Regression examples psychology. Regression is a common occurrence in everyday life.

Psychological educational program. Psychological defenses. Regression.

It’s time to return to my psychological notes and psychological educational program. There is a little more time, a series of trainings and seminars have passed, I have rested and perked up. Apparently I missed this activity because I suddenly got a lot of letters with deviations and lyrical scientific digressions.

WITH Regression everyone is familiar.

Parents notice when their child feels bad, upset, hungry or offended, he “slides” into the behavior and habits inherent in him at earlier stages of development.
When your girlfriend gets offended, “pouts her lips” and begins to behave, at best, like a 13-year-old teenager, or even like a capricious 5-year-old girl, this is regression.
When your boyfriend is sick and goes to bed with a slight runny nose, declaring that he is probably dying, but at the same time demands that you fuss around, cook him goodies, stroke his head and tell him that he is a good boy - that’s her too ,Regression.

REGRESSION is a form of psychological defense. It is characterized by the fact that during its implementation there is a return to more primitive forms of behavior and thinking that were characteristic of an earlier stage of development. As a child develops, he moves from one stage of his development to another. During regression, he takes a step or two back to the previous steps. For example, when a person in an extreme situation begins to behave like a child, we can say that he has regressed. According to psychoanalysts, regression is inherent in almost every person. For example, being in a state of extreme fatigue, many of us begin to whine, read, slightly regress.

This tendency originates in the Reunion Subphase (“reproshman”) in the process of separation-individuation,

Margaret Mahler described child development as going through three successive phases - the phase of normal autism, the phase of symbiosis and the phase of separation-individuation. In the latter, she identified four subphases.

Autistic phase (1st month of the child’s life).
The newborn is described as essentially a biological being with reflexive responses to stimuli. His Ego (Self) is primitive and unintegrated. Defense mechanisms are not formed and function at the somatic level (such as overflow - discharge). Behavior is aimed at maintaining homeostasis (balance in the internal environment of the body). The survival of the child depends entirely on the mother (or whoever replaces her), i.e. from the external environment. The child is placed in the “external matrix of maternal care”, and his main task is to enter a state of some kind of “social symbiosis” with his mother.
At this stage, the child cannot distinguish between internal and external stimuli. There is no difference between what is happening inside and outside; the baby does not distinguish itself from its environment.

Symbiotic phase(2nd - 5th months of life).
Unable to make a clear distinction between himself and the mother, the child experiences (apparently in the form of a hallucination) a somatic and mental fusion with the mother. The mother “symbiotically” organizes the baby’s personality.
Around the third month of life, the child's primary narcissism begins to give way to identification with the mother. A vague awareness arises that needs are not satisfied because the world is like this, but are satisfied by an “external” object.
Mahler uses the term “symbiosis” rather metaphorically (not in a biological sense), describing it as a state of omnipotent fusion with the image of the mother.

Separation-individuation phase

Subphase of differentiation (5 - 9 months).
Sometimes called stage"hatching" The child seems to “hatch” from the shell of his autism. He begins, while physically, (not yet emotionally) to separate himself from external objects. The baby becomes more active, his attention is directed “outward”, he learns to use his own body. The child begins to crawl, makes his first attempts to walk, and learns to control his sphincters.
The child leaves the boundaries of the “double unity” with the mother, “breaking through” into the bodily sense. At this time, he is involved in the processes of comparison and recognition (the “fear of strangers” characteristic of 8 months and a joyful smile when seeing a familiar face).

Practice subphase (10 - 15-16 months). The child happily explores the world. He exercises his “separateness” and growing motor skills. Often he moves away from his mother, gets involved in independent activities, but always returns for another “emotional recharge.”
At this stage, according to Mahler, the child experiences the peak of his narcissism. He is "fascinated by his own abilities and by the way the world around him attracts him." In his normal state, he has virtually no fear of losing an object (for example, his mother). In negative cases, say, an accidental blow or fall, separation anxiety arises and the child seeks help from the mother.

Subphase of reunification (“reproshman”) (16 - 24 months).
The child understands and appreciates reality better and better. He learns to differentiate (separate) ideas about himself (in psychoanalysis they are called “I-representations”) from ideas about other people - objects (“object representations”).
At the same time, the child ceases to feel like the “master of the world”, but feels like a small, practically helpless creature. From this, separation anxiety grows and he naturally turns to his mother for help and support. It happens that he does this quite intrusively. Some inexperienced and unreasonable mothers are not able to accept the child’s increased demands for their attention during this period (the child experiences “capricious attacks”). This is difficult for some mothers to understand, especially after the relative independence and autonomy of their baby in practice subphase. On the other hand, some mothers are unable to cope with the child's growing independence and separation. All this can become a source of problems in the development of the child.
Outwardly, it looks like a child who has already learned to walk decently runs away from his mother, thereby proclaiming his separateness and independence, and then runs back to her and “hides under her skirt.”
The process of debunking one's own omnipotence and simultaneously gaining independence is difficult and painful. During this period, the child needs the support of the mother, and not a dramatic struggle with her misunderstanding.
Successfully overcoming these difficulties is the key to future normal development. Mother's support during this period is an invaluable resource.

Subphase of object consolidation (24 - 36 months).

