Kubie gives a very clear and satisfying criticism of the concept of 'repetition compulsion'. This concept often has been misused in a more or less 'mystical' way. Repetitive phenomena are reducible to the following possibilities: (1) Repetition is a manifestation of the periodicity of the instincts. (2) Repetition (neurotic) is due to the fact that warded off instincts remain unsatisfied and therefore strive for satisfaction again and again and meet the same repeated objections from the ego or the superego. (3) Repetition is a belated attempt to master a trauma. Such striving for belated mastery is not beyond the pleasure principle because its aim is the decrease of a displeasurable tension. An introductory review of the literature fails to mention several papers which present views similar to Kubie's.