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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15489-8.txt b/15489-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12d5727 --- /dev/null +++ b/15489-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5659 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dream Psychology, by Sigmund Freud + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dream Psychology + Psychoanalysis for Beginners + +Author: Sigmund Freud + +Release Date: March 28, 2005 [EBook #15489] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DREAM PSYCHOLOGY *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman, Joel Schlosberg and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +DREAM PSYCHOLOGY + +_PSYCHOANALYSIS FOR BEGINNERS_ + +BY +PROF. DR. SIGMUND FREUD + +AUTHORIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATION +BY +M.D. EDER + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +ANDRÉ TRIDON +Author of "Psychoanalysis, its History, Theory and Practice." +"Psychoanalysis and Behavior" and "Psychoanalysis, Sleep and Dreams" + +NEW YORK +THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY +1920 + + + + +THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY + +PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The medical profession is justly conservative. Human life should not be +considered as the proper material for wild experiments. + +Conservatism, however, is too often a welcome excuse for lazy minds, +loath to adapt themselves to fast changing conditions. + +Remember the scornful reception which first was accorded to Freud's +discoveries in the domain of the unconscious. + +When after years of patient observations, he finally decided to appear +before medical bodies to tell them modestly of some facts which always +recurred in his dream and his patients' dreams, he was first laughed at +and then avoided as a crank. + +The words "dream interpretation" were and still are indeed fraught with +unpleasant, unscientific associations. They remind one of all sorts of +childish, superstitious notions, which make up the thread and woof of +dream books, read by none but the ignorant and the primitive. + +The wealth of detail, the infinite care never to let anything pass +unexplained, with which he presented to the public the result of his +investigations, are impressing more and more serious-minded scientists, +but the examination of his evidential data demands arduous work and +presupposes an absolutely open mind. + +This is why we still encounter men, totally unfamiliar with Freud's +writings, men who were not even interested enough in the subject to +attempt an interpretation of their dreams or their patients' dreams, +deriding Freud's theories and combatting them with the help of +statements which he never made. + +Some of them, like Professor Boris Sidis, reach at times conclusions +which are strangely similar to Freud's, but in their ignorance of +psychoanalytic literature, they fail to credit Freud for observations +antedating theirs. + +Besides those who sneer at dream study, because they have never looked +into the subject, there are those who do not dare to face the facts +revealed by dream study. Dreams tell us many an unpleasant biological +truth about ourselves and only very free minds can thrive on such a +diet. Self-deception is a plant which withers fast in the pellucid +atmosphere of dream investigation. + +The weakling and the neurotic attached to his neurosis are not anxious +to turn such a powerful searchlight upon the dark corners of their +psychology. + +Freud's theories are anything but theoretical. + +He was moved by the fact that there always seemed to be a close +connection between his patients' dreams and their mental abnormalities, +to collect thousands of dreams and to compare them with the case +histories in his possession. + +He did not start out with a preconceived bias, hoping to find evidence +which might support his views. He looked at facts a thousand times +"until they began to tell him something." + +His attitude toward dream study was, in other words, that of a +statistician who does not know, and has no means of foreseeing, what +conclusions will be forced on him by the information he is gathering, +but who is fully prepared to accept those unavoidable conclusions. + +This was indeed a novel way in psychology. Psychologists had always been +wont to build, in what Bleuler calls "autistic ways," that is through +methods in no wise supported by evidence, some attractive hypothesis, +which sprung from their brain, like Minerva from Jove's brain, fully +armed. + +After which, they would stretch upon that unyielding frame the hide of a +reality which they had previously killed. + +It is only to minds suffering from the same distortions, to minds also +autistically inclined, that those empty, artificial structures appear +acceptable molds for philosophic thinking. + +The pragmatic view that "truth is what works" had not been as yet +expressed when Freud published his revolutionary views on the psychology +of dreams. + +Five facts of first magnitude were made obvious to the world by his +interpretation of dreams. + +First of all, Freud pointed out a constant connection between some part +of every dream and some detail of the dreamer's life during the previous +waking state. This positively establishes a relation between sleeping +states and waking states and disposes of the widely prevalent view that +dreams are purely nonsensical phenomena coming from nowhere and leading +nowhere. + +Secondly, Freud, after studying the dreamer's life and modes of thought, +after noting down all his mannerisms and the apparently insignificant +details of his conduct which reveal his secret thoughts, came to the +conclusion that there was in every dream the attempted or successful +gratification of some wish, conscious or unconscious. + +Thirdly, he proved that many of our dream visions are symbolical, which +causes us to consider them as absurd and unintelligible; the +universality of those symbols, however, makes them very transparent to +the trained observer. + +Fourthly, Freud showed that sexual desires play an enormous part in our +unconscious, a part which puritanical hypocrisy has always tried to +minimize, if not to ignore entirely. + +Finally, Freud established a direct connection between dreams and +insanity, between the symbolic visions of our sleep and the symbolic +actions of the mentally deranged. + +There were, of course, many other observations which Freud made while +dissecting the dreams of his patients, but not all of them present as +much interest as the foregoing nor were they as revolutionary or likely +to wield as much influence on modern psychiatry. + +Other explorers have struck the path blazed by Freud and leading into +man's unconscious. Jung of Zurich, Adler of Vienna and Kempf of +Washington, D.C., have made to the study of the unconscious, +contributions which have brought that study into fields which Freud +himself never dreamt of invading. + +One fact which cannot be too emphatically stated, however, is that but +for Freud's wishfulfillment theory of dreams, neither Jung's "energic +theory," nor Adler's theory of "organ inferiority and compensation," +nor Kempf's "dynamic mechanism" might have been formulated. + +Freud is the father of modern abnormal psychology and he established the +psychoanalytical point of view. No one who is not well grounded in +Freudian lore can hope to achieve any work of value in the field of +psychoanalysis. + +On the other hand, let no one repeat the absurd assertion that Freudism +is a sort of religion bounded with dogmas and requiring an act of faith. +Freudism as such was merely a stage in the development of +psychoanalysis, a stage out of which all but a few bigoted camp +followers, totally lacking in originality, have evolved. Thousands of +stones have been added to the structure erected by the Viennese +physician and many more will be added in the course of time. + +But the new additions to that structure would collapse like a house of +cards but for the original foundations which are as indestructible as +Harvey's statement as to the circulation of the blood. + +Regardless of whatever additions or changes have been made to the +original structure, the analytic point of view remains unchanged. + +That point of view is not only revolutionising all the methods of +diagnosis and treatment of mental derangements, but compelling the +intelligent, up-to-date physician to revise entirely his attitude to +almost every kind of disease. + +The insane are no longer absurd and pitiable people, to be herded in +asylums till nature either cures them or relieves them, through death, +of their misery. The insane who have not been made so by actual injury +to their brain or nervous system, are the victims of unconscious forces +which cause them to do abnormally things which they might be helped to +do normally. + +Insight into one's psychology is replacing victoriously sedatives and +rest cures. + +Physicians dealing with "purely" physical cases have begun to take into +serious consideration the "mental" factors which have predisposed a +patient to certain ailments. + +Freud's views have also made a revision of all ethical and social values +unavoidable and have thrown an unexpected flood of light upon literary +and artistic accomplishment. + +But the Freudian point of view, or more broadly speaking, the +psychoanalytic point of view, shall ever remain a puzzle to those who, +from laziness or indifference, refuse to survey with the great Viennese +the field over which he carefully groped his way. We shall never be +convinced until we repeat under his guidance all his laboratory +experiments. + +We must follow him through the thickets of the unconscious, through the +land which had never been charted because academic philosophers, +following the line of least effort, had decided _a priori_ that it could +not be charted. + +Ancient geographers, when exhausting their store of information about +distant lands, yielded to an unscientific craving for romance and, +without any evidence to support their day dreams, filled the blank +spaces left on their maps by unexplored tracts with amusing inserts such +as "Here there are lions." + +Thanks to Freud's interpretation of dreams the "royal road" into the +unconscious is now open to all explorers. They shall not find lions, +they shall find man himself, and the record of all his life and of his +struggle with reality. + +And it is only after seeing man as his unconscious, revealed by his +dreams, presents him to us that we shall understand him fully. For as +Freud said to Putnam: "We are what we are because we have been what we +have been." + +Not a few serious-minded students, however, have been discouraged from +attempting a study of Freud's dream psychology. + +The book in which he originally offered to the world his interpretation +of dreams was as circumstantial as a legal record to be pondered over by +scientists at their leisure, not to be assimilated in a few hours by +the average alert reader. In those days, Freud could not leave out any +detail likely to make his extremely novel thesis evidentially acceptable +to those willing to sift data. + +Freud himself, however, realized the magnitude of the task which the +reading of his _magnum opus_ imposed upon those who have not been +prepared for it by long psychological and scientific training and he +abstracted from that gigantic work the parts which constitute the +essential of his discoveries. + +The publishers of the present book deserve credit for presenting to the +reading public the gist of Freud's psychology in the master's own words, +and in a form which shall neither discourage beginners, nor appear too +elementary to those who are more advanced in psychoanalytic study. + +Dream psychology is the key to Freud's works and to all modern +psychology. With a simple, compact manual such as _Dream Psychology_ +there shall be no longer any excuse for ignorance of the most +revolutionary psychological system of modern times. + +ANDRÉ TRIDON. + 121 Madison Avenue, New York. + November, 1920. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I DREAMS HAVE A MEANING 1 + + II THE DREAM MECHANISM 24 + + III WHY THE DREAM DISGUISES THE DESIRES 57 + + IV DREAM ANALYSIS 78 + + V SEX IN DREAMS 104 + + VI THE WISH IN DREAMS 135 + + VII THE FUNCTION OF THE DREAM 164 + +VIII THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PROCESS--REGRESSION 186 + + IX THE UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUSNESS--REALITY 220 + + + + +DREAM PSYCHOLOGY + + + + +I + +DREAMS HAVE A MEANING + + +In what we may term "prescientific days" people were in no uncertainty +about the interpretation of dreams. When they were recalled after +awakening they were regarded as either the friendly or hostile +manifestation of some higher powers, demoniacal and Divine. With the +rise of scientific thought the whole of this expressive mythology was +transferred to psychology; to-day there is but a small minority among +educated persons who doubt that the dream is the dreamer's own psychical +act. + +But since the downfall of the mythological hypothesis an interpretation +of the dream has been wanting. The conditions of its origin; its +relationship to our psychical life when we are awake; its independence +of disturbances which, during the state of sleep, seem to compel notice; +its many peculiarities repugnant to our waking thought; the incongruence +between its images and the feelings they engender; then the dream's +evanescence, the way in which, on awakening, our thoughts thrust it +aside as something bizarre, and our reminiscences mutilating or +rejecting it--all these and many other problems have for many hundred +years demanded answers which up till now could never have been +satisfactory. Before all there is the question as to the meaning of the +dream, a question which is in itself double-sided. There is, firstly, +the psychical significance of the dream, its position with regard to the +psychical processes, as to a possible biological function; secondly, has +the dream a meaning--can sense be made of each single dream as of other +mental syntheses? + +Three tendencies can be observed in the estimation of dreams. Many +philosophers have given currency to one of these tendencies, one which +at the same time preserves something of the dream's former +over-valuation. The foundation of dream life is for them a peculiar +state of psychical activity, which they even celebrate as elevation to +some higher state. Schubert, for instance, claims: "The dream is the +liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a +detachment of the soul from the fetters of matter." Not all go so far as +this, but many maintain that dreams have their origin in real spiritual +excitations, and are the outward manifestations of spiritual powers +whose free movements have been hampered during the day ("Dream +Phantasies," Scherner, Volkelt). A large number of observers acknowledge +that dream life is capable of extraordinary achievements--at any rate, +in certain fields ("Memory"). + +In striking contradiction with this the majority of medical writers +hardly admit that the dream is a psychical phenomenon at all. According +to them dreams are provoked and initiated exclusively by stimuli +proceeding from the senses or the body, which either reach the sleeper +from without or are accidental disturbances of his internal organs. The +dream has no greater claim to meaning and importance than the sound +called forth by the ten fingers of a person quite unacquainted with +music running his fingers over the keys of an instrument. The dream is +to be regarded, says Binz, "as a physical process always useless, +frequently morbid." All the peculiarities of dream life are explicable +as the incoherent effort, due to some physiological stimulus, of certain +organs, or of the cortical elements of a brain otherwise asleep. + +But slightly affected by scientific opinion and untroubled as to the +origin of dreams, the popular view holds firmly to the belief that +dreams really have got a meaning, in some way they do foretell the +future, whilst the meaning can be unravelled in some way or other from +its oft bizarre and enigmatical content. The reading of dreams consists +in replacing the events of the dream, so far as remembered, by other +events. This is done either scene by scene, _according to some rigid +key_, or the dream as a whole is replaced by something else of which it +was a _symbol_. Serious-minded persons laugh at these efforts--"Dreams +are but sea-foam!" + +One day I discovered to my amazement that the popular view grounded in +superstition, and not the medical one, comes nearer to the truth about +dreams. I arrived at new conclusions about dreams by the use of a new +method of psychological investigation, one which had rendered me good +service in the investigation of phobias, obsessions, illusions, and the +like, and which, under the name "psycho-analysis," had found acceptance +by a whole school of investigators. The manifold analogies of dream life +with the most diverse conditions of psychical disease in the waking +state have been rightly insisted upon by a number of medical observers. +It seemed, therefore, _a priori_, hopeful to apply to the interpretation +of dreams methods of investigation which had been tested in +psychopathological processes. Obsessions and those peculiar sensations +of haunting dread remain as strange to normal consciousness as do +dreams to our waking consciousness; their origin is as unknown to +consciousness as is that of dreams. It was practical ends that impelled +us, in these diseases, to fathom their origin and formation. Experience +had shown us that a cure and a consequent mastery of the obsessing ideas +did result when once those thoughts, the connecting links between the +morbid ideas and the rest of the psychical content, were revealed which +were heretofore veiled from consciousness. The procedure I employed for +the interpretation of dreams thus arose from psychotherapy. + +This procedure is readily described, although its practice demands +instruction and experience. Suppose the patient is suffering from +intense morbid dread. He is requested to direct his attention to the +idea in question, without, however, as he has so frequently done, +meditating upon it. Every impression about it, without any exception, +which occurs to him should be imparted to the doctor. The statement +which will be perhaps then made, that he cannot concentrate his +attention upon anything at all, is to be countered by assuring him most +positively that such a blank state of mind is utterly impossible. As a +matter of fact, a great number of impressions will soon occur, with +which others will associate themselves. These will be invariably +accompanied by the expression of the observer's opinion that they have +no meaning or are unimportant. It will be at once noticed that it is +this self-criticism which prevented the patient from imparting the +ideas, which had indeed already excluded them from consciousness. If the +patient can be induced to abandon this self-criticism and to pursue the +trains of thought which are yielded by concentrating the attention, most +significant matter will be obtained, matter which will be presently seen +to be clearly linked to the morbid idea in question. Its connection with +other ideas will be manifest, and later on will permit the replacement +of the morbid idea by a fresh one, which is perfectly adapted to +psychical continuity. + +This is not the place to examine thoroughly the hypothesis upon which +this experiment rests, or the deductions which follow from its +invariable success. It must suffice to state that we obtain matter +enough for the resolution of every morbid idea if we especially direct +our attention to the _unbidden_ associations _which disturb our +thoughts_--those which are otherwise put aside by the critic as +worthless refuse. If the procedure is exercised on oneself, the best +plan of helping the experiment is to write down at once all one's first +indistinct fancies. + +I will now point out where this method leads when I apply it to the +examination of dreams. Any dream could be made use of in this way. From +certain motives I, however, choose a dream of my own, which appears +confused and meaningless to my memory, and one which has the advantage +of brevity. Probably my dream of last night satisfies the requirements. +Its content, fixed immediately after awakening, runs as follows: + +_"Company; at table or table d'hôte.... Spinach is served. Mrs. E.L., +sitting next to me, gives me her undivided attention, and places her +hand familiarly upon my knee. In defence I remove her hand. Then she +says: 'But you have always had such beautiful eyes.'.... I then +distinctly see something like two eyes as a sketch or as the contour of +a spectacle lens...."_ + +This is the whole dream, or, at all events, all that I can remember. It +appears to me not only obscure and meaningless, but more especially odd. +Mrs. E.L. is a person with whom I am scarcely on visiting terms, nor to +my knowledge have I ever desired any more cordial relationship. I have +not seen her for a long time, and do not think there was any mention of +her recently. No emotion whatever accompanied the dream process. + +Reflecting upon this dream does not make it a bit clearer to my mind. I +will now, however, present the ideas, without premeditation and without +criticism, which introspection yielded. I soon notice that it is an +advantage to break up the dream into its elements, and to search out the +ideas which link themselves to each fragment. + +_Company; at table or table d'hôte._ The recollection of the slight +event with which the evening of yesterday ended is at once called up. I +left a small party in the company of a friend, who offered to drive me +home in his cab. "I prefer a taxi," he said; "that gives one such a +pleasant occupation; there is always something to look at." When we were +in the cab, and the cab-driver turned the disc so that the first sixty +hellers were visible, I continued the jest. "We have hardly got in and +we already owe sixty hellers. The taxi always reminds me of the table +d'hôte. It makes me avaricious and selfish by continuously reminding me +of my debt. It seems to me to mount up too quickly, and I am always +afraid that I shall be at a disadvantage, just as I cannot resist at +table d'hôte the comical fear that I am getting too little, that I must +look after myself." In far-fetched connection with this I quote: + + "To earth, this weary earth, ye bring us, + To guilt ye let us heedless go." + +Another idea about the table d'hôte. A few weeks ago I was very cross +with my dear wife at the dinner-table at a Tyrolese health resort, +because she was not sufficiently reserved with some neighbors with whom +I wished to have absolutely nothing to do. I begged her to occupy +herself rather with me than with the strangers. That is just as if I had +_been at a disadvantage at the table d'hôte_. The contrast between the +behavior of my wife at the table and that of Mrs. E.L. in the dream now +strikes me: _"Addresses herself entirely to me."_ + +Further, I now notice that the dream is the reproduction of a little +scene which transpired between my wife and myself when I was secretly +courting her. The caressing under cover of the tablecloth was an answer +to a wooer's passionate letter. In the dream, however, my wife is +replaced by the unfamiliar E.L. + +Mrs. E.L. is the daughter of a man to whom I _owed money_! I cannot help +noticing that here there is revealed an unsuspected connection between +the dream content and my thoughts. If the chain of associations be +followed up which proceeds from one element of the dream one is soon led +back to another of its elements. The thoughts evoked by the dream stir +up associations which were not noticeable in the dream itself. + +Is it not customary, when some one expects others to look after his +interests without any advantage to themselves, to ask the innocent +question satirically: "Do you think this will be done _for the sake of +your beautiful eyes_?" Hence Mrs. E.L.'s speech in the dream. "You have +always had such beautiful eyes," means nothing but "people always do +everything to you for love of you; you have had _everything for +nothing_." The contrary is, of course, the truth; I have always paid +dearly for whatever kindness others have shown me. Still, the fact that +_I had a ride for nothing_ yesterday when my friend drove me home in his +cab must have made an impression upon me. + +In any case, the friend whose guests we were yesterday has often made me +his debtor. Recently I allowed an opportunity of requiting him to go by. +He has had only one present from me, an antique shawl, upon which eyes +are painted all round, a so-called Occhiale, as a _charm_ against the +_Malocchio_. Moreover, he is an _eye specialist_. That same evening I +had asked him after a patient whom I had sent to him for _glasses_. + +As I remarked, nearly all parts of the dream have been brought into this +new connection. I still might ask why in the dream it was _spinach_ +that was served up. Because spinach called up a little scene which +recently occurred at our table. A child, whose _beautiful eyes_ are +really deserving of praise, refused to eat spinach. As a child I was +just the same; for a long time I loathed _spinach_, until in later life +my tastes altered, and it became one of my favorite dishes. The mention +of this dish brings my own childhood and that of my child's near +together. "You should be glad that you have some spinach," his mother +had said to the little gourmet. "Some children would be very glad to get +spinach." Thus I am reminded of the parents' duties towards their +children. Goethe's words-- + + "To earth, this weary earth, ye bring us, + To guilt ye let us heedless go"-- + +take on another meaning in this connection. + +Here I will stop in order that I may recapitulate the results of the +analysis of the dream. By following the associations which were linked +to the single elements of the dream torn from their context, I have been +led to a series of thoughts and reminiscences where I am bound to +recognize interesting expressions of my psychical life. The matter +yielded by an analysis of the dream stands in intimate relationship with +the dream content, but this relationship is so special that I should +never have been able to have inferred the new discoveries directly from +the dream itself. The dream was passionless, disconnected, and +unintelligible. During the time that I am unfolding the thoughts at the +back of the dream I feel intense and well-grounded emotions. The +thoughts themselves fit beautifully together into chains logically bound +together with certain central ideas which ever repeat themselves. Such +ideas not represented in the dream itself are in this instance the +antitheses _selfish, unselfish, to be indebted, to work for nothing_. I +could draw closer the threads of the web which analysis has disclosed, +and would then be able to show how they all run together into a single +knot; I am debarred from making this work public by considerations of a +private, not of a scientific, nature. After having cleared up many +things which I do not willingly acknowledge as mine, I should have much +to reveal which had better remain my secret. Why, then, do not I choose +another dream whose analysis would be more suitable for publication, so +that I could awaken a fairer conviction of the sense and cohesion of the +results disclosed by analysis? The answer is, because every dream which +I investigate leads to the same difficulties and places me under the +same need of discretion; nor should I forgo this difficulty any the +more were I to analyze the dream of some one else. That could only be +done when opportunity allowed all concealment to be dropped without +injury to those who trusted me. + +The conclusion which is now forced upon me is that the dream is a _sort +of substitution_ for those emotional and intellectual trains of thought +which I attained after complete analysis. I do not yet know the process +by which the dream arose from those thoughts, but I perceive that it is +wrong to regard the dream as psychically unimportant, a purely physical +process which has arisen from the activity of isolated cortical elements +awakened out of sleep. + +I must further remark that the dream is far shorter than the thoughts +which I hold it replaces; whilst analysis discovered that the dream was +provoked by an unimportant occurrence the evening before the dream. + +Naturally, I would not draw such far-reaching conclusions if only one +analysis were known to me. Experience has shown me that when the +associations of any dream are honestly followed such a chain of thought +is revealed, the constituent parts of the dream reappear correctly and +sensibly linked together; the slight suspicion that this concatenation +was merely an accident of a single first observation must, therefore, +be absolutely relinquished. I regard it, therefore, as my right to +establish this new view by a proper nomenclature. I contrast the dream +which my memory evokes with the dream and other added matter revealed by +analysis: the former I call the dream's _manifest content_; the latter, +without at first further subdivision, its _latent content_. I arrive at +two new problems hitherto unformulated: (1) What is the psychical +process which has transformed the latent content of the dream into its +manifest content? (2) What is the motive or the motives which have made +such transformation exigent? The process by which the change from latent +to manifest content is executed I name the _dream-work_. In contrast +with this is the _work of analysis_, which produces the reverse +transformation. The other problems of the dream--the inquiry as to its +stimuli, as to the source of its materials, as to its possible purpose, +the function of dreaming, the forgetting of dreams--these I will discuss +in connection with the latent dream-content. + +I shall take every care to avoid a confusion between the _manifest_ and +the _latent content_, for I ascribe all the contradictory as well as the +incorrect accounts of dream-life to the ignorance of this latent +content, now first laid bare through analysis. + +The conversion of the latent dream thoughts into those manifest deserves +our close study as the first known example of the transformation of +psychical stuff from one mode of expression into another. From a mode of +expression which, moreover, is readily intelligible into another which +we can only penetrate by effort and with guidance, although this new +mode must be equally reckoned as an effort of our own psychical +activity. From the standpoint of the relationship of latent to manifest +dream-content, dreams can be divided into three classes. We can, in the +first place, distinguish those dreams which have a _meaning_ and are, at +the same time, _intelligible_, which allow us to penetrate into our +psychical life without further ado. Such dreams are numerous; they are +usually short, and, as a general rule, do not seem very noticeable, +because everything remarkable or exciting surprise is absent. Their +occurrence is, moreover, a strong argument against the doctrine which +derives the dream from the isolated activity of certain cortical +elements. All signs of a lowered or subdivided psychical activity are +wanting. Yet we never raise any objection to characterizing them as +dreams, nor do we confound them with the products of our waking life. + +A second group is formed by those dreams which are indeed self-coherent +and have a distinct meaning, but appear strange because we are unable to +reconcile their meaning with our mental life. That is the case when we +dream, for instance, that some dear relative has died of plague when we +know of no ground for expecting, apprehending, or assuming anything of +the sort; we can only ask ourself wonderingly: "What brought that into +my head?" To the third group those dreams belong which are void of both +meaning and intelligibility; they are _incoherent, complicated, and +meaningless_. The overwhelming number of our dreams partake of this +character, and this has given rise to the contemptuous attitude towards +dreams and the medical theory of their limited psychical activity. It is +especially in the longer and more complicated dream-plots that signs of +incoherence are seldom missing. + +The contrast between manifest and latent dream-content is clearly only +of value for the dreams of the second and more especially for those of +the third class. Here are problems which are only solved when the +manifest dream is replaced by its latent content; it was an example of +this kind, a complicated and unintelligible dream, that we subjected to +analysis. Against our expectation we, however, struck upon reasons which +prevented a complete cognizance of the latent dream thought. On the +repetition of this same experience we were forced to the supposition +that there is an _intimate bond, with laws of its own, between the +unintelligible and complicated nature of the dream and the difficulties +attending communication of the thoughts connected with the dream_. +Before investigating the nature of this bond, it will be advantageous to +turn our attention to the more readily intelligible dreams of the first +class where, the manifest and latent content being identical, the dream +work seems to be omitted. + +The investigation of these dreams is also advisable from another +standpoint. The dreams of _children_ are of this nature; they have a +meaning, and are not bizarre. This, by the way, is a further objection +to reducing dreams to a dissociation of cerebral activity in sleep, for +why should such a lowering of psychical functions belong to the nature +of sleep in adults, but not in children? We are, however, fully +justified in expecting that the explanation of psychical processes in +children, essentially simplified as they may be, should serve as an +indispensable preparation towards the psychology of the adult. + +I shall therefore cite some examples of dreams which I have gathered +from children. A girl of nineteen months was made to go without food +for a day because she had been sick in the morning, and, according to +nurse, had made herself ill through eating strawberries. During the +night, after her day of fasting, she was heard calling out her name +during sleep, and adding: "_Tawberry, eggs, pap_." She is dreaming that +she is eating, and selects out of her menu exactly what she supposes she +will not get much of just now. + +The same kind of dream about a forbidden dish was that of a little boy +of twenty-two months. The day before he was told to offer his uncle a +present of a small basket of cherries, of which the child was, of +course, only allowed one to taste. He woke up with the joyful news: +"Hermann eaten up all the cherries." + +A girl of three and a half years had made during the day a sea trip +which was too short for her, and she cried when she had to get out of +the boat. The next morning her story was that during the night she had +been on the sea, thus continuing the interrupted trip. + +A boy of five and a half years was not at all pleased with his party +during a walk in the Dachstein region. Whenever a new peak came into +sight he asked if that were the Dachstein, and, finally, refused to +accompany the party to the waterfall. His behavior was ascribed to +fatigue; but a better explanation was forthcoming when the next morning +he told his dream: _he had ascended the Dachstein_. Obviously he +expected the ascent of the Dachstein to be the object of the excursion, +and was vexed by not getting a glimpse of the mountain. The dream gave +him what the day had withheld. The dream of a girl of six was similar; +her father had cut short the walk before reaching the promised objective +on account of the lateness of the hour. On the way back she noticed a +signpost giving the name of another place for excursions; her father +promised to take her there also some other day. She greeted her father +next day with the news that she had dreamt that _her father had been +with her to both places_. + +What is common in all these dreams is obvious. They completely satisfy +wishes excited during the day which remain unrealized. They are simply +and undisguisedly realizations of wishes. + +The following child-dream, not quite understandable at first sight, is +nothing else than a wish realized. On account of poliomyelitis a girl, +not quite four years of age, was brought from the country into town, and +remained over night with a childless aunt in a big--for her, naturally, +huge--bed. The next morning she stated that she had dreamt that _the +bed was much too small for her, so that she could find no place in it_. +To explain this dream as a wish is easy when we remember that to be +"big" is a frequently expressed wish of all children. The bigness of the +bed reminded Miss Little-Would-be-Big only too forcibly of her +smallness. This nasty situation became righted in her dream, and she +grew so big that the bed now became too small for her. + +Even when children's dreams are complicated and polished, their +comprehension as a realization of desire is fairly evident. A boy of +eight dreamt that he was being driven with Achilles in a war-chariot, +guided by Diomedes. The day before he was assiduously reading about +great heroes. It is easy to show that he took these heroes as his +models, and regretted that he was not living in those days. + +From this short collection a further characteristic of the dreams of +children is manifest--_their connection with the life of the day_. The +desires which are realized in these dreams are left over from the day +or, as a rule, the day previous, and the feeling has become intently +emphasized and fixed during the day thoughts. Accidental and indifferent +matters, or what must appear so to the child, find no acceptance in the +contents of the dream. + +Innumerable instances of such dreams of the infantile type can be found +among adults also, but, as mentioned, these are mostly exactly like the +manifest content. Thus, a random selection of persons will generally +respond to thirst at night-time with a dream about drinking, thus +striving to get rid of the sensation and to let sleep continue. Many +persons frequently have these comforting _dreams_ before waking, just +when they are called. They then dream that they are already up, that +they are washing, or already in school, at the office, etc., where they +ought to be at a given time. The night before an intended journey one +not infrequently dreams that one has already arrived at the destination; +before going to a play or to a party the dream not infrequently +anticipates, in impatience, as it were, the expected pleasure. At other +times the dream expresses the realization of the desire somewhat +indirectly; some connection, some sequel must be known--the first step +towards recognizing the desire. Thus, when a husband related to me the +dream of his young wife, that her monthly period had begun, I had to +bethink myself that the young wife would have expected a pregnancy if +the period had been absent. The dream is then a sign of pregnancy. Its +meaning is that it shows the wish realized that pregnancy should not +occur just yet. Under unusual and extreme circumstances, these dreams +of the infantile type become very frequent. The leader of a polar +expedition tells us, for instance, that during the wintering amid the +ice the crew, with their monotonous diet and slight rations, dreamt +regularly, like children, of fine meals, of mountains of tobacco, and of +home. + +It is not uncommon that out of some long, complicated and intricate +dream one specially lucid part stands out containing unmistakably the +realization of a desire, but bound up with much unintelligible matter. +On more frequently analyzing the seemingly more transparent dreams of +adults, it is astonishing to discover that these are rarely as simple as +the dreams of children, and that they cover another meaning beyond that +of the realization of a wish. + +It would certainly be a simple and convenient solution of the riddle if +the work of analysis made it at all possible for us to trace the +meaningless and intricate dreams of adults back to the infantile type, +to the realization of some intensely experienced desire of the day. But +there is no warrant for such an expectation. Their dreams are generally +full of the most indifferent and bizarre matter, and no trace of the +realization of the wish is to be found in their content. + +Before leaving these infantile dreams, which are obviously unrealized +desires, we must not fail to mention another chief characteristic of +dreams, one that has been long noticed, and one which stands out most +clearly in this class. I can replace any of these dreams by a phrase +expressing a desire. If the sea trip had only lasted longer; if I were +only washed and dressed; if I had only been allowed to keep the cherries +instead of giving them to my uncle. But the dream gives something more +than the choice, for here the desire is already realized; its +realization is real and actual. The dream presentations consist chiefly, +if not wholly, of scenes and mainly of visual sense images. Hence a kind +of transformation is not entirely absent in this class of dreams, and +this may be fairly designated as the dream work. _An idea merely +existing in the region of possibility is replaced by a vision of its +accomplishment._ + + + + +II + +THE DREAM MECHANISM + + +We are compelled to assume that such transformation of scene has also +taken place in intricate dreams, though we do not know whether it has +encountered any possible desire. The dream instanced at the +commencement, which we analyzed somewhat thoroughly, did give us +occasion in two places to suspect something of the kind. Analysis +brought out that my wife was occupied with others at table, and that I +did not like it; in the dream itself _exactly the opposite_ occurs, for +the person who replaces my wife gives me her undivided attention. But +can one wish for anything pleasanter after a disagreeable incident than +that the exact contrary should have occurred, just as the dream has it? +The stinging thought in the analysis, that I have never had anything for +nothing, is similarly connected with the woman's remark in the dream: +"You have always had such beautiful eyes." Some portion of the +opposition between the latent and manifest content of the dream must be +therefore derived from the realization of a wish. + +Another manifestation of the dream work which all incoherent dreams have +in common is still more noticeable. Choose any instance, and compare the +number of separate elements in it, or the extent of the dream, if +written down, with the dream thoughts yielded by analysis, and of which +but a trace can be refound in the dream itself. There can be no doubt +that the dream working has resulted in an extraordinary compression or +_condensation_. It is not at first easy to form an opinion as to the +extent of the condensation; the more deeply you go into the analysis, +the more deeply you are impressed by it. There will be found no factor +in the dream whence the chains of associations do not lead in two or +more directions, no scene which has not been pieced together out of two +or more impressions and events. For instance, I once dreamt about a kind +of swimming-bath where the bathers suddenly separated in all directions; +at one place on the edge a person stood bending towards one of the +bathers as if to drag him out. The scene was a composite one, made up +out of an event that occurred at the time of puberty, and of two +pictures, one of which I had seen just shortly before the dream. The two +pictures were The Surprise in the Bath, from Schwind's Cycle of the +Melusine (note the bathers suddenly separating), and The Flood, by an +Italian master. The little incident was that I once witnessed a lady, +who had tarried in the swimming-bath until the men's hour, being helped +out of the water by the swimming-master. The scene in the dream which +was selected for analysis led to a whole group of reminiscences, each +one of which had contributed to the dream content. First of all came the +little episode from the time of my courting, of which I have already +spoken; the pressure of a hand under the table gave rise in the dream to +the "under the table," which I had subsequently to find a place for in +my recollection. There was, of course, at the time not a word about +"undivided attention." Analysis taught me that this factor is the +realization of a desire through its contradictory and related to the +behavior of my wife at the table d'hôte. An exactly similar and much +more important episode of our courtship, one which separated us for an +entire day, lies hidden behind this recent recollection. The intimacy, +the hand resting upon the knee, refers to a quite different connection +and to quite other persons. This element in the dream becomes again the +starting-point of two distinct series of reminiscences, and so on. + +The stuff of the dream thoughts which has been accumulated for the +formation of the dream scene must be naturally fit for this application. +There must be one or more common factors. The dream work proceeds like +Francis Galton with his family photographs. The different elements are +put one on top of the other; what is common to the composite picture +stands out clearly, the opposing details cancel each other. This process +of reproduction partly explains the wavering statements, of a peculiar +vagueness, in so many elements of the dream. For the interpretation of +dreams this rule holds good: When analysis discloses _uncertainty_, as +to _either_--_or_ read _and_, _taking_ each section of the apparent +alternatives as a separate outlet for a series of impressions. + +When there is nothing in common between the dream thoughts, the dream +work takes the trouble to create a something, in order to make a common +presentation feasible in the dream. The simplest way to approximate two +dream thoughts, which have as yet nothing in common, consists in making +such a change in the actual expression of one idea as will meet a slight +responsive recasting in the form of the other idea. The process is +analogous to that of rhyme, when consonance supplies the desired common +factor. A good deal of the dream work consists in the creation of those +frequently very witty, but often exaggerated, digressions. These vary +from the common presentation in the dream content to dream thoughts +which are as varied as are the causes in form and essence which give +rise to them. In the analysis of our example of a dream, I find a like +case of the transformation of a thought in order that it might agree +with another essentially foreign one. In following out the analysis I +struck upon the thought: _I should like to have something for nothing_. +But this formula is not serviceable to the dream. Hence it is replaced +by another one: "I should like to enjoy something free of cost."