Key points

Repetition compulsion refers to the tendency to re-create and repeat harmful patterns.

Familiarity's deceptive comfort keeps victims in painful cycles, repeating traumas.

Awareness is the first step to breaking free.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” These words, from 19th-century philosopher George Santayana (famously paraphrased by British prime minister Winston Churchill in reference to history), provide an entryway to understanding a confounding aspect of human behaviour, the tendency to seek out, re-create, and relive painful past experiences.

Pain on repeat

Also referred to as repetitive compulsion, compulsion to repeat, or trauma reenactment, the term repetition compulsion was described by Sigmund Freud in Beyond the Pleasure Princ

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