Our material form, is of course imbedded in the linear development of the material world. We are developing, our brain is building a data base, we experience ourselves as increasingly able to cope as we mature. Our system can ‘sense’ that it is not coping as well as it might. Our system can initiate a therapeutic regression; children seem more frequently ‘whiny’, teens might seem more frequently ‘irresponsible’. This may or may not just be ‘bad’ behavior (‘bad’ within the context of these remarks only). It may be a spontaneous regression.

A spontaneous regression is characterized by a full scale (rather than momentary) pattern of behavior that appears characteristic of an earlier age. Often we can identify the age, e.g., he’s acting like a 5 year old (when he’s 7). It is not necessary to identify the cause of the regression. The regression is, in itself, a self-correcting process. If we meet our child ‘where they are’ and work with the therapeutic regression, it does it’s job, and the regression ceases. The system benefits from ‘more time’ spent functioning as a 5 year old, ‘more time’ mastering developmental tasks characteristic of a five year old, and ‘more doses’ of the kind of TLC we give a five year old.

Our world and the world of our children is complex. Often the demands made upon us will trigger a ‘spontaneous regression’. If this can be said to be occurring, you can work with it and enhance it’s therapeutic effect.