Gradually, the child’s psyche develops, he achieves “object constancy” - his ideas about himself and his own self (I-representation) and the idea of ​​others (object-representations) are structured and take on a clear, permanent form.
The child becomes increasingly independent from the mother and is actively interested in other people. His Ego, personality, mental apparatus become whole, more integrated. The child already knows how to neutralize his own aggressive impulses, and not affect others.
If earlier the images of parents were and consisted of “good” and “bad” images, now they become united and whole.

Which was described by Margaret Mahler as a universal feature of a child, manifesting itself at the end of the second year of life - the baby, having declared his independence and beginning to walk, runs away from his mother and soon returns and hides under her skirt, thereby returning to the previous level. According to psychoanalysts, this course of action becomes one of the tendencies inherent in every person - a return to a familiar way of acting after a new level of competence has been achieved.

The concept of regression is closely related to the Freudian idea that “primitive” “early childhood” states can manifest themselves at any moment, that the primitive psyche never disappears. Retrograde movement, that is, regression does not occur just any way back, it tends to.
A beautiful metaphor describing fixation was proposed by S. Freud: One can better understand these relationships by using the following analogy: an army is trying to advance into enemy territory. The largest number of groups of occupiers will be in those places where they experience the least difficulties, or in the safest places, where they feel most comfortable. However, by doing this, the advancing army is weakened and, if it encounters difficulties in its path, it returns to the positions where it left the strongest occupation groups.

In humans, fixations arise at those points-periods of development when he experienced excessive satisfaction or frustration.
1. Few people refuse strong satisfactions, especially if they give a feeling of security. For example, if a mother is very attentive to her baby, catches his every gesture, literally reads his thoughts, guesses every gesture, there is no point in learning to speak. Or a child who is anal-erotically stimulated by his mother with her excessive concern for his anal activity not only receives great sensual satisfaction, but also confidence in the mother’s disposition towards him.
Naturally, under stress, problems, and frustration, a person will regress to ways of thinking and behaving that were characteristic of him during periods of exquisite well-being.

2. Another fixation point can be periods of stress and extreme frustration. We all know in ourselves or in loved ones the tendency, during stressful situations, to fall into habitual regressive ways of behavior. And we ask a rhetorical question: Why does this happen to me!? Or, we release the remark: “Well, as always!”

This tendency is very clearly manifested during long-term psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. For example, a patient who is in therapy musters all the strength and courage to behave differently (especially if this includes new behavior in the relationship with the therapist - expressing fear, hatred or criticism, asking for changes in payment or schedule with greater self-affirmation than was allowed in childhood), will often return to old habitual ways of making decisions, to the same way of thinking and behavior.

The psychotherapist must be prepared for such ebbs and flows in work and not turn into the angry parent familiar to the client in his countertransference. You need to know that despite the regressive tendencies in the patient’s resistance, the general direction of change is forward.

We must understand that asking for help and support or consolation is not regression. All these are conscious processes and conscious human behavior. In order to call this process regression - a defense mechanism, it must be unconscious. So is the woman who unknowingly falls into the ingratiating tone of a little girl when she asks someone for a favor or favor; or a man who blinks his eyes in surprise at his wife after having just achieved a new degree of intimacy with her, demonstrate regression in the psychoanalytic sense of the term, unless these actions are chosen and carried out consciously.

Some people "like" to use regression as a defense more than others. For example, some people react to stress by getting sick and going to bed. In psychology, this transformation of psychological problems into somatic ones is called somatization.
Some hypochondriac people distract doctors with monotonous, unclear lamentations and periodically changing complaints about health problems, and these problems cannot be treated. These people use regression to be in the role of the weak and helpless, and this is the earliest way to overcome difficult aspects of life; once they get sick, their parents’ demands are reduced, they receive affection and care. This type of behavior lasts for years and by the time such people decide to get psychological advice from a psychologist or psychotherapist, they have already built an additional and virtually impenetrable wall of defenses. It originates in treating them as spoiled children or wayward people seeking constant attention (which characterizes their neurosis). In addition, this situation provides a lot of secondary benefits. For example, a woman who is always moping and complaining about her health is taken everywhere by relatives in a car, while those around her give up their seats or let them skip the line. Naturally, such benefits are not so easy to refuse. Consequently, the psychotherapist whose patient uses regression to the weak position as his favorite defense must have superhuman reserves of tact and patience.
The conclusion that a person complaining of physical pain or extreme fatigue is using regression as a primary defense response to emotional stress should not be hasty or unreflective. Stress resulting from the disease itself can cause a regressive reaction in the suffering individual. People often get sick because they are unconsciously depressed. But they may also become depressed because they are sick in the medical sense of the word. However, it is widely known that somatization and hypochondria, like other types of regression that represent helplessness and childish behavior patterns, can serve as the cornerstone of personality.

Regression; Regression) is a return movement of the libido to an earlier mode of adaptation, often accompanied by infantile fantasies and desires.

"Regression, for its part, acts as an adaptation to the conditions of the inner world, arising from the vital need to satisfy the requirements of individuation. Man is not a machine in the sense of constantly maintaining the same working output. He is able to provide in an ideal way the requirements of external necessity only then, when he is also adapted to his inner world, that is, if he is in harmony with himself. Accordingly, he can adapt to his inner world and achieve harmony with himself only when he is adapted to the conditions of the environment. " (CW 8, par. 75).

