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Although an element of [[repetition]] can be found in almost every [[human]] [[action]], the term "[[acting out]]" is usually reserved for those [[action]]s which display "an impulsive aspect relatively out of harmony with the subject's usual motivational patterns" and which are therefore "fairly easy to isolate from the overall trends of his activity."<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> The [[subject]] fails to understand his motives for the [[action]].
=====Sigmund Freud=====
"[[Acting out]]" is the term used to translate the [[German]] word ''[[Agieren]]'' used by [[Freud]].
The term "[[acting out]]" is used to translate the [[German]] word ''[[Agieren]]'' used by [[Freud]].
[[Lacan]], following a tradition in [[psychoanalytic]] [[{{LB}}|writing]], uses this term in [[English]].
"[[Acting out]]" refers to the '''discharge''' by means of '''action''' -- rather than by means of [[letter|verbalization]] -- of conflicted mental content.
Though there is this contrast between act and word, both sorts of discharge are responses to a return of the repressed: repeated in the case of actions, remembered in the case of words.
==Repetition==
One of the most important themes running throughout [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]] is the opposition between [[repeating]] and [[remembering]].
The [[subject]] who does not [[memory|remember]] the [[past]] 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]].
==Motivation==
Although an element of [[repetition]] can be found in almost every [[human]] [[action]], the term "[[acting out]]" is usually reserved for those [[action]]s which display "an impulsive aspect relatively out of harmony with the subject's usual motivational patterns" and which are therefore "fairly easy to isolate from the overall trends of his activity."<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>
The [[subject]] fails to understand his motives for the [[action]].
==Jacques Lacan==
[[Lacan]], following a tradition in psychoanalytic writing, uses this term in [[English]].
From a [[Lacan]]ian perspective, this basic definition of "[[acting out]]" is true but incomplete; it ignores the dimension of the [[Other]].
==Recollection==
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 [[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.
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