THE PURCHASE OF REGRESSION DAVID W. SWANSON* And then the young ruler said, "Remember that I have the right to do anything to anybody." Caligula, emperor of Rome in the first century a.D., let senators on both sides of the aisle kiss his feet and then insisted that they thank him for the honor. During the day he lounged on the palace terrace accepting gifts from his subjects, who were then asked to name him heir in their wills. In the evening he bathed in perfume and made love to his woman of the hour. Finally, on weekends he enjoyed occupying the throne in the temple while the populace worshiped him [I]. Now this fellow knew how to regress! Contrast this with the demeanor of a later emperor-to-be who, in April 1909, left friends and security and chose the world of poverty. He slept in parks, stood in line for soup at a convent, sold his clothes, and begged. During that time, Adolf Hitler struggled as an artist and studied political thought [2]. Apparendy it was a period ofself-denial, part ofan idealistic struggle. Perhaps. Yet, just when young Adolf ignored his family, refused to work, and was dependent on society, he was reacting to an academic failure. Regression is the act of going back; an escape by casting off responsibility [3]; the process ofreturn, under adverse circumstances, to a previous state of psychological fixation [4]. Development recedes to earlier stages that were more successfully experienced; and the stronger the fixation, the easier for regression to take place [5]. Freud recognized evidence of regression in pathologic conditions and in normal life activities. In his comments on dreaming, he hinted at the pull exerted on all of us by the forces of regression: in dreaming there is a resuscitation of childhood and the impulses that were then dominant, and even beyond this, access to the phylogenetic childhood of the human race [6]. Further attesting to the omnipresence of regression is its ?Professor of psychiatry, Mayo Medical School; consultant, Section of Psychiatry, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota 55905. Copyright is not claimed for this article. Perspectives in Biology andMediane, 28, 2 ¦ Winter 1985 | 243 inevitable appearance during recovery from illness and even our vacation holidays, when it has adaptive functions [7]. This positive role ofregression is extended by the conceptualization of its use in psychoanalytic practice [8], a presumably controlled use for 50 minutes. The most positive employment of regression is in the service of the ego, as in creativity, empathy, and intuition [8, 9]. In these instances its influence is the antithesis of incapacitating. Unquestionably, the capacity for regression is contained in the normal personality, but for something so ordinary it certainly has a lousy reputation . For example, any number ofphilosophers, theologians, and lawgivers have confronted the issue of regression as they sought harmony between public and private interests. In most philosophic systems each man, in seeking his own happiness, is compelled to consider also the happiness of others. Locke's ethical doctrines give an example ofthe theoretical struggle to understand man's quest for pleasure [10]. Locke held that everybody is motivated solely by desire for his own pleasure. However, this pursuit of true happiness apparently is such a giant force that it must be regulated by God, who has made certain rules; break them and you risk going to hell. Bentham, a free-thinking philosopher, did not rely on the deity as a monitor. Instead he utilized the human lawgiver to assure that when we pursue our own happiness, we minister to the general happiness [7]. The problem is that some lawgivers provide for their own pleasure while regulating that of others. Yet, other thinkers have recognized that regression is often quite concealed . C. S. Lewis [11] has described the self-indulgence disguised by the person who, in a querulous way, insists on an egg perfectly made, although no cooks can fulfill the exact palatal requirements. They just keep trying for an eternity. If one were to point out the subtle selfindulgence involved, the criticism would likely be countered by a claim that the concern is not for self but for others. Regression is...