Under normal conditions, all living beings naturally progress to a maturation process, however, growth does not maintain a totally continuous line of progress, this means that, even in normal growth, there are moments of advance, immobility and retreat . the concepts of fixation and regression are referred to.
The word fixation refers to something that remains, but also to resistance to variation, is immobility in the development process. That is, a point where there is no progress or setbacks, it is not a stalemate in the strict sense, but an insistence, a reiteration that remains unchanged.
- On the other hand.
- The word regression is linked to failure.
- That is.
- Progress has been made towards a more advanced stage.
- But for some reason.
- At some point.
- It has returned to an earlier stage.
- And what implications does this have on psychic life?We’ll talk about that next.
“We don’t always react to regression shocks. Sometimes, in the face of a crisis, do we grow ?. -Naomi Klein-
Fixation and regression are phenomena intimately related to the concept of libido; in psychoanalysis, libido is a psychic energy (an impulse) aimed at obtaining pleasure; a desire that moves the individual and pushes him to find satisfaction; this force, or impulse, is directed towards different objects, depending on the evolutionary process of each individual.
This impulse is also instinctive. According to Sigmund Freud, libido follows an evolutionary course in which several stages appear, in each of which pleasure is associated with a certain area of the body and the actions associated with it, these phases are:
From the point of view of psychoanalysis, when we talk about fixation, we mean the persistence of one of these phases of libido development. Thus, a person may be fixed in the oral or anal phase, for example. That is, it basically shows the characteristics that correspond to that stage and not to the others.
In turn, regression involves returning to a phase that has already passed, is very common in first-born people when they have a younger brother, sometimes they want to remove it from the womb and can stop controlling the sphincters that the mother has to care for, just as they did when they were babies.
In adulthood you can also experience regression, not in such a basic sense, but in the personality traits that accompany a particular stage, for example, a compulsive smoker or alcoholic enjoys oral action, so it seeks the pleasure lost at this point. .
Fixation and regression are also mechanisms of defense, i. e. unconscious strategies to deal with an unfavourable situation when there are no psychic tools to consciously assume and overcome it. Therefore, fixation and regression imply the existence of an associated problem.
In general, fixation occurs when, at some point, there is an excess of leniency or severe frustration; at some stages of libido development, adults, especially parents, play a key role; when they have severe deficiencies to respond to satisfaction or limit. Libidinal manifestations, result in a fixation.
Meanwhile, regression occurs when a very frustrating or even traumatic situation occurs, going back is a way to avoid or deny this situation and the challenges it entails, so an adult may have a tantrum when reality does not follow the course of their expectations.