[1] The +word "kost" (taste), with its double meaning, is appropriate to a table +d'hôte; it, moreover, is in place through the special sense in the +dream. At home if there is a dish which the children decline, their +mother first tries gentle persuasion, with a "Just taste it." That the +dream work should unhesitatingly use the double meaning of the word is +certainly remarkable; ample experience has shown, however, that the +occurrence is quite usual. + +Through condensation of the dream certain constituent parts of its +content are explicable which are peculiar to the dream life alone, and +which are not found in the waking state. Such are the composite and +mixed persons, the extraordinary mixed figures, creations comparable +with the fantastic animal compositions of Orientals; a moment's thought +and these are reduced to unity, whilst the fancies of the dream are ever +formed anew in an inexhaustible profusion. Every one knows such images +in his own dreams; manifold are their origins. I can build up a person +by borrowing one feature from one person and one from another, or by +giving to the form of one the name of another in my dream. I can also +visualize one person, but place him in a position which has occurred to +another. There is a meaning in all these cases when different persons +are amalgamated into one substitute. Such cases denote an "and," a "just +like," a comparison of the original person from a certain point of view, +a comparison which can be also realized in the dream itself. As a rule, +however, the identity of the blended persons is only discoverable by +analysis, and is only indicated in the dream content by the formation of +the "combined" person. + +The same diversity in their ways of formation and the same rules for its +solution hold good also for the innumerable medley of dream contents, +examples of which I need scarcely adduce. Their strangeness quite +disappears when we resolve not to place them on a level with the objects +of perception as known to us when awake, but to remember that they +represent the art of dream condensation by an exclusion of unnecessary +detail. Prominence is given to the common character of the combination. +Analysis must also generally supply the common features. The dream says +simply: _All these things have an "x" in common_. The decomposition of +these mixed images by analysis is often the quickest way to an +interpretation of the dream. Thus I once dreamt that I was sitting with +one of my former university tutors on a bench, which was undergoing a +rapid continuous movement amidst other benches. This was a combination +of lecture-room and moving staircase. I will not pursue the further +result of the thought. Another time I was sitting in a carriage, and on +my lap an object in shape like a top-hat, which, however, was made of +transparent glass. The scene at once brought to my mind the proverb: "He +who keeps his hat in his hand will travel safely through the land." By a +slight turn the _glass hat_ reminded me of _Auer's light_, and I knew +that I was about to invent something which was to make me as rich and +independent as his invention had made my countryman, Dr. Auer, of +Welsbach; then I should be able to travel instead of remaining in +Vienna. In the dream I was traveling with my invention, with the, it is +true, rather awkward glass top-hat. The dream work is peculiarly adept +at representing two contradictory conceptions by means of the same mixed +image. Thus, for instance, a woman dreamt of herself carrying a tall +flower-stalk, as in the picture of the Annunciation (Chastity-Mary is +her own name), but the stalk was bedecked with thick white blossoms +resembling camellias (contrast with chastity: La dame aux Camelias). + +A great deal of what we have called "dream condensation" can be thus +formulated. Each one of the elements of the dream content is +_overdetermined_ by the matter of the dream thoughts; it is not derived +from one element of these thoughts, but from a whole series. These are +not necessarily interconnected in any way, but may belong to the most +diverse spheres of thought. The dream element truly represents all this +disparate matter in the dream content. Analysis, moreover, discloses +another side of the relationship between dream content and dream +thoughts. Just as one element of the dream leads to associations with +several dream thoughts, so, as a rule, the _one dream thought represents +more than one dream element_. The threads of the association do not +simply converge from the dream thoughts to the dream content, but on the +way they overlap and interweave in every way. + +Next to the transformation of one thought in the scene (its +"dramatization"), condensation is the most important and most +characteristic feature of the dream work. We have as yet no clue as to +the motive calling for such compression of the content. + +In the complicated and intricate dreams with which we are now concerned, +condensation and dramatization do not wholly account for the difference +between dream contents and dream thoughts. There is evidence of a third +factor, which deserves careful consideration. + +When I have arrived at an understanding of the dream thoughts by my +analysis I notice, above all, that the matter of the manifest is very +different from that of the latent dream content. That is, I admit, only +an apparent difference which vanishes on closer investigation, for in +the end I find the whole dream content carried out in the dream +thoughts, nearly all the dream thoughts again represented in the dream +content. Nevertheless, there does remain a certain amount of difference. + +The essential content which stood out clearly and broadly in the dream +must, after analysis, rest satisfied with a very subordinate rôle among +the dream thoughts. These very dream thoughts which, going by my +feelings, have a claim to the greatest importance are either not present +at all in the dream content, or are represented by some remote allusion +in some obscure region of the dream. I can thus describe these +phenomena: _During the dream work the psychical intensity of those +thoughts and conceptions to which it properly pertains flows to others +which, in my judgment, have no claim to such emphasis_. There is no +other process which contributes so much to concealment of the dream's +meaning and to make the connection between the dream content and dream +ideas irrecognizable. During this process, which I will call _the dream +displacement_, I notice also the psychical intensity, significance, or +emotional nature of the thoughts become transposed in sensory vividness. +What was clearest in the dream seems to me, without further +consideration, the most important; but often in some obscure element of +the dream I can recognize the most direct offspring of the principal +dream thought. + +I could only designate this dream displacement as the _transvaluation of +psychical values_. The phenomena will not have been considered in all +its bearings unless I add that this displacement or transvaluation is +shared by different dreams in extremely varying degrees. There are +dreams which take place almost without any displacement. These have the +same time, meaning, and intelligibility as we found in the dreams which +recorded a desire. In other dreams not a bit of the dream idea has +retained its own psychical value, or everything essential in these dream +ideas has been replaced by unessentials, whilst every kind of transition +between these conditions can be found. The more obscure and intricate a +dream is, the greater is the part to be ascribed to the impetus of +displacement in its formation. + +The example that we chose for analysis shows, at least, this much of +displacement--that its content has a different center of interest from +that of the dream ideas. In the forefront of the dream content the main +scene appears as if a woman wished to make advances to me; in the dream +idea the chief interest rests on the desire to enjoy disinterested love +which shall "cost nothing"; this idea lies at the back of the talk about +the beautiful eyes and the far-fetched allusion to "spinach." + +If we abolish the dream displacement, we attain through analysis quite +certain conclusions regarding two problems of the dream which are most +disputed--as to what provokes a dream at all, and as to the connection +of the dream with our waking life. There are dreams which at once expose +their links with the events of the day; in others no trace of such a +connection can be found. By the aid of analysis it can be shown that +every dream, without any exception, is linked up with our impression of +the day, or perhaps it would be more correct to say of the day previous +to the dream. The impressions which have incited the dream may be so +important that we are not surprised at our being occupied with them +whilst awake; in this case we are right in saying that the dream carries +on the chief interest of our waking life. More usually, however, when +the dream contains anything relating to the impressions of the day, it +is so trivial, unimportant, and so deserving of oblivion, that we can +only recall it with an effort. The dream content appears, then, even +when coherent and intelligible, to be concerned with those indifferent +trifles of thought undeserving of our waking interest. The depreciation +of dreams is largely due to the predominance of the indifferent and the +worthless in their content. + +Analysis destroys the appearance upon which this derogatory judgment is +based. When the dream content discloses nothing but some indifferent +impression as instigating the dream, analysis ever indicates some +significant event, which has been replaced by something indifferent +with which it has entered into abundant associations. Where the dream is +concerned with uninteresting and unimportant conceptions, analysis +reveals the numerous associative paths which connect the trivial with +the momentous in the psychical estimation of the individual. _It is only +the action of displacement if what is indifferent obtains recognition in +the dream content instead of those impressions which are really the +stimulus, or instead of the things of real interest_. In answering the +question as to what provokes the dream, as to the connection of the +dream, in the daily troubles, we must say, in terms of the insight given +us by replacing the manifest latent dream content: _The dream does never +trouble itself about things which are not deserving of our concern +during the day, and trivialities which do not trouble us during the day +have no power to pursue us whilst asleep_. + +What provoked the dream in the example which we have analyzed? The +really unimportant event, that a friend invited me to a _free ride in +his cab_. The table d'hôte scene in the dream contains an allusion to +this indifferent motive, for in conversation I had brought the taxi +parallel with the table d'hôte. But I can indicate the important event +which has as its substitute the trivial one. A few days before I had +disbursed a large sum of money for a member of my family who is very +dear to me. Small wonder, says the dream thought, if this person is +grateful to me for this--this love is not cost-free. But love that shall +cost nothing is one of the prime thoughts of the dream. The fact that +shortly before this I had had several _drives_ with the relative in +question puts the one drive with my friend in a position to recall the +connection with the other person. The indifferent impression which, by +such ramifications, provokes the dream is subservient to another +condition which is not true of the real source of the dream--the +impression must be a recent one, everything arising from the day of the +dream. + +I cannot leave the question of dream displacement without the +consideration of a remarkable process in the formation of dreams in +which condensation and displacement work together towards one end. In +condensation we have already considered the case where two conceptions +in the dream having something in common, some point of contact, are +replaced in the dream content by a mixed image, where the distinct germ +corresponds to what is common, and the indistinct secondary +modifications to what is distinctive. If displacement is added to +condensation, there is no formation of a mixed image, but a _common +mean_ which bears the same relationship to the individual elements as +does the resultant in the parallelogram of forces to its components. In +one of my dreams, for instance, there is talk of an injection with +_propyl_. On first analysis I discovered an indifferent but true +incident where _amyl_ played a part as the excitant of the dream. I +cannot yet vindicate the exchange of amyl for propyl. To the round of +ideas of the same dream, however, there belongs the recollection of my +first visit to Munich, when the _Propyloea_ struck me. The attendant +circumstances of the analysis render it admissible that the influence of +this second group of conceptions caused the displacement of amyl to +propyl. _Propyl_ is, so to say, the mean idea between _amyl_ and +_propyloea_; it got into the dream as a kind of _compromise_ by +simultaneous condensation and displacement. + +The need of discovering some motive for this bewildering work of the +dream is even more called for in the case of displacement than in +condensation. + +Although the work of displacement must be held mainly responsible if the +dream thoughts are not refound or recognized in the dream content +(unless the motive of the changes be guessed), it is another and milder +kind of transformation which will be considered with the dream thoughts +which leads to the discovery of a new but readily understood act of the +dream work. The first dream thoughts which are unravelled by analysis +frequently strike one by their unusual wording. They do not appear to be +expressed in the sober form which our thinking prefers; rather are they +expressed symbolically by allegories and metaphors like the figurative +language of the poets. It is not difficult to find the motives for this +degree of constraint in the expression of dream ideas. The dream content +consists chiefly of visual scenes; hence the dream ideas must, in the +first place, be prepared to make use of these forms of presentation. +Conceive that a political leader's or a barrister's address had to be +transposed into pantomime, and it will be easy to understand the +transformations to which the dream work is constrained by regard for +this _dramatization of the dream content_. + +Around the psychical stuff of dream thoughts there are ever found +reminiscences of impressions, not infrequently of early +childhood--scenes which, as a rule, have been visually grasped. Whenever +possible, this portion of the dream ideas exercises a definite influence +upon the modelling of the dream content; it works like a center of +crystallization, by attracting and rearranging the stuff of the dream +thoughts. The scene of the dream is not infrequently nothing but a +modified repetition, complicated by interpolations of events that have +left such an impression; the dream but very seldom reproduces accurate +and unmixed reproductions of real scenes. + +The dream content does not, however, consist exclusively of scenes, but +it also includes scattered fragments of visual images, conversations, +and even bits of unchanged thoughts. It will be perhaps to the point if +we instance in the briefest way the means of dramatization which are at +the disposal of the dream work for the repetition of the dream thoughts +in the peculiar language of the dream. + +The dream thoughts which we learn from the analysis exhibit themselves +as a psychical complex of the most complicated superstructure. Their +parts stand in the most diverse relationship to each other; they form +backgrounds and foregrounds, stipulations, digressions, illustrations, +demonstrations, and protestations. It may be said to be almost the rule +that one train of thought is followed by its contradictory. No feature +known to our reason whilst awake is absent. If a dream is to grow out of +all this, the psychical matter is submitted to a pressure which +condenses it extremely, to an inner shrinking and displacement, creating +at the same time fresh surfaces, to a selective interweaving among the +constituents best adapted for the construction of these scenes. Having +regard to the origin of this stuff, the term _regression_ can be fairly +applied to this process. The logical chains which hitherto held the +psychical stuff together become lost in this transformation to the dream +content. The dream work takes on, as it were, only the essential content +of the dream thoughts for elaboration. It is left to analysis to restore +the connection which the dream work has destroyed. + +The dream's means of expression must therefore be regarded as meager in +comparison with those of our imagination, though the dream does not +renounce all claims to the restitution of logical relation to the dream +thoughts. It rather succeeds with tolerable frequency in replacing these +by formal characters of its own. + +By reason of the undoubted connection existing between all the parts of +dream thoughts, the dream is able to embody this matter into a single +scene. It upholds a _logical connection_ as _approximation in time and +space_, just as the painter, who groups all the poets for his picture of +Parnassus who, though they have never been all together on a mountain +peak, yet form ideally a community. The dream continues this method of +presentation in individual dreams, and often when it displays two +elements close together in the dream content it warrants some special +inner connection between what they represent in the dream thoughts. It +should be, moreover, observed that all the dreams of one night prove on +analysis to originate from the same sphere of thought. + +The causal connection between two ideas is either left without +presentation, or replaced by two different long portions of dreams one +after the other. This presentation is frequently a reversed one, the +beginning of the dream being the deduction, and its end the hypothesis. +The direct _transformation_ of one thing into another in the dream seems +to serve the relationship of _cause_ and _effect_. + +The dream never utters the _alternative "either-or,"_ but accepts both +as having equal rights in the same connection. When "either-or" is used +in the reproduction of dreams, it is, as I have already mentioned, to be +replaced by "_and_." + +Conceptions which stand in opposition to one another are preferably +expressed in dreams by the same element.[2] There seems no "not" in +dreams. Opposition between two ideas, the relation of conversion, is +represented in dreams in a very remarkable way. It is expressed by the +reversal of another part of the dream content just as if by way of +appendix. We shall later on deal with another form of expressing +disagreement. The common dream sensation of _movement checked_ serves +the purpose of representing disagreement of impulses--a _conflict of the +will_. + +Only one of the logical relationships--that of _similarity, identity, +agreement_--is found highly developed in the mechanism of dream +formation. Dream work makes use of these cases as a starting-point for +condensation, drawing together everything which shows such agreement to +a _fresh unity_. + +These short, crude observations naturally do not suffice as an estimate +of the abundance of the dream's formal means of presenting the logical +relationships of the dream thoughts. In this respect, individual dreams +are worked up more nicely or more carelessly, our text will have been +followed more or less closely, auxiliaries of the dream work will have +been taken more or less into consideration. In the latter case they +appear obscure, intricate, incoherent. When the dream appears openly +absurd, when it contains an obvious paradox in its content, it is so of +purpose. Through its apparent disregard of all logical claims, it +expresses a part of the intellectual content of the dream ideas. +Absurdity in the dream denotes _disagreement, scorn, disdain_ in the +dream thoughts. As this explanation is in entire disagreement with the +view that the dream owes its origin to dissociated, uncritical cerebral +activity, I will emphasize my view by an example: + +_"One of my acquaintances, Mr. M----, has been attacked by no less a +person than Goethe in an essay with, we all maintain, unwarrantable +violence. Mr. M---- has naturally been ruined by this attack. He +complains very bitterly of this at a dinner-party, but his respect for +Goethe has not diminished through this personal experience. I now +attempt to clear up the chronological relations which strike me as +improbable. Goethe died in 1832. As his attack upon Mr. M---- must, of +course, have taken place before, Mr. M---- must have been then a very +young man. It seems to me plausible that he was eighteen. I am not +certain, however, what year we are actually in, and the whole +calculation falls into obscurity. The attack was, moreover, contained +in Goethe's well-known essay on 'Nature.'"_ + +The absurdity of the dream becomes the more glaring when I state that +Mr. M---- is a young business man without any poetical or literary +interests. My analysis of the dream will show what method there is in +this madness. The dream has derived its material from three sources: + +1. Mr. M----, to whom I was introduced at a dinner-party, begged me one +day to examine his elder brother, who showed signs of mental trouble. In +conversation with the patient, an unpleasant episode occurred. Without +the slightest occasion he disclosed one of his brother's _youthful +escapades_. I had asked the patient the _year of his birth_ (_year of +death_ in dream), and led him to various calculations which might show +up his want of memory. + +2. A medical journal which displayed my name among others on the cover +had published a _ruinous_ review of a book by my friend F---- of Berlin, +from the pen of a very _juvenile_ reviewer. I communicated with the +editor, who, indeed, expressed his regret, but would not promise any +redress. Thereupon I broke off my connection with the paper; in my +letter of resignation I expressed the hope that our _personal relations +would not suffer from this_. Here is the real source of the dream. The +derogatory reception of my friend's work had made a deep impression upon +me. In my judgment, it contained a fundamental biological discovery +which only now, several years later, commences to find favor among the +professors. + +3. A little while before, a patient gave me the medical history of her +brother, who, exclaiming "_Nature, Nature!_" had gone out of his mind. +The doctors considered that the exclamation arose from a study of +_Goethe's_ beautiful essay, and indicated that the patient had been +overworking. I expressed the opinion that it seemed more _plausible_ to +me that the exclamation "Nature!" was to be taken in that sexual meaning +known also to the less educated in our country. It seemed to me that +this view had something in it, because the unfortunate youth afterwards +mutilated his genital organs. The patient was eighteen years old when +the attack occurred. + +The first person in the dream-thoughts behind the ego was my friend who +had been so scandalously treated. _"I now attempted to clear up the +chronological relation."_ My friend's book deals with the chronological +relations of life, and, amongst other things, correlates _Goethe's_ +duration of life with a number of days in many ways important to +biology. The ego is, however, represented as a general paralytic (_"I +am not certain what year we are actually in"_). The dream exhibits my +friend as behaving like a general paralytic, and thus riots in +absurdity. But the dream thoughts run ironically. "Of course he is a +madman, a fool, and you are the genius who understands all about it. But +shouldn't it be the _other way round_?" This inversion obviously took +place in the dream when Goethe attacked the young man, which is absurd, +whilst any one, however young, can to-day easily attack the great +Goethe. + +I am prepared to maintain that no dream is inspired by other than +egoistic emotions. The ego in the dream does not, indeed, represent only +my friend, but stands for myself also. I identify myself with him +because the fate of his discovery appears to me typical of the +acceptance of _my own_. If I were to publish my own theory, which gives +sexuality predominance in the ætiology of psychoneurotic disorders (see +the allusion to the eighteen-year-old patient--_"Nature, Nature!"_), the +same criticism would be leveled at me, and it would even now meet with +the same contempt. + +When I follow out the dream thoughts closely, I ever find only _scorn_ +and _contempt_ as _correlated with the dream's absurdity_. It is well +known that the discovery of a cracked sheep's skull on the Lido in +Venice gave Goethe the hint for the so-called vertebral theory of the +skull. My friend plumes himself on having as a student raised a hubbub +for the resignation of an aged professor who had done good work +(including some in this very subject of comparative anatomy), but who, +on account of _decrepitude_, had become quite incapable of teaching. The +agitation my friend inspired was so successful because in the German +Universities an _age limit_ is not demanded for academic work. _Age is +no protection against folly._ In the hospital here I had for years the +honor to serve under a chief who, long fossilized, was for decades +notoriously _feebleminded_, and was yet permitted to continue in his +responsible office. A trait, after the manner of the find in the Lido, +forces itself upon me here. It was to this man that some youthful +colleagues in the hospital adapted the then popular slang of that day: +"No Goethe has written that," "No Schiller composed that," etc. + +We have not exhausted our valuation of the dream work. In addition to +condensation, displacement, and definite arrangement of the psychical +matter, we must ascribe to it yet another activity--one which is, +indeed, not shared by every dream. I shall not treat this position of +the dream work exhaustively; I will only point out that the readiest +way to arrive at a conception of it is to take for granted, probably +unfairly, that it _only subsequently influences the dream content which +has already been built up_. Its mode of action thus consists in so +coördinating the parts of the dream that these coalesce to a coherent +whole, to a dream composition. The dream gets a kind of façade which, it +is true, does not conceal the whole of its content. There is a sort of +preliminary explanation to be strengthened by interpolations and slight +alterations. Such elaboration of the dream content must not be too +pronounced; the misconception of the dream thoughts to which it gives +rise is merely superficial, and our first piece of work in analyzing a +dream is to get rid of these early attempts at interpretation. + +The motives for this part of the dream work are easily gauged. This +final elaboration of the dream is due to a _regard for +intelligibility_--a fact at once betraying the origin of an action which +behaves towards the actual dream content just as our normal psychical +action behaves towards some proffered perception that is to our liking. +The dream content is thus secured under the pretense of certain +expectations, is perceptually classified by the supposition of its +intelligibility, thereby risking its falsification, whilst, in fact, the +most extraordinary misconceptions arise if the dream can be correlated +with nothing familiar. Every one is aware that we are unable to look at +any series of unfamiliar signs, or to listen to a discussion of unknown +words, without at once making perpetual changes through _our regard for +intelligibility_, through our falling back upon what is familiar. + +We can call those dreams _properly made up_ which are the result of an +elaboration in every way analogous to the psychical action of our waking +life. In other dreams there is no such action; not even an attempt is +made to bring about order and meaning. We regard the dream as "quite +mad," because on awaking it is with this last-named part of the dream +work, the dream elaboration, that we identify ourselves. So far, +however, as our analysis is concerned, the dream, which resembles a +medley of disconnected fragments, is of as much value as the one with a +smooth and beautifully polished surface. In the former case we are +spared, to some extent, the trouble of breaking down the +super-elaboration of the dream content. + +All the same, it would be an error to see in the dream façade nothing +but the misunderstood and somewhat arbitrary elaboration of the dream +carried out at the instance of our psychical life. Wishes and phantasies +are not infrequently employed in the erection of this façade, which +were already fashioned in the dream thoughts; they are akin to those of +our waking life--"day-dreams," as they are very properly called. These +wishes and phantasies, which analysis discloses in our dreams at night, +often present themselves as repetitions and refashionings of the scenes +of infancy. Thus the dream façade may show us directly the true core of +the dream, distorted through admixture with other matter. + +Beyond these four activities there is nothing else to be discovered in +the dream work. If we keep closely to the definition that dream work +denotes the transference of dream thoughts to dream content, we are +compelled to say that the dream work is not creative; it develops no +fancies of its own, it judges nothing, decides nothing. It does nothing +but prepare the matter for condensation and displacement, and refashions +it for dramatization, to which must be added the inconstant last-named +mechanism--that of explanatory elaboration. It is true that a good deal +is found in the dream content which might be understood as the result of +another and more intellectual performance; but analysis shows +conclusively every time that these _intellectual operations were already +present in the dream thoughts, and have only been taken over by the +dream content_. A syllogism in the dream is nothing other than the +repetition of a syllogism in the dream thoughts; it seems inoffensive if +it has been transferred to the dream without alteration; it becomes +absurd if in the dream work it has been transferred to other matter. A +calculation in the dream content simply means that there was a +calculation in the dream thoughts; whilst this is always correct, the +calculation in the dream can furnish the silliest results by the +condensation of its factors and the displacement of the same operations +to other things. Even speeches which are found in the dream content are +not new compositions; they prove to be pieced together out of speeches +which have been made or heard or read; the words are faithfully copied, +but the occasion of their utterance is quite overlooked, and their +meaning is most violently changed. + +It is, perhaps, not superfluous to support these assertions by examples: + +1. _A seemingly inoffensive, well-made dream of a patient. She was going +to market with her cook, who carried the basket. The butcher said to her +when she asked him for something: "That is all gone," and wished to give +her something else, remarking; "That's very good." She declines, and +goes to the greengrocer, who wants to sell her a peculiar vegetable +which is bound up in bundles and of a black color. She says: "I don't +know that; I won't take it."_ + +The remark "That is all gone" arose from the treatment. A few days +before I said myself to the patient that the earliest reminiscences of +childhood _are all gone_ as such, but are replaced by transferences and +dreams. Thus I am the butcher. + +The second remark, _"I don't know that"_ arose in a very different +connection. The day before she had herself called out in rebuke to the +cook (who, moreover, also appears in the dream): "_Behave yourself +properly_; I don't know _that_"--that is, "I don't know this kind of +behavior; I won't have it." The more harmless portion of this speech was +arrived at by a displacement of the dream content; in the dream thoughts +only the other portion of the speech played a part, because the dream +work changed an imaginary situation into utter irrecognizability and +complete inoffensiveness (while in a certain sense I behave in an +unseemly way to the lady). The situation resulting in this phantasy is, +however, nothing but a new edition of one that actually took place. + +2. A dream apparently meaningless relates to figures. _"She wants to pay +something; her daughter takes three florins sixty-five kreuzers out of +her purse; but she says: 'What are you doing? It only cost twenty-one +kreuzers.'"_ + +The dreamer was a stranger who had placed her child at school in Vienna, +and who was able to continue under my treatment so long as her daughter +remained at Vienna. The day before the dream the directress of the +school had recommended her to keep the child another year at school. In +this case she would have been able to prolong her treatment by one year. +The figures in the dream become important if it be remembered that time +is money. One year equals 365 days, or, expressed in kreuzers, 365 +kreuzers, which is three florins sixty-five kreuzers. The twenty-one +kreuzers correspond with the three weeks which remained from the day of +the dream to the end of the school term, and thus to the end of the +treatment. It was obviously financial considerations which had moved the +lady to refuse the proposal of the directress, and which were answerable +for the triviality of the amount in the dream. + +3. A lady, young, but already ten years married, heard that a friend of +hers, Miss Elise L----, of about the same age, had become engaged. This +gave rise to the following dream: + +_She was sitting with her husband in the theater; the one side of the +stalls was quite empty. Her husband tells her, Elise L---- and her +fiancé had intended coming, but could only get some cheap seats, three +for one florin fifty kreuzers, and these they would not take. In her +opinion, that would not have mattered very much._ + +The origin of the figures from the matter of the dream thoughts and the +changes the figures underwent are of interest. Whence came the one +florin fifty kreuzers? From a trifling occurrence of the previous day. +Her sister-in-law had received 150 florins as a present from her +husband, and had quickly got rid of it by buying some ornament. Note +that 150 florins is one hundred times one florin fifty kreuzers. For the +_three_ concerned with the tickets, the only link is that Elise L---- is +exactly three months younger than the dreamer. The scene in the dream is +the repetition of a little adventure for which she has often been teased +by her husband. She was once in a great hurry to get tickets in time for +a piece, and when she came to the theater _one side of the stalls was +almost empty_. It was therefore quite unnecessary for her to have been +in _such a hurry_. Nor must we overlook the absurdity of the dream that +two persons should take three tickets for the theater. + +Now for the dream ideas. It was _stupid_ to have married so early; I +_need not_ have been _in so great a hurry_. Elise L----'s example shows +me that I should have been able to get a husband later; indeed, one a +_hundred times better_ if I had but waited. I could have bought _three_ +such men with the money (dowry). + +[1] "Ich möchte gerne etwas geniessen ohne 'Kosten' zu haben." A a pun +upon the word "kosten," which has two meanings--"taste" and "cost." In +"Die Traumdeutung," third edition, p. 71 footnote, Professor Freud +remarks that "the finest example of dream interpretation left us by the +ancients is based upon a pun" (from "The Interpretation of Dreams," by +Artemidorus Daldianus). "Moreover, dreams are so intimately bound up +with language that Ferenczi truly points out that every tongue has its +own language of dreams. A dream is as a rule untranslatable into other +languages."--TRANSLATOR. + +[2] It is worthy of remark that eminent philologists maintain that the +oldest languages used the same word for expressing quite general +antitheses. In C. Abel's essay, "Ueber den Gegensinn der Urworter" +(1884, the following examples of such words in England are given: +"gleam--gloom"; "to lock--loch"; "down--The Downs"; "to step--to stop." +In his essay on "The Origin of Language" ("Linguistic Essays," p. 240), +Abel says: "When the Englishman says 'without,' is not his judgment +based upon the comparative juxtaposition of two opposites, 'with' and +'out'; 'with' itself originally meant 'without,' as may still be seen in +'withdraw.' 'Bid' includes the opposite sense of giving and of +proffering." Abel, "The English Verbs of Command," "Linguistic Essays," +p. 104; see also Freud, "Ueber den Gegensinn der Urworte"; _Jahrbuch für +Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen_, Band II., part +i., p. 179).--TRANSLATOR. + + + + +III + +WHY THE DREAM DISGUISES THE DESIRES + + +In the foregoing exposition we have now learnt something of the dream +work; we must regard it as a quite special psychical process, which, so +far as we are aware, resembles nothing else. To the dream work has been +transferred that bewilderment which its product, the dream, has aroused +in us. In truth, the dream work is only the first recognition of a group +of psychical processes to which must be referred the origin of +hysterical symptoms, the ideas of morbid dread, obsession, and illusion. +Condensation, and especially displacement, are never-failing features in +these other processes. The regard for appearance remains, on the other +hand, peculiar to the dream work. If this explanation brings the dream +into line with the formation of psychical disease, it becomes the more +important to fathom the essential conditions of processes like dream +building. It will be probably a surprise to hear that neither the state +of sleep nor illness is among the indispensable conditions. A whole +number of phenomena of the everyday life of healthy persons, +forgetfulness, slips in speaking and in holding things, together with a +certain class of mistakes, are due to a psychical mechanism analogous to +that of the dream and the other members of this group. + +Displacement is the core of the problem, and the most striking of all +the dream performances. A thorough investigation of the subject shows +that the essential condition of displacement is purely psychological; it +is in the nature of a motive. We get on the track by thrashing out +experiences which one cannot avoid in the analysis of dreams. I had to +break off the relations of my dream thoughts in the analysis of my dream +on p. 8 because I found some experiences which I do not wish strangers +to know, and which I could not relate without serious damage to +important considerations. I added, it would be no use were I to select +another instead of that particular dream; in every dream where the +content is obscure or intricate, I should hit upon dream thoughts which +call for secrecy. If, however, I continue the analysis for myself, +without regard to those others, for whom, indeed, so personal an event +as my dream cannot matter, I arrive finally at ideas which surprise me, +which I have not known to be mine, which not only appear _foreign_ to +me, but which are _unpleasant_, and which I would like to oppose +vehemently, whilst the chain of ideas running through the analysis +intrudes upon me inexorably. I can only take these circumstances into +account by admitting that these thoughts are actually part of my +psychical life, possessing a certain psychical intensity or energy. +However, by virtue of a particular psychological condition, the +_thoughts could not become conscious to me_. I call this particular +condition "_Repression_." It is therefore impossible for me not to +recognize some casual relationship between the obscurity of the dream +content and this state of repression--this _incapacity of +consciousness_. Whence I conclude that the cause of the obscurity is +_the desire to conceal these thoughts_. Thus I arrive at the conception +of the _dream distortion_ as the deed of the dream work, and of +_displacement_ serving to disguise this object. + +I will test this in my own dream, and ask myself, What is the thought +which, quite innocuous in its distorted form, provokes my liveliest +opposition in its real form? I remember that the free drive reminded me +of the last expensive drive with a member of my family, the +interpretation of the dream being: I should for once like to experience +affection for which I should not have to pay, and that shortly before +the dream I had to make a heavy disbursement for this very person. In +this connection, I cannot get away from the thought _that I regret this +disbursement_. It is only when I acknowledge this feeling that there is +any sense in my wishing in the dream for an affection that should entail +no outlay. And yet I can state on my honor that I did not hesitate for a +moment when it became necessary to expend that sum. The regret, the +counter-current, was unconscious to me. Why it was unconscious is quite +another question which would lead us far away from the answer which, +though within my knowledge, belongs elsewhere. + +If I subject the dream of another person instead of one of my own to +analysis, the result is the same; the motives for convincing others is, +however, changed. In the dream of a healthy person the only way for me +to enable him to accept this repressed idea is the coherence of the +dream thoughts. He is at liberty to reject this explanation. But if we +are dealing with a person suffering from any neurosis--say from +hysteria--the recognition of these repressed ideas is compulsory by +reason of their connection with the symptoms of his illness and of the +improvement resulting from exchanging the symptoms for the repressed +ideas. Take the patient from whom I got the last dream about the three +tickets for one florin fifty kreuzers. Analysis shows that she does not +think highly of her husband, that she regrets having married him, that +she would be glad to change him for some one else. It is true that she +maintains that she loves her husband, that her emotional life knows +nothing about this depreciation (a hundred times better!), but all her +symptoms lead to the same conclusion as this dream. When her repressed +memories had rewakened a certain period when she was conscious that she +did not love her husband, her symptoms disappeared, and therewith +disappeared her resistance to the interpretation of the dream. + +This conception of repression once fixed, together with the distortion +of the dream in relation to repressed psychical matter, we are in a +position to give a general exposition of the principal results which the +analysis of dreams supplies. We learnt that the most intelligible and +meaningful dreams are unrealized desires; the desires they pictured as +realized are known to consciousness, have been held over from the +daytime, and are of absorbing interest. The analysis of obscure and +intricate dreams discloses something very similar; the dream scene again +pictures as realized some desire which regularly proceeds from the dream +ideas, but the picture is unrecognizable, and is only cleared up in the +analysis. The desire itself is either one repressed, foreign to +consciousness, or it is closely bound up with repressed ideas. The +formula for these dreams may be thus stated: _They are concealed +realizations of repressed desires_. It is interesting to note that they +are right who regard the dream as foretelling the future. Although the +future which the dream shows us is not that which will occur, but that +which we would like to occur. Folk psychology proceeds here according to +its wont; it believes what it wishes to believe. + +Dreams can be divided into three classes according to their relation +towards the realization of desire. Firstly come those which exhibit a +_non-repressed, non-concealed desire_; these are dreams of the infantile +type, becoming ever rarer among adults. Secondly, dreams which express +in _veiled_ form some _repressed desire_; these constitute by far the +larger number of our dreams, and they require analysis for their +understanding. Thirdly, these dreams where repression exists, but +_without_ or with but slight concealment. These dreams are invariably +accompanied by a feeling of dread which brings the dream to an end. This +feeling of dread here replaces dream displacement; I regarded the dream +work as having