“What robs Nature of its charm and joy of life is the habit of looking back for something that is outside, instead of looking inward, into the depths of a depressive state. Such looking back leads to regression and is the first step towards it In addition, regression is an involuntary introversion, since the past is the object of memory and constitutes the mental content, the endopsychic factor. In essence, it is a backward flow into the past caused by depression in the present" (CW 5, par. 625; ST, par. 625) .

Jung believed that blockage in the forward movement of energy arises from the inability of the dominant conscious attitude to adapt to changing circumstances. However, this activates unconscious contents that carry within them the seeds of a new progression. The opposite or subordinate function, potentially capable of modifying an inadequate conscious attitude, is always “invisibly present behind the scenes.”

“If thinking fails as an adaptive function, dealing with a situation in which adaptation is possible only through feeling, then the unconscious material, activated by regression, will retain the missing feeling function, even if in an undeveloped, embryonic, archaic form. Likewise , in the opposite type, regression will activate the mental function, which can effectively compensate for the inadequate feeling" (CW 8, par. 65).

In contrast to Freud's almost always negative attitude towards regression (for Freud, regression is something that should be driven away and overcome), Jung believed that regression of energy first of all confronts us with the problem of our own psychology. He insisted on the therapeutic and personality-improving aspects of short-term regression, without denying the harm of long-term and unproductive regression. From a teleological (final) point of view, regression in general turns out to be just as necessary in the process of development as progression.

“Considered causally, regression is determined, so to speak, by “fixation on the mother.” But from the final point of view, the libido regresses into the imago of the mother in order to find there memory associations with the help of which further development will take place, for example from the reproductive system to intellectual and spiritual. The first explanation is exhausted in emphasizing the importance of the cause and completely misses the purpose of the regressive process. From this angle, the entire edifice of human civilization turns out to be a simple replacement for the impossibility of incest. But the other explanation allows us to foresee what will follow from regression. it is time that helps us understand the meaning of those memory images that have been reactivated" (ibid., par. 43f).

Jung believed that behind the mundane, everyday symptoms of regression lies its symbolic meaning, namely the need for psychological renewal. The latter is reflected in mythology in the form of the hero's journey.

"<...>In this regressive passionate desire, which Freud, as we know, considered as “infantile consolidation” or “the desire for incest,” there is a special value and a special necessity, expressed, for example, in myths, when it is the strongest and best among the people, i.e. That is, the hero follows a regressive passionate desire and deliberately exposes himself to the danger of being swallowed by the monster of the maternal primordial basis. But he is a hero only because he does not allow himself to be swallowed completely, but defeats the monster, and not just once, but many times. Only victory over the collective psyche reveals true value - the possession of a treasure, an invincible weapon, a magical protective agent, or something else that myth considers blessings worthy of aspiration. Therefore, the one who identifies himself with the collective psyche, and, in the language of myth, who allows himself to be swallowed by a monster and thus dissolves in it, although he is near the treasure guarded by the dragon, he is by no means of his own free will and to his own greatest detriment "(PB, p. 232).

REGRESSION

German: Regression. -French: r?gression. -English: regression. -Spanish: regresi?n. - Italian: regressione. - Portuguese: tegress?o.

o If we imagine a mental process as movement or development, then recession is a return from an already reached point to one of the previous ones.

From the point of view of the topic, according to Freud, regression occurs during a change in mental systems through which excitation usually moves in a certain direction.

From the point of view of time, regression presupposes a certain genetic sequence and denotes the return of the subject to already passed stages of development (libidinal stages, object relations, (self) identification, etc.).

From a formal point of view, this is a transition to less complex, less structurally ordered and less compartmentalized modes of expression and behavior.

o Regression is a concept that is often used in psychoanalysis and modern psychology; usually it means a return to previous forms of development of thought, object relations, and structure of behavior.

At first Freud was not interested in the occurrence of regression. However, “to regress” means to go backwards, to go back, which can be imagined both in a logical and spatial, as well as in a temporal sense.

In The Interpretation of Dreams (Die Traumdeutung, 1900), Freud introduced the concept of regression to explain the essence of dreams: dream thoughts appear primarily in the form of sensory images that haunt the subject almost like a hallucination. To explain this phenomenon, it is necessary to approach it from the point of view of the topic*, so that the mental apparatus has the appearance of an oriented sequence of systems. In the waking state, excitations pass through these systems, moving forward (i.e., from perception to movements), while during sleep, thoughts are not able to discharge in movement and rush backwards, to the system of perception (la). Thus, when introducing the concept of “regression,” Freud understood it primarily as the concept of topic (a).

The temporary meaning of regression, initially implicit, began to intensify in Freud’s concept simultaneously with the identification of new aspects in the psychosexual development of the individual.

