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Much has been said about death drive in Critical Theory. This concept was mainly read as an aggressive and/or destructive drive. As a consequence, there are two ways of finding death drive in critical theories: the classic mode represented by Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, and, more recently, Whitebook, in which death drive is seen as a factor that gives psychoanalysis its negativity face; or a way that leads to the despise of the nuclear function of death drive in psychoanalytic theory in name of normativity, as it happens in Fromm and Honneth. What I propose here is, from a comparison of both Freud’s texts, “Remembering, Repeating, and Working Through” (1914) and “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” (1920), to present a new way of appropriating the concept of death drive to produce a current critical theory. This means not considering the Wiederholungszwang as simply an imperative for coercion, but also a repetition compulsion. By proposing this reading of death drive (as suggested by Freud in 1920), I believe it is possible to amplify the range of possible connections between psychoanalysis and Critical Theory, keeping the negativity side, but without losing its normativity.

In South Africa, the iconic Hector Pieterson photo is the starting point for many artists to deal with their own personal trauma and the communal trauma of their nation. The iconicity of this photo has sparked many different adaptations in various fields of art. Considering that we are talking about a traumatized country, Freud’s concept of “repetition compulsion” seems to be one explanation for this phenomenon. However, art is only seldom a mere product of traumatization. Quayson’s concept of “symbolization compulsions” comes closer to explaining the phenomenon of repetition in the arts, because it leaves the artists more freedom of expression and does not suggest that art is the result of illness, while still implying ‘compulsion’ and ‘obsession’ in the act of creation. I want to suggest that ‘repetition’ in the arts in the South African context is not so much a sign of confinement and restriction, but that the many adaptations of the unique historical incident should rather be understood as attempts of ‘working through’ collective trauma, making sense of history, and contributing to the country’s healing.

The relation to time in fiction literary works has much evolved in the course of the twentieth century. The linear type of narrative gave way to complex and very different types of writing, which in some cases may be compared to the relation to time of some patients during their psychoanalysis. In this paper the author tries to show the differences between Proust's "Time refound" and the temporal regression in James Joyce' s novel "Portrait of the Artist as a young Man". Then two novels of the Argentinian author Adolfo Bioy Casares are compared. In "The Invention of Morel" repetition has the function to perpetuate the primary process. In "The Dream of Heroes", repetition is confronted to the unavoidable reality of the passage of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The analysis of clinical case of authors of violence shows that they present sometimes post-traumatic disorders which can lead to interpret acting out behavior as an attempt of elaboration of the trauma and which the release of the act is less ritual than compulsive. This dimension is particularly locatable in the repetitive acts, of which sexual attacks or repeated rapes. Which consequences we can understand about of “dangerous behavior”? In this article, authors study the psychic dynamics of several rapists and sexual aggressors, and notably a case known for the literature (Balier [1988]) who notably introduce compulsive characteristics, and tendency to the repetitiveness. It is more traits than of organization of the personality. The origin of acting out is associated by the subject himself to a rehearsal of one or several previous moments which, in a sense, crystallize in these acts. The trespass appears as taking place in a scenario of reviviscence and could be defused only by analyzing with the subject with kind of secondary profits he obtain from this scenario. But existence of this base which induce to repeat trespass interrogates about concept of “series” applied to these rehearsals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Paul Denis's theory of two impulse components construes the experience of satisfaction as the main vector of the emergence of impulse and representation. It gives new density to these two concepts and provides the grounds for an analysis of the failure of representation and its consequences, from the point of view of the mastery instinct. However, it leaves in the shadow the issue of "cathexis in displeasure." How does the psyche cathect and then represent experiences of non-satisfaction, even when displeasure is not disguised as the promise of a greater or more certain pleasure? The article proposes to answer this question by referring to the theory of Piera Aulagnier and provides new insights on the dialectic of need and desire in cases where the former substitutes for the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The therapeutic potential of reducing the risk of suicidal attempt repetitions has been widely studied in recent years, contributing to promote new techniques to reduce this risk. Yet still the question of indications and practical modalities of these techniques, as the subjects committing a suicide attempt are a heterogeneous population when considering their risk factors, diagnosis, and comorbidities. This work will aim to review randomized controlled trials, which have evaluated treatments for suicide attempt among suicidal patients, in that first part, and the sub-population at higher risk of patients with borderline personality disorder, in a second part. Several trials support the effectiveness of some interventions, ranging from simple (postcards, Green cards) to more structured ones. One of the main limitations seems to be the diversity of the population of suicidal patients. This review highlights the need to improve psychiatric assessment at the Emergency Department, targeting risk factors, and to develop specific care according to risk of repetition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this article, the author describes his investigation of self-soothing procedures, which he sees as an anti-traumatic defence system that is both fragile and non-neurotic (I mean non neuro-psychotic). Repetitive behaviour involving motor functions and/or sensory perceptions that aim to control levels of excitation, which cannot be bound by more psychical means belongs to this category. Since the methods employed are not suitable for the kind of discharge that leads to satisfaction, they simply bring about a return to a state of calm. According to the author, there is a considerable number of these “volunteer galley slaves” who try to soothe themselves by repeating a particular kind of excitation, by automatically performing actions involving the body as a substitute for thought or by driving themselves to exhaustion. These procedures, which are not age-specific, may take on various aspects such as self-soothing functional disorders in infants (e.g. rumination/regurgitation or rocking behaviour) or the self-soothing use of dangerous activities in adolescents or those who practise high-risk sports. The stereotyped behaviour typical of autistic spectrum disorder is also discussed in this perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]