prevented this in the dream of the second class. It is +not very difficult to prove that what is now present as intense dread in +the dream was once desire, and is now secondary to the repression. + +There are also definite dreams with a painful content, without the +presence of any anxiety in the dream. These cannot be reckoned among +dreams of dread; they have, however, always been used to prove the +unimportance and the psychical futility of dreams. An analysis of such +an example will show that it belongs to our second class of dreams--a +_perfectly concealed_ realization of repressed desires. Analysis will +demonstrate at the same time how excellently adapted is the work of +displacement to the concealment of desires. + +A girl dreamt that she saw lying dead before her the only surviving +child of her sister amid the same surroundings as a few years before she +saw the first child lying dead. She was not sensible of any pain, but +naturally combatted the view that the scene represented a desire of +hers. Nor was that view necessary. Years ago it was at the funeral of +the child that she had last seen and spoken to the man she loved. Were +the second child to die, she would be sure to meet this man again in her +sister's house. She is longing to meet him, but struggles against this +feeling. The day of the dream she had taken a ticket for a lecture, +which announced the presence of the man she always loved. The dream is +simply a dream of impatience common to those which happen before a +journey, theater, or simply anticipated pleasures. The longing is +concealed by the shifting of the scene to the occasion when any joyous +feeling were out of place, and yet where it did once exist. Note, +further, that the emotional behavior in the dream is adapted, not to the +displaced, but to the real but suppressed dream ideas. The scene +anticipates the long-hoped-for meeting; there is here no call for +painful emotions. + +There has hitherto been no occasion for philosophers to bestir +themselves with a psychology of repression. We must be allowed to +construct some clear conception as to the origin of dreams as the first +steps in this unknown territory. The scheme which we have formulated not +only from a study of dreams is, it is true, already somewhat +complicated, but we cannot find any simpler one that will suffice. We +hold that our psychical apparatus contains two procedures for the +construction of thoughts. The second one has the advantage that its +products find an open path to consciousness, whilst the activity of the +first procedure is unknown to itself, and can only arrive at +consciousness through the second one. At the borderland of these two +procedures, where the first passes over into the second, a censorship +is established which only passes what pleases it, keeping back +everything else. That which is rejected by the censorship is, according +to our definition, in a state of repression. Under certain conditions, +one of which is the sleeping state, the balance of power between the two +procedures is so changed that what is repressed can no longer be kept +back. In the sleeping state this may possibly occur through the +negligence of the censor; what has been hitherto repressed will now +succeed in finding its way to consciousness. But as the censorship is +never absent, but merely off guard, certain alterations must be conceded +so as to placate it. It is a compromise which becomes conscious in this +case--a compromise between what one procedure has in view and the +demands of the other. _Repression, laxity of the censor, +compromise_--this is the foundation for the origin of many another +psychological process, just as it is for the dream. In such compromises +we can observe the processes of condensation, of displacement, the +acceptance of superficial associations, which we have found in the dream +work. + +It is not for us to deny the demonic element which has played a part in +constructing our explanation of dream work. The impression left is that +the formation of obscure dreams proceeds as if a person had something +to say which must be agreeable for another person upon whom he is +dependent to hear. It is by the use of this image that we figure to +ourselves the conception of the _dream distortion_ and of the +censorship, and ventured to crystallize our impression in a rather +crude, but at least definite, psychological theory. Whatever explanation +the future may offer of these first and second procedures, we shall +expect a confirmation of our correlate that the second procedure +commands the entrance to consciousness, and can exclude the first from +consciousness. + +Once the sleeping state overcome, the censorship resumes complete sway, +and is now able to revoke that which was granted in a moment of +weakness. That the _forgetting_ of dreams explains this in part, at +least, we are convinced by our experience, confirmed again and again. +During the relation of a dream, or during analysis of one, it not +infrequently happens that some fragment of the dream is suddenly +forgotten. This fragment so forgotten invariably contains the best and +readiest approach to an understanding of the dream. Probably that is why +it sinks into oblivion--_i.e._, into a renewed suppression. + +Viewing the dream content as the representation of a realized desire, +and referring its vagueness to the changes made by the censor in the +repressed matter, it is no longer difficult to grasp the function of +dreams. In fundamental contrast with those saws which assume that sleep +is disturbed by dreams, we hold the _dream as the guardian of sleep_. So +far as children's dreams are concerned, our view should find ready +acceptance. + +The sleeping state or the psychical change to sleep, whatsoever it be, +is brought about by the child being sent to sleep or compelled thereto +by fatigue, only assisted by the removal of all stimuli which might open +other objects to the psychical apparatus. The means which serve to keep +external stimuli distant are known; but what are the means we can employ +to depress the internal psychical stimuli which frustrate sleep? Look at +a mother getting her child to sleep. The child is full of beseeching; he +wants another kiss; he wants to play yet awhile. His requirements are in +part met, in part drastically put off till the following day. Clearly +these desires and needs, which agitate him, are hindrances to sleep. +Every one knows the charming story of the bad boy (Baldwin Groller's) +who awoke at night bellowing out, "_I want the rhinoceros_." A really +good boy, instead of bellowing, would have _dreamt_ that he was playing +with the rhinoceros. Because the dream which realizes his desire is +believed during sleep, it removes the desire and makes sleep possible. +It cannot be denied that this belief accords with the dream image, +because it is arrayed in the psychical appearance of probability; the +child is without the capacity which it will acquire later to distinguish +hallucinations or phantasies from reality. + +The adult has learnt this differentiation; he has also learnt the +futility of desire, and by continuous practice manages to postpone his +aspirations, until they can be granted in some roundabout method by a +change in the external world. For this reason it is rare for him to have +his wishes realized during sleep in the short psychical way. It is even +possible that this never happens, and that everything which appears to +us like a child's dream demands a much more elaborate explanation. Thus +it is that for adults--for every sane person without exception--a +differentiation of the psychical matter has been fashioned which the +child knew not. A psychical procedure has been reached which, informed +by the experience of life, exercises with jealous power a dominating and +restraining influence upon psychical emotions; by its relation to +consciousness, and by its spontaneous mobility, it is endowed with the +greatest means of psychical power. A portion of the infantile emotions +has been withheld from this procedure as useless to life, and all the +thoughts which flow from these are found in the state of repression. + +Whilst the procedure in which we recognize our normal ego reposes upon +the desire for sleep, it appears compelled by the psycho-physiological +conditions of sleep to abandon some of the energy with which it was wont +during the day to keep down what was repressed. This neglect is really +harmless; however much the emotions of the child's spirit may be +stirred, they find the approach to consciousness rendered difficult, and +that to movement blocked in consequence of the state of sleep. The +danger of their disturbing sleep must, however, be avoided. Moreover, we +must admit that even in deep sleep some amount of free attention is +exerted as a protection against sense-stimuli which might, perchance, +make an awakening seem wiser than the continuance of sleep. Otherwise we +could not explain the fact of our being always awakened by stimuli of +certain quality. As the old physiologist Burdach pointed out, the mother +is awakened by the whimpering of her child, the miller by the cessation +of his mill, most people by gently calling out their names. This +attention, thus on the alert, makes use of the internal stimuli arising +from repressed desires, and fuses them into the dream, which as a +compromise satisfies both procedures at the same time. The dream creates +a form of psychical release for the wish which is either suppressed or +formed by the aid of repression, inasmuch as it presents it as realized. +The other procedure is also satisfied, since the continuance of the +sleep is assured. Our ego here gladly behaves like a child; it makes the +dream pictures believable, saying, as it were, "Quite right, but let me +sleep." The contempt which, once awakened, we bear the dream, and which +rests upon the absurdity and apparent illogicality of the dream, is +probably nothing but the reasoning of our sleeping ego on the feelings +about what was repressed; with greater right it should rest upon the +incompetency of this disturber of our sleep. In sleep we are now and +then aware of this contempt; the dream content transcends the censorship +rather too much, we think, "It's only a dream," and sleep on. + +It is no objection to this view if there are borderlines for the dream +where its function, to preserve sleep from interruption, can no longer +be maintained--as in the dreams of impending dread. It is here changed +for another function--to suspend the sleep at the proper time. It acts +like a conscientious night-watchman, who first does his duty by quelling +disturbances so as not to waken the citizen, but equally does his duty +quite properly when he awakens the street should the causes of the +trouble seem to him serious and himself unable to cope with them alone. + +This function of dreams becomes especially well marked when there arises +some incentive for the sense perception. That the senses aroused during +sleep influence the dream is well known, and can be experimentally +verified; it is one of the certain but much overestimated results of the +medical investigation of dreams. Hitherto there has been an insoluble +riddle connected with this discovery. The stimulus to the sense by which +the investigator affects the sleeper is not properly recognized in the +dream, but is intermingled with a number of indefinite interpretations, +whose determination appears left to psychical free-will. There is, of +course, no such psychical free-will. To an external sense-stimulus the +sleeper can react in many ways. Either he awakens or he succeeds in +sleeping on. In the latter case he can make use of the dream to dismiss +the external stimulus, and this, again, in more ways than one. For +instance, he can stay the stimulus by dreaming of a scene which is +absolutely intolerable to him. This was the means used by one who was +troubled by a painful perineal abscess. He dreamt that he was on +horseback, and made use of the poultice, which was intended to +alleviate his pain, as a saddle, and thus got away from the cause of the +trouble. Or, as is more frequently the case, the external stimulus +undergoes a new rendering, which leads him to connect it with a +repressed desire seeking its realization, and robs him of its reality, +and is treated as if it were a part of the psychical matter. Thus, some +one dreamt that he had written a comedy which embodied a definite +_motif_; it was being performed; the first act was over amid +enthusiastic applause; there was great clapping. At this moment the +dreamer must have succeeded in prolonging his sleep despite the +disturbance, for when he woke he no longer heard the noise; he concluded +rightly that some one must have been beating a carpet or bed. The dreams +which come with a loud noise just before waking have all attempted to +cover the stimulus to waking by some other explanation, and thus to +prolong the sleep for a little while. + +Whosoever has firmly accepted this _censorship_ as the chief motive for +the distortion of dreams will not be surprised to learn as the result of +dream interpretation that most of the dreams of adults are traced by +analysis to erotic desires. This assertion is not drawn from dreams +obviously of a sexual nature, which are known to all dreamers from their +own experience, and are the only ones usually described as "sexual +dreams." These dreams are ever sufficiently mysterious by reason of the +choice of persons who are made the objects of sex, the removal of all +the barriers which cry halt to the dreamer's sexual needs in his waking +state, the many strange reminders as to details of what are called +perversions. But analysis discovers that, in many other dreams in whose +manifest content nothing erotic can be found, the work of interpretation +shows them up as, in reality, realization of sexual desires; whilst, on +the other hand, that much of the thought-making when awake, the thoughts +saved us as surplus from the day only, reaches presentation in dreams +with the help of repressed erotic desires. + +Towards the explanation of this statement, which is no theoretical +postulate, it must be remembered that no other class of instincts has +required so vast a suppression at the behest of civilization as the +sexual, whilst their mastery by the highest psychical processes are in +most persons soonest of all relinquished. Since we have learnt to +understand _infantile sexuality_, often so vague in its expression, so +invariably overlooked and misunderstood, we are justified in saying that +nearly every civilized person has retained at some point or other the +infantile type of sex life; thus we understand that repressed infantile +sex desires furnish the most frequent and most powerful impulses for the +formation of dreams.[1] + +If the dream, which is the expression of some erotic desire, succeeds in +making its manifest content appear innocently asexual, it is only +possible in one way. The matter of these sexual presentations cannot be +exhibited as such, but must be replaced by allusions, suggestions, and +similar indirect means; differing from other cases of indirect +presentation, those used in dreams must be deprived of direct +understanding. The means of presentation which answer these requirements +are commonly termed "symbols." A special interest has been directed +towards these, since it has been observed that the dreamers of the same +language use the like symbols--indeed, that in certain cases community +of symbol is greater than community of speech. Since the dreamers do not +themselves know the meaning of the symbols they use, it remains a puzzle +whence arises their relationship with what they replace and denote. The +fact itself is undoubted, and becomes of importance for the technique of +the interpretation of dreams, since by the aid of a knowledge of this +symbolism it is possible to understand the meaning of the elements of a +dream, or parts of a dream, occasionally even the whole dream itself, +without having to question the dreamer as to his own ideas. We thus come +near to the popular idea of an interpretation of dreams, and, on the +other hand, possess again the technique of the ancients, among whom the +interpretation of dreams was identical with their explanation through +symbolism. + +Though the study of dream symbolism is far removed from finality, we now +possess a series of general statements and of particular observations +which are quite certain. There are symbols which practically always have +the same meaning: Emperor and Empress (King and Queen) always mean the +parents; room, a woman[2], and so on. The sexes are represented by a +great variety of symbols, many of which would be at first quite +incomprehensible had not the clews to the meaning been often obtained +through other channels. + +There are symbols of universal circulation, found in all dreamers, of +one range of speech and culture; there are others of the narrowest +individual significance which an individual has built up out of his own +material. In the first class those can be differentiated whose claim can +be at once recognized by the replacement of sexual things in common +speech (those, for instance, arising from agriculture, as reproduction, +seed) from others whose sexual references appear to reach back to the +earliest times and to the obscurest depths of our image-building. The +power of building symbols in both these special forms of symbols has not +died out. Recently discovered things, like the airship, are at once +brought into universal use as sex symbols. + +It would be quite an error to suppose that a profounder knowledge of +dream symbolism (the "Language of Dreams") would make us independent of +questioning the dreamer regarding his impressions about the dream, and +would give us back the whole technique of ancient dream interpreters. +Apart from individual symbols and the variations in the use of what is +general, one never knows whether an element in the dream is to be +understood symbolically or in its proper meaning; the whole content of +the dream is certainly not to be interpreted symbolically. The knowledge +of dream symbols will only help us in understanding portions of the +dream content, and does not render the use of the technical rules +previously given at all superfluous. But it must be of the greatest +service in interpreting a dream just when the impressions of the dreamer +are withheld or are insufficient. + +Dream symbolism proves also indispensable for understanding the +so-called "typical" dreams and the dreams that "repeat themselves." +Dream symbolism leads us far beyond the dream; it does not belong only +to dreams, but is likewise dominant in legend, myth, and saga, in wit +and in folklore. It compels us to pursue the inner meaning of the dream +in these productions. But we must acknowledge that symbolism is not a +result of the dream work, but is a peculiarity probably of our +unconscious thinking, which furnishes to the dream work the matter for +condensation, displacement, and dramatization. + +[1] Freud, "Three Contributions to Sexual Theory," translated by A.A. +Brill (_Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease_ Publishing Company, New +York). + +[2] The words from "and" to "channels" in the next sentence is a short +summary of the passage in the original. As this book will be read by +other than professional people the passage has not been translated, in +deference to English opinion.--TRANSLATOR. + + + + +IV + +DREAM ANALYSIS + + +Perhaps we shall now begin to suspect that dream interpretation is +capable of giving us hints about the structure of our psychic apparatus +which we have thus far expected in vain from philosophy. We shall not, +however, follow this track, but return to our original problem as soon +as we have cleared up the subject of dream-disfigurement. The question +has arisen how dreams with disagreeable content can be analyzed as the +fulfillment of wishes. We see now that this is possible in case +dream-disfigurement has taken place, in case the disagreeable content +serves only as a disguise for what is wished. Keeping in mind our +assumptions in regard to the two psychic instances, we may now proceed +to say: disagreeable dreams, as a matter of fact, contain something +which is disagreeable to the second instance, but which at the same time +fulfills a wish of the first instance. They are wish dreams in the sense +that every dream originates in the first instance, while the second +instance acts towards the dream only in repelling, not in a creative +manner. If we limit ourselves to a consideration of what the second +instance contributes to the dream, we can never understand the dream. If +we do so, all the riddles which the authors have found in the dream +remain unsolved. + +That the dream actually has a secret meaning, which turns out to be the +fulfillment of a wish, must be proved afresh for every case by means of +an analysis. I therefore select several dreams which have painful +contents and attempt an analysis of them. They are partly dreams of +hysterical subjects, which require long preliminary statements, and now +and then also an examination of the psychic processes which occur in +hysteria. I cannot, however, avoid this added difficulty in the +exposition. + +When I give a psychoneurotic patient analytical treatment, dreams are +always, as I have said, the subject of our discussion. It must, +therefore, give him all the psychological explanations through whose aid +I myself have come to an understanding of his symptoms, and here I +undergo an unsparing criticism, which is perhaps not less keen than that +I must expect from my colleagues. Contradiction of the thesis that all +dreams are the fulfillments of wishes is raised by my patients with +perfect regularity. Here are several examples of the dream material +which is offered me to refute this position. + +"You always tell me that the dream is a wish fulfilled," begins a clever +lady patient. "Now I shall tell you a dream in which the content is +quite the opposite, in which a wish of mine is _not_ fulfilled. How do +you reconcile that with your theory? The dream is as follows:-- + +_"I want to give a supper, but having nothing at hand except some smoked +salmon, I think of going marketing, but I remember that it is Sunday +afternoon, when all the shops are closed. I next try to telephone to +some caterers, but the telephone is out of order.... Thus I must resign +my wish to give a supper."_ + +I answer, of course, that only the analysis can decide the meaning of +this dream, although I admit that at first sight it seems sensible and +coherent, and looks like the opposite of a wish-fulfillment. "But what +occurrence has given rise to this dream?" I ask. "You know that the +stimulus for a dream always lies among the experiences of the preceding +day." + +_Analysis._--The husband of the patient, an upright and conscientious +wholesale butcher, had told her the day before that he is growing too +fat, and that he must, therefore, begin treatment for obesity. He was +going to get up early, take exercise, keep to a strict diet, and above +all accept no more invitations to suppers. She proceeds laughingly to +relate how her husband at an inn table had made the acquaintance of an +artist, who insisted upon painting his portrait because he, the painter, +had never found such an expressive head. But her husband had answered in +his rough way, that he was very thankful for the honor, but that he was +quite convinced that a portion of the backside of a pretty young girl +would please the artist better than his whole face[1]. She said that she +was at the time very much in love with her husband, and teased him a +good deal. She had also asked him not to send her any caviare. What does +that mean? + +As a matter of fact, she had wanted for a long time to eat a caviare +sandwich every forenoon, but had grudged herself the expense. Of course, +she would at once get the caviare from her husband, as soon as she asked +him for it. But she had begged him, on the contrary, not to send her the +caviare, in order that she might tease him about it longer. + +This explanation seems far-fetched to me. Unadmitted motives are in the +habit of hiding behind such unsatisfactory explanations. We are reminded +of subjects hypnotized by Bernheim, who carried out a posthypnotic +order, and who, upon being asked for their motives, instead of +answering: "I do not know why I did that," had to invent a reason that +was obviously inadequate. Something similar is probably the case with +the caviare of my patient. I see that she is compelled to create an +unfulfilled wish in life. Her dream also shows the reproduction of the +wish as accomplished. But why does she need an unfulfilled wish? + +The ideas so far produced are insufficient for the interpretation of the +dream. I beg for more. After a short pause, which corresponds to the +overcoming of a resistance, she reports further that the day before she +had made a visit to a friend, of whom she is really jealous, because her +husband is always praising this woman so much. Fortunately, this friend +is very lean and thin, and her husband likes well-rounded figures. Now +of what did this lean friend speak? Naturally of her wish to become +somewhat stouter. She also asked my patient: "When are you going to +invite us again? You always have such a good table." + +Now the meaning of the dream is clear. I may say to the patient: "It is +just as though you had thought at the time of the request: 'Of course, +I'll invite you, so you can eat yourself fat at my house and become +still more pleasing to my husband. I would rather give no more suppers.' +The dream then tells you that you cannot give a supper, thereby +fulfilling your wish not to contribute anything to the rounding out of +your friend's figure. The resolution of your husband to refuse +invitations to supper for the sake of getting thin teaches you that one +grows fat on the things served in company." Now only some conversation +is necessary to confirm the solution. The smoked salmon in the dream has +not yet been traced. "How did the salmon mentioned in the dream occur to +you?" "Smoked salmon is the favorite dish of this friend," she answered. +I happen to know the lady, and may corroborate this by saying that she +grudges herself the salmon just as much as my patient grudges herself +the caviare. + +The dream admits of still another and more exact interpretation, which +is necessitated only by a subordinate circumstance. The two +interpretations do not contradict one another, but rather cover each +other and furnish a neat example of the usual ambiguity of dreams as +well as of all other psychopathological formations. We have seen that at +the same time that she dreams of the denial of the wish, the patient is +in reality occupied in securing an unfulfilled wish (the caviare +sandwiches). Her friend, too, had expressed a wish, namely, to get +fatter, and it would not surprise us if our lady had dreamt that the +wish of the friend was not being fulfilled. For it is her own wish that +a wish of her friend's--for increase in weight--should not be fulfilled. +Instead of this, however, she dreams that one of her own wishes is not +fulfilled. The dream becomes capable of a new interpretation, if in the +dream she does not intend herself, but her friend, if she has put +herself in the place of her friend, or, as we may say, has identified +herself with her friend. + +I think she has actually done this, and as a sign of this identification +she has created an unfulfilled wish in reality. But what is the meaning +of this hysterical identification? To clear this up a thorough +exposition is necessary. Identification is a highly important factor in +the mechanism of hysterical symptoms; by this means patients are enabled +in their symptoms to represent not merely their own experiences, but the +experiences of a great number of other persons, and can suffer, as it +were, for a whole mass of people, and fill all the parts of a drama by +means of their own personalities alone. It will here be objected that +this is well-known hysterical imitation, the ability of hysteric +subjects to copy all the symptoms which impress them when they occur in +others, as though their pity were stimulated to the point of +reproduction. But this only indicates the way in which the psychic +process is discharged in hysterical imitation; the way in which a +psychic act proceeds and the act itself are two different things. The +latter is slightly more complicated than one is apt to imagine the +imitation of hysterical subjects to be: it corresponds to an unconscious +concluded process, as an example will show. The physician who has a +female patient with a particular kind of twitching, lodged in the +company of other patients in the same room of the hospital, is not +surprised when some morning he learns that this peculiar hysterical +attack has found imitations. He simply says to himself: The others have +seen her and have done likewise: that is psychic infection. Yes, but +psychic infection proceeds in somewhat the following manner: As a rule, +patients know more about one another than the physician knows about each +of them, and they are concerned about each other when the visit of the +doctor is over. Some of them have an attack to-day: soon it is known +among the rest that a letter from home, a return of lovesickness or the +like, is the cause of it. Their sympathy is aroused, and the following +syllogism, which does not reach consciousness, is completed in them: "If +it is possible to have this kind of an attack from such causes, I too +may have this kind of an attack, for I have the same reasons." If this +were a cycle capable of becoming conscious, it would perhaps express +itself in _fear_ of getting the same attack; but it takes place in +another psychic sphere, and, therefore, ends in the realization of the +dreaded symptom. Identification is therefore not a simple imitation, but +a sympathy based upon the same etiological claim; it expresses an "as +though," and refers to some common quality which has remained in the +unconscious. + +Identification is most often used in hysteria to express sexual +community. An hysterical woman identifies herself most readily--although +not exclusively--with persons with whom she has had sexual relations, or +who have sexual intercourse with the same persons as herself. Language +takes such a conception into consideration: two lovers are "one." In the +hysterical phantasy, as well as in the dream, it is sufficient for the +identification if one thinks of sexual relations, whether or not they +become real. The patient, then, only follows the rules of the hysterical +thought processes when she gives expression to her jealousy of her +friend (which, moreover, she herself admits to be unjustified, in that +she puts herself in her place and identifies herself with her by +creating a symptom--the denied wish). I might further clarify the +process specifically as follows: She puts herself in the place of her +friend in the dream, because her friend has taken her own place relation +to her husband, and because she would like to take her friend's place in +the esteem of her husband[2]. + +The contradiction to my theory of dreams in the case of another female +patient, the most witty among all my dreamers, was solved in a simpler +manner, although according to the scheme that the non-fulfillment of one +wish signifies the fulfillment of another. I had one day explained to +her that the dream is a wish of fulfillment. The next day she brought me +a dream to the effect that she was traveling with her mother-in-law to +their common summer resort. Now I knew that she had struggled violently +against spending the summer in the neighborhood of her mother-in-law. I +also knew that she had luckily avoided her mother-in-law by renting an +estate in a far-distant country resort. Now the dream reversed this +wished-for solution; was not this in the flattest contradiction to my +theory of wish-fulfillment in the dream? Certainly, it was only +necessary to draw the inferences from this dream in order to get at its +interpretation. According to this dream, I was in the wrong. _It was +thus her wish that I should be in the wrong, and this wish the dream +showed her as fulfilled._ But the wish that I should be in the wrong, +which was fulfilled in the theme of the country home, referred to a more +serious matter. At that time I had made up my mind, from the material +furnished by her analysis, that something of significance for her +illness must have occurred at a certain time in her life. She had denied +it because it was not present in her memory. We soon came to see that I +was in the right. Her wish that I should be in the wrong, which is +transformed into the dream, thus corresponded to the justifiable wish +that those things, which at the time had only been suspected, had never +occurred at all. + +Without an analysis, and merely by means of an assumption, I took the +liberty of interpreting a little occurrence in the case of a friend, who +had been my colleague through the eight classes of the Gymnasium. He +once heard a lecture of mine delivered to a small assemblage, on the +novel subject of the dream as the fulfillment of a wish. He went home, +dreamt _that he had lost all his suits_--he was a lawyer--and then +complained to me about it. I took refuge in the evasion: "One can't win +all one's suits," but I thought to myself: "If for eight years I sat as +Primus on the first bench, while he moved around somewhere in the middle +of the class, may he not naturally have had a wish from his boyhood days +that I, too, might for once completely disgrace myself?" + +In the same way another dream of a more gloomy character was offered me +by a female patient as a contradiction to my theory of the wish-dream. +The patient, a young girl, began as follows: "You remember that my +sister has now only one boy, Charles: she lost the elder one, Otto, +while I was still at her house. Otto was my favorite; it was I who +really brought him up. I like the other little fellow, too, but of +course not nearly as much as the dead one. Now I dreamt last night that +_I saw Charles lying dead before me. He was lying in his little coffin, +his hands folded: there were candles all about, and, in short, it was +just like the time of little Otto's death, which shocked me so +profoundly_. Now tell me, what does this mean? You know me: am I really +bad enough to wish my sister to lose the only child she has left? Or +does the dream mean that I wish Charles to be dead rather than Otto, +whom I like so much better?" + +I assured her that this interpretation was impossible. After some +reflection I was able to give her the interpretation of the dream, which +I subsequently made her confirm. + +Having become an orphan at an early age, the girl had been brought up in +the house of a much older sister, and had met among the friends and +visitors who came to the house, a man who made a lasting impression upon +her heart. It looked for a time as though these barely expressed +relations were to end in marriage, but this happy culmination was +frustrated by the sister, whose motives have never found a complete +explanation. After the break, the man who was loved by our patient +avoided the house: she herself became independent some time after little +Otto's death, to whom her affection had now turned. But she did not +succeed in freeing herself from the inclination for her sister's friend +in which she had become involved. Her pride commanded her to avoid him; +but it was impossible for her to transfer her love to the other suitors +who presented themselves in order. Whenever the man whom she loved, who +was a member of the literary profession, announced a lecture anywhere, +she was sure to be found in the audience; she also seized every other +opportunity to see him from a distance unobserved by him. I remembered +that on the day before she had told me that the Professor was going to a +certain concert, and that she was also going there, in order to enjoy +the sight of him. This was on the day of the dream; and the concert was +to take place on the day on which she told me the dream. I could now +easily see the correct interpretation, and I asked her whether she could +think of any event which had happened after the death of little Otto. +She answered immediately: "Certainly; at that time the Professor +returned after a long absence, and I saw him once more beside the coffin +of little Otto." It was exactly as I had expected. I interpreted the +dream in the following manner: "If now the other boy were to die, the +same thing would be repeated. You would spend the day with your sister, +the Professor would surely come in order to offer condolence, and you +would see him again under the same circumstances as at that time. The +dream signifies nothing but this wish of yours to see him again, against +which you are fighting inwardly. I know that you are carrying the ticket +for to-day's concert in your bag. Your dream is a dream of impatience; +it has anticipated the meeting which is to take place to-day by several +hours." + +In order to disguise her wish she had obviously selected a situation in +which wishes of that sort are commonly suppressed--a situation which is +so filled with sorrow that love is not thought of. And yet, it is very +easily probable that even in the actual situation at the bier of the +second, more dearly loved boy, which the dream copied faithfully, she +had not been able to suppress her feelings of affection for the visitor +whom she had missed for so long a time. + +A different explanation was found in the case of a similar dream of +another female patient, who was distinguished in her earlier years by +her quick wit and her cheerful demeanors and who still showed these +qualities at least in the notion, which occurred to her in the course of +treatment. In connection with a longer dream, it seemed to this lady +that she saw her fifteen-year-old daughter lying dead before her in a +box. She was strongly inclined to convert this dream-image into an +objection to the theory of wish-fulfillment, but herself suspected that +the detail of the box must lead to a different conception of the +dream.[3] In the course of the analysis it occurred to her that on the +evening before, the conversation of the company had turned upon the +English word "box," and upon the numerous translations of it into +German, such as box, theater box, chest, box on the ear, &c. From other +components of the same dream it is now possible to add that the lady had +guessed the relationship between the English word "box" and the German +_Büchse_, and had then been haunted by the memory that _Büchse_ (as well +as "box") is used in vulgar speech to designate the female genital +organ. It was therefore possible, making a certain allowance for her +notions on the subject of topographical anatomy, to assume that the +child in the box signified a child in the womb of the mother. At this +stage of the explanation she no longer denied that the picture of the +dream really corresponded to one of her wishes. Like so many other young +women, she was by no means happy when she became pregnant, and admitted +to me more than once the wish that her child might die before its birth; +in a fit of anger following a violent scene with her husband she had +even struck her abdomen with her fists in order to hit the child within. +The dead child was, therefore, really the fulfillment of a wish, but a +wish which had been put aside for fifteen years, and it is not +surprising that the fulfillment of the wish was no longer recognized +after so long an interval. For there had been many changes meanwhile. + +The group of dreams to which the two last mentioned belong, having as +content the death of beloved relatives, will be considered again under +the head of "Typical Dreams." I shall there be able to show by new +examples that in spite of their undesirable content, all these dreams +must be interpreted as wish-fulfillments. For the following dream, which +again was told me in order to deter me from a hasty generalization of +the theory of wishing in dreams, I am indebted, not to a patient, but to +an intelligent jurist of my acquaintance. "_I dream_," my informant +tells me, "_that I am walking in front of my house with a lady on my +arm. Here a closed wagon is waiting, a gentleman steps up to me, gives +his authority as an agent of the police, and demands that I should +follow him. I only ask for time in which to arrange my affairs._ Can you +possibly suppose this is a wish of mine to be arrested?" "Of course +not," I must admit. "Do you happen to know upon what charge you were +arrested?" "Yes; I believe for infanticide." "Infanticide? But you know +that only a mother can commit this crime upon her newly born child?" +"That is true."[4] "And under what circumstances did you dream; what +happened on the evening before?" "I would rather not tell you that; it +is a delicate matter." "But I must have it, otherwise we must forgo the +interpretation of the dream." "Well, then, I will tell you. I spent the +night, not at home, but at the house of a lady who means very much to +me. When we awoke in the morning, something again passed between us. +Then I went to sleep again, and dreamt what I have told you." "The woman +is married?" "Yes." "And you do not wish her to conceive a child?" "No; +that might betray us." "Then you do not practice normal coitus?" "I take +the precaution to withdraw before ejaculation." "Am I permitted to +assume that you did this trick several times during the night, and that +in the morning you were not quite sure whether you had succeeded?" "That +might be the case." "Then your dream is the fulfillment of a wish. By +means of it you secure the assurance that you have not begotten a child, +or, what amounts to the same thing, that you have killed a child. I can +easily demonstrate the connecting links. Do you remember, a few days ago +we were talking about the distress of matrimony (Ehenot), and about the +inconsistency of permitting the practice of coitus as long as no +impregnation takes place, while every delinquency after the ovum and +the semen meet and a foetus is formed is punished as a crime? In +connection with this, we also recalled the mediæval controversy about +the moment of time at which the soul is really lodged in the foetus, +since the concept of murder becomes admissible only from that point on. +Doubtless you also know the gruesome poem by Lenau, which puts +infanticide and the prevention of children on the same plane." +"Strangely enough, I had happened to think of Lenau during the +afternoon." "Another echo of your dream. And now I shall demonstrate to +you another subordinate wish-fulfillment in your dream. You walk in +front of your house with the lady on your arm. So you take her home, +instead of spending the night at her house, as you do in actuality. The +fact that the wish-fulfillment, which is the essence of the dream, +disguises itself in such an unpleasant form, has perhaps more than one +reason. From my essay on the etiology of anxiety neuroses, you will see +that I note interrupted coitus as one of the factors which cause the +development of neurotic fear. It would be consistent with this that if +after repeated cohabitation of the kind mentioned you should be left in +an uncomfortable mood, which now becomes an element in the composition +of your dream. You also make use of this unpleasant state of mind to +conceal the wish-fulfillment. Furthermore, the mention of infanticide +has not yet been explained. Why does this crime, which is peculiar to +females, occur to you?" "I shall confess to you that I was involved in +such an affair years ago. Through my fault a girl tried to protect +herself from the consequences of a _liaison_ with me by securing an +abortion. I had nothing to do with carrying out the plan, but I was +naturally for a long time worried lest the affair might be discovered." +"I understand; this recollection furnished a second reason why the +supposition that you had done your trick badly must have been painful to +you." + +A young physician, who had heard this dream of my colleague when it was +told, must have felt implicated by it, for he hastened to imitate it in +a dream of his own, applying its mode of thinking to another subject. +The day before he had handed in a declaration of his income, which was +perfectly honest, because he had little to declare. He dreamt that an +acquaintance of his came from a meeting of the tax commission and +informed him that all the other declarations of income had passed +uncontested, but that his own had awakened general suspicion, and that +he would be punished with a heavy fine. The dream is a poorly-concealed +fulfillment of the wish to be known as a physician with a large income. +It likewise recalls the story of the young girl who was advised against +accepting her suitor because he was a man of quick temper who would +surely treat her to blows after they were married. + +The answer of the girl was: "I wish he _would_ strike me!" Her wish to +be married is so strong that she takes into the bargain the discomfort +which is said to be connected with matrimony, and which is predicted for +her, and even raises it to a wish. + +If I group the very frequently occurring dreams of this sort, which seem +flatly to contradict my theory, in that they contain the denial of a +wish or some occurrence decidedly unwished for, under the head of +"counter wish-dreams," I observe that they may all be referred to two +principles, of which one has not yet been mentioned, although it plays a +large part in the dreams of human beings. One of the motives inspiring +these dreams is the wish that I should appear in the wrong. These dreams +regularly occur in the course of my treatment if the patient shows a +resistance against me, and I can count with a large degree of certainty +upon causing such a dream after I have once explained to the patient my +theory that the dream is a wish-fulfillment.