英：repetition; 法：repetition
弗洛伊德有关强制性重复（英：repetition compulsion; 德：Wiederholungszwang)的最重要讨论出现在《超越快乐原则》(1920g)中，他在该文中将其联系于死亡冲动 (DEATH DRIVE)的概念。弗洛伊德提出了某种基本的强制性重复 (compulsion to re-pet)的存在，以便说明某些临床资料，也就是，主体倾向于一而再、再而三地将自己暴露于那些令人痛苦的情境之下。精神分析的一项基本原则即在于，只有当某人遗忘了强迫性冲动的起源的时候，他才注定会去重复某件事情，而精神分析治疗因此便可以通过帮助病人进行回忆来打破这一重复的循环（见：行动搬演[ACTING OUT]).
在拉康1950年代以前的著作中，重复的概念联系着情结 (COMPLEX)的概念一情结是主体重复性并强迫性地反复上演的一种内化的社会结构。此时，拉康通常把弗洛伊德的“强制性重复”(Wiederholungswang)翻译为“重复的自动性”(automatismede repetition),这是从法国精神病学家 (皮埃尔·让内2、加埃唐·盖廷·德·克莱朗博)那里借来的一个术语。
虽然拉康从未完全放弃“重复的自动性”这一术语，但是在I950年代越来越多地使用“坚持”(英：insistence; 法：instance)一词来指涉强制性重复。因而，重复现在便被定义为能指的坚持，或是能指链条的坚持，或是字符的坚持 (I'instance de la lettre),“重复在根本上即言语的坚持”(S3,242)。某些能指会坚持返回主体的生活之中，而不管那些阻挡它们的阻抗。在L图式 (SCHEMA L)中，重复/坚持由A一S轴所代表，而a一a'轴则代表与重复相对立的阻抗 (或“惰性”)。
在1960年代，重复被重新定义为“享乐”的回归，即一而再、再而三地返回以违反快乐原则 (PLEASURE PRINCIPLE)的界限并寻求死亡的某种享乐的过剩 (S17,51).
在分析治疗中，强制性重复会在转移 (TRANSFERENCE)中表现出来，借由转移，分析者会在自己与分析家的关系中重复某些态度，而这些态度恰恰带有分析者早年与父母和他人的关系的特征。拉康特别重视转移的这一象征性面向，并将它区分于转移的想象性维度（爱与恨的情感）(S8,204)。然而，拉康指出，虽然强制性重复或许最为清晰地表现在转移之中，但是其本身并不局限于转移，就其本质而言，“重复的概念丝毫无关转移的概念”（S11,33)。重复是能指链条的一般性特征，是无意识在每个主体身上的显现；而转移则仅仅是重复的一种非常特殊的形式 (即它是“处在精神分析治疗中”的重复)，不能简单地等同于强制性重复本身。
(repetition) Freud's most importantdiscussion of the repetitioncompulsion (Wiederholungszwang) occurs in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920g) where he links itto the concept of the DEATH DRIVE. Freud posited the existence of a basic compulsionto repeat in order to explain certain clinical data: namely, the tendency of the subject toexpose himself again and again to distressing situations. It is a basic principle ofpsychoanalysis that a person is only condemned to repeat something when he hasforgotten the origins of the compulsion, and that psychoanalytic treatment can thereforebreak the cycle of repetition by helping the patient remember (see ACTING OUT).
In Lacan's pre-1950s work, the concept of repetition is linked with that of theCOMPLEX-an internalised social structure which the subject repeatedly andcompulsively re-enacts. At this time Lacan often translates Freud's Wiederholungszwangas automatisme de repetition, a term borrowed from French psychiatry (Pierre Janet, Gaetan Gatian de Clerambault).
While Lacan never completely abandons the term automatisme de repetition, in the1950s he increasingly uses the term 'insistence' (Fr. Instance) to refer to the repetitioncompulsion. Thus repetition is now defined as the insistence of the signifier, or theinsistence of the signifying chain, or the insistence of the letter (l'instance de la lettre),'repetition is fundamentally the insistence of speech' (S3,242). Certain signifiers insiston returning in the life of the subject, despite the resistances which block them. InSCHEMA L, repetition/insistence is represented by the axis A-S, while the axis a-arepresents the resistance (or'inertia') which opposes repetition.
In the 1960s, repetition is redefined as the return of jouissance, an excess ofenjoyment which returns again and again to transgress the limits of the PLEASUREPRINCIPLE and seek death (S17,51).
The repetitioncompulsion manifests itself in analytic treatmentin theTRANSFERENCE, whereby the analysand repeats in his relationship to the analystcertain attitudes which characterised his earlier relationships with his parents and others. Lacan lays great emphasis on this symbolic aspect of transference, distinguishing it fromthe imaginary dimension of transference (the affects of love and hate)(S8,204). However, Lacan points out that although the repetition compulsion manifests itselfperhaps most clearly in the transference, it is not in itself limited to the transference; initself,'the concept of repetition has nothing to do with the concept of transference' (S11,33). Repetition is the general characteristic of the signifying chain, the manifestation ofthe unconscious in every subject, and transference is only a very special form ofrepetition (i.e.it is repetition within psychoanalytic treatment), which cannot simply beequated with the repetition compulsion itself (S8,208).