In “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality” (Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie, 1905) the term “regression” does not appear, but here we already see indications of the possibility of returning libido to bypass paths of satisfaction (2a) and to its former objects (2b). Let us note in this regard that those places in the text where regression is discussed were added only in 1915. In fact, Freud himself admitted that the idea of ​​regression of the libido to the previous method of organization arose only in a later period (Za). In fact, to develop the concept of time regression it was necessary (in 1910-1912) to clarify the sequence of stages of children's psychosexual development. In “The Predisposition to Obsessive Neurosis” (Die Disposition zur Zwangsneurose, 1913), for example, Freud contrasted those cases in which “... a sexual organization predisposed to compulsion neurosis, having once arisen, persists to the end,” and those cases in which “it is first replaced by an organization of a higher level, and then comes into a regressive movement - down from this stage” (4).

Thus, judging by the passage added to The Interpretation of Dreams in 1914, Freud had to make internal distinctions in the concept of regression: “We distinguish regression of three types: a) topical, due to the functioning of the mental apparatus; b) temporary, in which again the previous methods of mental organization come into play; c) formal, replacing the usual methods of expression and figurative representation with more primitive ones. These three forms of regression are fundamentally united, since what is more ancient in time turns out to be at the same time simpler in form, located in the mental topic close to perception. " (1b).

Topical regression manifests itself especially clearly in dreams, where it is carried out to the end. However, it can also be found in pathological processes, where it does not extend so widely (hallucination), or in normal processes, where it does not extend so far (memory).

The concept of formal regression was used less frequently by Freud, although it covers many phenomena in which there is a return from secondary processes to primary ones (the transition from the identity of thought* to functioning in accordance with the principle of identity of perception*). This suggests a comparison of what Freud called formal regression with the neurophysiological “decomposition” (of behavior, consciousness, etc.) of the Jacksonian type. The order assumed in this case is not related to the sequence of stages of development of the individual, but rather to the hierarchy of functions and structures.

Within the framework of time regression, Freud distinguishes several lines: regression in relation to the object, regression in relation to the libidinal stage and regression in relation to the evolution of the ego (3b).

All these differences are related not only to concerns about the rigor of classification. The fact is that in some normal or pathological structures the different types of regression do not coincide with each other; Freud noted, for example, that “... in hysteria there is a systematic regression of libido to primary sexual objects of the incestuous type, although regression to previous stages of sexual organization does not occur” (3s).

Freud insisted that the past of the child - the individual, and thereby the whole of humanity - remains forever in us: “Primary states can always arise again. The primary psyche in the proper sense of the word is indestructible” (5). Freud repeats this idea of ​​a return to the past in relation to a variety of areas - psychopathology, dreams, cultural history, biology, etc. The concept of repetition compulsion also points to the renewal of the past in the present. To express this thought, Freud uses not only the term Regression, but also related terms - R?ckbildung, R?ckwendung, R?ckgreifen, etc.

The concept of regression is primarily descriptive, as Freud himself believed. And therefore it is not enough to understand exactly how the subject returns to the past. Some striking psychopathological conditions push us towards a realistic understanding of regression: it is sometimes said that a schizophrenic becomes an infant, a catatonic person returns to a fetal state, etc. However, when in relation to a person suffering from obsessional neurosis one speaks of regression to the anal stage, this is understood differently than in the previous examples. In an even more limited sense, we can talk about regression during transfer when we are talking about the behavior of the subject as a whole.

Although all these Freudian distinctions do not allow us to give the concept of regression a strict theoretical basis, they at least forbid us to think of it as something all-encompassing. As a result, we see that the concept of regression is associated with the concept of fixation, which is not at all reducible to the consolidation of behavioral patterns. If fixation is understood as a “recording” (see: Fixation; Representation as a representative of the drive), regression can be interpreted as the re-enactment of what has already been “recorded”. Then, say, “oral regression” (especially during psychoanalysis) should be understood this way: in his statements and attitudes, the subject rediscovers something. what Freud once called “the language of oral desire” (6).

REGRESSION

regression) The general meaning is a return to an earlier state or course of action. In a special meaning - a protective process (see PROTECTION), with the help of which the subject avoids (or tries to avoid) ANXIETY by eliminating or completely returning to an earlier stage of LIBIDAL and EGO DEVELOPMENT. The stage at which regression occurs is determined by the presence of FIXATION POINTS. Regression theory suggests that, except in ideal cases, INFANTIL stages of development are not completely overcome, and therefore earlier patterns of behavior remain as alternative ways of functioning. Regression, however, is not seen as a viable and effective defensive process - on the contrary, it is often “out of the frying pan and into the fire”, since regression forces the individual to relive the anxiety inherent in the stage to which he regressed. For example, regression from the PHALLIC or OEDIPUS level to the ORAL level, undertaken as a defense against CASTRATION ANXIETY, makes the patient defenseless against the re-experienced SEPARATION ANXIETY. As a result, regression is usually accompanied by further protective measures designed to protect the ego from its consequences.

REGRESSION

1. The process and result of a certain regression.

2. In general terms, the return of libido to already passed stages of psychosexual development. According to S. Freud, there are two types of regression:

1) return to objects of an incestuous nature, which were the first to be captured by libido;

2) return of the general psychosexual organization to the previous stages of development. Both types occur in transference neuroses.