[5] I may even expect this +to be the case in a dream merely in order to fulfill the wish that I may +appear in the wrong. The last dream which I shall tell from those +occurring in the course of treatment again shows this very thing. A +young girl who has struggled hard to continue my treatment, against the +will of her relatives and the authorities whom she had consulted, dreams +as follows: _She is forbidden at home to come to me any more. She then +reminds me of the promise I made her to treat her for nothing if +necessary, and I say to her: "I can show no consideration in money +matters."_ + +It is not at all easy in this case to demonstrate the fulfillment of a +wish, but in all cases of this kind there is a second problem, the +solution of which helps also to solve the first. Where does she get the +words which she puts into my mouth? Of course I have never told her +anything like that, but one of her brothers, the very one who has the +greatest influence over her, has been kind enough to make this remark +about me. It is then the purpose of the dream that this brother should +remain in the right; and she does not try to justify this brother merely +in the dream; it is her purpose in life and the motive for her being +ill. + +The other motive for counter wish-dreams is so clear that there is +danger of overlooking it, as for some time happened in my own case. In +the sexual make-up of many people there is a masochistic component, +which has arisen through the conversion of the aggressive, sadistic +component into its opposite. Such people are called "ideal" masochists, +if they seek pleasure not in the bodily pain which may be inflicted upon +them, but in humiliation and in chastisement of the soul. It is obvious +that such persons can have counter wish-dreams and disagreeable dreams, +which, however, for them are nothing but wish-fulfillment, affording +satisfaction for their masochistic inclinations. Here is such a dream. A +young man, who has in earlier years tormented his elder brother, towards +whom he was homosexually inclined, but who had undergone a complete +change of character, has the following dream, which consists of three +parts: (1) _He is "insulted" by his brother._ (2) _Two adults are +caressing each other with homosexual intentions._ (3) _His brother has +sold the enterprise whose management the young man reserved for his own +future._ He awakens from the last-mentioned dream with the most +unpleasant feelings, and yet it is a masochistic wish-dream, which might +be translated: It would serve me quite right if my brother were to make +that sale against my interest, as a punishment for all the torments +which he has suffered at my hands. + +I hope that the above discussion and examples will suffice--until +further objection can be raised--to make it seem credible that even +dreams with a painful content are to be analyzed as the fulfillments of +wishes. Nor will it seem a matter of chance that in the course of +interpretation one always happens upon subjects of which one does not +like to speak or think. The disagreeable sensation which such dreams +arouse is simply identical with the antipathy which endeavors--usually +with success--to restrain us from the treatment or discussion of such +subjects, and which must be overcome by all of us, if, in spite of its +unpleasantness, we find it necessary to take the matter in hand. But +this disagreeable sensation, which occurs also in dreams, does not +preclude the existence of a wish; every one has wishes which he would +not like to tell to others, which he does not want to admit even to +himself. We are, on other grounds, justified in connecting the +disagreeable character of all these dreams with the fact of dream +disfigurement, and in concluding that these dreams are distorted, and +that the wish-fulfillment in them is disguised until recognition is +impossible for no other reason than that a repugnance, a will to +suppress, exists in relation to the subject-matter of the dream or in +relation to the wish which the dream creates. Dream disfigurement, +then, turns out in reality to be an act of the censor. We shall take +into consideration everything which the analysis of disagreeable dreams +has brought to light if we reword our formula as follows: _The dream is +the (disguised) fulfillment of a (suppressed, repressed) wish_. + +Now there still remain as a particular species of dreams with painful +content, dreams of anxiety, the inclusion of which under dreams of +wishing will find least acceptance with the uninitiated. But I can +settle the problem of anxiety dreams in very short order; for what they +may reveal is not a new aspect of the dream problem; it is a question in +their case of understanding neurotic anxiety in general. The fear which +we experience in the dream is only seemingly explained by the dream +content. If we subject the content of the dream to analysis, we become +aware that the dream fear is no more justified by the dream content than +the fear in a phobia is justified by the idea upon which the phobia +depends. For example, it is true that it is possible to fall out of a +window, and that some care must be exercised when one is near a window, +but it is inexplicable why the anxiety in the corresponding phobia is so +great, and why it follows its victims to an extent so much greater than +is warranted by its origin. The same explanation, then, which applies to +the phobia applies also to the dream of anxiety. In both cases the +anxiety is only superficially attached to the idea which accompanies it +and comes from another source. + +On account of the intimate relation of dream fear to neurotic fear, +discussion of the former obliges me to refer to the latter. In a little +essay on "The Anxiety Neurosis,"[6] I maintained that neurotic fear has +its origin in the sexual life, and corresponds to a libido which has +been turned away from its object and has not succeeded in being applied. +From this formula, which has since proved its validity more and more +clearly, we may deduce the conclusion that the content of anxiety dreams +is of a sexual nature, the libido belonging to which content has been +transformed into fear. + +[1] To sit for the painter. Goethe: "And if he has no backside, how can +the nobleman sit?" + +[2] I myself regret the introduction of such passages from the +psychopathology of hysteria, which, because of their fragmentary +representation and of being torn from all connection with the subject, +cannot have a very enlightening influence. If these passages are capable +of throwing light upon the intimate relations between the dream and the +psychoneuroses, they have served the purpose for which I have taken them +up. + +[3] Something like the smoked salmon in the dream of the deferred +supper. + +[4] It often happens that a dream is told incompletely, and that a +recollection of the omitted portions appear only in the course of the +analysis. These portions subsequently fitted in, regularly furnish the +key to the interpretation. _Cf._ below, about forgetting in dreams. + +[5] Similar "counter wish-dreams" have been repeatedly reported to me +within the last few years by my pupils who thus reacted to their first +encounter with the "wish theory of the dream." + +[6] See _Selected Papers on Hysteria and other Psychoneuroses_, p. 133, +translated by A.A. Brill, _Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases_, +Monograph Series. + + + + +V + +SEX IN DREAMS + + +The more one is occupied with the solution of dreams, the more willing +one must become to acknowledge that the majority of the dreams of adults +treat of sexual material and give expression to erotic wishes. Only one +who really analyzes dreams, that is to say, who pushes forward from +their manifest content to the latent dream thoughts, can form an opinion +on this subject--never the person who is satisfied with registering the +manifest content (as, for example, Näcke in his works on sexual dreams). +Let us recognize at once that this fact is not to be wondered at, but +that it is in complete harmony with the fundamental assumptions of dream +explanation. No other impulse has had to undergo so much suppression +from the time of childhood as the sex impulse in its numerous +components, from no other impulse have survived so many and such intense +unconscious wishes, which now act in the sleeping state in such a manner +as to produce dreams. In dream interpretation, this significance of +sexual complexes must never be forgotten, nor must they, of course, be +exaggerated to the point of being considered exclusive. + +Of many dreams it can be ascertained by a careful interpretation that +they are even to be taken bisexually, inasmuch as they result in an +irrefutable secondary interpretation in which they realize homosexual +feelings--that is, feelings that are common to the normal sexual +activity of the dreaming person. But that all dreams are to be +interpreted bisexually, seems to me to be a generalization as +indemonstrable as it is improbable, which I should not like to support. +Above all I should not know how to dispose of the apparent fact that +there are many dreams satisfying other than--in the widest sense--erotic +needs, as dreams of hunger, thirst, convenience, &c. Likewise the +similar assertions "that behind every dream one finds the death +sentence" (Stekel), and that every dream shows "a continuation from the +feminine to the masculine line" (Adler), seem to me to proceed far +beyond what is admissible in the interpretation of dreams. + +We have already asserted elsewhere that dreams which are conspicuously +innocent invariably embody coarse erotic wishes, and we might confirm +this by means of numerous fresh examples. But many dreams which appear +indifferent, and which would never be suspected of any particular +significance, can be traced back, after analysis, to unmistakably sexual +wish-feelings, which are often of an unexpected nature. For example, +who would suspect a sexual wish in the following dream until the +interpretation had been worked out? The dreamer relates: _Between two +stately palaces stands a little house, receding somewhat, whose doors +are closed. My wife leads me a little way along the street up to the +little house, and pushes in the door, and then I slip quickly and easily +into the interior of a courtyard that slants obliquely upwards._ + +Any one who has had experience in the translating of dreams will, of +course, immediately perceive that penetrating into narrow spaces, and +opening locked doors, belong to the commonest sexual symbolism, and will +easily find in this dream a representation of attempted coition from +behind (between the two stately buttocks of the female body). The narrow +slanting passage is of course the vagina; the assistance attributed to +the wife of the dreamer requires the interpretation that in reality it +is only consideration for the wife which is responsible for the +detention from such an attempt. Moreover, inquiry shows that on the +previous day a young girl had entered the household of the dreamer who +had pleased him, and who had given him the impression that she would not +be altogether opposed to an approach of this sort. The little house +between the two palaces is taken from a reminiscence of the Hradschin +in Prague, and thus points again to the girl who is a native of that +city. + +If with my patients I emphasize the frequency of the Oedipus dream--of +having sexual intercourse with one's mother--I get the answer: "I cannot +remember such a dream." Immediately afterwards, however, there arises +the recollection of another disguised and indifferent dream, which has +been dreamed repeatedly by the patient, and the analysis shows it to be +a dream of this same content--that is, another Oedipus dream. I can +assure the reader that veiled dreams of sexual intercourse with the +mother are a great deal more frequent than open ones to the same effect. + +There are dreams about landscapes and localities in which emphasis is +always laid upon the assurance: "I have been there before." In this case +the locality is always the genital organ of the mother; it can indeed be +asserted with such certainty of no other locality that one "has been +there before." + +A large number of dreams, often full of fear, which are concerned with +passing through narrow spaces or with staying, in the water, are based +upon fancies about the embryonic life, about the sojourn in the mother's +womb, and about the act of birth. The following is the dream of a young +man who in his fancy has already while in embryo taken advantage of his +opportunity to spy upon an act of coition between his parents. + +_"He is in a deep shaft, in which there is a window, as in the Semmering +Tunnel. At first he sees an empty landscape through this window, and +then he composes a picture into it, which is immediately at hand and +which fills out the empty space. The picture represents a field which is +being thoroughly harrowed by an implement, and the delightful air, the +accompanying idea of hard work, and the bluish-black clods of earth make +a pleasant impression. He then goes on and sees a primary school opened +... and he is surprised that so much attention is devoted in it to the +sexual feelings of the child, which makes him think of me."_ + +Here is a pretty water-dream of a female patient, which was turned to +extraordinary account in the course of treatment. + +_At her summer resort at the ... Lake, she hurls herself into the dark +water at a place where the pale moon is reflected in the water._ + +Dreams of this sort are parturition dreams; their interpretation is +accomplished by reversing the fact reported in the manifest dream +content; thus, instead of "throwing one's self into the water," read +"coming out of the water," that is, "being born." The place from which +one is born is recognized if one thinks of the bad sense of the French +"la lune." The pale moon thus becomes the white "bottom" (Popo), which +the child soon recognizes as the place from which it came. Now what can +be the meaning of the patient's wishing to be born at her summer resort? +I asked the dreamer this, and she answered without hesitation: "Hasn't +the treatment made me as though I were born again?" Thus the dream +becomes an invitation to continue the cure at this summer resort, that +is, to visit her there; perhaps it also contains a very bashful allusion +to the wish to become a mother herself.[1] + +Another dream of parturition, with its interpretation, I take from the +work of E. Jones. _"She stood at the seashore watching a small boy, who +seemed to be hers, wading into the water. This he did till the water +covered him, and she could only see his head bobbing up and down near +the surface. The scene then changed to the crowded hall of a hotel. Her +husband left her, and she 'entered into conversation with' a +stranger."_ The second half of the dream was discovered in the analysis +to represent a flight from her husband, and the entering into intimate +relations with a third person, behind whom was plainly indicated Mr. +X.'s brother mentioned in a former dream. The first part of the dream +was a fairly evident birth phantasy. In dreams as in mythology, the +delivery of a child _from_ the uterine waters is commonly presented by +distortion as the entry of the child _into_ water; among many others, +the births of Adonis, Osiris, Moses, and Bacchus are well-known +illustrations of this. The bobbing up and down of the head in the water +at once recalled to the patient the sensation of quickening she had +experienced in her only pregnancy. Thinking of the boy going into the +water induced a reverie in which she saw herself taking him out of the +water, carrying him into the nursery, washing him and dressing him, and +installing him in her household. + +The second half of the dream, therefore, represents thoughts concerning +the elopement, which belonged to the first half of the underlying latent +content; the first half of the dream corresponded with the second half +of the latent content, the birth phantasy. Besides this inversion in +order, further inversions took place in each half of the dream. In the +first half the child _entered_ the water, and then his head bobbed; in +the underlying dream thoughts first the quickening occurred, and then +the child left the water (a double inversion). In the second half her +husband left her; in the dream thoughts she left her husband. + +Another parturition dream is related by Abraham of a young woman looking +forward to her first confinement. From a place in the floor of the house +a subterranean canal leads directly into the water (parturition path, +amniotic liquor). She lifts up a trap in the floor, and there +immediately appears a creature dressed in a brownish fur, which almost +resembles a seal. This creature changes into the younger brother of the +dreamer, to whom she has always stood in maternal relationship. + +Dreams of "saving" are connected with parturition dreams. To save, +especially to save from the water, is equivalent to giving birth when +dreamed by a woman; this sense is, however, modified when the dreamer is +a man. + +Robbers, burglars at night, and ghosts, of which we are afraid before +going to bed, and which occasionally even disturb our sleep, originate +in one and the same childish reminiscence. They are the nightly visitors +who have awakened the child to set it on the chamber so that it may not +wet the bed, or have lifted the cover in order to see clearly how the +child is holding its hands while sleeping. I have been able to induce an +exact recollection of the nocturnal visitor in the analysis of some of +these anxiety dreams. The robbers were always the father, the ghosts +more probably corresponded to feminine persons with white night-gowns. + +When one has become familiar with the abundant use of symbolism for the +representation of sexual material in dreams, one naturally raises the +question whether there are not many of these symbols which appear once +and for all with a firmly established significance like the signs in +stenography; and one is tempted to compile a new dream-book according to +the cipher method. In this connection it may be remarked that this +symbolism does not belong peculiarly to the dream, but rather to +unconscious thinking, particularly that of the masses, and it is to be +found in greater perfection in the folklore, in the myths, legends, and +manners of speech, in the proverbial sayings, and in the current +witticisms of a nation than in its dreams. + +The dream takes advantage of this symbolism in order to give a disguised +representation to its latent thoughts. Among the symbols which are used +in this manner there are of course many which regularly, or almost +regularly, mean the same thing. Only it is necessary to keep in mind the +curious plasticity of psychic material. Now and then a symbol in the +dream content may have to be interpreted not symbolically, but according +to its real meaning; at another time the dreamer, owing to a peculiar +set of recollections, may create for himself the right to use anything +whatever as a sexual symbol, though it is not ordinarily used in that +way. Nor are the most frequently used sexual symbols unambiguous every +time. + +After these limitations and reservations I may call attention to the +following: Emperor and Empress (King and Queen) in most cases really +represent the parents of the dreamer; the dreamer himself or herself is +the prince or princess. All elongated objects, sticks, tree-trunks, and +umbrellas (on account of the stretching-up which might be compared to an +erection! all elongated and sharp weapons, knives, daggers, and pikes, +are intended to represent the male member. A frequent, not very +intelligible, symbol for the same is a nail-file (on account of the +rubbing and scraping?). Little cases, boxes, caskets, closets, and +stoves correspond to the female part. The symbolism of lock and key has +been very gracefully employed by Uhland in his song about the "Grafen +Eberstein," to make a common smutty joke. The dream of walking through a +row of rooms is a brothel or harem dream. Staircases, ladders, and +flights of stairs, or climbing on these, either upwards or downwards, +are symbolic representations of the sexual act. Smooth walls over which +one is climbing, façades of houses upon which one is letting oneself +down, frequently under great anxiety, correspond to the erect human +body, and probably repeat in the dream reminiscences of the upward +climbing of little children on their parents or foster parents. "Smooth" +walls are men. Often in a dream of anxiety one is holding on firmly to +some projection from a house. Tables, set tables, and boards are women, +perhaps on account of the opposition which does away with the bodily +contours. Since "bed and board" (_mensa et thorus_) constitute marriage, +the former are often put for the latter in the dream, and as far as +practicable the sexual presentation complex is transposed to the eating +complex. Of articles of dress the woman's hat may frequently be +definitely interpreted as the male genital. In dreams of men one often +finds the cravat as a symbol for the penis; this indeed is not only +because cravats hang down long, and are characteristic of the man, but +also because one can select them at pleasure, a freedom which is +prohibited by nature in the original of the symbol. Persons who make use +of this symbol in the dream are very extravagant with cravats, and +possess regular collections of them. All complicated machines and +apparatus in dream are very probably genitals, in the description of +which dream symbolism shows itself to be as tireless as the activity of +wit. Likewise many landscapes in dreams, especially with bridges or with +wooded mountains, can be readily recognized as descriptions of the +genitals. Finally where one finds incomprehensible neologisms one may +think of combinations made up of components having a sexual +significance. Children also in the dream often signify the genitals, as +men and women are in the habit of fondly referring to their genital +organ as their "little one." As a very recent symbol of the male genital +may be mentioned the flying machine, utilization of which is justified +by its relation to flying as well as occasionally by its form. To play +with a little child or to beat a little one is often the dream's +representation of onanism. A number of other symbols, in part not +sufficiently verified are given by Stekel, who illustrates them with +examples. Right and left, according to him, are to be conceived in the +dream in an ethical sense. "The right way always signifies the road to +righteousness, the left the one to crime. Thus the left may signify +homosexuality, incest, and perversion, while the right signifies +marriage, relations with a prostitute, &c. The meaning is always +determined by the individual moral view-point of the dreamer." Relatives +in the dream generally play the rôle of genitals. Not to be able to +catch up with a wagon is interpreted by Stekel as regret not to be able +to come up to a difference in age. Baggage with which one travels is the +burden of sin by which one is oppressed. Also numbers, which frequently +occur in the dream, are assigned by Stekel a fixed symbolical meaning, +but these interpretations seem neither sufficiently verified nor of +general validity, although the interpretation in individual cases can +generally be recognized as probable. In a recently published book by W. +Stekel, _Die Sprache des Traumes_, which I was unable to utilize, there +is a list of the most common sexual symbols, the object of which is to +prove that all sexual symbols can be bisexually used. He states: "Is +there a symbol which (if in any way permitted by the phantasy) may not +be used simultaneously in the masculine and the feminine sense!" To be +sure the clause in parentheses takes away much of the absoluteness of +this assertion, for this is not at all permitted by the phantasy. I do +not, however, think it superfluous to state that in my experience +Stekel's general statement has to give way to the recognition of a +greater manifoldness. Besides those symbols, which are just as frequent +for the male as for the female genitals, there are others which +preponderately, or almost exclusively, designate one of the sexes, and +there are still others of which only the male or only the female +signification is known. To use long, firm objects and weapons as symbols +of the female genitals, or hollow objects (chests, pouches, &c.), as +symbols of the male genitals, is indeed not allowed by the fancy. + +It is true that the tendency of the dream and the unconscious fancy to +utilize the sexual symbol bisexually betrays an archaic trend, for in +childhood a difference in the genitals is unknown, and the same genitals +are attributed to both sexes. + +These very incomplete suggestions may suffice to stimulate others to +make a more careful collection. + +I shall now add a few examples of the application of such symbolisms in +dreams, which will serve to show how impossible it becomes to interpret +a dream without taking into account the symbolism of dreams, and how +imperatively it obtrudes itself in many cases. + + +1. The hat as a symbol of the man (of the male genital): (a fragment +from the dream of a young woman who suffered from agoraphobia on account +of a fear of temptation). + +"I am walking in the street in summer, I wear a straw hat of peculiar +shape, the middle piece of which is bent upwards and the side pieces of +which hang downwards (the description became here obstructed), and in +such a fashion that one is lower than the other. I am cheerful and in a +confidential mood, and as I pass a troop of young officers I think to +myself: None of you can have any designs upon me." + +As she could produce no associations to the hat, I said to her: "The hat +is really a male genital, with its raised middle piece and the two +downward hanging side pieces." I intentionally refrained from +interpreting those details concerning the unequal downward hanging of +the two side pieces, although just such individualities in the +determinations lead the way to the interpretation. I continued by saying +that if she only had a man with such a virile genital she would not have +to fear the officers--that is, she would have nothing to wish from them, +for she is mainly kept from going without protection and company by her +fancies of temptation. This last explanation of her fear I had already +been able to give her repeatedly on the basis of other material. + +It is quite remarkable how the dreamer behaved after this +interpretation. She withdrew her description of the hat, and claimed not +to have said that the two side pieces were hanging downwards. I was, +however, too sure of what I had heard to allow myself to be misled, and +I persisted in it. She was quiet for a while, and then found the courage +to ask why it was that one of her husband's testicles was lower than the +other, and whether it was the same in all men. With this the peculiar +detail of the hat was explained, and the whole interpretation was +accepted by her. The hat symbol was familiar to me long before the +patient related this dream. From other but less transparent cases I +believe that the hat may also be taken as a female genital. + + +2. The little one as the genital--to be run over as a symbol of sexual +intercourse (another dream of the same agoraphobic patient). + +"Her mother sends away her little daughter so that she must go alone. +She rides with her mother to the railroad and sees her little one +walking directly upon the tracks, so that she cannot avoid being run +over. She hears the bones crackle. (From this she experiences a feeling +of discomfort but no real horror.) She then looks out through the car +window to see whether the parts cannot be seen behind. She then +reproaches her mother for allowing the little one to go out alone." +Analysis. It is not an easy matter to give here a complete +interpretation of the dream. It forms part of a cycle of dreams, and can +be fully understood only in connection with the others. For it is not +easy to get the necessary material sufficiently isolated to prove the +symbolism. The patient at first finds that the railroad journey is to be +interpreted historically as an allusion to a departure from a sanatorium +for nervous diseases, with the superintendent of which she naturally was +in love. Her mother took her away from this place, and the physician +came to the railroad station and handed her a bouquet of flowers on +leaving; she felt uncomfortable because her mother witnessed this +homage. Here the mother, therefore, appears as a disturber of her love +affairs, which is the rôle actually played by this strict woman during +her daughter's girlhood. The next thought referred to the sentence: "She +then looks to see whether the parts can be seen behind." In the dream +façade one would naturally be compelled to think of the parts of the +little daughter run over and ground up. The thought, however, turns in +quite a different direction. She recalls that she once saw her father in +the bath-room naked from behind; she then begins to talk about the sex +differentiation, and asserts that in the man the genitals can be seen +from behind, but in the woman they cannot. In this connection she now +herself offers the interpretation that the little one is the genital, +her little one (she has a four-year-old daughter) her own genital. She +reproaches her mother for wanting her to live as though she had no +genital, and recognizes this reproach in the introductory sentence of +the dream; the mother sends away her little one so that she must go +alone. In her phantasy going alone on the street signifies to have no +man and no sexual relations (coire = to go together), and this she does +not like. According to all her statements she really suffered as a girl +on account of the jealousy of her mother, because she showed a +preference for her father. + +The "little one" has been noted as a symbol for the male or the female +genitals by Stekel, who can refer in this connection to a very +widespread usage of language. + +The deeper interpretation of this dream depends upon another dream of +the same night in which the dreamer identifies herself with her brother. +She was a "tomboy," and was always being told that she should have been +born a boy. This identification with the brother shows with special +clearness that "the little one" signifies the genital. The mother +threatened him (her) with castration, which could only be understood as +a punishment for playing with the parts, and the identification, +therefore, shows that she herself had masturbated as a child, though +this fact she now retained only in memory concerning her brother. An +early knowledge of the male genital which she later lost she must have +acquired at that time according to the assertions of this second dream. +Moreover the second dream points to the infantile sexual theory that +girls originate from boys through castration. After I had told her of +this childish belief, she at once confirmed it with an anecdote in which +the boy asks the girl: "Was it cut off?" to which the girl replied, "No, +it's always been so." + +The sending away of the little one, of the genital, in the first dream +therefore also refers to the threatened castration. Finally she blames +her mother for not having been born a boy. + +That "being run over" symbolizes sexual intercourse would not be evident +from this dream if we were not sure of it from many other sources. + + +3. Representation of the genital by structures, stairways, and shafts. +(Dream of a young man inhibited by a father complex.) + +"He is taking a walk with his father in a place which is surely the +Prater, for the _Rotunda_ may be seen in front of which there is a small +front structure to which is attached a captive balloon; the balloon, +however, seems quite collapsed. His father asks him what this is all +for; he is surprised at it, but he explains it to his father. They come +into a court in which lies a large sheet of tin. His father wants to +pull off a big piece of this, but first looks around to see if any one +is watching. He tells his father that all he needs to do is to speak to +the watchman, and then he can take without any further difficulty as +much as he wants to. From this court a stairway leads down into a shaft, +the walls of which are softly upholstered something like a leather +pocketbook. At the end of this shaft there is a longer platform, and +then a new shaft begins...." + +Analysis. This dream belongs to a type of patient which is not favorable +from a therapeutic point of view. They follow in the analysis without +offering any resistances whatever up to a certain point, but from that +point on they remain almost inaccessible. This dream he almost analyzed +himself. "The Rotunda," he said, "is my genital, the captive balloon in +front is my penis, about the weakness of which I have worried." We must, +however, interpret in greater detail; the Rotunda is the buttock which +is regularly associated by the child with the genital, the smaller front +structure is the scrotum. In the dream his father asks him what this is +all for--that is, he asks him about the purpose and arrangement of the +genitals. It is quite evident that this state of affairs should be +turned around, and that he should be the questioner. As such a +questioning on the side of the father has never taken place in reality, +we must conceive the dream thought as a wish, or take it conditionally, +as follows: "If I had only asked my father for sexual enlightenment." +The continuation of this thought we shall soon find in another place. + +The court in which the tin sheet is spread out is not to be conceived +symbolically in the first instance, but originates from his father's +place of business. For discretionary reasons I have inserted the tin for +another material in which the father deals, without, however, changing +anything in the verbal expression of the dream. The dreamer had entered +his father's business, and had taken a terrible dislike to the +questionable practices upon which profit mainly depends. Hence the +continuation of the above dream thought ("if I had only asked him") +would be: "He would have deceived me just as he does his customers." For +the pulling off, which serves to represent commercial dishonesty, the +dreamer himself gives a second explanation--namely, onanism. This is not +only entirely familiar to us, but agrees very well with the fact that +the secrecy of onanism is expressed by its opposite ("Why one can do it +quite openly"). It, moreover, agrees entirely with our expectations that +the onanistic activity is again put off on the father, just as was the +questioning in the first scene of the dream. The shaft he at once +interprets as the vagina by referring to the soft upholstering of the +walls. That the act of coition in the vagina is described as a going +down instead of in the usual way as a going up, I have also found true +in other instances[2]. + +The details that at the end of the first shaft there is a longer +platform and then a new shaft, he himself explains biographically. He +had for some time consorted with women sexually, but had then given it +up because of inhibitions and now hopes to be able to take it up again +with the aid of the treatment. The dream, however, becomes indistinct +toward the end, and to the experienced interpreter it becomes evident +that in the second scene of the dream the influence of another subject +has begun to assert itself; in this his father's business and his +dishonest practices signify the first vagina represented as a shaft so +that one might think of a reference to the mother. + + +4. The male genital symbolized by persons and the female by a landscape. + +(Dream of a woman of the lower class, whose husband is a policeman, +reported by B. Dattner.) + +... Then some one broke into the house and anxiously called for a +policeman. But he went with two tramps by mutual consent into a +church,[3] to which led a great many stairs;[4] behind the church there +was a mountain,[5] on top of which a dense forest.[6] The policeman was +furnished with a helmet, a gorget, and a cloak.[7] The two vagrants, who +went along with the policeman quite peaceably, had tied to their loins +sack-like aprons.[8] A road led from the church to the mountain. This +road was overgrown on each side with grass and brushwood, which became +thicker and thicker as it reached the height of the mountain, where it +spread out into quite a forest. + + +5. A stairway dream. + +(Reported and interpreted by Otto Rank.) + +For the following transparent pollution dream, I am indebted to the +same colleague who furnished us with the dental-irritation dream. + +"I am running down the stairway in the stair-house after a little girl, +whom I wish to punish because she has done something to me. At the +bottom of the stairs some one held the child for me. (A grown-up woman?) +I grasp it, but do not know whether I have hit it, for I suddenly find +myself in the middle of the stairway where I practice coitus with the +child (in the air as it were). It is really no coitus, I only rub my +genital on her external genital, and in doing this I see it very +distinctly, as distinctly as I see her head which is lying sideways. +During the sexual act I see hanging to the left and above me (also as if +in the air) two small pictures, landscapes, representing a house on a +green. On the smaller one my surname stood in the place where the +painter's signature should be; it seemed to be intended for my birthday +present. A small sign hung in front of the pictures to the effect that +cheaper pictures could also be obtained. I then see myself very +indistinctly lying in bed, just as I had seen myself at the foot of the +stairs, and I am awakened by a feeling of dampness which came from the +pollution." + +Interpretation. The dreamer had been in a book-store on the evening of +the day of the dream, where, while he was waiting, he examined some +pictures which were exhibited, which represented motives similar to the +dream pictures. He stepped nearer to a small picture which particularly +took his fancy in order to see the name of the artist, which, however, +was quite unknown to him. + +Later in the same evening, in company, he heard about a Bohemian +servant-girl who boasted that her illegitimate child "was made on the +stairs." The dreamer inquired about the details of this unusual +occurrence, and learned that the servant-girl went with her lover to the +home of her parents, where there was no opportunity for sexual +relations, and that the excited man performed the act on the stairs. In +witty allusion to the mischievous expression used about wine-adulterers, +the dreamer remarked, "The child really grew on the cellar steps." + +These experiences of the day, which are quite prominent in the dream +content, were readily reproduced by the dreamer. But he just as readily +reproduced an old fragment of infantile recollection which was also +utilized by the dream. The stair-house was the house in which he had +spent the greatest part of his childhood, and in which he had first +become acquainted with sexual problems. In this house he used, among +other things, to slide down the banister astride which caused him to +become sexually excited. In the dream he also comes down the stairs very +rapidly--so rapidly that, according to his own distinct assertions, he +hardly touched the individual stairs, but rather "flew" or "slid down," +as we used to say. Upon reference to this infantile experience, the +beginning of the dream seems to represent the factor of sexual +excitement. In the same house and in the adjacent residence the dreamer +used to play pugnacious games with the neighboring children, in which he +satisfied himself just as he did in the dream. + +If one recalls from Freud's investigation of sexual symbolism[9] that in +the dream stairs or climbing stairs almost regularly symbolizes coitus, +the dream becomes clear. Its motive power as well as its effect, as is +shown by the pollution, is of a purely libidinous nature. Sexual +excitement became aroused during the sleeping state (in the dream this +is represented by the rapid running or sliding down the stairs) and the +sadistic thread in this is, on the basis of the pugnacious playing, +indicated in the pursuing and overcoming of the child. The libidinous +excitement becomes enhanced and urges to sexual action (represented in +the dream by the grasping of the child and the conveyance of it to the +middle of the stairway). Up to this point the dream would be one of +pure, sexual symbolism, and obscure for the unpracticed dream +interpreter. But this symbolic gratification, which would have insured +undisturbed sleep, was not sufficient for the powerful libidinous +excitement. The excitement leads to an orgasm, and thus the whole +stairway symbolism is unmasked as a substitute for coitus. Freud lays +stress on the rhythmical character of both actions as one of the reasons +for the sexual utilization of the stairway symbolism, and this dream +especially seems to corroborate this, for, according to the express +assertion of the dreamer, the rhythm of a sexual act was the most +pronounced feature in the whole dream. + +Still another remark concerning the two pictures, which, aside from +their real significance, also have the value of "Weibsbilder" (literally +_woman-pictures_, but idiomatically _women_). This is at once shown by +the fact that the dream deals with a big and a little picture, just as +the dream content presents a big (grown up) and a little girl. That +cheap pictures could also be obtained points to the prostitution +complex, just as the dreamer's surname on the little picture and the +thought that it was intended for his birthday, point to the parent +complex (to be born on the stairway--to be conceived in coitus). + +The indistinct final scene, in which the dreamer sees himself on the +staircase landing lying in bed and feeling wet, seems to go back into +childhood even beyond the infantile onanism, and manifestly has its +prototype in similarly pleasurable scenes of bed-wetting. + + +6. A modified stair-dream. + +To one of my very nervous patients, who was an abstainer, whose fancy +was fixed on his mother, and who repeatedly dreamed of climbing stairs +accompanied by his mother, I once remarked that moderate masturbation +would be less harmful to him than enforced abstinence. This influence +provoked the following dream: + +"His piano teacher reproaches him for neglecting his piano-playing, and +for not practicing the _Etudes_ of Moscheles and Clementi's _Gradus ad +Parnassum_." In relation to this he remarked that the _Gradus_ is only a +stairway, and that the piano itself is only a stairway as it has a +scale. + +It is correct to say that there is no series of associations which +cannot be adapted to the representation of sexual facts. I conclude with +the dream of a chemist, a young man, who has been trying to give up his +habit of masturbation by replacing it with intercourse with women. + +_Preliminary statement._--On the day before the dream he had given a +student instruction concerning Grignard's reaction, in which magnesium +is to be dissolved in absolutely pure ether under the catalytic +influence of iodine. Two days before, there had been an explosion in the +course of the same reaction, in which the investigator had burned his +hand. + +Dream I. _He is to make phenylmagnesium-bromid; he sees the apparatus +with particular clearness, but he has substituted himself for the +magnesium. He is now in a curious swaying attitude. He keeps repeating +to himself, "This is the right thing, it is working, my feet are +beginning to dissolve and my knees are getting soft." Then he reaches +down and feels for his feet, and meanwhile (he does not know how) he +takes his legs out of the crucible, and then again he says to himself, +"That cannot be.... Yes, it must be so, it has been done correctly." +Then he partially awakens, and repeats the dream to himself, because he +wants to tell it to me. He is distinctly afraid of the analysis of the +dream. He is much excited during this semi-sleeping state, and repeats +continually, "Phenyl, phenyl."_ + +II. _He is in ... ing with his whole family; at half-past eleven. He is +to be at the Schottenthor for a rendezvous with a certain lady, but he +does not wake up until half-past eleven. He says to himself, "It is too +late now; when you get there it will be half-past twelve." The next +instant he sees the whole family gathered about the table--his mother +and the servant girl with the soup-tureen with particular clearness. +Then he says to himself, "Well, if we are eating already, I certainly +can't get away."