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Pharmacy Links

THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF ANXIETY: THE IDEA OF REGRESSION

April 29, 2009

Over the ages the mind of man has evolved from relative simplicity to greater and greater complexity. In a similar way the mind of the infant and child works in a much simpler fashion than that of the mature adult. But we, mature adults of the twentieth century, do not keep our minds constantly working at the full capacity of their state of development.

We often let our minds slip back, as it were, and let them work at a simpler stage of developement—at a more primitive level. This is regression. It happens quite normally in our moments of reverie and when we are in the transition between wakefulness and sleep. It also occurs as a result of fatigue or mental illness or drugs or even alcohol. Essential features of regression are that we are less alert and that the critical faculties of our mind are less active. Regression to this kind of more primitive functioning of the mind is an important part of our relaxing mental exercises.

Let us for a moment consider anxiety from the evolutionary point of view. We have already learned enough about it to realize that it is a very complex state. Fear, on the other hand, is a much simpler emotion. We can see animals expressing fear, but it is hard to imagine that animals experience anxiety as we know it. The emotion with its attendant apprehension is too complex for their state of development. In other words, anxiety is a relatively recently acquired function of the mind—something that our prehuman primitive ancestors did not experience. In regression the mind goes back to a simple, primitive way of functioning in which there is an absence of anxiety. This is seen in our everyday experience. In moments of reverie and complete mental relaxation our mind fills with calm, and there is an absence of any feeling of anxiety.

We have discussed the way in which we learn various patterns of response during our life. Now, if we want to learn a new and better response to a certain situation, it is necessary that we first unlearn the old pattern of response. We cannot simply add some new response to the old pattern, or we should develop some quite incongruous reaction. We cannot learn a new habit without first dropping the old one. In other words, before learning a new pattern of response we must first regress, and go back in our mind to the state before the development of the bad pattern of response. In our relaxing mental exercises we do this. We regress to a state of mind free from anxiety, and we are then free to learn the new pattern of calm and ease of mind.

This is the basic reason why explanation and persuasion are generally quite ineffective in helping those with tension. These are logical measures and work at an intellectual level; and they do not allow for the regression which is so necessary. As a result the patient can see the logic of what is explained to him, and he would like to do what we try to persuade him; but he cannot. He just remains as tense and anxious as ever because the all-important regression has been omitted.

In other relaxing techniques which are successful and in which the idea of regression is not actually mentioned, we can safely assume that regression occurs spontaneously without the patient’s knowledge.