3. A certain movement back in the phenomena of dreams, neurosis, etc.

4. Behavioral regression.

REGRESSION

lat. regredere - moving backwards). One of the mechanisms of psychological defense, in which the subject returns to forms of behavior typical of the previous stages of his development. In difficult situations, a person, like a child, shows his dependence on others, refuses independence in actions, from making his own decisions, from his responsibility for anything. This phenomenon plays a big role in the development of hospitalism, withdrawal from illness, and escape into the world of dreams.

REGRESSION

A term denoting a return to a less mature level of mental development. As a rule, regression occurs in... situations when the processes of mental organization corresponding to a given phase of development are disrupted. In this case, regression is considered as one of the defense mechanisms. The concept of regression is closely related to the position that the psychological development of an individual goes through a number of phases, each of which is characterized by specific features of the manifestations of the drives of the Self, the Self-ideal and the Super-ego. The formation of each phase depends on: 1) the method of discharging instinctive drives, 2) the functioning of the ego; 3) ideals and manifestations of conscience inherent in the individual.

Typically, the concept of regression is considered in two aspects. Libidinal regression (libido regression) is a return to the early phases of the organization of instinctive life, arising in the course of normal development, when the individual is unable to cope with the demands of the biologically determined process of achieving greater maturity. In such cases, unresolved conflicts and anxiety, emanating from earlier levels of development, form “weak spots” (fixations) in the structure of the mental apparatus. The latter, as a rule, determine the level to which mental activity regresses. In other cases, regression manifests itself in response to new events and situations for the individual that arise in a given phase of development, but have a clearly traumatic effect. In childhood, when the development of sexual desires is still unstable, libidinal forms of regression are a very common mechanism. For example, a five-year-old child, under the influence of stress (competition with a younger brother or sister), resorts to thumb sucking, that is, a method of self-soothing that he has long discarded and forgotten.

Another type of regression - ego regression - represents a departure from more developed and mature stages of mental organization to modes of activity characteristic of earlier periods of life. Although regression of the ego most often appears together with libidinoena, the first of them affects primarily the functions of the ego involved in the conflict. Regression of the ego manifests itself in the form of formal characteristics of imaginative processes associated with certain derivatives of the conflict of drives. The most common examples of regression of this type are the child’s loss of control over bladder functions, speech impairment in response to a severe stressful situation, and some others.

In certain cases (most often in masochistic patients), regression of the Superego can also be observed. Often this type of regression is a specific response to a situation in which the internalized authority of the parents is again externalized and then projected onto the analyst, who is viewed by the patient as a sadistic figure in the transference process.

The reasons for regression are varied. Some of its forms occur normally (both in childhood and in adulthood) and are considered as a response to the needs of the individual, which are subject to external or internal “pressure.”* Being an integral part of the “oscillatory” process of development, regression can contribute to processing and subsequent reintegration mental material at a higher level. In adulthood, some states can serve as triggers for the manifestation of archaic instinctive and behavioral aspects of mental life. Such states include dreams, love and enmity. Regression is one of the most important elements of the psychodynamic process. , returning the patient to earlier and thus less mature phases of mental organization, allows him to re-process unresolved conflicts during transference. Manifestations of regression intensify when various conditions and disorders arise: in the case of feelings of anxiety, guilt, shame, depression, frustration or narcissistic resentment. , severe asthenia, physical overload, somatic diseases, etc. Pathological regression occurs with neuroses, psychoses and perversions. The main dynamic factor of regression is the unresolved Oedipus complex in combination with fear of castration and/or unconscious sexual or aggressive impulses that provoke feelings of guilt.

REGRESSION

one of the psychological defense mechanisms in which the subject returns to forms of behavior typical of the previous stages of his development. In difficult situations, a person, like a child, shows his dependence on others, refuses independence in actions, from making his own decisions, from his responsibility for anything. This phenomenon plays a big role in the development of hospitalism, withdrawal from illness, and escape into the world of dreams.

Regression

regression). A defense mechanism in which the individual retreats to an earlier stage of development that is safer and more enjoyable; using less mature responses in an attempt to cope with stress.

REGRESSION

regression) -1. In psychiatry, a return to an earlier, immature level of functioning of the body due to an inability to function adequately at a higher level. This term can be applied, for example, to the condition of a person in hospital who becomes uncontrollable and overly demanding. It can also be applied to any single psychological function; for example, psychoanalysts believe that libido represents a regression to an earlier stage of human development. 2. The stage of the disease, during which the symptoms of the disease subside and the patient recovers completely.

Regression

Word formation. Comes from Lat. regressus - moving backwards.

Specificity. It is characterized by the fact that during its implementation there is a return to more primitive forms of behavior and thinking that were characteristic of an earlier stage of ontogenetic development.

