ABSTRACT
The process of regression described by Freud in of The Interpretation of Dreams concerns the reversal of the normal direction of movement of thought processes by which dream thoughts are given hallucinatory representation. This regression has three aspects, namely, the topographical, temporal and the formal. The libidinal aspects of regression in dreams are covered under the discussion of dream wishes. The wishes expressed are mainly infantile ones, belonging to an earlier phase of libidinal development, and dreams return to infantile wishes and situations, which are expressed in infantile ways. The dream is regressive in substance as well as in form, and the mental stimuli which disturb sleep cannot be dealt with without such regression of mental activity. Freud compares this regression in dreams with various normal and pathological regressive processes. The formation of a wishful fantasy and its regression to hallucination are also found in certain psychotic states, in which reality testing ceases to function.
