The two faces of regression: A conceptual review

Reconsidering Regression in Psychoanalysis: Notes on a Central Yet Controversial Concept and Its Relation to Free Association

The concept of regression is schematically reviewed, focusing on the complexities and confusions that have surrounded this contested notion in the course of psychoanalytic history. Clinical illustrations are used to suggest descriptive differences in regressive functioning occurring in the course of psychoanalysis. It is argued that there may be an important distinction between the sense-making (adaptational, maturational, and integrative) aims of therapeutic discourse and the distinctively deconstructive conditions of a psychoanalytic process. In this context, the "regressive" impact of the free-associative method is illustrated, and on this basis, it is suggested that there is a significant and profound difference between "free association" conceived simply as uncensored storytelling and "full-on free association" as closer to the babbling of a stream of consciousness.

The conceptual development of regression

Concepts of regression have evolved over time. Regression originally referred to a process of functional dedifferentiation and retreat to archaic forms of organization and function. Libidinal regression described a return to an earlier instinctual phase codetermined by fixations to prior points of developmental weakness. Within structural theory, ego and superego regression were also noted, without fixation points. Regression could be normal or pathological, differential or global, controlled or uncontrolled, and variably reversible. Historical emphasis on regression in pathogenesis was complemented by concepts of regression in the service of the ego, serving development and serving adaptation. Flexible regression may be contrasted with resistance to regression. Regressive and progressive tendencies are in continuous flux. There are new considerations of regression in the analytic process, and in relation to ego development and object relations. It is doubtful that regression per se promotes the resumption of arrested development.