Age regression is a mental and emotional state during which behavior reverts to a younger age.
Examples of regressive behaviors include baby talk, thumb-sucking, and temper tantrums.
These behaviors can be voluntary or involuntary.
Verywell / Danie Drankwalter
Verywell / Danie Drankwalter
What Is Age Regression?
Age regression is a temporary or long-term reversal of behavior to earlier states of development.
It is normal and expected in children but also occurs in adulthood.
People sometimes revert to childlike behavior to cope withtrauma,stress, severe illness, ormental health disorders.
Age regression can be unconscious (involuntary) or conscious (voluntary) behavior.
More severe regressions can include crying in a fetal position and bed-wetting.
Age regression may occur with stress, traumatic memories, or triggers but then recede when these stressors abate.
Regressive behaviors can be more persistent when they are related to a neurological condition like head trauma or dementia.
It’s a temporary state and usually resolves within a few weeks.
Voluntary age regression is a defense mechanism used to evoke a low-stress time of life.
Others voluntarily adopt childlike behaviors because its a way to deal with stress.
Some adolescents are exploring agere as a way to manage stress.
Experts warn voluntary age regression can worsen symptoms of PTSD and make it more difficult to treat.
Age regression behaviors can be triggered by stressors or memories of trauma.
Coping mechanisms might include talking, journaling, or exercising.
Psychological Theories About Age Regression
There are several psychological theories about what causes age regression.
This part of the personality includes judgment, tolerance, control, planning, and memory.
Anna Freuds Motivated Forgetting Theory
Sigmund Freuds daughter, Anna, elaborated on his studies.
Anna developed specific tools for psychoanalysis or therapy with children.
Rather than focus exclusively on talk therapy, she also engaged children through play or drawings.
She proposed that people psychologically regress under stress to an emotional time period when they felt safer.
Carl Jung
Carl Jung, the psychiatrist who founded analytical psychology, viewed age regression more positively.
Jung defined age regression as an attempt to achieve childhood innocence, security, love, and trust.
His theory was that people revert to an age when they felt safer.
It also can lead to more mature functioning outside of therapy sessions.
This may require active interventions by the therapist to help the person manage these regressions in healthier ways.
Hypnotic Regression Benefits vs.
Some therapists feel this can help people access repressed memories and deal with painful experiences from the past.
There is considerable evidence, however, that memories accessed through hypnosis are not reliable.
Mental health stigmas tend to be very common.
During ageplay, someone role-plays or pretends to be younger, often during sexual activity.
However, age regression is not considered inherently sexual by psychiatric or medical professionals.
His theory asserts that personality and sexuality evolve duringfive psychosexual stages.
Psychological theories about age regression in adults differ among some scientists, neurologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists.
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