_ + +Analysis: He feels sure that even the first dream contains a reference +to the lady whom he is to meet at the rendezvous (the dream was dreamed +during the night before the expected meeting). The student to whom he +gave the instruction is a particularly unpleasant fellow; he had said to +the chemist: "That isn't right," because the magnesium was still +unaffected, and the latter answered as though he did not care anything +about it: "It certainly isn't right." He himself must be this student; +he is as indifferent towards his analysis as the student is towards his +synthesis; the _He_ in the dream, however, who accomplishes the +operation, is myself. How unpleasant he must seem to me with his +indifference towards the success achieved! + +Moreover, he is the material with which the analysis (synthesis) is +made. For it is a question of the success of the treatment. The legs in +the dream recall an impression of the previous evening. He met a lady at +a dancing lesson whom he wished to conquer; he pressed her to him so +closely that she once cried out. After he had stopped pressing against +her legs, he felt her firm responding pressure against his lower thighs +as far as just above his knees, at the place mentioned in the dream. In +this situation, then, the woman is the magnesium in the retort, which is +at last working. He is feminine towards me, as he is masculine towards +the woman. If it will work with the woman, the treatment will also work. +Feeling and becoming aware of himself in the region of his knees refers +to masturbation, and corresponds to his fatigue of the previous day.... +The rendezvous had actually been set for half-past eleven. His wish to +oversleep and to remain with his usual sexual objects (that is, with +masturbation) corresponds with his resistance. + +[1] It is only of late that I have learned to value the significance of +fancies and unconscious thoughts about life in the womb. They contain +the explanation of the curious fear felt by so many people of being +buried alive, as well as the profoundest unconscious reason for the +belief in a life after death which represents nothing but a projection +into the future of this mysterious life before birth. _The act of birth, +moreover, is the first experience with fear, and is thus the source and +model of the emotion of fear._ + +[2] Cf. _Zentralblatt für psychoanalyse_, I. + +[3] Or chapel--vagina. + +[4] Symbol of coitus. + +[5] Mons veneris. + +[6] Crines pubis. + +[7] Demons in cloaks and capucines are, according to the explanation of +a man versed in the subject, of a phallic nature. + +[8] The two halves of the scrotum. + +[9] See _Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse_, vol. i., p. 2. + + + + +VI + +THE WISH IN DREAMS + + +That the dream should be nothing but a wish-fulfillment surely seemed +strange to us all--and that not alone because of the contradictions +offered by the anxiety dream. + +After learning from the first analytical explanations that the dream +conceals sense and psychic validity, we could hardly expect so simple a +determination of this sense. According to the correct but concise +definition of Aristotle, the dream is a continuation of thinking in +sleep (in so far as one sleeps). Considering that during the day our +thoughts produce such a diversity of psychic acts--judgments, +conclusions, contradictions, expectations, intentions, &c.--why should +our sleeping thoughts be forced to confine themselves to the production +of wishes? Are there not, on the contrary, many dreams that present a +different psychic act in dream form, _e.g._, a solicitude, and is not +the very transparent father's dream mentioned above of just such a +nature? From the gleam of light falling into his eyes while asleep the +father draws the solicitous conclusion that a candle has been upset and +may have set fire to the corpse; he transforms this conclusion into a +dream by investing it with a senseful situation enacted in the present +tense. What part is played in this dream by the wish-fulfillment, and +which are we to suspect--the predominance of the thought continued from, +the waking state or of the thought incited by the new sensory +impression? + +All these considerations are just, and force us to enter more deeply +into the part played by the wish-fulfillment in the dream, and into the +significance of the waking thoughts continued in sleep. + +It is in fact the wish-fulfillment that has already induced us to +separate dreams into two groups. We have found some dreams that were +plainly wish-fulfillments; and others in which wish-fulfillment could +not be recognized, and was frequently concealed by every available +means. In this latter class of dreams we recognized the influence of the +dream censor. The undisguised wish dreams were chiefly found in +children, yet fleeting open-hearted wish dreams _seemed_ (I purposely +emphasize this word) to occur also in adults. + +We may now ask whence the wish fulfilled in the dream originates. But to +what opposition or to what diversity do we refer this "whence"? I think +it is to the opposition between conscious daily life and a psychic +activity remaining unconscious which can only make itself noticeable +during the night. I thus find a threefold possibility for the origin of +a wish. Firstly, it may have been incited during the day, and owing to +external circumstances failed to find gratification, there is thus left +for the night an acknowledged but unfulfilled wish. Secondly, it may +come to the surface during the day but be rejected, leaving an +unfulfilled but suppressed wish. Or, thirdly, it may have no relation to +daily life, and belong to those wishes that originate during the night +from the suppression. If we now follow our scheme of the psychic +apparatus, we can localize a wish of the first order in the system +Forec. We may assume that a wish of the second order has been forced +back from the Forec. system into the Unc. system, where alone, if +anywhere, it can maintain itself; while a wish-feeling of the third +order we consider altogether incapable of leaving the Unc. system. This +brings up the question whether wishes arising from these different +sources possess the same value for the dream, and whether they have the +same power to incite a dream. + +On reviewing the dreams which we have at our disposal for answering this +question, we are at once moved to add as a fourth source of the +dream-wish the actual wish incitements arising during the night, such +as thirst and sexual desire. It then becomes evident that the source of +the dream-wish does not affect its capacity to incite a dream. That a +wish suppressed during the day asserts itself in the dream can be shown +by a great many examples. I shall mention a very simple example of this +class. A somewhat sarcastic young lady, whose younger friend has become +engaged to be married, is asked throughout the day by her acquaintances +whether she knows and what she thinks of the fiancé. She answers with +unqualified praise, thereby silencing her own judgment, as she would +prefer to tell the truth, namely, that he is an ordinary person. The +following night she dreams that the same question is put to her, and +that she replies with the formula: "In case of subsequent orders it will +suffice to mention the number." Finally, we have learned from numerous +analyses that the wish in all dreams that have been subject to +distortion has been derived from the unconscious, and has been unable to +come to perception in the waking state. Thus it would appear that all +wishes are of the same value and force for the dream formation. + +I am at present unable to prove that the state of affairs is really +different, but I am strongly inclined to assume a more stringent +determination of the dream-wish. Children's dreams leave no doubt that +an unfulfilled wish of the day may be the instigator of the dream. But +we must not forget that it is, after all, the wish of a child, that it +is a wish-feeling of infantile strength only. I have a strong doubt +whether an unfulfilled wish from the day would suffice to create a dream +in an adult. It would rather seem that as we learn to control our +impulses by intellectual activity, we more and more reject as vain the +formation or retention of such intense wishes as are natural to +childhood. In this, indeed, there may be individual variations; some +retain the infantile type of psychic processes longer than others. The +differences are here the same as those found in the gradual decline of +the originally distinct visual imagination. + +In general, however, I am of the opinion that unfulfilled wishes of the +day are insufficient to produce a dream in adults. I readily admit that +the wish instigators originating in conscious like contribute towards +the incitement of dreams, but that is probably all. The dream would not +originate if the foreconscious wish were not reinforced from another +source. + +That source is the unconscious. I believe that _the conscious wish is a +dream inciter only if it succeeds in arousing a similar unconscious wish +which reinforces it_. Following the suggestions obtained through the +psychoanalysis of the neuroses, I believe that these unconscious wishes +are always active and ready for expression whenever they find an +opportunity to unite themselves with an emotion from conscious life, and +that they transfer their greater intensity to the lesser intensity of +the latter.[1] It may therefore seem that the conscious wish alone has +been realized in a dream; but a slight peculiarity in the formation of +this dream will put us on the track of the powerful helper from the +unconscious. These ever active and, as it were, immortal wishes from the +unconscious recall the legendary Titans who from time immemorial have +borne the ponderous mountains which were once rolled upon them by the +victorious gods, and which even now quiver from time to time from the +convulsions of their mighty limbs; I say that these wishes found in the +repression are of themselves of an infantile origin, as we have learned +from the psychological investigation of the neuroses. I should like, +therefore, to withdraw the opinion previously expressed that it is +unimportant whence the dream-wish originates, and replace it by another, +as follows: _The wish manifested in the dream must be an infantile one_. +In the adult it originates in the Unc., while in the child, where no +separation and censor as yet exist between Forec. and Unc., or where +these are only in the process of formation, it is an unfulfilled and +unrepressed wish from the waking state. I am aware that this conception +cannot be generally demonstrated, but I maintain nevertheless that it +can be frequently demonstrated, even when it was not suspected, and that +it cannot be generally refuted. + +The wish-feelings which remain from the conscious waking state are, +therefore, relegated to the background in the dream formation. In the +dream content I shall attribute to them only the part attributed to the +material of actual sensations during sleep. If I now take into account +those other psychic instigations remaining from the waking state which +are not wishes, I shall only adhere to the line mapped out for me by +this train of thought. We may succeed in provisionally terminating the +sum of energy of our waking thoughts by deciding to go to sleep. He is a +good sleeper who can do this; Napoleon I. is reputed to have been a +model of this sort. But we do not always succeed in accomplishing it, or +in accomplishing it perfectly. Unsolved problems, harassing cares, +overwhelming impressions continue the thinking activity even during +sleep, maintaining psychic processes in the system which we have termed +the foreconscious. These mental processes continuing into sleep may be +divided into the following groups: 1, That which has not been terminated +during the day owing to casual prevention; 2, that which has been left +unfinished by temporary paralysis of our mental power, _i.e._ the +unsolved; 3, that which has been rejected and suppressed during the day. +This unites with a powerful group (4) formed by that which has been +excited in our Unc. during the day by the work of the foreconscious. +Finally, we may add group (5) consisting of the indifferent and hence +unsettled impressions of the day. + +We should not underrate the psychic intensities introduced into sleep by +these remnants of waking life, especially those emanating from the group +of the unsolved. These excitations surely continue to strive for +expression during the night, and we may assume with equal certainty that +the sleeping state renders impossible the usual continuation of the +excitement in the foreconscious and the termination of the excitement by +its becoming conscious. As far as we can normally become conscious of +our mental processes, even during the night, in so far we are not +asleep. I shall not venture to state what change is produced in the +Forec. system by the sleeping state, but there is no doubt that the +psychological character of sleep is essentially due to the change of +energy in this very system, which also dominates the approach to +motility, which is paralyzed during sleep. In contradistinction to this, +there seems to be nothing in the psychology of the dream to warrant the +assumption that sleep produces any but secondary changes in the +conditions of the Unc. system. Hence, for the nocturnal excitation in +the Force, there remains no other path than that followed by the wish +excitements from the Unc. This excitation must seek reinforcement from +the Unc., and follow the detours of the unconscious excitations. But +what is the relation of the foreconscious day remnants to the dream? +There is no doubt that they penetrate abundantly into the dream, that +they utilize the dream content to obtrude themselves upon consciousness +even during the night; indeed, they occasionally even dominate the dream +content, and impel it to continue the work of the day; it is also +certain that the day remnants may just as well have any other character +as that of wishes; but it is highly instructive and even decisive for +the theory of wish-fulfillment to see what conditions they must comply +with in order to be received into the dream. + +Let us pick out one of the dreams cited above as examples, _e.g._, the +dream in which my friend Otto seems to show the symptoms of Basedow's +disease. My friend Otto's appearance occasioned me some concern during +the day, and this worry, like everything else referring to this person, +affected me. I may also assume that these feelings followed me into +sleep. I was probably bent on finding out what was the matter with him. +In the night my worry found expression in the dream which I have +reported, the content of which was not only senseless, but failed to +show any wish-fulfillment. But I began to investigate for the source of +this incongruous expression of the solicitude felt during the day, and +analysis revealed the connection. I identified my friend Otto with a +certain Baron L. and myself with a Professor R. There was only one +explanation for my being impelled to select just this substitution for +the day thought. I must have always been prepared in the Unc. to +identify myself with Professor R., as it meant the realization of one of +the immortal infantile wishes, viz. that of becoming great. Repulsive +ideas respecting my friend, that would certainly have been repudiated +in a waking state, took advantage of the opportunity to creep into the +dream, but the worry of the day likewise found some form of expression +through a substitution in the dream content. The day thought, which was +no wish in itself but rather a worry, had in some way to find a +connection with the infantile now unconscious and suppressed wish, which +then allowed it, though already properly prepared, to "originate" for +consciousness. The more dominating this worry, the stronger must be the +connection to be established; between the contents of the wish and that +of the worry there need be no connection, nor was there one in any of +our examples. + +We can now sharply define the significance of the unconscious wish for +the dream. It may be admitted that there is a whole class of dreams in +which the incitement originates preponderatingly or even exclusively +from the remnants of daily life; and I believe that even my cherished +desire to become at some future time a "professor extraordinarius" would +have allowed me to slumber undisturbed that night had not my worry about +my friend's health been still active. But this worry alone would not +have produced a dream; the motive power needed by the dream had to be +contributed by a wish, and it was the affair of the worriment to +procure for itself such wish as a motive power of the dream. To speak +figuratively, it is quite possible that a day thought plays the part of +the contractor (_entrepreneur_) in the dream. But it is known that no +matter what idea the contractor may have in mind, and how desirous he +may be of putting it into operation, he can do nothing without capital; +he must depend upon a capitalist to defray the necessary expenses, and +this capitalist, who supplies the psychic expenditure for the dream is +invariably and indisputably _a wish from the unconscious_, no matter +what the nature of the waking thought may be. + +In other cases the capitalist himself is the contractor for the dream; +this, indeed, seems to be the more usual case. An unconscious wish is +produced by the day's work, which in turn creates the dream. The dream +processes, moreover, run parallel with all the other possibilities of +the economic relationship used here as an illustration. Thus, the +entrepreneur may contribute some capital himself, or several +entrepreneurs may seek the aid of the same capitalist, or several +capitalists may jointly supply the capital required by the entrepreneur. +Thus there are dreams produced by more than one dream-wish, and many +similar variations which may readily be passed over and are of no +further interest to us. What we have left unfinished in this discussion +of the dream-wish we shall be able to develop later. + +The "tertium comparationis" in the comparisons just employed--_i.e._ the +sum placed at our free disposal in proper allotment--admits of still +finer application for the illustration of the dream structure. We can +recognize in most dreams a center especially supplied with perceptible +intensity. This is regularly the direct representation of the +wish-fulfillment; for, if we undo the displacements of the dream-work by +a process of retrogression, we find that the psychic intensity of the +elements in the dream thoughts is replaced by the perceptible intensity +of the elements in the dream content. The elements adjoining the +wish-fulfillment have frequently nothing to do with its sense, but prove +to be descendants of painful thoughts which oppose the wish. But, owing +to their frequently artificial connection with the central element, they +have acquired sufficient intensity to enable them to come to expression. +Thus, the force of expression of the wish-fulfillment is diffused over a +certain sphere of association, within which it raises to expression all +elements, including those that are in themselves impotent. In dreams +having several strong wishes we can readily separate from one another +the spheres of the individual wish-fulfillments; the gaps in the dream +likewise can often be explained as boundary zones. + +Although the foregoing remarks have considerably limited the +significance of the day remnants for the dream, it will nevertheless be +worth our while to give them some attention. For they must be a +necessary ingredient in the formation of the dream, inasmuch as +experience reveals the surprising fact that every dream shows in its +content a connection with some impression of a recent day, often of the +most indifferent kind. So far we have failed to see any necessity for +this addition to the dream mixture. This necessity appears only when we +follow closely the part played by the unconscious wish, and then seek +information in the psychology of the neuroses. We thus learn that the +unconscious idea, as such, is altogether incapable of entering into the +foreconscious, and that it can exert an influence there only by uniting +with a harmless idea already belonging to the foreconscious, to which it +transfers its intensity and under which it allows itself to be +concealed. This is the fact of transference which furnishes an +explanation for so many surprising occurrences in the psychic life of +neurotics. + +The idea from the foreconscious which thus obtains an unmerited +abundance of intensity may be left unchanged by the transference, or it +may have forced upon it a modification from the content of the +transferring idea. I trust the reader will pardon my fondness for +comparisons from daily life, but I feel tempted to say that the +relations existing for the repressed idea are similar to the situations +existing in Austria for the American dentist, who is forbidden to +practise unless he gets permission from a regular physician to use his +name on the public signboard and thus cover the legal requirements. +Moreover, just as it is naturally not the busiest physicians who form +such alliances with dental practitioners, so in the psychic life only +such foreconscious or conscious ideas are chosen to cover a repressed +idea as have not themselves attracted much of the attention which is +operative in the foreconscious. The unconscious entangles with its +connections preferentially either those impressions and ideas of the +foreconscious which have been left unnoticed as indifferent, or those +that have soon been deprived of this attention through rejection. It is +a familiar fact from the association studies confirmed by every +experience, that ideas which have formed intimate connections in one +direction assume an almost negative attitude to whole groups of new +connections. I once tried from this principle to develop a theory for +hysterical paralysis. + +If we assume that the same need for the transference of the repressed +ideas which we have learned to know from the analysis of the neuroses +makes its influence felt in the dream as well, we can at once explain +two riddles of the dream, viz. that every dream analysis shows an +interweaving of a recent impression, and that this recent element is +frequently of the most indifferent character. We may add what we have +already learned elsewhere, that these recent and indifferent elements +come so frequently into the dream content as a substitute for the most +deep-lying of the dream thoughts, for the further reason that they have +least to fear from the resisting censor. But while this freedom from +censorship explains only the preference for trivial elements, the +constant presence of recent elements points to the fact that there is a +need for transference. Both groups of impressions satisfy the demand of +the repression for material still free from associations, the +indifferent ones because they have offered no inducement for extensive +associations, and the recent ones because they have had insufficient +time to form such associations. + +We thus see that the day remnants, among which we may now include the +indifferent impressions when they participate in the dream formation, +not only borrow from the Unc. the motive power at the disposal of the +repressed wish, but also offer to the unconscious something +indispensable, namely, the attachment necessary to the transference. If +we here attempted to penetrate more deeply into the psychic processes, +we should first have to throw more light on the play of emotions between +the foreconscious and the unconscious, to which, indeed, we are urged by +the study of the psychoneuroses, whereas the dream itself offers no +assistance in this respect. + +Just one further remark about the day remnants. There is no doubt that +they are the actual disturbers of sleep, and not the dream, which, on +the contrary, strives to guard sleep. But we shall return to this point +later. + +We have so far discussed the dream-wish, we have traced it to the sphere +of the Unc., and analyzed its relations to the day remnants, which in +turn may be either wishes, psychic emotions of any other kind, or simply +recent impressions. We have thus made room for any claims that may be +made for the importance of conscious thought activity in dream +formations in all its variations. Relying upon our thought series, it +would not be at all impossible for us to explain even those extreme +cases in which the dream as a continuer of the day work brings to a +happy conclusion and unsolved problem possess an example, the analysis +of which might reveal the infantile or repressed wish source furnishing +such alliance and successful strengthening of the efforts of the +foreconscious activity. But we have not come one step nearer a solution +of the riddle: Why can the unconscious furnish the motive power for the +wish-fulfillment only during sleep? The answer to this question must +throw light on the psychic nature of wishes; and it will be given with +the aid of the diagram of the psychic apparatus. + +We do not doubt that even this apparatus attained its present perfection +through a long course of development. Let us attempt to restore it as it +existed in an early phase of its activity. From assumptions, to be +confirmed elsewhere, we know that at first the apparatus strove to keep +as free from excitement as possible, and in its first formation, +therefore, the scheme took the form of a reflex apparatus, which enabled +it promptly to discharge through the motor tracts any sensible stimulus +reaching it from without. But this simple function was disturbed by the +wants of life, which likewise furnish the impulse for the further +development of the apparatus. The wants of life first manifested +themselves to it in the form of the great physical needs. The excitement +aroused by the inner want seeks an outlet in motility, which may be +designated as "inner changes" or as an "expression of the emotions." The +hungry child cries or fidgets helplessly, but its situation remains +unchanged; for the excitation proceeding from an inner want requires, +not a momentary outbreak, but a force working continuously. A change can +occur only if in some way a feeling of gratification is +experienced--which in the case of the child must be through outside +help--in order to remove the inner excitement. An essential constituent +of this experience is the appearance of a certain perception (of food in +our example), the memory picture of which thereafter remains associated +with the memory trace of the excitation of want. + +Thanks to the established connection, there results at the next +appearance of this want a psychic feeling which revives the memory +picture of the former perception, and thus recalls the former perception +itself, _i.e._ it actually re-establishes the situation of the first +gratification. We call such a feeling a wish; the reappearance of the +perception constitutes the wish-fulfillment, and the full revival of the +perception by the want excitement constitutes the shortest road to the +wish-fulfillment. We may assume a primitive condition of the psychic +apparatus in which this road is really followed, _i.e._ where the +wishing merges into an hallucination, This first psychic activity +therefore aims at an identity of perception, _i.e._ it aims at a +repetition of that perception which is connected with the fulfillment of +the want. + +This primitive mental activity must have been modified by bitter +practical experience into a more expedient secondary activity. The +establishment of the identity perception on the short regressive road +within the apparatus does not in another respect carry with it the +result which inevitably follows the revival of the same perception from +without. The gratification does not take place, and the want continues. +In order to equalize the internal with the external sum of energy, the +former must be continually maintained, just as actually happens in the +hallucinatory psychoses and in the deliriums of hunger which exhaust +their psychic capacity in clinging to the object desired. In order to +make more appropriate use of the psychic force, it becomes necessary to +inhibit the full regression so as to prevent it from extending beyond +the image of memory, whence it can select other paths leading ultimately +to the establishment of the desired identity from the outer world. This +inhibition and consequent deviation from the excitation becomes the +task of a second system which dominates the voluntary motility, _i.e._ +through whose activity the expenditure of motility is now devoted to +previously recalled purposes. But this entire complicated mental +activity which works its way from the memory picture to the +establishment of the perception identity from the outer world merely +represents a detour which has been forced upon the wish-fulfillment by +experience.[2] Thinking is indeed nothing but the equivalent of the +hallucinatory wish; and if the dream be called a wish-fulfillment this +becomes self-evident, as nothing but a wish can impel our psychic +apparatus to activity. The dream, which in fulfilling its wishes follows +the short regressive path, thereby preserves for us only an example of +the primary form of the psychic apparatus which has been abandoned as +inexpedient. What once ruled in the waking state when the psychic life +was still young and unfit seems to have been banished into the sleeping +state, just as we see again in the nursery the bow and arrow, the +discarded primitive weapons of grown-up humanity. _The dream is a +fragment of the abandoned psychic life of the child._ In the psychoses +these modes of operation of the psychic apparatus, which are normally +suppressed in the waking state, reassert themselves, and then betray +their inability to satisfy our wants in the outer world. + +The unconscious wish-feelings evidently strive to assert themselves +during the day also, and the fact of transference and the psychoses +teach us that they endeavor to penetrate to consciousness and dominate +motility by the road leading through the system of the foreconscious. It +is, therefore, the censor lying between the Unc. and the Forec., the +assumption of which is forced upon us by the dream, that we have to +recognize and honor as the guardian of our psychic health. But is it not +carelessness on the part of this guardian to diminish its vigilance +during the night and to allow the suppressed emotions of the Unc. to +come to expression, thus again making possible the hallucinatory +regression? I think not, for when the critical guardian goes to +rest--and we have proof that his slumber is not profound--he takes care +to close the gate to motility. No matter what feelings from the +otherwise inhibited Unc. may roam about on the scene, they need not be +interfered with; they remain harmless because they are unable to put in +motion the motor apparatus which alone can exert a modifying influence +upon the outer world. Sleep guarantees the security of the fortress +which is under guard. Conditions are less harmless when a displacement +of forces is produced, not through a nocturnal diminution in the +operation of the critical censor, but through pathological enfeeblement +of the latter or through pathological reinforcement of the unconscious +excitations, and this while the foreconscious is charged with energy and +the avenues to motility are open. The guardian is then overpowered, the +unconscious excitations subdue the Forec.; through it they dominate our +speech and actions, or they enforce the hallucinatory regression, thus +governing an apparatus not designed for them by virtue of the attraction +exerted by the perceptions on the distribution of our psychic energy. We +call this condition a psychosis. + +We are now in the best position to complete our psychological +construction, which has been interrupted by the introduction of the two +systems, Unc. and Forec. We have still, however, ample reason for giving +further consideration to the wish as the sole psychic motive power in +the dream. We have explained that the reason why the dream is in every +case a wish realization is because it is a product of the Unc., which +knows no other aim in its activity but the fulfillment of wishes, and +which has no other forces at its disposal but wish-feelings. If we +avail ourselves for a moment longer of the right to elaborate from the +dream interpretation such far-reaching psychological speculations, we +are in duty bound to demonstrate that we are thereby bringing the dream +into a relationship which may also comprise other psychic structures. If +there exists a system of the Unc.--or something sufficiently analogous +to it for the purpose of our discussion--the dream cannot be its sole +manifestation; every dream may be a wish-fulfillment, but there must be +other forms of abnormal wish-fulfillment beside this of dreams. Indeed, +the theory of all psychoneurotic symptoms culminates in the proposition +_that they too must be taken as wish-fulfillments of the unconscious_. +Our explanation makes the dream only the first member of a group most +important for the psychiatrist, an understanding of which means the +solution of the purely psychological part of the psychiatric problem. +But other members of this group of wish-fulfillments, _e.g._, the +hysterical symptoms, evince one essential quality which I have so far +failed to find in the dream. Thus, from the investigations frequently +referred to in this treatise, I know that the formation of an hysterical +symptom necessitates the combination of both streams of our psychic +life. The symptom is not merely the expression of a realized +unconscious wish, but it must be joined by another wish from the +foreconscious which is fulfilled by the same symptom; so that the +symptom is at least doubly determined, once by each one of the +conflicting systems. Just as in the dream, there is no limit to further +over-determination. The determination not derived from the Unc. is, as +far as I can see, invariably a stream of thought in reaction against the +unconscious wish, _e.g._, a self-punishment. Hence I may say, in +general, that _an hysterical symptom originates only where two +contrasting wish-fulfillments, having their source in different psychic +systems, are able to combine in one expression_. (Compare my latest +formulation of the origin of the hysterical symptoms in a treatise +published by the _Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft_, by Hirschfeld and +others, 1908). Examples on this point would prove of little value, as +nothing but a complete unveiling of the complication in question would +carry conviction. I therefore content myself with the mere assertion, +and will cite an example, not for conviction but for explication. The +hysterical vomiting of a female patient proved, on the one hand, to be +the realization of an unconscious fancy from the time of puberty, that +she might be continuously pregnant and have a multitude of children, +and this was subsequently united with the wish that she might have them +from as many men as possible. Against this immoderate wish there arose a +powerful defensive impulse. But as the vomiting might spoil the +patient's figure and beauty, so that she would not find favor in the +eyes of mankind, the symptom was therefore in keeping with her punitive +trend of thought, and, being thus admissible from both sides, it was +allowed to become a reality. This is the same manner of consenting to a +wish-fulfillment which the queen of the Parthians chose for the triumvir +Crassus. Believing that he had undertaken the campaign out of greed for +gold, she caused molten gold to be poured into the throat of the corpse. +"Now hast thou what thou hast longed for." As yet we know of the dream +only that it expresses a wish-fulfillment of the unconscious; and +apparently the dominating foreconscious permits this only after it has +subjected the wish to some distortions. We are really in no position to +demonstrate regularly a stream of thought antagonistic to the dream-wish +which is realized in the dream as in its counterpart. Only now and then +have we found in the dream traces of reaction formations, as, for +instance, the tenderness toward friend R. in the "uncle dream." But the +contribution from the foreconscious, which is missing here, may be +found in another place. While the dominating system has withdrawn on +the wish to sleep, the dream may bring to expression with manifold +distortions a wish from the Unc., and realize this wish by producing the +necessary changes of energy in the psychic apparatus, and may finally +retain it through the entire duration of sleep.[3] + +This persistent wish to sleep on the part of the foreconscious in +general facilitates the formation of the dream. Let us refer to the +dream of the father who, by the gleam of light from the death chamber, +was brought to the conclusion that the body has been set on fire. We +have shown that one of the psychic forces decisive in causing the father +to form this conclusion, instead of being awakened by the gleam of +light, was the wish to prolong the life of the child seen in the dream +by one moment. Other wishes proceeding from the repression probably +escape us, because we are unable to analyze this dream. But as a second +motive power of the dream we may mention the father's desire to sleep, +for, like the life of the child, the sleep of the father is prolonged +for a moment by the dream. The underlying motive is: "Let the dream go +on, otherwise I must wake up." As in this dream so also in all other +dreams, the wish to sleep lends its support to the unconscious wish. We +reported dreams which were apparently dreams of convenience. But, +properly speaking, all dreams may claim this designation. The efficacy +of the wish to continue to sleep is the most easily recognized in the +waking dreams, which so transform the objective sensory stimulus as to +render it compatible with the continuance of sleep; they interweave this +stimulus with the dream in order to rob it of any claims it might make +as a warning to the outer world. But this wish to continue to sleep must +also participate in the formation of all other dreams which may disturb +the sleeping state from within only. "Now, then, sleep on; why, it's but +a dream"; this is in many cases the suggestion of the Forec. to +consciousness when the dream goes too far; and this also describes in a +general way the attitude of our dominating psychic activity toward +dreaming, though the thought remains tacit. I must draw the conclusion +that _throughout our entire sleeping state we are just as certain that +we are dreaming as we are certain that we are sleeping_. We are +compelled to disregard the objection urged against this conclusion that +our consciousness is never directed to a knowledge of the former, and +that it is directed to a knowledge of the latter only on special +occasions when the censor is unexpectedly surprised. Against this +objection we may say that there are persons who are entirely conscious +of their sleeping and dreaming, and who are apparently endowed with the +conscious faculty of guiding their dream life. Such a dreamer, when +dissatisfied with the course taken by the dream, breaks it off without +awakening, and begins it anew in order to continue it with a different +turn, like the popular author who, on request, gives a happier ending to +his play. Or, at another time, if placed by the dream in a sexually +exciting situation, he thinks in his sleep: "I do not care to continue +this dream and exhaust myself by a pollution; I prefer to defer it in +favor of a real situation." + +[1] They share this character of indestructibility with all psychic acts +that are really unconscious--that is, with psychic acts belonging to the +system of the unconscious only. These paths are constantly open and +never fall into disuse; they conduct the discharge of the exciting +process as often as it becomes endowed with unconscious excitement To +speak metaphorically they suffer the same form of annihilation as the +shades of the lower region in the _Odyssey_, who awoke to new life the +moment they drank blood. The processes depending on the foreconscious +system are destructible in a different way. The psychotherapy of the +neuroses is based on this difference. + +[2] Le Lorrain justly extols the wish-fulfilment of the dream: "Sans +fatigue sérieuse, sans être obligé de recourir à cette lutte opinâtre et +longue qui use et corrode les jouissances poursuivies." + +[3] This idea has been borrowed from _The Theory of Sleep_ by Liébault, +who revived hypnotic investigation in our days. (_Du Sommeil provoqué_, +etc.; Paris, 1889.) + + + + +VII + +THE FUNCTION OF THE DREAM + + +Since we know that the foreconscious is suspended during the night by +the wish to sleep, we can proceed to an intelligent investigation of the +dream process. But let us first sum up the knowledge of this process +already gained. We have shown that the waking activity leaves day +remnants from which the sum of energy cannot be entirely removed; or the +waking activity revives during the day one of the unconscious wishes; or +both conditions occur simultaneously; we have already discovered the +many variations that may take place. The unconscious wish has already +made its way to the day remnants, either during the day or at any rate +with the beginning of sleep, and has effected a transference to it. This +produces a wish transferred to the recent material, or the suppressed +recent wish comes to life again through a reinforcement from the +unconscious. This wish now endeavors to make its way to consciousness on +the normal path of the mental processes through the foreconscious, to +which indeed it belongs through one of its constituent elements. It is +confronted, however, by the censor, which is still active, and to the +influence of which it now succumbs. It now takes on the distortion for +which the way has already been paved by its transference to the recent +material. Thus far it is in the way of becoming something resembling an +obsession, delusion, or the like, _i.e._ a thought reinforced by a +transference and distorted in expression by the censor. But its further +progress is now checked through the dormant state of the foreconscious; +this system has apparently protected itself against invasion by +diminishing its excitements. The dream process, therefore, takes the +regressive course, which has just been opened by the peculiarity of the +sleeping state, and thereby follows the attraction exerted on it by the +memory groups, which themselves exist in part only as visual energy not +yet translated into terms of the later systems. On its way to regression +the dream takes on the form of dramatization. The subject of compression +will be discussed later. The dream process has now terminated the second +part of its repeatedly impeded course. The first part expended itself +progressively from the unconscious scenes or phantasies to the +foreconscious, while the second part gravitates from the advent of the +censor back to the perceptions. But when the dream process becomes a +content of perception it has, so to speak, eluded the obstacle set up in +the Forec. by the censor and by the sleeping state. It succeeds in +drawing attention to itself and in being noticed by consciousness. For +consciousness, which means to us a sensory organ for the reception of +psychic qualities, may receive stimuli from two sources--first, from the +periphery of the entire apparatus, viz. from the perception system, and, +secondly, from the pleasure and pain stimuli, which constitute the sole +psychic quality produced in the transformation of energy within the +apparatus. All other processes in the system, even those in the +foreconscious, are devoid of any psychic quality, and are therefore not +objects of consciousness inasmuch as they do not furnish pleasure or +pain for perception. We shall have to assume that those liberations of +pleasure and pain automatically regulate the outlet of the occupation +processes. But in order to make possible more delicate functions, it was +later found necessary to render the course of the presentations more +independent of the manifestations of pain. To accomplish this the Forec. +system needed some qualities of its own which could attract +consciousness, and most probably received them through the connection of +the foreconscious processes with the memory system of the signs of +speech, which is not devoid of qualities. Through the qualities of this +system, consciousness, which had hitherto been a sensory organ only for +the perceptions, now becomes also a sensory organ for a part of our +mental processes. Thus we have now, as it were, two sensory surfaces, +one directed to perceptions and the other to the foreconscious mental +processes. + +I must assume that the sensory surface of consciousness devoted to the +Forec. is rendered less excitable by sleep than that directed to the +P-systems. The giving up of interest for the nocturnal mental processes +is indeed purposeful. Nothing is to disturb the mind; the Forec. wants +to sleep. But once the dream becomes a perception, it is then capable of +exciting consciousness through the qualities thus gained. The sensory +stimulus accomplishes what it was really destined for, namely, it +directs a part of the energy at the disposal of the Forec. in the form +of attention upon the stimulant. We must, therefore, admit that the +dream invariably awakens us, that is, it puts into activity a part of +the dormant force of the Forec. This force imparts to the dream that +influence which we have designated as secondary elaboration for the sake +of connection and comprehensibility. This means that the dream is +treated by it like any other content of perception; it is subjected to +the same ideas of expectation, as far at least as the material admits. +As far as the direction is concerned in this third part of the dream, it +may be said that here again the movement is progressive. + +To avoid misunderstanding, it will not be amiss to say a few words about +the temporal peculiarities of these dream processes. In a very +interesting discussion, apparently suggested by Maury's puzzling +guillotine dream, Goblet tries to demonstrate that the dream requires no +other time than the transition period between sleeping and awakening. +The awakening requires time, as the dream takes place during that +period. One is inclined to believe that the final picture of the dream +is so strong that it forces the dreamer to awaken; but, as a matter of +fact, this picture is strong only because the dreamer is already very +near awakening when it appears. "Un rêve c'est un réveil qui commence." + +It has already been emphasized by Dugas that Goblet was forced to +repudiate many facts in order to generalize