REGRESSION

A very ambiguous term in psychology. Its main meaning is return, movement back, retreat; the opposite of progress. Thus: 1. A return to an earlier, more primitive or more childish model of behavior. When the term is used in this sense, the individual so characterized may or may not have previously demonstrated the primitive behavior currently exhibited; A 12-year-old child may show regression in thumb sucking even if he never did it as an infant. Here this is contrasted with retrogression (2). Moreover, the connotation of relapse is always present here; the concept of regression does not refer to primitive patterns of behavior that were never lost. Here it is opposed to fixation. It is necessary to take into account that this meaning of the term has different evaluative connotations in different areas of use: (a) in psychoanalytic theories it has a negative implication, that is, the idea that stress or anxiety causes an individual to flee from reality into a more infantile state, but (b ) in cognitive developmental theory it refers to a temporary return to an earlier form of thinking in order to begin to learn how to deal with a new degree of complexity - this is seen as a stage of generally progressive cognitive development. 2. In statistics, the relationship between the selected knowledge of one variable (x) and the observed values ​​of the second paired variable (y). When a regression equation is written for a set of data, the most likely value of y for any given knowledge of x can be predicted. The term in this sense is actually a shortened form of the term regression to the mean. 3. In genetics - the law of regression then 4. In reading - any movement of the eye on material already read. The frequency of such regressions is related to the difficulty of the material and the individual's reading ability. 5. In conditioning studies, the re-occurrence of a previously acquired response. This regression to a response lower in the habit hierarchy is most often observed when dominant responses are punished. Many behaviorists view this effect as a laboratory analogue of regression in the sense of 1. Adjective - regressive, regressive, verb - regress.

Regression

Regression (from the Latin movement backward) in the most common meaning is a process, mechanism, the result of a person’s return to previously passed (possibly childhood) stages, states, forms and methods of functioning of emotional and intellectual activity, object relations, behavior patterns, psychological defenses.

Regression

in general terms, a return to already passed stages of psychosexual development, to an earlier state or course of action, in psychology - a defense mechanism by which an individual avoids or tries to avoid anxiety, partially or completely returning to an earlier stage of libidinal development.

Regression

regression). Restoration of mental functions that were characteristic of the mental activity of the individual in earlier phases of his development. Primitive forms of mental activity can continue to exist parallel to its more mature forms. Many forms of regression appear only for some time and are not irreversible. Whether regression accompanied by weakening of consciousness control is pathological and, if so, to what extent, is determined by the degree of its irreversibility. Typically, regression does not represent any single phenomenon; it can cover all substructures of the mental apparatus and has different effects on individual components of the processes of the Id or the functions of the Ego and Superego.

Source: A. Heigl-Evers, F. Heigl, J. Ott, U. Rüger. Basic guide to psychotherapy (terms) S. Freud showed interest in the problem of regression in connection with his consideration of the nature and specificity of dreams. In his work “The Interpretation of Dreams” (1900), he put forward the position that “regression is, of course, one of the most important psychological features of the dreaming process.” The formation of a dream was precisely what he correlated with the process of regression within the supposed mental apparatus, when all relationships of thoughts disappear or find a vague expression, and ideas turn back into sensory images on the basis of which they were previously formed. In S. Freud's understanding, in the waking state, excitations and irritations are oriented towards the sequential passage of the systems of the unconscious, preconscious and consciousness. During sleep, they flow in the opposite way, rushing towards acts of perception. Thus, the dream, in which, as S. Freud believed, a person’s desire is realized, in a regressive way preserves a sample of the work of the mental apparatus that is primitive and rejected due to its inexpediency. “What once dominated the waking state, when mental life was still young and inexperienced,” has been banished into night life, as it were.”

In The Interpretation of Dreams, S. Freud also drew attention to the fact that regression is characteristic not only of dreams, but also of normal thinking, when, for example, intentional recollection corresponds to the reversal of any complex act of representation to simpler material of perception. Various visions of mentally normal people also correspond to regressions, not to mention hallucinations during hysteria and paranoia, which are indeed regressions and represent thoughts turned into images. In this sense, S. Freud distinguished between regression of normal mental life and pathological cases of regression.

Subsequently, he repeatedly turned to understanding the phenomenon of regression. In one of the additions to the reissue of “The Interpretation of Dreams” in 1914, S. Freud identified three types of regression: topical, associated with the functioning of the mental apparatus with its inherent systems of the unconscious, preconscious and consciousness; temporary, including regressions in relation to libidinal objects and stages of psychosexual development; formal, correlated with the replacement of conventional, developed forms and methods of figurative representation and thinking with more primitive, ancient ones.

As psychoanalytic ideas about human psychosexual development and the etiology of neurotic diseases deepened, Freud began to pay increasing attention to the processes of regression. In his “Lectures on an Introduction to Psychoanalysis” (1916/17), he distinguished two types of regression: a return to the first libidinal objects of a narcissistic nature and a return of the general sexual organization to earlier stages of development. Both types of regression were perceived by him as typical, characteristic and playing a significant role in transference neuroses.

Considering regression from the point of view of the return of sexual organization to the early stages of development, S. Freud warned analysts against confusing regression and repression. In general terms, that is, in the sense of returning to an earlier, deeper stage of development of a mental act, regression and repression are processes similar to each other, which he called topical. But if the concepts of “regression” and “repression” are used in a special (psychoanalytic) meaning, then it should be borne in mind that, according to S. Freud, there is a fundamental difference between them, the essence of which can be reduced to the following: regression is a purely descriptive concept , repression – topical-dynamic; regression is not an entirely mental process; an organic factor plays a significant role in it, while repression is a purely mental process that has “no relation to sexuality.”

