Changes

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]].

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.

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.