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=====Translation=====
The term "[[acting out]]" is used in the ''[[Standard Edition]]'' to translate the [[German]] word ''[[Agieren]]'' used by [[Freud]].
=====Repetition=====In [[Freud]]'s [[{{LB}}|work]], "'''[[repetition|repeating]]'''" and "'''[[memory|remembering]]'''" are "contrasting ways of bringing the ''past'' into the ''present''."<ref>Laplanche, Jean and Pontalis, Jean-Betrand. ''The Language of Psycho-Analysis''. Trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith. London: Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis. 1967. p.4</ref> If ''past'' events are '''[[repression|repressed]]''' from '''[[memory]]''', they '''[[return]]''' in the ''present'' by expressing themselves in '''actions'''; when the '''[[subject]]''' does not '''[[remember]]''' the ''past'', therefore, he is condemned to '''[[repetition|repeat]]''' it by [[acting out|acting it out]]. Conversely, [[psychoanalytic treatment]] aims to break the cycle of [[repetition]] by helping the [[analysand|patient]] to [[remember]].
=====Recollection=====
From a [[Lacan]]ian perspective, this basic definition of "[[acting out]]" is true but incomplete; it ignores the dimension of the [[Other]]. Thus while [[Lacan]] maintains that [[acting out]] results from a failure to [[recollect]] the ''past'', he emphasizes the [[intersubjective]] dimension of [[recollection]]. In other words, [[recollection]] does not merely involve recalling something to [[consciousness]], but also [[communication|communicating]] this to an [[Other]] by means of [[speech]]. Hence [[acting out]] results when [[recollection]] is made impossible by the refusal of the [[Other]] to listen.
=====Communication=====
When the [[Other]] has become "deaf," the [[subject]] cannot convey a [[message]] to him in words, and is forced to expressed the [[message]] in [[action]]s. The [[acting out]] is thus a ciphered [[message]] which the [[subject]] addresses to an [[Other]], although the [[subject]] himself is neither [[conscious]] of the content of this [[message]] nor even aware that his [[action]]s express a [[message]]. It is the [[Other]] who is entrusted with deciphering the [[message]]; yet it is impossible for him to do so.
