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==Sigmund Freud==
[[Freud]] introduced the concept of [[regression]] in longing for a protective [[father]],<ref>{{F}} ''[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Future of an Illusion]]'', 1927c: [[SE ]] XXI, 22-4</ref> and described [[The Interpretation of Dreams]] in order to explain the [[visual]] nature of dreams.
Basing himself on a [[topographical]] model in which the psyche is conceived of as a series of distinct systems, [[Freud]] argued that during sleep [[progress]]ive access to motor activity is blocked, thus forcing thoughts to travel regressively through these systems towards the system of perception.<ref>Freud{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900a: [[SE ]] V, 538-55</ref>
He later added a passage to this section distinguishing between this [[topographical]] kind of [[regression]] and what he called [[temporal]] [[regression]] (when the subject reverts to previous phases of development) and [[formal]] [[regression]]. (the use of modes of expression which are less complex than others).<ref>Freud{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900a: [[SE ]] V, 548</ref>
==Jacques Lacan==
In particular, he criticises the 'magical' view of [[regression]], according to which [[regression]] is seen as a real phenomenon, in which [[adults]] "actually regress, return to the state of a small child, and start wailing."
In this sense of the term, "[[regression]] does exist."<ref>{{S2}} p.103</ref>
In place of this misconception, [[Lacan]] argues that [[regression]] must be understood first and foremost in a [[topographical]] sense, which is the way [[Freud]] understood the term when he introduced it in 1900, and not in a [[temporal]] sense.
In other words, "there is [[regression]] on the plane of [[signification and not on the plane of [[reality]]."<ref>{{S2}} p.103</ref>
Thus [[regression]] is to be understood "not in the [[instinct]]ual sense, nor in the sense of the resurgence of something anterior," but in the sense of "the reduction of the [[symbolic]] to the [[imaginary]]."<ref>{{S4}} p.242</ref>
===Temporal Regression===
[[Regression]] to the [[oral stage]], for example, is to be understood in terms of the articulation of oral [[demand]]s (the [[demand]] to be fed, evident in the [[demand]] for the [[analyst]] to supply [[interpretation]]s).
When understood in this sense, [[Lacan]] reaffirms the importance of [[regression]] in [[psychoanalytic treatment]], arguing that [[regression]] to the [[anal stage]], for example, is so important that no [[analysis]] which has not encountered this can be called complete.<ref>{{S8}} p.242</ref> ==See Also==
== References ==
<references/>
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Imaginary]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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