REGRESSION AND ANTI-REGRESSION

The authors describe an anti-regressive function of the ego, which in everyday life maintains a mature functional level and in psychoanalyti c work takes the form of resistance. The authors stress the necessity of creating a climate during analysis that permits a controlled relaxa tion of the anti-regressive function. This is essential if the patient is to be able to admit the desires he/she has so far been repressing and to find better solutions for his/her unresolved conflicts.