas—described in cognitive psychology, social psychology, and schema therapy—are "an enduring symbolic framework that organizes constellations of thought, feeling, memory, and expectation about self and others". [24] In some cases psychological schemas may be seen as analogous to the role in psychoanalytic theory of early unconscious fixations in fueling the repetition compulsion. [25] [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fantasy (psychology)</span> Mental faculty of drawing imagination and desire in the human brain

In psychology, fantasy is a broad range of mental experiences, mediated by the faculty of imagination in the human brain, and marked by an expression of certain desires through vivid mental imagery. Fantasies are generally associated with scenarios that are impossible or unlikely to happen.

Psychoanalysis is a theory developed by Sigmund Freud. It describes the human soul as an apparatus that emerged along the path of evolution and consists mainly of three parts that complement each other in a similar way to the organelles: a set of innate needs, a consciousness that serves to satisfy them, and a memory for the retrievable storage of experiences during made. Further in, it includes insights into the effects of traumatic education and a technique for bringing repressed content back into the realm of consciousness, in particular the diagnostic interpretation of dreams. Overall, psychoanalysis represents a method for the treatment of mental disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigmund Freud</span> Founder of psychoanalysis (1856–1939)

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in the psyche, through dialogue between patient and psychoanalyst, and the distinctive theory of mind and human agency derived from it.

Psychoanalytic theory is the theory of personality organization and the dynamics of personality development relating to the practice of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology. First laid out by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, psychoanalytic theory has undergone many refinements since his work. The psychoanalytic theory came to full prominence in the last third of the twentieth century as part of the flow of critical discourse regarding psychological treatments after the 1960s, long after Freud's death in 1939. Freud had ceased his analysis of the brain and his physiological studies and shifted his focus to the study of the psyche, and on treatment using free association and the phenomena of transference. His study emphasized the recognition of childhood events that could influence the mental functioning of adults. His examination of the genetic and then the developmental aspects gave the psychoanalytic theory its characteristics.

In psychology, displacement is an unconscious defence mechanism whereby the mind substitutes either a new aim or a new object for things felt in their original form to be dangerous or unacceptable.

Transference is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which repetitions of old feelings, attitudes, desires, or fantasies that someone displaces are subconsciously projected onto a here-and-now person. Traditionally, it had solely concerned feelings from a primary relationship during childhood.

In psychoanalysis, egosyntonic refers to the behaviors, values, and feelings that are in harmony with or acceptable to the needs and goals of the ego, or consistent with one's ideal self-image. Egodystonic is the opposite, referring to thoughts and behaviors that are conflicting or dissonant with the needs and goals of the ego, or further, in conflict with a person's ideal self-image.

Repression is a key concept of psychoanalysis, where it is understood as a defense mechanism that "ensures that what is unacceptable to the conscious mind, and would if recalled arouse anxiety, is prevented from entering into it." According to psychoanalytic theory, repression plays a major role in many mental illnesses, and in the psyche of the average person.

Wilhelm Stekel was an Austrian physician and psychologist, who became one of Sigmund Freud's earliest followers, and was once described as "Freud's most distinguished pupil". According to Ernest Jones, "Stekel may be accorded the honour, together with Freud, of having founded the first psycho-analytic society". However, a phrase used by Freud in a letter to Stekel, "the Psychological Society founded by you", suggests that the initiative was entirely Stekel's. Jones also wrote of Stekel that he was "a naturally gifted psychologist with an unusual flair for detecting repressed material". Freud and Stekel later had a falling-out, with Freud announcing in November 1912 that "Stekel is going his own way". A letter from Freud to Stekel dated January 1924 indicates that the falling out was on interpersonal rather than theoretical grounds, and that at some point Freud developed a low opinion of his former associate. He wrote: "I...contradict your often repeated assertion that you were rejected by me on account of scientific differences. This sounds quite good in public but it doesn't correspond with the truth. It was exclusively your personal qualities—usually described as character and behavior—which made collaboration with you impossible for my friends and myself." Stekel's works are translated and published in many languages.

In classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the death drive is the drive toward death and destruction, often expressed through behaviors such as aggression, repetition compulsion, and self-destructiveness. It was originally proposed by Sabina Spielrein in her paper "Destruction as the Cause of Coming Into Being" in 1912, which was then taken up by Sigmund Freud in 1920 in Beyond the Pleasure Principle. This concept has been translated as "opposition between the ego or death instincts and the sexual or life instincts". In Beyond thePleasure Principle, Freud used the plural "death drives" (Todestriebe) much more frequently than the singular.

In Freudian psychology and psychoanalysis, the reality principle is the ability of the mind to assess the reality of the external world, and to act upon it accordingly, as opposed to acting according to the pleasure principle. The reality principle is the governing principle of the actions taken by the ego, after its slow development from a "pleasure-ego" into a "reality-ego".

<i>Beyond the Pleasure Principle</i> 1920 essay by Sigmund Freud

Beyond the Pleasure Principle is a 1920 essay by Sigmund Freud. It marks a major turning point in the formulation of his drive theory, where Freud had previously attributed self-preservation in human behavior to the drives of Eros and the regulation of libido, governed by the pleasure principle. Revising this as inconclusive, Freud theorized beyond the pleasure principle, newly considering the death drives which refers to the tendency towards destruction and annihilation, often expressed through behaviors such as aggression, repetition compulsion, and self-destructiveness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franz Alexander</span> Hungarian-American psychoanalyst

Franz Gabriel Alexander was a Hungarian-American psychoanalyst and physician, who is considered one of the founders of psychosomatic medicine and psychoanalytic criminology.