Such ideas of S. Freud about the difference between regression and repression were not only theoretical in nature, but also had a practical orientation related to understanding the etiology of neuroses and the treatment of neurotic diseases. In particular, he proceeded from the fact that in hysteria there is most often a regression of libido to primary incestuous objects, but there is no regression to an earlier stage of sexual organization and, therefore, when studying hysteria, the significance of regression becomes clear later than the role of repression in this disease. In obsessive-compulsive neurosis, on the contrary, along with repression, the regression of libido to the early stage of the sadistic-oral organization is a decisive factor in the formation of symptoms. “Libido regression without repression would never lead to neurosis, but would result in perversion.”

In his work “Inhibition, Symptom and Fear” (1926), S. Freud gave a metapsychological explanation of regression, according to which the decisive role in its formation is played by split, disconnected drives and isolated erotic components, which from the initial phase of their development join the destructive drives of the sadistic phase . In the same work, he examined regression as one of the defense mechanisms of the self.

Freud's understanding of regression necessitated further study of this phenomenon. Along with conceptual developments that lie in the mainstream of classical psychoanalysis, some researchers also expressed considerations that indicated a revision of the traditional psychoanalytic view of the phenomenon of regression. Thus, the founder of analytical psychology K.G. Jung (1875–1961) raised the question of recognizing the teleological significance of regression. He believed that a return to the infantile level is not only regression, but also the possibility of finding a new life plan, that is, “regression, in essence, is also the main condition for the creative act.”

In modern psychoanalytic literature, the problem of regression is discussed from the point of view of the reasons for its occurrence, stages of development, depth of manifestation, object and subject of the goal, results of work, the advisability of restraining or intensifying in the process of analytical therapy. Along with the negative meaning of regression leading to symptom formation, its positive meaning is also considered as an incentive to restore disturbed balance, an intermediate state for the implementation of adaptive reorientation. Analysts also focus on regression as a mechanism for protecting the Self, “bad” regression as a state of disintegration, and “good” regression as a progressive process necessary for human life.

Or anxiety, when a person unconsciously resorts to earlier, less mature and less adequate patterns of behavior that seem to him to guarantee protection and safety.

Description

This defense is based on the objective fact that people usually tend to protect a small child to a greater extent than an adult. While retaining memories of the feeling of security that most of us had in childhood, we sometimes unconsciously use a seemingly paradoxical way of protecting ourselves from troubles - we begin to display childish, non-adaptive character traits and behavior patterns. Often this actually leads to the fact that those around them begin to protect the “defenseless child,” but not always: regression can work even when there is simply no one nearby.

Demonstration of sickness, inferiority, etc. also relates to regression, since it contains the same message: “I am sick, I am not able to take care of myself, protect me.” As a result, for some people who abuse regression, this can actually lead to chronic illnesses and chronic failure, develop into hypochondria and be accompanied by somatization. When regression becomes the cornerstone of personality, a life strategy for overcoming problems, such a personality is called infantile personality.

Types of normal childhood regression

The following types of normal regression manifested in children are distinguished:

see also

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Literature

• McWilliams, Nancy.= Psychoanalytic diagnosis: Understanding personality structure in the clinical process. - Moscow: Class, 1998. - 480 p. - ISBN 5-86375-098-7.

Notes

Excerpt characterizing Regression (psychology)

While such conversations took place in the reception room and in the princess's rooms, the carriage with Pierre (who was sent for) and with Anna Mikhailovna (who found it necessary to go with him) drove into the courtyard of Count Bezukhy. When the wheels of the carriage sounded softly on the straw spread under the windows, Anna Mikhailovna, turning to her companion with comforting words, was convinced that he was sleeping in the corner of the carriage, and woke him up. Having woken up, Pierre followed Anna Mikhailovna out of the carriage and then only thought about the meeting with his dying father that awaited him. He noticed that they drove up not to the front entrance, but to the back entrance. While he was getting off the step, two people in bourgeois clothes hurriedly ran away from the entrance into the shadow of the wall. Pausing, Pierre saw several more similar people in the shadows of the house on both sides. But neither Anna Mikhailovna, nor the footman, nor the coachman, who could not help but see these people, paid no attention to them. Therefore, this is so necessary, Pierre decided to himself and followed Anna Mikhailovna. Anna Mikhailovna walked with hasty steps up the dimly lit narrow stone staircase, calling to Pierre, who was lagging behind her, who, although he did not understand why he had to go to the count at all, and even less why he had to go up the back stairs, but , judging by the confidence and haste of Anna Mikhailovna, he decided to himself that this was necessary. Halfway up the stairs, they were almost knocked down by some people with buckets, who, clattering with their boots, ran towards them. These people pressed against the wall to let Pierre and Anna Mikhailovna through, and did not show the slightest surprise at the sight of them.

Description

This defense is based on the objective fact that people usually tend to protect a small child to a greater extent than an adult. While retaining memories of the feeling of security that most of us had in childhood, we sometimes unconsciously use a seemingly paradoxical way of protecting ourselves from troubles - we begin to display childish, non-adaptive character traits and behavior patterns. Often this actually leads to the fact that those around them begin to protect the “defenseless child,” but not always: regression can work even when there is simply no one nearby.

