Sex, Drugs, and Neglect-- Self-Destruction and the Repetition Compulsion

The driving force of so many of our self-destructive tendencies is not conscious, it’s an unconscious drive called the repetition compulsion, where we try to reenact early child traumas or deficits, often consciously hoping for a different result but unconsciously walking directly and knowingly into the flames. One of the central tasks of therapy is often helping people identify their repetition compulsions and doing the deeply uncomfortable work of making different choices. For the rep...