In psychoanalysis, resistance is the individual's efforts to prevent repressed drives, feelings or thoughts from being integrated into conscious awareness.

Identification is a psychological process whereby the individual assimilates an aspect, property, or attribute of the other and is transformed wholly or partially by the model that other provides. It is by means of a series of identifications that the personality is constituted and specified. The roots of the concept can be found in Freud's writings. The three most prominent concepts of identification as described by Freud are: primary identification, narcissistic (secondary) identification and partial (secondary) identification.

Transference neurosis is a term that Sigmund Freud introduced in 1914 to describe a new form of the analysand's infantile neurosis that develops during the psychoanalytic process. Based on Dora's case history, Freud suggested that during therapy the creation of new symptoms stops, but new versions of the patient's fantasies and impulses are generated. He called these newer versions "transferences" and characterized them as the substitution of the analyst for a person from the patient's past. According to Freud's description: "a whole series of psychological experiences are revived not as belonging to the past, but as applying to the person of the analyst at the present moment". When transference neurosis develops, the relationship with the therapist becomes the most important one for the patient, who directs strong infantile feelings and conflicts towards the therapist, e.g. the patient may react as if the analyst is his/her father.

In psychodynamic psychotherapy, working through is seen as the process of repeating, elaborating, and amplifying interpretations. It is believed that such working through is critical towards the success of therapy.

Robert Waelder (1900–1967) was a noted Austrian psychoanalyst and member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Waelder studied under Anna Freud and Hermann Nunberg. He was known for his work bringing together psychoanalysis and politics and wrote extensively on the subject.

Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming was an informal talk given in 1907 by Sigmund Freud, and subsequently published in 1908, on the relationship between unconscious phantasy and creative art.

Negative transference is the psychoanalytic term for the transference of negative and hostile feelings, rather than positive ones, onto a therapist.

References

  1. ↑ Grant, Jan; Crawley, Jim (2002). Transference and Projection: Mirrors to the Self. New York City: McGraw-Hill Education. p.  38. ISBN   978-0-335-20314-7.
  2. 1 2 Laplanche, Jean; Pontalis, Jean-Bertrand (2018) [1973]. "Compulsion to Repeat (Repetition Compulsion)". The Language of Psychoanalysis. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. ISBN   978-0-429-92124-7.
  3. ↑ Lacan, Jacques (2018) [1977]. Miller, Jacques-Alain (ed.). The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis . Translated from the 1973 French original by Alan Sheridan. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. p.  49. ISBN   978-0-429-90659-6.
  4. ↑ Freud, quoted in Janet Malcolm, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (London 1988). p. 28.
  5. ↑ Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle in On Metapsychology (Middlesex 1987). pp. 282-3.
  6. ↑ Clark, Robert (October 24, 2005). "Repetition Compulsion". The Literary Encyclopedia . Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sigmund Freud (1920). Beyond the Pleasure Principle.
  8. 1 2 3 Beyond the Pleasure Principle. London: Penguin Books. 2003. ISBN   978-0-141-93166-1.
  9. ↑ Beyond the Pleasure Principle (C. J. M. Hubback, trans., 1922), chapter III. Retrieved 2016-03-26.
  10. 1 2 Beyond the Pleasure Principle (C. J. M. Hubback, trans., 1922), chapter V. Retrieved 2016-03-26.
  11. ↑ Schuster, Aaron (2016). The Trouble with Pleasure. Deleuze and Psychoanalysis. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. p.  32. ISBN   978-0-262-52859-7.
  12. ↑ Sigmund Freud, On Psychopathology (Middlesex 1987). p. 319.
  13. ↑ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (London 1946). p. 542.
  14. ↑ Fenichel, Neurosis. p. 543.
  15. ↑ "Roberta Satow – Psychoanalyst". Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  16. 1 2 3 Fenichel, Neurosis. p. 542.
  17. ↑ Eric Berne, What Do You Say after You Say Hello? (London 1975). p. 276.
  18. ↑ Erik H. Erikson, Childhood and Society (Middlesex 1973). p. 209.
  19. ↑ "Aaron Green" in Janet Malcolm, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (London 1988). p. 55.
  20. ↑ R. Appignanesi ed., Introducing Melanie Klein (Cambridge 2006). pp. 149, 176.
  21. ↑ Patrick Casement, Further Learning from the Patient (London 1997). p. 118.
  22. ↑ Grant, Jan; Crawley, Jim (2002). p.  2.
  23. ↑ Grant, Jan; Crawley, Jim (2002). p.  59.
  24. ↑ Knapp 1991, p. 94, quoted in: Grant, Jan; Crawley, Jim (2002). p.  5.
  25. ↑ Baker, Christine D. (2002). Female Survivors of Sexual Abuse: An Integrated Guide to Treatment. Hove, East Sussex; New York: Brunner-Routledge. p.  125. doi:10.4324/9781315788036. ISBN   041513983X. OCLC   48435462. This situation provides a lucid example of what Freud (1920) termed 'repetition compulsion', of which the vehicle for Victoria was the early maladaptive schemas relating to emotional deprivation and abandonment.
  26. ↑ Boterhoven de Haan, Katrina L.; Fassbinder, Eva; Hayes, Chris; Lee, Christopher W. (March 2019). "A schema therapy approach to the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder". Journal of Psychotherapy Integration . 29 (1): 54–64. doi:10.1037/int0000120. S2CID   150762021.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.