Demonstration of sickness, inferiority, etc. also relates to regression, since it contains the same message: “I am sick, I am not able to take care of myself, protect me.” As a result, for some people who abuse regression, this can actually lead to chronic illnesses and chronic failure, develop into hypochondria and be accompanied by somatization. When regression becomes the cornerstone of personality, a life strategy for overcoming problems, such a personality is called an infantile personality.

Regression is also typical for hysterical personalities.

Types of normal childhood regression

The following types of normal regression manifested in children are distinguished:

Literature

• McWilliams, Nancy. Psychoanalytic diagnostics: Understanding personality structure in the clinical process= Psychoanalytic diagnosis: Understanding personality structure in the clinical process. - Moscow: Class, 1998. - 480 p. - ISBN 5-86375-098-7

Notes

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Wiktionary has an article on “regression.” Regression (lat. regressio “reverse movement, return”) has many meanings ... Wikipedia regression - 1. The process and result of a certain regression. 2. In general terms, the return of libido to already passed stages of psychosexual development. According to S. Freud, two types of regression are distinguished: 1) return to objects of an incestuous nature, which were... ...

Great psychological encyclopedia psychology I - PSYCHOLOGY I (ego psychology) is one of the areas of psychoanalytic psychology that arose in the mid-20th century, reflected in the works of A. Freud, H. Hartmann and focused on the study of the defense mechanisms of the I, as well as their connections and ...

Encyclopedia of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science PSYCHOLOGY OF I (EGOPSYCHOLOGY) - is one of the areas of psychoanalytic psychology, focused on the study of the defense mechanisms of the self, as well as their connections and relationships with other processes taking place in the human psyche. Psychology of the Self is characterized by a shift in emphasis... ...

Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

This term has other meanings, see Regression. Statistical regression is a special case of selection bias, where groups are selected based on extreme indicators. “The effects of statistical regression mean the drift of the extremes, ... ... Wikipedia

This article is about a non-academic area of ​​research. Please edit the article so that this is clear both from its first sentences and from the subsequent text. Details in the article and on the talk page... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Projection. Projection (lat. projectio throwing forward) is a psychological process attributed to the mechanisms of psychological defense, as a result of which the internal is mistakenly perceived as ... ... Wikipedia - (German: Tiefenpsychologie), designation of a number of modern trends. foreign psychology, who made the so-called subject of their research. the deep forces of the personality, its drives and tendencies, which are opposed to the processes occurring on... ...

Philosophical Encyclopedia

- (German: Tiefenpsychologie) designation of a number of areas of modern foreign psychology, which have made the so-called subject of their research. the deep forces of the personality, its drives and tendencies, which are opposed to the processes occurring... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Regression

So, having invited the patient to say whatever comes to his mind, the therapist remains mostly silent during the session. But despite this verbal and emotional silence, a specific connection arises between the therapist and the patient, which, as already noted, Freud designated the term “transference.” The silence of the psychoanalyst, undoubtedly, frustrates (causes dissatisfaction) the patient and encourages him (to a certain extent, out of a desire to evoke at least some kind of response) to paint pictures of increasingly darker and “fetid” memories, plunging into ever deeper layers of the psyche and, as a rule, , while turning to early youth and childhood. These can be both memories and pseudo-memories, but the latter are different for everyone and deeply personal. Freud designated this “immersion” in distant memories and feelings with the term “regression.” Remaining unanswered, the request takes on more and more primitive (in the individual-historical aspect of the personality) forms, such as the need for maternal love, care, punishment or forgiveness, up to the “desire to be spanked.”

In a more general version, regression, as one of the methods of psychological defense, consists of returning to earlier stereotypes of behavior and, as it were, restoring in communication those ways of responding that were obviously successful in the past (mainly in childhood) or situations in which a feeling of pleasure was experienced (associated with parental love and a sense of security). In this case, the request always remains directed to the psychoanalyst conducting the session.

Digressing somewhat, let's say that depending on the patient's problems and the figures of his early attachments (and much less on the personality of the therapist), the latter can “assume” (in transference) a variety of roles, which he must clearly recognize and monitor. For example, despite my receding hairline and the presence of a mustache, I often felt that when turning to me, the patient was actually appealing to his mother or grandmother, or aunt, or sister. And most often this request was due to the needs for acceptance, love, understanding and protection, which were not adequately realized in childhood. As a result, the ability to understand and accept oneself and others has not been formed, or this ability has undergone neurotic transformations. Most often this refers to love and the ability to love, first of all, oneself, and then another - to give and receive love. Feelings are characterized not only quantitatively, but also in terms of their integrity. Figuratively speaking, if I was given two apples, I can give one to you, and everyone will have an apple. If I only got one, I will most likely only be able to give half, and no one will have the whole apple. If I only have a third of an apple, at best I can offer you a bite...

It should be noted that in the process of regression, not only feelings that have already occurred in the past in relation to significant childhood figures are transferred to the analyst, but also stereotypes of the expected response. This version of the dialogue between the patient (P) and the analyst (A) is quite typical:

P.: Yes, I know that now you are thinking that I have never been an independent person.

A.: Why should I think that?

P.: My mother always said that.

As practice has repeatedly shown, parental assessment and early patterns of behavior formed (in the family) turn out to be extremely stable. But we never try to destroy these stereotypes, but consistently work to modify them.