Identification and delineation of the dynamic causes of repetition compulsion activity in romantic relationships : an object relations formulation

Broadly speaking the dissertation is concerned with the repetition compulsion (RC) and the question of why we repeat; the motivation and form of agency behind repetition. A review of existing literature indicates that there is little consensus concerning these points and that interpretations of the concept vary widely, resulting in a loss of construct validity and utility. In the aim of remedying this state of affairs, I return to Freud's Beyond the pleasure principle; his most comprehensive attempt to answer the question of why we repeat undeniably painful and damaging experience. In the paper Freud delineates an observed phenomenon, that of RC, and follows this descriptive account with a theoretical explanation based on the proposel for the first time of a dual instinct theory. My feeling is that the paper stands at a theoretical crossroads; a point where Freud was strongly nudged in a new theoretical direction suggested by mounting clinical evidence – that of prioritising object relating – but chose to turn back in support of drive theory instead. I argue that with the eventual movement towards prioritising the object, observed in object relations theory, the question of the relationship between RC and its negation of the pleasure principle was forgotten; discarded along with Freud's dual instinct theory. Freud's basic statement on the mechanics of RC can be read as, 'we repeat instead of remember and in these instances what we do not remember is due to repression'. I would say this differently after taking Fairbairn's thought into account as 'we internalize instead of remember and we repeat because of what we have internalized'. For Fairbairn the primary target of repression is neither memories nor impulses, but rather internal(ized) objects and parts of the ego bonded to them, that is object relationships. Following these developments and concerning my own research question, a predominantly Fairbairnian object relations account provides key theoretical entities/processes, that are consolidated in the form of an initial explanatory hypothesis, which is put forward for investigation across multiple cases. The hypothesis, which according to the methodology employed, is necessarily a tentative one (open to reformulation), states broadly that 'dynamically, RC will occur as an outcome of the externalization of a repressed internal object relationship'. Using published case studies as data, I identify the dynamic (as opposed to etiological) causes of RC activity according to whether they qualify as necessary conditions. Analytic Induction is employed as a method of identifying relevant causal conditions, defined in dispositional terms, and my broader aim has been to develop a systematic research approach that employs a conception of causality in terms of tendency or disposition.