Abstract

PHILIPS, Frank. Reflections on psychoanalysis when it is subjected to regression. Rev. bras. psicanál [online]. 2016, vol.50, n.1, pp. 65-72. ISSN 0486-641X.

In certain way, regression is to follow each analysis and this should be distinguished from acting out. The inability to tolerate frustrations may be the cause of deeper regressions. The insight which is gained through analysis is the most important factor to regression because of the envy which is roused by this insight. The accentuated confusion the patient feels in the regressed situation may make the psychoanalyst neglect what is really happening; whence the importance of interpreting not only the positive nature of regression but also its negative meaning. The regression which is enabled in psychoanalysis may make patients able to change some aspects of the primitive catastrophe that is still remaining in their minds. Different opinions between patient and analyst will continually arise. Therefore, a constant agreement will obliterate a deep instability in transference, and in the same way it will eliminate the patient’s anxiety in relation to regression. An arrangement in this situation may be better avoided if the analyst has no need to feel that his (or her) theories are impregnable. The analyst’s attitude towards memory and desire is directly related to the regression issue. The "cure" (or "healing") is the attractive alternative offered to the patients’ ability of verifying who they are, i.e., the attractive alternative between recognizing their psych reality and being "healed" of that need.

Keywords : regression; acting out; Bion; cure.

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