his theory. There are, +moreover, dreams from which we do not awaken, _e.g._, some dreams in +which we dream that we dream. From our knowledge of the dream-work, we +can by no means admit that it extends only over the period of awakening. +On the contrary, we must consider it probable that the first part of +the dream-work begins during the day when we are still under the +domination of the foreconscious. The second phase of the dream-work, +viz. the modification through the censor, the attraction by the +unconscious scenes, and the penetration to perception must continue +throughout the night. And we are probably always right when we assert +that we feel as though we had been dreaming the whole night, although we +cannot say what. I do not, however, think it necessary to assume that, +up to the time of becoming conscious, the dream processes really follow +the temporal sequence which we have described, viz. that there is first +the transferred dream-wish, then the distortion of the censor, and +consequently the change of direction to regression, and so on. We were +forced to form such a succession for the sake of _description_; in +reality, however, it is much rather a matter of simultaneously trying +this path and that, and of emotions fluctuating to and fro, until +finally, owing to the most expedient distribution, one particular +grouping is secured which remains. From certain personal experiences, I +am myself inclined to believe that the dream-work often requires more +than one day and one night to produce its result; if this be true, the +extraordinary art manifested in the construction of the dream loses all +its marvels. In my opinion, even the regard for comprehensibility as an +occurrence of perception may take effect before the dream attracts +consciousness to itself. To be sure, from now on the process is +accelerated, as the dream is henceforth subjected to the same treatment +as any other perception. It is like fireworks, which require hours of +preparation and only a moment for ignition. + +Through the dream-work the dream process now gains either sufficient +intensity to attract consciousness to itself and arouse the +foreconscious, which is quite independent of the time or profundity of +sleep, or, its intensity being insufficient it must wait until it meets +the attention which is set in motion immediately before awakening. Most +dreams seem to operate with relatively slight psychic intensities, for +they wait for the awakening. This, however, explains the fact that we +regularly perceive something dreamt on being suddenly aroused from a +sound sleep. Here, as well as in spontaneous awakening, the first glance +strikes the perception content created by the dream-work, while the next +strikes the one produced from without. + +But of greater theoretical interest are those dreams which are capable +of waking us in the midst of sleep. We must bear in mind the expediency +elsewhere universally demonstrated, and ask ourselves why the dream or +the unconscious wish has the power to disturb sleep, _i.e._ the +fulfillment of the foreconscious wish. This is probably due to certain +relations of energy into which we have no insight. If we possessed such +insight we should probably find that the freedom given to the dream and +the expenditure of a certain amount of detached attention represent for +the dream an economy in energy, keeping in view the fact that the +unconscious must be held in check at night just as during the day. We +know from experience that the dream, even if it interrupts sleep, +repeatedly during the same night, still remains compatible with sleep. +We wake up for an instant, and immediately resume our sleep. It is like +driving off a fly during sleep, we awake _ad hoc_, and when we resume +our sleep we have removed the disturbance. As demonstrated by familiar +examples from the sleep of wet nurses, &c., the fulfillment of the wish +to sleep is quite compatible with the retention of a certain amount of +attention in a given direction. + +But we must here take cognizance of an objection that is based on a +better knowledge of the unconscious processes. Although we have +ourselves described the unconscious wishes as always active, we have, +nevertheless, asserted that they are not sufficiently strong during the +day to make themselves perceptible. But when we sleep, and the +unconscious wish has shown its power to form a dream, and with it to +awaken the foreconscious, why, then, does this power become exhausted +after the dream has been taken cognizance of? Would it not seem more +probable that the dream should continually renew itself, like the +troublesome fly which, when driven away, takes pleasure in returning +again and again? What justifies our assertion that the dream removes the +disturbance of sleep? + +That the unconscious wishes always remain active is quite true. They +represent paths which are passable whenever a sum of excitement makes +use of them. Moreover, a remarkable peculiarity of the unconscious +processes is the fact that they remain indestructible. Nothing can be +brought to an end in the unconscious; nothing can cease or be forgotten. +This impression is most strongly gained in the study of the neuroses, +especially of hysteria. The unconscious stream of thought which leads to +the discharge through an attack becomes passable again as soon as there +is an accumulation of a sufficient amount of excitement. The +mortification brought on thirty years ago, after having gained access to +the unconscious affective source, operates during all these thirty years +like a recent one. Whenever its memory is touched, it is revived and +shows itself to be supplied with the excitement which is discharged in +a motor attack. It is just here that the office of psychotherapy begins, +its task being to bring about adjustment and forgetfulness for the +unconscious processes. Indeed, the fading of memories and the flagging +of affects, which we are apt to take as self-evident and to explain as a +primary influence of time on the psychic memories, are in reality +secondary changes brought about by painstaking work. It is the +foreconscious that accomplishes this work; and the only course to be +pursued by psychotherapy is the subjugate the Unc, to the domination of +the Forec. + +There are, therefore, two exits for the individual unconscious emotional +process. It is either left to itself, in which case it ultimately breaks +through somewhere and secures for once a discharge for its excitation +into motility; or it succumbs to the influence of the foreconscious, and +its excitation becomes confined through this influence instead of being +discharged. It is the latter process that occurs in the dream. Owing to +the fact that it is directed by the conscious excitement, the energy +from the Forec., which confronts the dream when grown to perception, +restricts the unconscious excitement of the dream and renders it +harmless as a disturbing factor. When the dreamer wakes up for a moment, +he has actually chased away the fly that has threatened to disturb his +sleep. We can now understand that it is really more expedient and +economical to give full sway to the unconscious wish, and clear its way +to regression so that it may form a dream, and then restrict and adjust +this dream by means of a small expenditure of foreconscious labor, than +to curb the unconscious throughout the entire period of sleep. We +should, indeed, expect that the dream, even if it was not originally an +expedient process, would have acquired some function in the play of +forces of the psychic life. We now see what this function is. The dream +has taken it upon itself to bring the liberated excitement of the Unc. +back under the domination of the foreconscious; it thus affords relief +for the excitement of the Unc. and acts as a safety-valve for the +latter, and at the same time it insures the sleep of the foreconscious +at a slight expenditure of the waking state. Like the other psychic +formations of its group, the dream offers itself as a compromise serving +simultaneously both systems by fulfilling both wishes in so far as they +are compatible with each other. A glance at Robert's "elimination +theory," will show that we must agree with this author in his main +point, viz. in the determination of the function of the dream, though we +differ from him in our hypotheses and in our treatment of the dream +process. + +The above qualification--in so far as the two wishes are compatible with +each other--contains a suggestion that there may be cases in which the +function of the dream suffers shipwreck. The dream process is in the +first instance admitted as a wish-fulfillment of the unconscious, but if +this tentative wish-fulfillment disturbs the foreconscious to such an +extent that the latter can no longer maintain its rest, the dream then +breaks the compromise and fails to perform the second part of its task. +It is then at once broken off, and replaced by complete wakefulness. +Here, too, it is not really the fault of the dream, if, while ordinarily +the guardian of sleep, it is here compelled to appear as the disturber +of sleep, nor should this cause us to entertain any doubts as to its +efficacy. This is not the only case in the organism in which an +otherwise efficacious arrangement became inefficacious and disturbing as +soon as some element is changed in the conditions of its origin; the +disturbance then serves at least the new purpose of announcing the +change, and calling into play against it the means of adjustment of the +organism. In this connection, I naturally bear in mind the case of the +anxiety dream, and in order not to have the appearance of trying to +exclude this testimony against the theory of wish-fulfillment wherever +I encounter it, I will attempt an explanation of the anxiety dream, at +least offering some suggestions. + +That a psychic process developing anxiety may still be a +wish-fulfillment has long ceased to impress us as a contradiction. We +may explain this occurrence by the fact that the wish belongs to one +system (the Unc.), while by the other system (the Forec.), this wish has +been rejected and suppressed. The subjection of the Unc. by the Forec. +is not complete even in perfect psychic health; the amount of this +suppression shows the degree of our psychic normality. Neurotic symptoms +show that there is a conflict between the two systems; the symptoms are +the results of a compromise of this conflict, and they temporarily put +an end to it. On the one hand, they afford the Unc. an outlet for the +discharge of its excitement, and serve it as a sally port, while, on the +other hand, they give the Forec. the capability of dominating the Unc. +to some extent. It is highly instructive to consider, _e.g._, the +significance of any hysterical phobia or of an agoraphobia. Suppose a +neurotic incapable of crossing the street alone, which we would justly +call a "symptom." We attempt to remove this symptom by urging him to the +action which he deems himself incapable of. The result will be an +attack of anxiety, just as an attack of anxiety in the street has often +been the cause of establishing an agoraphobia. We thus learn that the +symptom has been constituted in order to guard against the outbreak of +the anxiety. The phobia is thrown before the anxiety like a fortress on +the frontier. + +Unless we enter into the part played by the affects in these processes, +which can be done here only imperfectly, we cannot continue our +discussion. Let us therefore advance the proposition that the reason why +the suppression of the unconscious becomes absolutely necessary is +because, if the discharge of presentation should be left to itself, it +would develop an affect in the Unc. which originally bore the character +of pleasure, but which, since the appearance of the repression, bears +the character of pain. The aim, as well as the result, of the +suppression is to stop the development of this pain. The suppression +extends over the unconscious ideation, because the liberation of pain +might emanate from the ideation. The foundation is here laid for a very +definite assumption concerning the nature of the affective development. +It is regarded as a motor or secondary activity, the key to the +innervation of which is located in the presentations of the Unc. Through +the domination of the Forec. these presentations become, as it were, +throttled and inhibited at the exit of the emotion-developing impulses. +The danger, which is due to the fact that the Forec. ceases to occupy +the energy, therefore consists in the fact that the unconscious +excitations liberate such an affect as--in consequence of the repression +that has previously taken place--can only be perceived as pain or +anxiety. + +This danger is released through the full sway of the dream process. The +determinations for its realization consist in the fact that repressions +have taken place, and that the suppressed emotional wishes shall become +sufficiently strong. They thus stand entirely without the psychological +realm of the dream structure. Were it not for the fact that our subject +is connected through just one factor, namely, the freeing of the Unc. +during sleep, with the subject of the development of anxiety, I could +dispense with discussion of the anxiety dream, and thus avoid all +obscurities connected with it. + +As I have often repeated, the theory of the anxiety belongs to the +psychology of the neuroses. I would say that the anxiety in the dream is +an anxiety problem and not a dream problem. We have nothing further to +do with it after having once demonstrated its point of contact with the +subject of the dream process. There is only one thing left for me to do. +As I have asserted that the neurotic anxiety originates from sexual +sources, I can subject anxiety dreams to analysis in order to +demonstrate the sexual material in their dream thoughts. + +For good reasons I refrain from citing here any of the numerous examples +placed at my disposal by neurotic patients, but prefer to give anxiety +dreams from young persons. + +Personally, I have had no real anxiety dream for decades, but I recall +one from my seventh or eighth year which I subjected to interpretation +about thirty years later. The dream was very vivid, and showed me _my +beloved mother, with peculiarly calm sleeping countenance, carried into +the room and laid on the bed by two (or three) persons with birds' +beaks_. I awoke crying and screaming, and disturbed my parents. The very +tall figures--draped in a peculiar manner--with beaks, I had taken from +the illustrations of Philippson's bible; I believe they represented +deities with heads of sparrowhawks from an Egyptian tomb relief. The +analysis also introduced the reminiscence of a naughty janitor's boy, +who used to play with us children on the meadow in front of the house; I +would add that his name was Philip. I feel that I first heard from this +boy the vulgar word signifying sexual intercourse, which is replaced +among the educated by the Latin "coitus," but to which the dream +distinctly alludes by the selection of the birds' heads. I must have +suspected the sexual significance of the word from the facial expression +of my worldly-wise teacher. My mother's features in the dream were +copied from the countenance of my grandfather, whom I had seen a few +days before his death snoring in the state of coma. The interpretation +of the secondary elaboration in the dream must therefore have been that +my mother was dying; the tomb relief, too, agrees with this. In this +anxiety I awoke, and could not calm myself until I had awakened my +parents. I remember that I suddenly became calm on coming face to face +with my mother, as if I needed the assurance that my mother was not +dead. But this secondary interpretation of the dream had been effected +only under the influence of the developed anxiety. I was not frightened +because I dreamed that my mother was dying, but I interpreted the dream +in this manner in the foreconscious elaboration because I was already +under the domination of the anxiety. The latter, however, could be +traced by means of the repression to an obscure obviously sexual desire, +which had found its satisfying expression in the visual content of the +dream. + +A man twenty-seven years old who had been severely ill for a year had +had many terrifying dreams between the ages of eleven and thirteen. He +thought that a man with an ax was running after him; he wished to run, +but felt paralyzed and could not move from the spot. This may be taken +as a good example of a very common, and apparently sexually indifferent, +anxiety dream. In the analysis the dreamer first thought of a story told +him by his uncle, which chronologically was later than the dream, viz. +that he was attacked at night by a suspicious-looking individual. This +occurrence led him to believe that he himself might have already heard +of a similar episode at the time of the dream. In connection with the ax +he recalled that during that period of his life he once hurt his hand +with an ax while chopping wood. This immediately led to his relations +with his younger brother, whom he used to maltreat and knock down. In +particular, he recalled an occasion when he struck his brother on the +head with his boot until he bled, whereupon his mother remarked: "I fear +he will kill him some day." While he was seemingly thinking of the +subject of violence, a reminiscence from his ninth year suddenly +occurred to him. His parents came home late and went to bed while he was +feigning sleep. He soon heard panting and other noises that appeared +strange to him, and he could also make out the position of his parents +in bed. His further associations showed that he had established an +analogy between this relation between his parents and his own relation +toward his younger brother. He subsumed what occurred between his +parents under the conception "violence and wrestling," and thus reached +a sadistic conception of the coitus act, as often happens among +children. The fact that he often noticed blood on his mother's bed +corroborated his conception. + +That the sexual intercourse of adults appears strange to children who +observe it, and arouses fear in them, I dare say is a fact of daily +experience. I have explained this fear by the fact that sexual +excitement is not mastered by their understanding, and is probably also +inacceptable to them because their parents are involved in it. For the +same son this excitement is converted into fear. At a still earlier +period of life sexual emotion directed toward the parent of opposite sex +does not meet with repression but finds free expression, as we have seen +before. + +For the night terrors with hallucinations (_pavor nocturnus_) frequently +found in children, I would unhesitatingly give the same explanation. +Here, too, we are certainly dealing with the incomprehensible and +rejected sexual feelings, which, if noted, would probably show a +temporal periodicity, for an enhancement of the sexual _libido_ may +just as well be produced accidentally through emotional impressions as +through the spontaneous and gradual processes of development. + +I lack the necessary material to sustain these explanations from +observation. On the other hand, the pediatrists seem to lack the point +of view which alone makes comprehensible the whole series of phenomena, +on the somatic as well as on the psychic side. To illustrate by a +comical example how one wearing the blinders of medical mythology may +miss the understanding of such cases I will relate a case which I found +in a thesis on _pavor nocturnus_ by _Debacker_, 1881. A +thirteen-year-old boy of delicate health began to become anxious and +dreamy; his sleep became restless, and about once a week it was +interrupted by an acute attack of anxiety with hallucinations. The +memory of these dreams was invariably very distinct. Thus, he related +that the _devil_ shouted at him: "Now we have you, now we have you," and +this was followed by an odor of sulphur; the fire burned his skin. This +dream aroused him, terror-stricken. He was unable to scream at first; +then his voice returned, and he was heard to say distinctly: "No, no, +not me; why, I have done nothing," or, "Please don't, I shall never do +it again." Occasionally, also, he said: "Albert has not done that." +Later he avoided undressing, because, as he said, the fire attacked him +only when he was undressed. From amid these evil dreams, which menaced +his health, he was sent into the country, where he recovered within a +year and a half, but at the age of fifteen he once confessed: "Je +n'osais pas l'avouer, mais j'éprouvais continuellement des picotements +et des surexcitations aux _parties_; à la fin, cela m'énervait tant que +plusieurs fois, j'ai pensé me jeter par la fenêtre au dortoir." + +It is certainly not difficult to suspect: 1, that the boy had practiced +masturbation in former years, that he probably denied it, and was +threatened with severe punishment for his wrongdoing (his confession: Je +ne le ferai plus; his denial: Albert n'a jamais fait ça). 2, That under +the pressure of puberty the temptation to self-abuse through the +tickling of the genitals was reawakened. 3, That now, however, a +struggle of repression arose in him, suppressing the _libido_ and +changing it into fear, which subsequently took the form of the +punishments with which he was then threatened. + +Let us, however, quote the conclusions drawn by our author. This +observation shows: 1, That the influence of puberty may produce in a +boy of delicate health a condition of extreme weakness, and that it may +lead to a _very marked cerebral anæmia_. + +2. This cerebral anæmia produces a transformation of character, +demonomaniacal hallucinations, and very violent nocturnal, perhaps also +diurnal, states of anxiety. + +3. Demonomania and the self-reproaches of the day can be traced to the +influences of religious education which the subject underwent as a +child. + +4. All manifestations disappeared as a result of a lengthy sojourn in +the country, bodily exercise, and the return of physical strength after +the termination of the period of puberty. + +5. A predisposing influence for the origin of the cerebral condition of +the boy may be attributed to heredity and to the father's chronic +syphilitic state. + +The concluding remarks of the author read: "Nous avons fait entrer cette +observation dans le cadre des délires apyrétiques d'inanition, car c'est +à l'ischémie cérébrale que nous rattachons cet état particulier." + + + + +VIII + +THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PROCESS--REGRESSION + + +In venturing to attempt to penetrate more deeply into the psychology of +the dream processes, I have undertaken a difficult task, to which, +indeed, my power of description is hardly equal. To reproduce in +description by a succession of words the simultaneousness of so complex +a chain of events, and in doing so to appear unbiassed throughout the +exposition, goes fairly beyond my powers. I have now to atone for the +fact that I have been unable in my description of the dream psychology +to follow the historic development of my views. The view-points for my +conception of the dream were reached through earlier investigations in +the psychology of the neuroses, to which I am not supposed to refer +here, but to which I am repeatedly forced to refer, whereas I should +prefer to proceed in the opposite direction, and, starting from the +dream, to establish a connection with the psychology of the neuroses. I +am well aware of all the inconveniences arising for the reader from this +difficulty, but I know of no way to avoid them. + +As I am dissatisfied with this state of affairs, I am glad to dwell +upon another view-point which seems to raise the value of my efforts. As +has been shown in the introduction to the first chapter, I found myself +confronted with a theme which had been marked by the sharpest +contradictions on the part of the authorities. After our elaboration of +the dream problems we found room for most of these contradictions. We +have been forced, however, to take decided exception to two of the views +pronounced, viz. that the dream is a senseless and that it is a somatic +process; apart from these cases we have had to accept all the +contradictory views in one place or another of the complicated argument, +and we have been able to demonstrate that they had discovered something +that was correct. That the dream continues the impulses and interests of +the waking state has been quite generally confirmed through the +discovery of the latent thoughts of the dream. These thoughts concern +themselves only with things that seem important and of momentous +interest to us. The dream never occupies itself with trifles. But we +have also concurred with the contrary view, viz., that the dream gathers +up the indifferent remnants from the day, and that not until it has in +some measure withdrawn itself from the waking activity can an important +event of the day be taken up by the dream. We found this holding true +for the dream content, which gives the dream thought its changed +expression by means of disfigurement. We have said that from the nature +of the association mechanism the dream process more easily takes +possession of recent or indifferent material which has not yet been +seized by the waking mental activity; and by reason of the censor it +transfers the psychic intensity from the important but also disagreeable +to the indifferent material. The hypermnesia of the dream and the resort +to infantile material have become main supports in our theory. In our +theory of the dream we have attributed to the wish originating from the +infantile the part of an indispensable motor for the formation of the +dream. We naturally could not think of doubting the experimentally +demonstrated significance of the objective sensory stimuli during sleep; +but we have brought this material into the same relation to the +dream-wish as the thought remnants from the waking activity. There was +no need of disputing the fact that the dream interprets the objective +sensory stimuli after the manner of an illusion; but we have supplied +the motive for this interpretation which has been left undecided by the +authorities. The interpretation follows in such a manner that the +perceived object is rendered harmless as a sleep disturber and becomes +available for the wish-fulfillment. Though we do not admit as special +sources of the dream the subjective state of excitement of the sensory +organs during sleep, which seems to have been demonstrated by Trumbull +Ladd, we are nevertheless able to explain this excitement through the +regressive revival of active memories behind the dream. A modest part in +our conception has also been assigned to the inner organic sensations +which are wont to be taken as the cardinal point in the explanation of +the dream. These--the sensation of falling, flying, or inhibition--stand +as an ever ready material to be used by the dream-work to express the +dream thought as often as need arises. + +That the dream process is a rapid and momentary one seems to be true for +the perception through consciousness of the already prepared dream +content; the preceding parts of the dream process probably take a slow, +fluctuating course. We have solved the riddle of the superabundant dream +content compressed within the briefest moment by explaining that this is +due to the appropriation of almost fully formed structures from the +psychic life. That the dream is disfigured and distorted by memory we +found to be correct, but not troublesome, as this is only the last +manifest operation in the work of disfigurement which has been active +from the beginning of the dream-work. In the bitter and seemingly +irreconcilable controversy as to whether the psychic life sleeps at +night or can make the same use of all its capabilities as during the +day, we have been able to agree with both sides, though not fully with +either. We have found proof that the dream thoughts represent a most +complicated intellectual activity, employing almost every means +furnished by the psychic apparatus; still it cannot be denied that these +dream thoughts have originated during the day, and it is indispensable +to assume that there is a sleeping state of the psychic life. Thus, even +the theory of partial sleep has come into play; but the characteristics +of the sleeping state have been found not in the dilapidation of the +psychic connections but in the cessation of the psychic system +dominating the day, arising from its desire to sleep. The withdrawal +from the outer world retains its significance also for our conception; +though not the only factor, it nevertheless helps the regression to make +possible the representation of the dream. That we should reject the +voluntary guidance of the presentation course is uncontestable; but the +psychic life does not thereby become aimless, for we have seen that +after the abandonment of the desired end-presentation undesired ones +gain the mastery. The loose associative connection in the dream we have +not only recognized, but we have placed under its control a far greater +territory than could have been supposed; we have, however, found it +merely the feigned substitute for another correct and senseful one. To +be sure we, too, have called the dream absurd; but we have been able to +learn from examples how wise the dream really is when it simulates +absurdity. We do not deny any of the functions that have been attributed +to the dream. That the dream relieves the mind like a valve, and that, +according to Robert's assertion, all kinds of harmful material are +rendered harmless through representation in the dream, not only exactly +coincides with our theory of the twofold wish-fulfillment in the dream, +but, in his own wording, becomes even more comprehensible for us than +for Robert himself. The free indulgence of the psychic in the play of +its faculties finds expression with us in the non-interference with the +dream on the part of the foreconscious activity. The "return to the +embryonal state of psychic life in the dream" and the observation of +Havelock Ellis, "an archaic world of vast emotions and imperfect +thoughts," appear to us as happy anticipations of our deductions to the +effect that _primitive_ modes of work suppressed during the day +participate in the formation of the dream; and with us, as with Delage, +the _suppressed_ material becomes the mainspring of the dreaming. + +We have fully recognized the rôle which Scherner ascribes to the dream +phantasy, and even his interpretation; but we have been obliged, so to +speak, to conduct them to another department in the problem. It is not +the dream that produces the phantasy but the unconscious phantasy that +takes the greatest part in the formation of the dream thoughts. We are +indebted to Scherner for his clew to the source of the dream thoughts, +but almost everything that he ascribes to the dream-work is attributable +to the activity of the unconscious, which is at work during the day, and +which supplies incitements not only for dreams but for neurotic symptoms +as well. We have had to separate the dream-work from this activity as +being something entirely different and far more restricted. Finally, we +have by no means abandoned the relation of the dream to mental +disturbances, but, on the contrary, we have given it a more solid +foundation on new ground. + +Thus held together by the new material of our theory as by a superior +unity, we find the most varied and most contradictory conclusions of the +authorities fitting into our structure; some of them are differently +disposed, only a few of them are entirely rejected. But our own +structure is still unfinished. For, disregarding the many obscurities +which we have necessarily encountered in our advance into the darkness +of psychology, we are now apparently embarrassed by a new contradiction. +On the one hand, we have allowed the dream thoughts to proceed from +perfectly normal mental operations, while, on the other hand, we have +found among the dream thoughts a number of entirely abnormal mental +processes which extend likewise to the dream contents. These, +consequently, we have repeated in the interpretation of the dream. All +that we have termed the "dream-work" seems so remote from the psychic +processes recognized by us as correct, that the severest judgments of +the authors as to the low psychic activity of dreaming seem to us well +founded. + +Perhaps only through still further advance can enlightenment and +improvement be brought about. I shall pick out one of the constellations +leading to the formation of dreams. + +We have learned that the dream replaces a number of thoughts derived +from daily life which are perfectly formed logically. We cannot +therefore doubt that these thoughts originate from our normal mental +life. All the qualities which we esteem in our mental operations, and +which distinguish these as complicated activities of a high order, we +find repeated in the dream thoughts. There is, however, no need of +assuming that this mental work is performed during sleep, as this would +materially impair the conception of the psychic state of sleep we have +hitherto adhered to. These thoughts may just as well have originated +from the day, and, unnoticed by our consciousness from their inception, +they may have continued to develop until they stood complete at the +onset of sleep. If we are to conclude anything from this state of +affairs, it will at most prove _that the most complex mental operations +are possible without the coöperation of consciousness_, which we have +already learned independently from every psychoanalysis of persons +suffering from hysteria or obsessions. These dream thoughts are in +themselves surely not incapable of consciousness; if they have not +become conscious to us during the day, this may have various reasons. +The state of becoming conscious depends on the exercise of a certain +psychic function, viz. attention, which seems to be extended only in a +definite quantity, and which may have been withdrawn from the stream of +thought in Question by other aims. Another way in which such mental +streams are kept from consciousness is the following:--Our conscious +reflection teaches us that when exercising attention we pursue a +definite course. But if that course leads us to an idea which does not +hold its own with the critic, we discontinue and cease to apply our +attention. Now, apparently, the stream of thought thus started and +abandoned may spin on without regaining attention unless it reaches a +spot of especially marked intensity which forces the return of +attention. An initial rejection, perhaps consciously brought about by +the judgment on the ground of incorrectness or unfitness for the actual +purpose of the mental act, may therefore account for the fact that a +mental process continues until the onset of sleep unnoticed by +consciousness. + +Let us recapitulate by saying that we call such a stream of thought a +foreconscious one, that we believe it to be perfectly correct, and that +it may just as well be a more neglected one or an interrupted and +suppressed one. Let us also state frankly in what manner we conceive +this presentation course. We believe that a certain sum of excitement, +which we call occupation energy, is displaced from an end-presentation +along the association paths selected by that end-presentation. A +"neglected" stream of thought has received no such occupation, and from +a "suppressed" or "rejected" one this occupation has been withdrawn; +both have thus been left to their own emotions. The end-stream of +thought stocked with energy is under certain conditions able to draw to +itself the attention of consciousness, through which means it then +receives a "surplus of energy." We shall be obliged somewhat later to +elucidate our assumption concerning the nature and activity of +consciousness. + +A train of thought thus incited in the Forec. may either disappear +spontaneously or continue. The former issue we conceive as follows: It +diffuses its energy through all the association paths emanating from it, +and throws the entire chain of ideas into a state of excitement which, +after lasting for a while, subsides through the transformation of the +excitement requiring an outlet into dormant energy.[1] If this first +issue is brought about the process has no further significance for the +dream formation. But other end-presentations are lurking in our +foreconscious that originate from the sources of our unconscious and +from the ever active wishes. These may take possession of the +excitations in the circle of thought thus left to itself, establish a +connection between it and the unconscious wish, and transfer to it the +energy inherent in the unconscious wish. Henceforth the neglected or +suppressed train of thought is in a position to maintain itself, +although this reinforcement does not help it to gain access to +consciousness. We may say that the hitherto foreconscious train of +thought has been drawn into the unconscious. + +Other constellations for the dream formation would result if the +foreconscious train of thought had from the beginning been connected +with the unconscious wish, and for that reason met with rejection by the +dominating end-occupation; or if an unconscious wish were made active +for other--possibly somatic--reasons and of its own accord sought a +transference to the psychic remnants not occupied by the Forec. All +three cases finally combine in one issue, so that there is established +in the foreconscious a stream of thought which, having been abandoned by +the foreconscious occupation, receives occupation from the unconscious +wish. + +The stream of thought is henceforth subjected to a series of +transformations which we no longer recognize as normal psychic processes +and which give us a surprising result, viz. a psychopathological +formation. Let us emphasize and group the same. + +1. The intensities of the individual ideas become capable of discharge +in their entirety, and, proceeding from one conception to the other, +they thus form single presentations endowed with marked intensity. +Through the repeated recurrence of this process the intensity of an +entire train of ideas may ultimately be gathered in a single +presentation element. This is the principle of _compression or +condensation_. It is condensation that is mainly responsible for the +strange impression of the dream, for we know of nothing analogous to it +in the normal psychic life accessible to consciousness. We find here, +also, presentations which possess great psychic significance as +junctions or as end-results of whole chains of thought; but this +validity does not manifest itself in any character conspicuous enough +for internal perception; hence, what has been presented in it does not +become in any way more intensive. In the process of condensation the +entire psychic connection becomes transformed into the intensity of the +presentation content. It is the same as in a book where we space or +print in heavy type any word upon which particular stress is laid for +the understanding of the text. In speech the same word would be +pronounced loudly and deliberately and with emphasis. The first +comparison leads us at once to an example taken from the chapter on "The +Dream-Work" (trimethylamine in the dream of Irma's injection). +Historians of art call our attention to the fact that the most ancient +historical sculptures follow a similar principle in expressing the rank +of the persons represented by the size of the statue. The king is made +two or three times as large as his retinue or the vanquished enemy. A +piece of art, however, from the Roman period makes use of more subtle +means to accomplish the same purpose. The figure of the emperor is +placed in the center in a firmly erect posture; special care is bestowed +on the proper modelling of his figure; his enemies are seen cowering at +his feet; but he is no longer represented a giant among dwarfs. However, +the bowing of the subordinate to his superior in our own days is only an +echo of that ancient principle of representation. + +The direction taken by the condensations of the dream is prescribed on +the one hand by the true foreconscious relations of the dream thoughts, +an the other hand by the attraction of the visual reminiscences in the +unconscious. The success of the condensation work produces those +intensities which are required for penetration into the perception +systems. + +2. Through this free transferability of the intensities, moreover, and +in the service of condensation, _intermediary +presentations_--compromises, as it were--are formed (_cf._ the numerous +examples). This, likewise, is something unheard of in the normal +presentation course, where it is above all a question of selection and +retention of the "proper" presentation element. On the other hand, +composite and compromise formations occur with extraordinary frequency +when we are trying to find the linguistic expression for foreconscious +thoughts; these are considered "slips of the tongue." + +3. The presentations which transfer their intensities to one another are +_very loosely connected_, and are joined together by such forms of +association as are spurned in our serious thought and are utilized in +the production of the effect of wit only. Among these we particularly +find associations of the sound and consonance types. + +4. Contradictory thoughts do not strive to eliminate one another, but +remain side by side. They often unite to produce condensation _as if no +contradiction_ existed, or they form compromises for which we should +never forgive our thoughts, but which we frequently approve of in our +actions. + +These are some of the most conspicuous abnormal processes to which the +thoughts which have previously been rationally formed are subjected in +the course of the dream-work. As the main feature of these processes we +recognize the high importance attached to the fact of rendering the +occupation energy mobile and capable of discharge; the content and the +actual significance of the psychic elements, to which these energies +adhere, become a matter of secondary importance. One might possibly +think that the condensation and compromise formation is effected only in +the service of regression, when occasion arises for changing thoughts +into pictures. But the analysis and--still more distinctly--the +synthesis of dreams which lack regression toward pictures, _e.g._ the +dream "Autodidasker--Conversation with Court-Councilor N.," present the +same processes of displacement and condensation as the others. + +Hence we cannot refuse to acknowledge that the two kinds of essentially +different psychic processes participate in the formation of the dream; +one forms perfectly correct dream thoughts which are equivalent to +normal thoughts, while the other treats these ideas in a highly +surprising and incorrect manner. The latter process we have already set +apart as the dream-work proper. What have we now to advance concerning +this latter psychic process? + +We should be unable to answer this question here if we had not +penetrated considerably into the psychology of the neuroses and +especially of hysteria. From this we learn that the same incorrect +psychic processes--as well as others that have not been +enumerated--control the formation of hysterical symptoms. In hysteria, +too, we at once find a series of perfectly correct thoughts equivalent +to our conscious thoughts, of whose existence, however, in this form we +can learn nothing and which we can only subsequently reconstruct. If +they have forced their way anywhere to our perception, we discover from +the analysis of the symptom formed that these normal thoughts have been +subjected to abnormal treatment and _have been transformed into the +symptom by means of condensation and compromise formation, through +superficial associations, under cover of contradictions, and eventually +over the road of regression_. In view of the complete identity found +between the peculiarities of the dream-work and of the psychic activity +forming the psychoneurotic symptoms, we shall feel justified in +transferring to the dream the conclusions urged upon us by hysteria. + +From the theory of hysteria we borrow the proposition that _such an +abnormal psychic elaboration of a normal train of thought takes place +only when the latter has been used for the transference of an +unconscious wish which dates from the infantile life and is in a state +of repression_. In accordance with this proposition we have construed +the theory of the dream on the assumption that the actuating dream-wish +invariably originates in the unconscious, which, as we ourselves have +admitted, cannot be universally demonstrated though it cannot be +refuted. But in order to explain the real meaning of the term +_repression_, which we have employed so freely, we shall be obliged to +make some further addition to our psychological construction. + +We have above elaborated the fiction of a primitive psychic apparatus, +whose work is regulated by the efforts to avoid accumulation of +excitement and as far as possible to maintain itself free from +excitement. For this reason it was constructed after the plan of a +reflex apparatus; the motility, originally the path for the inner bodily +change, formed a discharging path standing at its disposal. We +subsequently discussed the psychic results of a feeling of +gratification, and we might at the same time have introduced the second +assumption, viz. that accumulation of excitement--following certain +modalities that do not concern us--is perceived as pain and sets the +apparatus in motion in order to reproduce a feeling of gratification in +which the diminution of the excitement is perceived as pleasure. Such a +current in the apparatus which emanates from pain and strives for +pleasure we call a wish. We have said that nothing but a wish is capable +of setting the apparatus in motion, and that the discharge of excitement +in the apparatus is regulated automatically by the perception of +pleasure and pain. The first wish must have been an hallucinatory +occupation of the memory for gratification. But this hallucination, +unless it were maintained to the point of exhaustion, proved incapable +of bringing about a cessation of the desire and consequently of securing +the pleasure connected with gratification. + +Thus there was required a second activity--in our terminology the +activity of a second system--which should not permit the memory +occupation to advance to perception and therefrom to restrict the +psychic forces, but should lead the excitement emanating from the +craving stimulus by a devious path over the spontaneous motility which +ultimately should so change the outer world as to allow the real +perception of the object of gratification to take place. Thus far we +have elaborated the plan of the psychic apparatus; these two systems are +the germ of the Unc. and Forec, which we include in the fully developed +apparatus. + +In order to be in a position successfully to change the outer world +through the motility, there is required the accumulation of a large sum +of experiences in the memory systems as well as a manifold fixation of +the relations which are evoked in this memory material by different +end-presentations. We now proceed further with our assumption. The +manifold activity of the second system, tentatively sending forth and +retracting energy, must on the one hand have full command over all +memory material, but on the other hand it would be a superfluous +expenditure for it to send to the individual mental paths large +quantities of energy which would thus flow off to no purpose, +diminishing the quantity available for the transformation of the outer +world. In the interests of expediency I therefore postulate that the +second system succeeds in maintaining the greater part of the occupation +energy in a dormant state and in using but a small portion for the +purposes of displacement. The mechanism of these processes is entirely +unknown to me; any one who wishes to follow up these ideas must try to +find the physical analogies and prepare the way for a demonstration of +the process of motion in the stimulation of the neuron. I merely hold to +the idea that the activity of the first [Greek: Psi]-system is directed +_to the free outflow of the quantities of excitement_, and that the +second system brings about an inhibition of this outflow through the +energies emanating from it, _i.e._ it produces a _transformation into +dormant energy, probably by raising the level_. I therefore assume that +under the control of the second system as compared with the first, the +course of the excitement is bound to entirely different mechanical +conditions. After the second system has finished its tentative mental +work, it removes the inhibition and congestion of the excitements and +allows these excitements to flow off to the motility. + +An interesting train of thought now presents itself if we consider the +relations of this inhibition of discharge by the second system to the +regulation through the principle of pain. Let us now seek the +counterpart of the primary feeling of gratification, namely, the +objective feeling of fear. A perceptive stimulus acts on the primitive +apparatus, becoming the source of a painful emotion. This will then be +followed by irregular motor manifestations until one of these withdraws +the apparatus from perception and at the same time from pain, but on the +reappearance of the perception this manifestation will immediately +repeat itself (perhaps as a movement of flight) until the perception has +again disappeared. But there will here remain no tendency again to +occupy the perception of the source of pain in the form of an +hallucination or in any other form. On the contrary, there will be a +tendency in the primary apparatus to abandon the painful memory picture +as soon as it is in any way awakened, as the overflow of its excitement +would surely produce (more precisely, begin to produce) pain. The +deviation from memory, which is but a repetition of the former flight +from perception, is facilitated also by the fact that, unlike +perception, memory does not possess sufficient quality to excite +consciousness and thereby to attract to itself new energy. This easy and +regularly occurring deviation of the psychic process from the former +painful memory presents to us the model and the first example of +_psychic repression_. As is generally known, much of this deviation from +the painful, much of the behavior of the ostrich, can be readily +demonstrated even in the normal psychic life of adults. + +By virtue of the principle of pain the first system is therefore +altogether incapable of introducing anything unpleasant into the mental +associations. The system cannot do anything but wish. If this remained +so the mental activity of the second system, which should have at its +disposal all the memories stored up by experiences, would be hindered. +But two ways are now opened: the work of the second system either frees +itself completely from the principle of pain and continues its course, +paying no heed to the painful reminiscence, or it contrives to occupy +the painful memory in such a manner as to preclude the liberation of +pain. We may reject the first possibility, as the principle of pain also +manifests itself as a regulator for the emotional discharge of the +second system; we are, therefore, directed to the second possibility, +namely, that this system occupies a reminiscence in such a manner as to +inhibit its discharge and hence, also, to inhibit the discharge +comparable to a motor innervation for the development of pain. Thus from +two starting points we are led to the hypothesis that occupation through +the second system is at the same time an inhibition for the emotional +discharge, viz. from a consideration of the principle of pain and from +the principle of the smallest expenditure of innervation. Let us, +however, keep to the fact--this is the key to the theory of +repression--that the second system is capable of occupying an idea only +when it is in position to check the development of pain emanating from +it. Whatever withdraws itself from this inhibition also remains +inaccessible for the second system and would soon be abandoned by virtue +of the principle of pain. The inhibition of pain, however, need not be +complete; it must be permitted to begin, as it indicates to the second +system the nature of the memory and possibly its defective adaptation +for the purpose sought by the mind. + +The psychic process which is admitted by the first system only I shall +now call the _primary_ process; and the one resulting from the +inhibition of the second system I shall call the _secondary_ process. I +show by another point for what purpose the second system is obliged to +correct the primary process. The primary process strives for a discharge +of the excitement in order to establish a _perception_ identity with the +sum of excitement thus gathered; the secondary process has abandoned +this intention and undertaken instead the task of bringing about a +_thought identity_. All thinking is only a circuitous path from the +memory of gratification taken as an end-presentation to the identical +occupation of the same memory, which is again to be attained on the +track of the motor experiences. The state of thinking must take an +interest in the connecting paths between the presentations without +allowing itself to be misled by their intensities. But it is obvious +that condensations and intermediate or compromise formations occurring +in the presentations impede the attainment of this end-identity; by +substituting one idea for the other they deviate from the path which +otherwise would have been continued from the original idea. Such +processes are therefore carefully avoided in the secondary thinking. Nor +is it difficult to understand that the principle of pain also impedes +the progress of the mental stream in its pursuit of the thought +identity, though, indeed, it offers to the mental stream the most +important points of departure. Hence the tendency of the thinking +process must be to free itself more and more from exclusive adjustment +by the principle of pain, and through the working of the mind to +restrict the affective development to that minimum which is necessary as +a signal. This refinement of the activity must have been attained +through a recent over-occupation of energy brought about by +consciousness. But we are aware that this refinement is seldom +completely successful even in the most normal psychic life and that our +thoughts ever remain accessible to falsification through the +interference of the principle of pain. + +This, however, is not the breach in the functional efficiency of our +psychic apparatus through which the thoughts forming the material of the +secondary mental work are enabled to make their way into the primary +psychic process--with which formula we may now describe the work leading +to the dream and to the hysterical symptoms. This case of insufficiency +results from the union of the two factors from the history of our +evolution; one of which belongs solely to the psychic apparatus and has +exerted a determining influence on the relation of the two systems, +while the other operates fluctuatingly and introduces motive forces of +organic origin into the psychic life. Both originate in the infantile +life and result from the transformation which our psychic and somatic +organism has undergone since the infantile period. + +When I termed one of the psychic processes in the psychic apparatus the +primary process, I did so not only in consideration of the order of +precedence and capability, but also as admitting the temporal relations +to a share in the nomenclature. As far as our knowledge goes there is no +psychic apparatus possessing only the primary process, and in so far it +is a theoretic fiction; but so much is based on fact that the primary +processes are present in the apparatus from the beginning, while the +secondary processes develop gradually in the course of life, inhibiting +and covering the primary ones, and gaining complete mastery over them +perhaps only at the height of life. Owing to this retarded appearance of +the secondary processes, the essence of our being, consisting in +unconscious wish feelings, can neither be seized nor inhibited by the +foreconscious, whose part is once for all restricted to the indication +of the most suitable paths for the wish feelings originating in the +unconscious. These unconscious wishes establish for all subsequent +psychic efforts a compulsion to which they have to submit and which +they must strive if possible to divert from its course and direct to +higher aims. In consequence of this retardation of the foreconscious +occupation a large sphere of the memory material remains inaccessible. + +Among these indestructible and unincumbered wish feelings originating +from the infantile life, there are also some, the fulfillments of which +have entered into a relation of contradiction to the end-presentation of +the secondary thinking. The fulfillment of these wishes would no longer +produce an affect of pleasure but one of pain; _and it is just this +transformation of affect that constitutes the nature of what we +designate as "repression," in which we recognize the infantile first +step of passing adverse sentence or of rejecting through reason_. To +investigate in what way and through what motive forces such a +transformation can be produced constitutes the problem of repression, +which we need here only skim over. It will suffice to remark that such a +transformation of affect occurs in the course of development (one may +think of the appearance in infantile life of disgust which was +originally absent), and that it is connected with the activity of the +secondary system. The memories from which the unconscious wish brings +about the emotional discharge have never been accessible to the Forec., +and for that reason their emotional discharge cannot be inhibited. It +is just on account of this affective development that these ideas are +not even now accessible to the foreconscious thoughts to which they have +transferred their wishing power. On the contrary, the principle of pain +comes into play, and causes the Forec. to deviate from these thoughts of +transference. The latter, left to themselves, are "repressed," and thus +the existence of a store of infantile memories, from the very beginning +withdrawn from the Forec., becomes the preliminary condition of +repression. + +In the most favorable case the development of pain terminates as soon as +the energy has been withdrawn from the thoughts of transference in the +Forec., and this effect characterizes the intervention of the principle +of pain as expedient. It is different, however, if the repressed +unconscious wish receives an organic enforcement which it can lend to +its thoughts of transference and through which it can enable them to +make an effort towards penetration with their excitement, even after +they have been abandoned by the occupation of the Forec. A defensive +struggle then ensues, inasmuch as the Forec. reinforces the antagonism +against the repressed ideas, and subsequently this leads to a +penetration by the thoughts of transference (the carriers of the +unconscious wish) in some form of compromise through symptom formation. +But from the moment that the suppressed thoughts are powerfully occupied +by the unconscious wish-feeling and abandoned by the foreconscious +occupation, they succumb to the primary psychic process and strive only +for motor discharge; or, if the path be free, for hallucinatory revival +of the desired perception identity. We have previously found, +empirically, that the incorrect processes described are enacted only +with thoughts that exist in the repression. We now grasp another part of +the connection. These incorrect processes are those that are primary in +the psychic apparatus; _they appear wherever thoughts abandoned by the +foreconscious occupation are left to themselves, and can fill themselves +with the uninhibited energy, striving for discharge from the +unconscious_. We may add a few further observations to support the view +that these processes designated "incorrect" are really not +falsifications of the normal defective thinking, but the modes of +activity of the psychic apparatus when freed from inhibition. Thus we +see that the transference of the foreconscious excitement to the +motility takes place according to the same processes, and that the +connection of the foreconscious presentations with words readily +manifest the same displacements and mixtures which are ascribed to +inattention. Finally, I should like to adduce proof that an increase of +work necessarily results from the inhibition of these primary courses +from the fact that we gain a _comical effect_, a surplus to be +discharged through laughter, _if we allow these streams of thought to +come to consciousness_. + +The theory of the psychoneuroses asserts with complete certainty that +only sexual wish-feelings from the infantile life experience repression +(emotional transformation) during the developmental period of childhood. +These are capable of returning to activity at a later period of +development, and then have the faculty of being revived, either as a +consequence of the sexual constitution, which is really formed from the +original bisexuality, or in consequence of unfavorable influences of the +sexual life; and they thus supply the motive power for all +psychoneurotic symptom formations. It is only by the introduction of +these sexual forces that the gaps still demonstrable in the theory of +repression can be filled. I will leave it undecided whether the +postulate of the sexual and infantile may also be asserted for the +theory of the dream; I leave this here unfinished because I have already +passed a step beyond the demonstrable in assuming that the dream-wish +invariably originates from the unconscious.[2] Nor will I further +investigate the difference in the play of the psychic forces in the +dream formation and in the formation of the hysterical symptoms, for to +do this we ought to possess a more explicit knowledge of one of the +members to be compared. But I regard another point as important, and +will here confess that it was on account of this very point that I have +just undertaken this entire discussion concerning the two psychic +systems, their modes of operation, and the repression. For it is now +immaterial whether I have conceived the psychological relations in +question with approximate correctness, or, as is easily possible in such +a difficult matter, in an erroneous and fragmentary manner. Whatever +changes may be made in the interpretation of the psychic censor and of +the correct and of the abnormal elaboration of the dream content, the +fact nevertheless remains that such processes are active in dream +formation, and that essentially they show the closest analogy to the +processes observed in the formation of the hysterical symptoms. The +dream is not a pathological phenomenon, and it does not leave behind an +enfeeblement of the mental faculties. The objection that no deduction +can be drawn regarding the dreams of healthy persons from my own dreams +and from those of neurotic patients may be rejected without comment. +Hence, when we draw conclusions from the phenomena as to their motive +forces, we recognize that the psychic mechanism made use of by the +neuroses is not created by a morbid disturbance of the psychic life, but +is found ready in the normal structure of the psychic apparatus. The two +psychic systems, the censor crossing between them, the inhibition and +the covering of the one activity by the other, the relations of both to +consciousness--or whatever may offer a more correct interpretation of +the actual conditions in their stead--all these belong to the normal +structure of our psychic instrument, and the dream points out for us one +of the roads leading to a knowledge of this structure. If, in addition +to our knowledge, we wish to be contented with a minimum perfectly +established, we shall say that the dream gives us proof that the +_suppressed, material continues to exist even in the normal person and +remains capable of psychic activity_. The dream itself is one of the +manifestations of this suppressed material; theoretically, this is true +in _all_ cases; according to substantial experience it is true in at +least a great number of such as most conspicuously display the prominent +characteristics of dream life. The suppressed psychic material, which in +the waking state has been prevented from expression and cut off from +internal perception _by the antagonistic adjustment of the +contradictions_, finds ways and means of obtruding itself on +consciousness during the night under the domination of the compromise +formations. + + _"Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo."_ + +At any rate the interpretation of dreams is the _via regia_ to a +knowledge of the unconscious in the psychic life. + +In following the analysis of the dream we have made some progress toward +an understanding of the composition of this most marvelous and most +mysterious of instruments; to be sure, we have not gone very far, but +enough of a beginning has been made to allow us to advance from other +so-called pathological formations further into the analysis of the +unconscious. Disease--at least that which is justly termed +functional--is not due to the destruction of this apparatus, and the +establishment of new splittings in its interior; it is rather to be +explained dynamically through the strengthening and weakening of the +components in the play of forces by which so many activities are +concealed during the normal function. We have been able to show in +another place how the composition of the apparatus from the two systems +permits a subtilization even of the normal activity which would be +impossible for a single system. + +[1] _Cf._ the significant observations by J. Bueuer in our _Studies on +Hysteria_, 1895, and 2nd ed. 1909. + +[2] Here, as in other places, there are gaps in the treatment of the +subject, which I have left intentionally, because to fill them up would +require on the one hand too great effort, and on the other hand an +extensive reference to material that is foreign to the dream. Thus I +have avoided stating whether I connect with the word "suppressed" +another sense than with the word "repressed." It has been made clear +only that the latter emphasizes more than the former the relation to the +unconscious. I have not entered into the cognate problem why the dream +thoughts also experience distortion by the censor when they abandon the +progressive continuation to consciousness and choose the path of +regression. I have been above all anxious to awaken an interest in the +problems to which the further analysis of the dreamwork leads and to +indicate the other themes which meet these on the way. It was not always +easy to decide just where the pursuit should be discontinued. That I +have not treated exhaustively the part played in the dream by the +psychosexual life and have avoided the interpretation of dreams of an +obvious sexual content is due to a special reason which may not come up +to the reader's expectation. To be sure, it is very far from my ideas +and the principles expressed by me in neuropathology to regard the +sexual life as a "pudendum" which should be left unconsidered by the +physician and the scientific investigator. I also consider ludicrous the +moral indignation which prompted the translator of Artemidoros of Daldis +to keep from the reader's knowledge the chapter on sexual dreams +contained in the _Symbolism of the Dreams_. As for myself, I have been +actuated solely by the conviction that in the explanation of sexual +dreams I should be bound to entangle myself deeply in the still +unexplained problems of perversion and bisexuality; and for that reason +I have reserved this material for another connection. + + + + +IX + +THE UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUSNESS--REALITY + + +On closer inspection we find that it is not the existence of two systems +near the motor end of the apparatus but of two kinds of processes or +modes of emotional discharge, the assumption of which was explained in +the psychological discussions of the previous chapter. This can make no +difference for us, for we must always be ready to drop our auxiliary +ideas whenever we deem ourselves in position to replace them by +something else approaching more closely to the unknown reality. Let us +now try to correct some views which might be erroneously formed as long +as we regarded the two systems in the crudest and most obvious sense as +two localities within the psychic apparatus, views which have left their +traces in the terms "repression" and "penetration." Thus, when we say +that an unconscious idea strives for transference into the foreconscious +in order later to penetrate consciousness, we do not mean that a second +idea is to be formed situated in a new locality like an interlineation +near which the original continues to remain; also, when we speak of +penetration into consciousness, we wish carefully to avoid any idea of +change of locality. When we say that a foreconscious idea is repressed +and subsequently taken up by the unconscious, we might be tempted by +these figures, borrowed from the idea of a struggle over a territory, to +assume that an arrangement is really broken up in one psychic locality +and replaced by a new one in the other locality. For these comparisons +we substitute what would seem to correspond better with the real state +of affairs by saying that an energy occupation is displaced to or +withdrawn from a certain arrangement so that the psychic formation falls +under the domination of a system or is withdrawn from the same. Here +again we replace a topical mode of presentation by a dynamic; it is not +the psychic formation that appears to us as the moving factor but the +innervation of the same. + +I deem it appropriate and justifiable, however, to apply ourselves still +further to the illustrative conception of the two systems. We shall +avoid any misapplication of this manner of representation if we remember +that presentations, thoughts, and psychic formations should generally +not be localized in the organic elements of the nervous system, but, so +to speak, between them, where resistances and paths form the correlate +corresponding to them. Everything that can become an object of our +internal perception is virtual, like the image in the telescope produced +by the passage of the rays of light. But we are justified in assuming +the existence of the systems, which have nothing psychic in themselves +and which never become accessible to our psychic perception, +corresponding to the lenses of the telescope which design the image. If +we continue this comparison, we may say that the censor between two +systems corresponds to the refraction of rays during their passage into +a new medium. + +Thus far we have made psychology on our own responsibility; it is now +time to examine the theoretical opinions governing present-day +psychology and to test their relation to our theories. The question of +the unconscious, in psychology is, according to the authoritative words +of Lipps, less a psychological question than the question of psychology. +As long as psychology settled this question with the verbal explanation +that the "psychic" is the "conscious" and that "unconscious psychic +occurrences" are an obvious contradiction, a psychological estimate of +the observations gained by the physician from abnormal mental states was +precluded. The physician and the philosopher agree only when both +acknowledge that unconscious psychic processes are "the appropriate and +well-justified expression for an established fact." The physician cannot +but reject with a shrug of his shoulders the assertion that +"consciousness is the indispensable quality of the psychic"; he may +assume, if his respect for the utterings of the philosophers still be +strong enough, that he and they do not treat the same subject and do not +pursue the same science. For a single intelligent observation of the +psychic life of a neurotic, a single analysis of a dream must force upon +him the unalterable conviction that the most complicated and correct +mental operations, to which no one will refuse the name of psychic +occurrences, may take place without exciting the consciousness of the +person. It is true that the physician does not learn of these +unconscious processes until they have exerted such an effect on +consciousness as to admit communication or observation. But this effect +of consciousness may show a psychic character widely differing from the +unconscious process, so that the internal perception cannot possibly +recognize the one as a substitute for the other. The physician must +reserve for himself the right to penetrate, by a process of deduction, +from the effect on consciousness to the unconscious psychic process; he +learns in this way that the effect on consciousness is only a remote +psychic product of the unconscious process and that the latter has not +become conscious as such; that it has been in existence and operative +without betraying itself in any way to consciousness. + +A reaction from the over-estimation of the quality of consciousness +becomes the indispensable preliminary condition for any correct insight +into the behavior of the psychic. In the words of Lipps, the unconscious +must be accepted as the general basis of the psychic life. The +unconscious is the larger circle which includes within itself the +smaller circle of the conscious; everything conscious has its +preliminary step in the unconscious, whereas the unconscious may stop +with this step and still claim full value as a psychic activity. +Properly speaking, the unconscious is the real psychic; _its inner +nature is just as unknown to us as the reality of the external world, +and it is just as imperfectly reported to us through the data of +consciousness as is the external world through the indications of our +sensory organs_. + +A series of dream problems which have intensely occupied older authors +will be laid aside when the old opposition between conscious life and +dream life is abandoned and the unconscious psychic assigned to its +proper place. Thus many of the activities whose performances in the +dream have excited our admiration are now no longer to be attributed to +the dream but to unconscious thinking, which is also active during the +day. If, according to Scherner, the dream seems to play with a symboling +representation of the body, we know that this is the work of certain +unconscious phantasies which have probably given in to sexual emotions, +and that these phantasies come to expression not only in dreams but also +in hysterical phobias and in other symptoms. If the dream continues and +settles activities of the day and even brings to light valuable +inspirations, we have only to subtract from it the dream disguise as a +feat of dream-work and a mark of assistance from obscure forces in the +depth of the mind (_cf._ the devil in Tartini's sonata dream). The +intellectual task as such must be attributed to the same psychic forces +which perform all such tasks during the day. We are probably far too +much inclined to over-estimate the conscious character even of +intellectual and artistic productions. From the communications of some +of the most highly productive persons, such as Goethe and Helmholtz, we +learn, indeed, that the most essential and original parts in their +creations came to them in the form of inspirations and reached their +perceptions almost finished. There is nothing strange about the +assistance of the conscious activity in other cases where there was a +concerted effort of all the psychic forces. But it is a much abused +privilege of the conscious activity that it is allowed to hide from us +all other activities wherever it participates. + +It will hardly be worth while to take up the historical significance of +dreams as a special subject. Where, for instance, a chieftain has been +urged through a dream to engage in a bold undertaking the success of +which has had the effect of changing history, a new problem results only +so long as the dream, regarded as a strange power, is contrasted with +other more familiar psychic forces; the problem, however, disappears +when we regard the dream as a form of expression for feelings which are +burdened with resistance during the day and which can receive +reinforcements at night from deep emotional sources. But the great +respect shown by the ancients for the dream is based on a correct +psychological surmise. It is a homage paid to the unsubdued and +indestructible in the human mind, and to the demoniacal which furnishes +the dream-wish and which we find again in our unconscious. + +Not inadvisedly do I use the expression "in our unconscious," for what +we so designate does not coincide with the unconscious of the +philosophers, nor with the unconscious of Lipps. In the latter uses it +is intended to designate only the opposite of conscious. That there are +also unconscious psychic processes beside the conscious ones is the +hotly contested and energetically defended issue. Lipps gives us the +more far-reaching theory that everything psychic exists as unconscious, +but that some of it may exist also as conscious. But it was not to prove +this theory that we have adduced the phenomena of the dream and of the +hysterical symptom formation; the observation of normal life alone +suffices to establish its correctness beyond any doubt. The new fact +that we have learned from the analysis of the psychopathological +formations, and indeed from their first member, viz. dreams, is that the +unconscious--hence the psychic--occurs as a function of two separate +systems and that it occurs as such even in normal psychic life. +Consequently there are two kinds of unconscious, which we do not as yet +find distinguished by the psychologists. Both are unconscious in the +psychological sense; but in our sense the first, which we call Unc., is +likewise incapable of consciousness, whereas the second we term "Forec." +because its emotions, after the observance of certain rules, can reach +consciousness, perhaps not before they have again undergone censorship, +but still regardless of the Unc. system. The fact that in order to +attain consciousness the emotions must traverse an unalterable series of +events or succession of instances, as is betrayed through their +alteration by the censor, has helped us to draw a comparison from +spatiality. We described the relations of the two systems to each other +and to consciousness by saying that the system Forec. is like a screen +between the system Unc. and consciousness. The system Forec. not only +bars access to consciousness, but also controls the entrance to +voluntary motility and is capable of sending out a sum of mobile energy, +a portion of which is familiar to us as attention. + +We must also steer clear of the distinctions superconscious and +subconscious which have found so much favor in the more recent +literature on the psychoneuroses, for just such a distinction seems to +emphasize the equivalence of the psychic and the conscious. + +What part now remains in our description of the once all-powerful and +all-overshadowing consciousness? None other than that of a sensory organ +for the perception of psychic qualities. According to the fundamental +idea of schematic undertaking we can conceive the conscious perception +only as the particular activity of an independent system for which the +abbreviated designation "Cons." commends itself. This system we conceive +to be similar in its mechanical characteristics to the perception system +P, hence excitable by qualities and incapable of retaining the trace of +changes, _i.e._ it is devoid of memory. The psychic apparatus which, +with the sensory organs of the P-system, is turned to the outer world, +is itself the outer world for the sensory organ of Cons.; the +teleological justification of which rests on this relationship. We are +here once more confronted with the principle of the succession of +instances which seems to dominate the structure of the apparatus. The +material under excitement flows to the Cons, sensory organ from two +sides, firstly from the P-system whose excitement, qualitatively +determined, probably experiences a new elaboration until it comes to +conscious perception; and, secondly, from the interior of the apparatus +itself, the quantitative processes of which are perceived as a +qualitative series of pleasure and pain as soon as they have undergone +certain changes. + +The philosophers, who have learned that correct and highly complicated +thought structures are possible even without the coöperation of +consciousness, have found it difficult to attribute any function to +consciousness; it has appeared to them a superfluous mirroring of the +perfected psychic process. The analogy of our Cons. system with the +systems of perception relieves us of this embarrassment. We see that +perception through our sensory organs results in directing the +occupation of attention to those paths on which the incoming sensory +excitement is diffused; the qualitative excitement of the P-system +serves the mobile quantity of the psychic apparatus as a regulator for +its discharge. We may claim the same function for the overlying sensory +organ of the Cons. system. By assuming new qualities, it furnishes a new +contribution toward the guidance and suitable distribution of the mobile +occupation quantities. By means of the perceptions of pleasure and pain, +it influences the course of the occupations within the psychic +apparatus, which normally operates unconsciously and through the +displacement of quantities. It is probable that the principle of pain +first regulates the displacements of occupation automatically, but it is +quite possible that the consciousness of these qualities adds a second +and more subtle regulation which may even oppose the first and perfect +the working capacity of the apparatus by placing it in a position +contrary to its original design for occupying and developing even that +which is connected with the liberation of pain. We learn from +neuropsychology that an important part in the functional activity of the +apparatus is attributed to such regulations through the qualitative +excitation of the sensory organs. The automatic control of the primary +principle of pain and the restriction of mental capacity connected with +it are broken by the sensible regulations, which in their turn are again +automatisms. We learn that the repression which, though originally +expedient, terminates nevertheless in a harmful rejection of inhibition +and of psychic domination, is so much more easily accomplished with +reminiscences than with perceptions, because in the former there is no +increase in occupation through the excitement of the psychic sensory +organs. When an idea to be rejected has once failed to become conscious +because it has succumbed to repression, it can be repressed on other +occasions only because it has been withdrawn from conscious perception +on other grounds. These are hints employed by therapy in order to bring +about a retrogression of accomplished repressions. + +The value of the over-occupation which is produced by the regulating +influence of the Cons. sensory organ on the mobile quantity, is +demonstrated in the teleological connection by nothing more clearly than +by the creation of a new series of qualities and consequently a new +regulation which constitutes the precedence of man over the animals. For +the mental processes are in themselves devoid of quality except for the +excitements of pleasure and pain accompanying them, which, as we know, +are to be held in check as possible disturbances of thought. In order to +endow them with a quality, they are associated in man with verbal +memories, the qualitative remnants of which suffice to draw upon them +the attention of consciousness which in turn endows thought with a new +mobile energy. + +The manifold problems of consciousness in their entirety can be examined +only through an analysis of the hysterical mental process. From this +analysis we receive the impression that the transition from the +foreconscious to the occupation of consciousness is also connected with +a censorship similar to the one between the Unc. and the Forec. This +censorship, too, begins to act only with the reaching of a certain +quantitative degree, so that few intense thought formations escape it. +Every possible case of detention from consciousness, as well as of +penetration to consciousness, under restriction is found included within +the picture of the psychoneurotic phenomena; every case points to the +intimate and twofold connection between the censor and consciousness. I +shall conclude these psychological discussions with the report of two +such occurrences. + +On the occasion of a consultation a few years ago the subject was an +intelligent and innocent-looking girl. Her attire was strange; whereas a +woman's garb is usually groomed to the last fold, she had one of her +stockings hanging down and two of her waist buttons opened. She +complained of pains in one of her legs, and exposed her leg unrequested. +Her chief complaint, however, was in her own words as follows: She had a +feeling in her body as if something was stuck into it which moved to and +fro and made her tremble through and through. This sometimes made her +whole body stiff. On hearing this, my colleague in consultation looked +at me; the complaint was quite plain to him. To both of us it seemed +peculiar that the patient's mother thought nothing of the matter; of +course she herself must have been repeatedly in the situation described +by her child. As for the girl, she had no idea of the import of her +words or she would never have allowed them to pass her lips. Here the +censor had been deceived so successfully that under the mask of an +innocent complaint a phantasy was admitted to consciousness which +otherwise would have remained in the foreconscious. + +Another example: I began the psychoanalytic treatment of a boy of +fourteen years who was suffering from _tic convulsif_, hysterical +vomiting, headache, &c., by assuring him that, after closing his eyes, +he would see pictures or have ideas, which I requested him to +communicate to me. He answered by describing pictures. The last +impression he had received before coming to me was visually revived in +his memory. He had played a game of checkers with his uncle, and now saw +the checkerboard before him. He commented on various positions that were +favorable or unfavorable, on moves that were not safe to make. He then +saw a dagger lying on the checker-board, an object belonging to his +father, but transferred to the checker-board by his phantasy. Then a +sickle was lying on the board; next a scythe was added; and, finally, he +beheld the likeness of an old peasant mowing the grass in front of the +boy's distant parental home. A few days later I discovered the meaning +of this series of pictures. Disagreeable family relations had made the +boy nervous. It was the case of a strict and crabbed father who lived +unhappily with his mother, and whose educational methods consisted in +threats; of the separation of his father from his tender and delicate +mother, and the remarrying of his father, who one day brought home a +young woman as his new mamma. The illness of the fourteen-year-old boy +broke out a few days later. It was the suppressed anger against his +father that had composed these pictures into intelligible allusions. The +material was furnished by a reminiscence from mythology, The sickle was +the one with which Zeus castrated his father; the scythe and the +likeness of the peasant represented Kronos, the violent old man who eats +his children and upon whom Zeus wreaks vengeance in so unfilial a +manner. The marriage of the father gave the boy an opportunity to return +the reproaches and threats of his father--which had previously been made +because the child played with his genitals (the checkerboard; the +prohibitive moves; the dagger with which a person may be killed). We +have here long repressed memories and their unconscious remnants which, +under the guise of senseless pictures have slipped into consciousness by +devious paths left open to them. + +I should then expect to find the theoretical value of the study of +dreams in its contribution to psychological knowledge and in its +preparation for an understanding of neuroses. Who can foresee the +importance of a thorough knowledge of the structure and activities of +the psychic apparatus when even our present state of knowledge produces +a happy therapeutic influence in the curable forms of the +psychoneuroses? What about the practical value of such study some one +may ask, for psychic knowledge and for the discovering of the secret +peculiarities of individual character? Have not the unconscious feelings +revealed by the dream the value of real forces in the psychic life? +Should we take lightly the ethical significance of the suppressed wishes +which, as they now create dreams, may some day create other things? + +I do not feel justified in answering these questions. I have not thought +further upon this side of the dream problem. I believe, however, that at +all events the Roman Emperor was in the wrong who ordered one of his +subjects executed because the latter dreamt that he had killed the +Emperor. He should first have endeavored to discover the significance of +the dream; most probably it was not what it seemed to be. And even if a +dream of different content had the significance of this offense against +majesty, it would still have been in place to remember the words of +Plato, that the virtuous man contents himself with dreaming that which +the wicked man does in actual life. I am therefore of the opinion that +it is best to accord freedom to dreams. Whether any reality is to be +attributed to the unconscious wishes, and in what sense, I am not +prepared to say offhand. Reality must naturally be denied to all +transition--and intermediate thoughts. If we had before us the +unconscious wishes, brought to their last and truest expression, we +should still do well to remember that more than one single form of +existence must be ascribed to the psychic reality. Action and the +conscious expression of thought mostly suffice for the practical need +of judging a man's character. Action, above all, merits to be placed in +the first rank; for many of the impulses penetrating consciousness are +neutralized by real forces of the psychic life before they are converted +into action; indeed, the reason why they frequently do not encounter any +psychic obstacle on their way is because the unconscious is certain of +their meeting with resistances later. In any case it is instructive to +become familiar with the much raked-up soil from which our virtues +proudly arise. For the complication of human character moving +dynamically in all directions very rarely accommodates itself to +adjustment through a simple alternative, as our antiquated moral +philosophy would have it. + +And how about the value of the dream for a knowledge of the future? +That, of course, we cannot consider. One feels inclined to substitute: +"for a knowledge of the past." For the dream originates from the past in +every sense. To be sure the ancient belief that the dream reveals the +future is not entirely devoid of truth. By representing to us a wish as +fulfilled the dream certainly leads us into the future; but this future, +taken by the dreamer as present, has been formed into the likeness of +that past by the indestructible wish. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dream Psychology, by Sigmund Freud + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DREAM PSYCHOLOGY *** + +***** This file should be named 15489-8.txt or 15489-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/4/8/15489/ + +Produced by David Newman, Joel Schlosberg and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dream Psychology + Psychoanalysis for Beginners + +Author: Sigmund Freud + +Release Date: March 28, 2005 [EBook #15489] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DREAM PSYCHOLOGY *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman, Joel Schlosberg and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<center><a name="page_i"></a><h1>DREAM PSYCHOLOGY</h1> + +<h4><i>PSYCHOANALYSIS FOR BEGINNERS</i></h4> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>PROF. DR. SIGMUND FREUD</h3> + +<h5>AUTHORIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATION<br> BY</h5> + +<h3>M. D. EDER</h3> + +<h5>WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</h5> + +<h3>ANDRÉ TRIDON</h3> + +<h6>Author of "Psychoanalysis, its History, Theory and Practice." +"Psychoanalysis and Behavior" and "Psychoanalysis, Sleep and +Dreams"</h6> + +<h3>NEW YORK<br> THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY<br> 1920</h3></center> + +<hr> + + + + +<center><h5><a name="page_ii"></a>THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY</h5> + +<h6><u>PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.</u></h6></center> + +<hr> + + +<center><h2><a name="page_iii"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2></center> + + +<p>The medical profession is justly conservative. Human life should not +be considered as the proper material for wild experiments.</p> + +<p>Conservatism, however, is too often a welcome excuse for lazy minds, +loath to adapt themselves to fast changing conditions.</p> + +<p>Remember the scornful reception which first was accorded to Freud's +discoveries in the domain of the unconscious.</p> + +<p>When after years of patient observations, he finally decided to +appear before medical bodies to tell them modestly of some facts which +always recurred in his dream and his patients' dreams, he was first +laughed at and then avoided as a crank.</p> + +<p>The words "dream interpretation" were and still are indeed fraught +with unpleasant, unscientific associations. They remind one of all sorts +of childish, superstitious notions, which make up the thread and woof of +dream books, read by none but the ignorant and the primitive.</p> + +<p>The wealth of detail, the infinite care never to let anything pass +unexplained, with which he presented <a name="page_iv"></a> to the +public the result of his investigations, are impressing more and more +serious-minded scientists, but the examination of his evidential data +demands arduous work and presupposes an absolutely open mind.</p> + +<p>This is why we still encounter men, totally unfamiliar with Freud's +writings, men who were not even interested enough in the subject to +attempt an interpretation of their dreams or their patients' dreams, +deriding Freud's theories and combatting them with the help of +statements which he never made.</p> + +<p>Some of them, like Professor Boris Sidis, reach at times conclusions +which are strangely similar to Freud's, but in their ignorance of +psychoanalytic literature, they fail to credit Freud for observations +antedating theirs.</p> + +<p>Besides those who sneer at dream study, because they have never +looked into the subject, there are those who do not dare to face the +facts revealed by dream study. Dreams tell us many an unpleasant +biological truth about ourselves and only very free minds can thrive on +such a diet. Self-deception is a plant which withers fast in the +pellucid atmosphere of dream investigation.</p> + +<p>The weakling and the neurotic attached to his neurosis are not +anxious to turn such a powerful <a name="page_v"></a> searchlight upon +the dark corners of their psychology.</p> + +<p>Freud's theories are anything but theoretical.</p> + +<p>He was moved by the fact that there always seemed to be a close +connection between his patients' dreams and their mental abnormalities, +to collect thousands of dreams and to compare them with the case +histories in his possession.</p> + +<p>He did not start out with a preconceived bias, hoping to find +evidence which might support his views. He looked at facts a thousand +times "until they began to tell him something."</p> + +<p>His attitude toward dream study was, in other words, that of a +statistician who does not know, and has no means of foreseeing, what +conclusions will be forced on him by the information he is gathering, +but who is fully prepared to accept those unavoidable conclusions.</p> + +<p>This was indeed a novel way in psychology. Psychologists had always +been wont to build, in what Bleuler calls "autistic ways," that is +through methods in no wise supported by evidence, some attractive +hypothesis, which sprung from their brain, like Minerva from Jove's +brain, fully armed.</p> + +<p>After which, they would stretch upon that unyielding frame the hide +of a reality which they had previously killed.</p> + +<p><a name="page_vi"></a>It is only to minds suffering from the same +distortions, to minds also autistically inclined, that those empty, +artificial structures appear acceptable molds for philosophic +thinking.</p> + +<p>The pragmatic view that "truth is what works" had not been as yet +expressed when Freud published his revolutionary views on the psychology +of dreams.</p> + +<p>Five facts of first magnitude were made obvious to the world by his +interpretation of dreams.</p> + +<p>First of all, Freud pointed out a constant connection between some +part of every dream and some detail of the dreamer's life during the +previous waking state. This positively establishes a relation between +sleeping states and waking states and disposes of the widely prevalent +view that dreams are purely nonsensical phenomena coming from nowhere +and leading nowhere.</p> + +<p>Secondly, Freud, after studying the dreamer's life and modes of +thought, after noting down all his mannerisms and the apparently +insignificant details of his conduct which reveal his secret thoughts, +came to the conclusion that there was in every dream the attempted or +successful gratification of some wish, conscious or unconscious.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, he proved that many of our dream visions are symbolical, +which causes us to consider them as absurd and unintelligible; the +universality <a name="page_vii"></a> of those symbols, however, makes +them very transparent to the trained observer.</p> + +<p>Fourthly, Freud showed that sexual desires play an enormous part in +our unconscious, a part which puritanical hypocrisy has always tried to +minimize, if not to ignore entirely.</p> + +<p>Finally, Freud established a direct connection between dreams and +insanity, between the symbolic visions of our sleep and the symbolic +actions of the mentally deranged.</p> + +<p>There were, of course, many other observations which Freud made while +dissecting the dreams of his patients, but not all of them present as +much interest as the foregoing nor were they as revolutionary or likely +to wield as much influence on modern psychiatry.</p> + +<p>Other explorers have struck the path blazed by Freud and leading into +man's unconscious. Jung of Zurich, Adler of Vienna and Kempf of +Washington, D.C., have made to the study of the unconscious, +contributions which have brought that study into fields which Freud +himself never dreamt of invading.</p> + +<p>One fact which cannot be too emphatically stated, however, is that +but for Freud's wishfulfillment theory of dreams, neither Jung's +"energic theory," nor Adler's theory of "organ inferiority and +compensation," <a name="page_viii"></a> nor Kempf's "dynamic mechanism" +might have been formulated.</p> + +<p>Freud is the father of modern abnormal psychology and he established +the psychoanalytical point of view. No one who is not well grounded in +Freudian lore can hope to achieve any work of value in the field of +psychoanalysis.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, let no one repeat the absurd assertion that +Freudism is a sort of religion bounded with dogmas and requiring an act +of faith. Freudism as such was merely a stage in the development of +psychoanalysis, a stage out of which all but a few bigoted camp +followers, totally lacking in originality, have evolved. Thousands of +stones have been added to the structure erected by the Viennese +physician and many more will be added in the course of time.</p> + +<p>But the new additions to that structure would collapse like a house +of cards but for the original foundations which are as indestructible as +Harvey's statement as to the circulation of the blood.</p> + +<p>Regardless of whatever additions or changes have been made to the +original structure, the analytic point of view remains unchanged.</p> + +<p>That point of view is not only revolutionising all the methods of +diagnosis and treatment of mental derangements, but compelling the +intelligent, up-to-date <a name="page_ix"></a> physician to revise +entirely his attitude to almost every kind of disease.</p> + +<p>The insane are no longer absurd and pitiable people, to be herded in +asylums till nature either cures them or relieves them, through death, +of their misery. The insane who have not been made so by actual injury +to their brain or nervous system, are the victims of unconscious forces +which cause them to do abnormally things which they might be helped to +do normally.</p> + +<p>Insight into one's psychology is replacing victoriously sedatives and +rest cures.</p> + +<p>Physicians dealing with "purely" physical cases have begun to take +into serious consideration the "mental" factors which have predisposed a +patient to certain ailments.</p> + +<p>Freud's views have also made a revision of all ethical and social +values unavoidable and have thrown an unexpected flood of light upon +literary and artistic accomplishment.</p> + +<p>But the Freudian point of view, or more broadly speaking, the +psychoanalytic point of view, shall ever remain a puzzle to those who, +from laziness or indifference, refuse to survey with the great Viennese +the field over which he carefully groped his way. We shall never be +convinced until we repeat under his guidance all his laboratory +experiments.</p> + +<p><a name="page_x"></a>We must follow him through the thickets of the +unconscious, through the land which had never been charted because +academic philosophers, following the line of least effort, had decided +<i>a priori</i> that it could not be charted.</p> + +<p>Ancient geographers, when exhausting their store of information about +distant lands, yielded to an unscientific craving for romance and, +without any evidence to support their day dreams, filled the blank +spaces left on their maps by unexplored tracts with amusing inserts such +as "Here there are lions."</p> + +<p>Thanks to Freud's interpretation of dreams the "royal road" into the +unconscious is now open to all explorers. They shall not find lions, +they shall find man himself, and the record of all his life and of his +struggle with reality.</p> + +<p>And it is only after seeing man as his unconscious, revealed by his +dreams, presents him to us that we shall understand him fully. For as +Freud said to Putnam: "We are what we are because we have been what we +have been."</p> + +<p>Not a few serious-minded students, however, have been discouraged +from attempting a study of Freud's dream psychology.</p> + +<p>The book in which he originally offered to the world his +interpretation of dreams was as circumstantial as a legal record to be +pondered over by <a name="page_xi"></a> scientists at their leisure, +not to be assimilated in a few hours by the average alert reader. In +those days, Freud could not leave out any detail likely to make his +extremely novel thesis evidentially acceptable to those willing to sift +data.</p> + +<p>Freud himself, however, realized the magnitude of the task which the +reading of his <i>magnum opus</i> imposed upon those who have not been +prepared for it by long psychological and scientific training and he +abstracted from that gigantic work the parts which constitute the +essential of his discoveries.</p> + +<p>The publishers of the present book deserve credit for presenting to +the reading public the gist of Freud's psychology in the master's own +words, and in a form which shall neither discourage beginners, nor +appear too elementary to those who are more advanced in psychoanalytic +study.</p> + +<p>Dream psychology is the key to Freud's works and to all modern +psychology. With a simple, compact manual such as <i>Dream Psychology</i> +there shall be no longer any excuse for ignorance of the most +revolutionary psychological system of modern times.</p> + +<p align="right">A<small>NDRE</small> T<small>RIDON</small>.</p> + +<p> 121 Madison Avenue, New York.<br> + November, 1920.</p> + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_xiii"></a>CONTENTS</h2></center> + +<table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="Table of Contents"> + +<tr> <td colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td +align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">I </td><td><a href="#page_001">DREAMS +HAVE A MEANING</a></td><td align="right">1</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">II </td><td><a href="#page_024">THE +DREAM MECHANISM</a></td><td align="right">24</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">III </td><td><a href="#page_057">WHY +THE DREAM DISGUISES THE DESIRES</a></td><td align="right">57</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">IV </td><td><a href="#page_078">DREAM +ANALYSIS</a></td><td align="right">78</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">V </td><td><a href="#page_104">SEX IN +DREAMS</a></td><td align="right">104</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">VI </td><td><a href="#page_135">THE +WISH IN DREAMS</a></td><td align="right">135</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">VII </td><td><a href="#page_164">THE +FUNCTION OF THE DREAM</a></td><td align="right">164</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">VIII </td><td><a href="#page_186">THE +PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PROCESS—REGRESSION</a></td><td +align="right">186</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td align="right">IX </td><td><a href="#page_220">THE +UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUSNESS—REALITY</a></td><td +align="right">220</td> </tr> + +</table> + + + + +<center><h1><a name="page_001"></a>DREAM PSYCHOLOGY</h1> + + + + +<h2>I<br> + +DREAMS HAVE A MEANING</h2></center> + + +<p>In what we may term "prescientific days" people were in no +uncertainty about the interpretation of dreams. When they were recalled +after awakening they were regarded as either the friendly or hostile +manifestation of some higher powers, demoniacal and Divine. With the +rise of scientific thought the whole of this expressive mythology was +transferred to psychology; to-day there is but a small minority among +educated persons who doubt that the dream is the dreamer's own psychical +act.</p> + +<p>But since the downfall of the mythological hypothesis an +interpretation of the dream has been wanting. The conditions of its +origin; its relationship to our psychical life when we are awake; its +independence of disturbances which, during the state of sleep, seem to +compel notice; its many peculiarities repugnant to our waking thought; +the incongruence between its images and the feelings they engender; then +the dream's evanescence, the way in <a name="page_002"></a> which, on +awakening, our thoughts thrust it aside as something bizarre, and our +reminiscences mutilating or rejecting it—all these and many other +problems have for many hundred years demanded answers which up till now +could never have been satisfactory. Before all there is the question as +to the meaning of the dream, a question which is in itself double-sided. +There is, firstly, the psychical significance of the dream, its position +with regard to the psychical processes, as to a possible biological +function; secondly, has the dream a meaning—can sense be made of +each single dream as of other mental syntheses?</p> + +<p>Three tendencies can be observed in the estimation of dreams. Many +philosophers have given currency to one of these tendencies, one which +at the same time preserves something of the dream's former +over-valuation. The foundation of dream life is for them a peculiar +state of psychical activity, which they even celebrate as elevation to +some higher state. Schubert, for instance, claims: "The dream is the +liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a +detachment of the soul from the fetters of matter." Not all go so far as +this, but many maintain that dreams have their origin in real spiritual +excitations, and are the outward manifestations of spiritual powers +whose <a name="page_003"></a> free movements have been hampered during +the day ("Dream Phantasies," Scherner, Volkelt). A large number of +observers acknowledge that dream life is capable of extraordinary +achievements—at any rate, in certain fields ("Memory").</p> + +<p>In striking contradiction with this the majority of medical writers +hardly admit that the dream is a psychical phenomenon at all. According +to them dreams are provoked and initiated exclusively by stimuli +proceeding from the senses or the body, which either reach the sleeper +from without or are accidental disturbances of his internal organs. The +dream has no greater claim to meaning and importance than the sound +called forth by the ten fingers of a person quite unacquainted with +music running his fingers over the keys of an instrument. The dream is +to be regarded, says Binz, "as a physical process always useless, +frequently morbid." All the peculiarities of dream life are explicable +as the incoherent effort, due to some physiological stimulus, of certain +organs, or of the cortical elements of a brain otherwise asleep.</p> + +<p>But slightly affected by scientific opinion and untroubled as to the +origin of dreams, the popular view holds firmly to the belief that +dreams really have got a meaning, in some way they do foretell the +future, whilst the meaning can be unravelled <a name="page_004"></a> in +some way or other from its oft bizarre and enigmatical content. The +reading of dreams consists in replacing the events of the dream, so far +as remembered, by other events. This is done either scene by scene, +<i>according to some rigid key</i>, or the dream as a whole is replaced by +something else of which it was a <i>symbol</i>. Serious-minded persons laugh +at these efforts—"Dreams are but sea-foam!"</p> + +<p>One day I discovered to my amazement that the popular view grounded +in superstition, and not the medical one, comes nearer to the truth +about dreams. I arrived at new conclusions about dreams by the use of a +new method of psychological investigation, one which had rendered me +good service in the investigation of phobias, obsessions, illusions, and +the like, and which, under the name "psycho-analysis," had found +acceptance by a whole school of investigators. The manifold analogies of +dream life with the most diverse conditions of psychical disease in the +waking state have been rightly insisted upon by a number of medical +observers. It seemed, therefore, <i>a priori</i>, hopeful to apply to the +interpretation of dreams methods of investigation which had been tested +in psychopathological processes. Obsessions and those peculiar +sensations of haunting dread remain as strange to normal consciousness +as do <a name="page_005"></a> dreams to our waking consciousness; their +origin is as unknown to consciousness as is that of dreams. It was +practical ends that impelled us, in these diseases, to fathom their +origin and formation. Experience had shown us that a cure and a +consequent mastery of the obsessing ideas did result when once those +thoughts, the connecting links between the morbid ideas and the rest of +the psychical content, were revealed which were heretofore veiled from +consciousness. The procedure I employed for the interpretation of dreams +thus arose from psychotherapy.</p> + +<p>This procedure is readily described, although its practice demands +instruction and experience. Suppose the patient is suffering from +intense morbid dread. He is requested to direct his attention to the +idea in question, without, however, as he has so frequently done, +meditating upon it. Every impression about it, without any exception, +which occurs to him should be imparted to the doctor. The statement +which will be perhaps then made, that he cannot concentrate his +attention upon anything at all, is to be countered by assuring him most +positively that such a blank state of mind is utterly impossible. As a +matter of fact, a great number of impressions will soon occur, with +which others will associate themselves. These will be invariably +accompanied <a name="page_006"></a> by the expression of the observer's +opinion that they have no meaning or are unimportant. It will be at once +noticed that it is this self-criticism which prevented the patient from +imparting the ideas, which had indeed already excluded them from +consciousness. If the patient can be induced to abandon this +self-criticism and to pursue the trains of thought which are yielded by +concentrating the attention, most significant matter will be obtained, +matter which will be presently seen to be clearly linked to the morbid +idea in question. Its connection with other ideas will be manifest, and +later on will permit the replacement of the morbid idea by a fresh one, +which is perfectly adapted to psychical continuity.</p> + +<p>This is not the place to examine thoroughly the hypothesis upon which +this experiment rests, or the deductions which follow from its +invariable success. It must suffice to state that we obtain matter +enough for the resolution of every morbid idea if we especially direct +our attention to the <i>unbidden</i> associations <i>which disturb our +thoughts</i>—those which are otherwise put aside by the critic as +worthless refuse. If the procedure is exercised on oneself, the best +plan of helping the experiment is to write down at once all one's first +indistinct fancies.</p> + +<p>I will now point out where this method leads when <a +name="page_007"></a> I apply it to the examination of dreams. Any dream +could be made use of in this way. From certain motives I, however, +choose a dream of my own, which appears confused and meaningless to my +memory, and one which has the advantage of brevity. Probably my dream of +last night satisfies the requirements. Its content, fixed immediately +after awakening, runs as follows:</p> + +<p><i>"Company; at table or table d'hôte.... Spinach is served. Mrs. E.L., +sitting next to me, gives me her undivided attention, and places her +hand familiarly upon my knee. In defence I remove her hand. Then she +says: 'But you have always had such beautiful eyes.'.... I then +distinctly see something like two eyes as a sketch or as the contour of +a spectacle lens...."</i></p> + +<p>This is the whole dream, or, at all events, all that I can remember. +It appears to me not only obscure and meaningless, but more especially +odd. Mrs. E.L. is a person with whom I am scarcely on visiting terms, +nor to my knowledge have I ever desired any more cordial relationship. I +have not seen her for a long time, and do not think there was any +mention of her recently. No emotion whatever accompanied the dream +process.</p> + +<p>Reflecting upon this dream does not make it a bit clearer to my mind. +I will now, however, present <a name="page_008"></a> the ideas, without +premeditation and without criticism, which introspection yielded. I soon +notice that it is an advantage to break up the dream into its elements, +and to search out the ideas which link themselves to each fragment.</p> + +<p><i>Company; at table or table d'hôte.</i> The recollection of the slight +event with which the evening of yesterday ended is at once called up. I +left a small party in the company of a friend, who offered to drive me +home in his cab. "I prefer a taxi," he said; "that gives one such a +pleasant occupation; there is always something to look at." When we were +in the cab, and the cab-driver turned the disc so that the first sixty +hellers were visible, I continued the jest. "We have hardly got in and +we already owe sixty hellers. The taxi always reminds me of the table +d'hôte. It makes me avaricious and selfish by continuously reminding me +of my debt. It seems to me to mount up too quickly, and I am always +afraid that I shall be at a disadvantage, just as I cannot resist at +table d'hôte the comical fear that I am getting too little, that I must +look after myself." In far-fetched connection with this I quote:</p> + +<blockquote>"To earth, this weary earth, ye bring us,<br> To guilt ye +let us heedless go."</blockquote> + +<p><a name="page_009"></a>Another idea about the table d'hôte. A few +weeks ago I was very cross with my dear wife at the dinner-table at a +Tyrolese health resort, because she was not sufficiently reserved with +some neighbors with whom I wished to have absolutely nothing to do. I +begged her to occupy herself rather with me than with the strangers. +That is just as if I had <i>been at a disadvantage at the table d'hôte</i>. +The contrast between the behavior of my wife at the table and that of +Mrs. E.L. in the dream now strikes me: <i>"Addresses herself entirely to +me."</i></p> + +<p>Further, I now notice that the dream is the reproduction of a little +scene which transpired between my wife and myself when I was secretly +courting her. The caressing under cover of the tablecloth was an answer +to a wooer's passionate letter. In the dream, however, my wife is +replaced by the unfamiliar E.L.</p> + +<p>Mrs. E.L. is the daughter of a man to whom I <i>owed money</i>! I cannot +help noticing that here there is revealed an unsuspected connection +between the dream content and my thoughts. If the chain of associations +be followed up which proceeds from one element of the dream one is soon +led back to another of its elements. The thoughts evoked by <a +name="page_010"></a> the dream stir up associations which were not +noticeable in the dream itself.</p> + +<p>Is it not customary, when some one expects others to look after his +interests without any advantage to themselves, to ask the innocent +question satirically: "Do you think this will be done <i>for the sake of +your beautiful eyes</i>?" Hence Mrs. E.L.'s speech in the dream. "You have +always had such beautiful eyes," means nothing but "people always do +everything to you for love of you; you have had <i>everything for +nothing</i>." The contrary is, of course, the truth; I have always paid +dearly for whatever kindness others have shown me. Still, the fact that +<i>I had a ride for nothing</i> yesterday when my friend drove me home in his +cab must have made an impression upon me.</p> + +<p>In any case, the friend whose guests we were yesterday has often made +me his debtor. Recently I allowed an opportunity of requiting him to go +by. He has had only one present from me, an antique shawl, upon which +eyes are painted all round, a so-called Occhiale, as a <i>charm</i> against +the <i>Malocchio</i>. Moreover, he is an <i>eye specialist</i>. That same evening +I had asked him after a patient whom I had sent to him for +<i>glasses</i>.</p> + +<p>As I remarked, nearly all parts of the dream have been brought into +this new connection. I still <a name="page_011"></a> might ask why in +the dream it was <i>spinach</i> that was served up. Because spinach called up +a little scene which recently occurred at our table. A child, whose +<i>beautiful eyes</i> are really deserving of praise, refused to eat spinach. +As a child I was just the same; for a long time I loathed <i>spinach</i>, +until in later life my tastes altered, and it became one of my favorite +dishes. The mention of this dish brings my own childhood and that of my +child's near together. "You should be glad that you have some spinach," +his mother had said to the little gourmet. "Some children would be very +glad to get spinach." Thus I am reminded of the parents' duties towards +their children. Goethe's words—</p> + +<blockquote>"To earth, this weary earth, ye bring us,<br> To guilt ye +let us heedless go"—</blockquote> + +<p>take on another meaning in this connection.</p> + +<p>Here I will stop in order that I may recapitulate the results of the +analysis of the dream. By following the associations which were linked +to the single elements of the dream torn from their context, I have been +led to a series of thoughts and reminiscences where I am bound to +recognize interesting expressions of my psychical life. The matter +yielded by an analysis of the dream stands in intimate relationship with +the dream content, but <a name="page_012"></a> this relationship is so +special that I should never have been able to have inferred the new +discoveries directly from the dream itself. The dream was passionless, +disconnected, and unintelligible. During the time that I am unfolding +the thoughts at the back of the dream I feel intense and well-grounded +emotions. The thoughts themselves fit beautifully together into chains +logically bound together with certain central ideas which ever repeat +themselves. Such ideas not represented in the dream itself are in this +instance the antitheses <i>selfish, unselfish, to be indebted, to work for +nothing</i>. I could draw closer the threads of the web which analysis has +disclosed, and would then be able to show how they all run together into +a single knot; I am debarred from making this work public by +considerations of a private, not of a scientific, nature. After having +cleared up many things which I do not willingly acknowledge as mine, I +should have much to reveal which had better remain my secret. Why, then, +do not I choose another dream whose analysis would be more suitable for +publication, so that I could awaken a fairer conviction of the sense and +cohesion of the results disclosed by analysis? The answer is, because +every dream which I investigate leads to the same difficulties and +places me under the same need of discretion; <a name="page_013"></a> +nor should I forgo this difficulty any the more were I to analyze the +dream of some one else. That could only be done when opportunity allowed +all concealment to be dropped without injury to those who trusted +me.</p> + +<p>The conclusion which is now forced upon me is that the dream is a +<i>sort of substitution</i> for those emotional and intellectual trains of +thought which I attained after complete analysis. I do not yet know the +process by which the dream arose from those thoughts, but I perceive +that it is wrong to regard the dream as psychically unimportant, a +purely physical process which has arisen from the activity of isolated +cortical elements awakened out of sleep.</p> + +<p>I must further remark that the dream is far shorter than the thoughts +which I hold it replaces; whilst analysis discovered that the dream was +provoked by an unimportant occurrence the evening before the dream.</p> + +<p>Naturally, I would not draw such far-reaching conclusions if only one +analysis were known to me. Experience has shown me that when the +associations of any dream are honestly followed such a chain of thought +is revealed, the constituent parts of the dream reappear correctly and +sensibly linked together; the slight suspicion that this concatenation +<a name="page_014"></a> was merely an accident of a single first +observation must, therefore, be absolutely relinquished. I regard it, +therefore, as my right to establish this new view by a proper +nomenclature. I contrast the dream which my memory evokes with the dream +and other added matter revealed by analysis: the former I call the +dream's <i>manifest content</i>; the latter, without at first further +subdivision, its <i>latent content</i>. I arrive at two new problems hitherto +unformulated: (1) What is the psychical process which has transformed +the latent content of the dream into its manifest content? (2) What is +the motive or the motives which have made such transformation exigent? +The process by which the change from latent to manifest content is +executed I name the <i>dream-work</i>. In contrast with this is the <i>work of +analysis</i>, which produces the reverse transformation. The other problems +of the dream—the inquiry as to its stimuli, as to the source of +its materials, as to its possible purpose, the function of dreaming, the +forgetting of dreams—these I will discuss in connection with the +latent dream-content.</p> + +<p>I shall take every care to avoid a confusion between the <i>manifest</i> +and the <i>latent content</i>, for I ascribe all the contradictory as well as +the incorrect accounts of dream-life to the ignorance of this <a +name="page_015"></a> latent content, now first laid bare through +analysis.</p> + +<p>The conversion of the latent dream thoughts into those manifest +deserves our close study as the first known example of the +transformation of psychical stuff from one mode of expression into +another. From a mode of expression which, moreover, is readily +intelligible into another which we can only penetrate by effort and with +guidance, although this new mode must be equally reckoned as an effort +of our own psychical activity. From the standpoint of the relationship +of latent to manifest dream-content, dreams can be divided into three +classes. We can, in the first place, distinguish those dreams which have +a <i>meaning</i> and are, at the same time, <i>intelligible</i>, which allow us to +penetrate into our psychical life without further ado. Such dreams are +numerous; they are usually short, and, as a general rule, do not seem +very noticeable, because everything remarkable or exciting surprise is +absent. Their occurrence is, moreover, a strong argument against the +doctrine which derives the dream from the isolated activity of certain +cortical elements. All signs of a lowered or subdivided psychical +activity are wanting. Yet we never raise any objection to characterizing +them as dreams, nor do we confound them with the products of our waking +life.</p> + +<p><a name="page_016"></a>A second group is formed by those dreams +which are indeed self-coherent and have a distinct meaning, but appear +strange because we are unable to reconcile their meaning with our mental +life. That is the case when we dream, for instance, that some dear +relative has died of plague when we know of no ground for expecting, +apprehending, or assuming anything of the sort; we can only ask ourself +wonderingly: "What brought that into my head?" To the third group those +dreams belong which are void of both meaning and intelligibility; they +are <i>incoherent, complicated, and meaningless</i>. The overwhelming number +of our dreams partake of this character, and this has given rise to the +contemptuous attitude towards dreams and the medical theory of their +limited psychical activity. It is especially in the longer and more +complicated dream-plots that signs of incoherence are seldom +missing.</p> + +<p>The contrast between manifest and latent dream-content is clearly +only of value for the dreams of the second and more especially for those +of the third class. Here are problems which are only solved when the +manifest dream is replaced by its latent content; it was an example of +this kind, a complicated and unintelligible dream, that we subjected to +analysis. Against our expectation we, however, struck upon reasons which +prevented a complete <a name="page_017"></a> cognizance of the latent +dream thought. On the repetition of this same experience we were forced +to the supposition that there is an <i>intimate bond, with laws of its +own, between the unintelligible and complicated nature of the dream and +the difficulties attending communication of the thoughts connected with +the dream</i>. Before investigating the nature of this bond, it will be +advantageous to turn our attention to the more readily intelligible +dreams of the first class where, the manifest and latent content being +identical, the dream work seems to be omitted.</p> + +<p>The investigation of these dreams is also advisable from another +standpoint. The dreams of <i>children</i> are of this nature; they have a +meaning, and are not bizarre. This, by the way, is a further objection +to reducing dreams to a dissociation of cerebral activity in sleep, for +why should such a lowering of psychical functions belong to the nature +of sleep in adults, but not in children? We are, however, fully +justified in expecting that the explanation of psychical processes in +children, essentially simplified as they may be, should serve as an +indispensable preparation towards the psychology of the adult.</p> + +<p>I shall therefore cite some examples of dreams which I have gathered +from children. A girl of <a name="page_018"></a> nineteen months was +made to go without food for a day because she had been sick in the +morning, and, according to nurse, had made herself ill through eating +strawberries. During the night, after her day of fasting, she was heard +calling out her name during sleep, and adding: "<i>Tawberry, eggs, pap</i>." +She is dreaming that she is eating, and selects out of her menu exactly +what she supposes she will not get much of just now.</p> + +<p>The same kind of dream about a forbidden dish was that of a little +boy of twenty-two months. The day before he was told to offer his uncle +a present of a small basket of cherries, of which the child was, of +course, only allowed one to taste. He woke up with the joyful news: +"Hermann eaten up all the cherries."</p> + +<p>A girl of three and a half years had made during the day a sea trip +which was too short for her, and she cried when she had to get out of +the boat. The next morning her story was that during the night she had +been on the sea, thus continuing the interrupted trip.</p> + +<p>A boy of five and a half years was not at all pleased with his party +during a walk in the Dachstein region. Whenever a new peak came into +sight he asked if that were the Dachstein, and, finally, refused to +accompany the party to the waterfall. <a name="page_019"></a> His +behavior was ascribed to fatigue; but a better explanation was +forthcoming when the next morning he told his dream: <i>he had ascended +the Dachstein</i>. Obviously he expected the ascent of the Dachstein to be +the object of the excursion, and was vexed by not getting a glimpse of +the mountain. The dream gave him what the day had withheld. The dream of +a girl of six was similar; her father had cut short the walk before +reaching the promised objective on account of the lateness of the hour. +On the way back she noticed a signpost giving the name of another place +for excursions; her father promised to take her there also some other +day. She greeted her father next day with the news that she had dreamt +that <i>her father had been with her to both places</i>.</p> + +<p>What is common in all these dreams is obvious. They completely +satisfy wishes excited during the day which remain unrealized. They are +simply and undisguisedly realizations of wishes.</p> + +<p>The following child-dream, not quite understandable at first sight, +is nothing else than a wish realized. On account of poliomyelitis a +girl, not quite four years of age, was brought from the country into +town, and remained over night with a childless aunt in a big—for +her, naturally, huge—bed. The next morning she stated that she had +dreamt <a name="page_020"></a> that <i>the bed was much too small for +her, so that she could find no place in it</i>. To explain this dream as a +wish is easy when we remember that to be "big" is a frequently expressed +wish of all children. The bigness of the bed reminded Miss +Little-Would-be-Big only too forcibly of her smallness. This nasty +situation became righted in her dream, and she grew so big that the bed +now became too small for her.</p> + +<p>Even when children's dreams are complicated and polished, their +comprehension as a realization of desire is fairly evident. A boy of +eight dreamt that he was being driven with Achilles in a war-chariot, +guided by Diomedes. The day before he was assiduously reading about +great heroes. It is easy to show that he took these heroes as his +models, and regretted that he was not living in those days.</p> + +<p>From this short collection a further characteristic of the dreams of +children is manifest—<i>their connection with the life of the day</i>. +The desires which are realized in these dreams are left over from the +day or, as a rule, the day previous, and the feeling has become intently +emphasized and fixed during the day thoughts. Accidental and indifferent +matters, or what must appear so to the child, find no acceptance in the +contents of the dream.</p> + +<p><a name="page_021"></a>Innumerable instances of such dreams of the +infantile type can be found among adults also, but, as mentioned, these +are mostly exactly like the manifest content. Thus, a random selection +of persons will generally respond to thirst at night-time with a dream +about drinking, thus striving to get rid of the sensation and to let +sleep continue. Many persons frequently have these comforting <i>dreams</i> +before waking, just when they are called. They then dream that they are +already up, that they are washing, or already in school, at the office, +etc., where they ought to be at a given time. The night before an +intended journey one not infrequently dreams that one has already +arrived at the destination; before going to a play or to a party the +dream not infrequently anticipates, in impatience, as it were, the +expected pleasure. At other times the dream expresses the realization of +the desire somewhat indirectly; some connection, some sequel must be +known—the first step towards recognizing the desire. Thus, when a +husband related to me the dream of his young wife, that her monthly +period had begun, I had to bethink myself that the young wife would have +expected a pregnancy if the period had been absent. The dream is then a +sign of pregnancy. Its meaning is that it shows the wish realized that +pregnancy should not occur just yet. <a name="page_022"></a> Under +unusual and extreme circumstances, these dreams of the infantile type +become very frequent. The leader of a polar expedition tells us, for +instance, that during the wintering amid the ice the crew, with their +monotonous diet and slight rations, dreamt regularly, like children, of +fine meals, of mountains of tobacco, and of home.</p> + +<p>It is not uncommon that out of some long, complicated and intricate +dream one specially lucid part stands out containing unmistakably the +realization of a desire, but bound up with much unintelligible matter. +On more frequently analyzing the seemingly more transparent dreams of +adults, it is astonishing to discover that these are rarely as simple as +the dreams of children, and that they cover another meaning beyond that +of the realization of a wish.</p> + +<p>It would certainly be a simple and convenient solution of the riddle +if the work of analysis made it at all possible for us to trace the +meaningless and intricate dreams of adults back to the infantile type, +to the realization of some intensely experienced desire of the day. But +there is no warrant for such an expectation. Their dreams are generally +full of the most indifferent and bizarre matter, and no trace of the +realization of the wish is to be found in their content.</p> + +<p><a name="page_023"></a>Before leaving these infantile dreams, which +are obviously unrealized desires, we must not fail to mention another +chief characteristic of dreams, one that has been long noticed, and one +which stands out most clearly in this class. I can replace any of these +dreams by a phrase expressing a desire. If the sea trip had only lasted +longer; if I were only washed and dressed; if I had only been allowed to +keep the cherries instead of giving them to my uncle. But the dream +gives something more than the choice, for here the desire is already +realized; its realization is real and actual. The dream presentations +consist chiefly, if not wholly, of scenes and mainly of visual sense +images. Hence a kind of transformation is not entirely absent in this +class of dreams, and this may be fairly designated as the dream work. +<i>An idea merely existing in the region of possibility is replaced by a +vision of its accomplishment.</i></p> + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_024"></a>II<br> + +THE DREAM MECHANISM</h2></center> + + +<p>We are compelled to assume that such transformation of scene has also +taken place in intricate dreams, though we do not know whether it has +encountered any possible desire. The dream instanced at the +commencement, which we analyzed somewhat thoroughly, did give us +occasion in two places to suspect something of the kind. Analysis +brought out that my wife was occupied with others at table, and that I +did not like it; in the dream itself <i>exactly the opposite</i> occurs, for +the person who replaces my wife gives me her undivided attention. But +can one wish for anything pleasanter after a disagreeable incident than +that the exact contrary should have occurred, just as the dream has it? +The stinging thought in the analysis, that I have never had anything for +nothing, is similarly connected with the woman's remark in the dream: +"You have always had such beautiful eyes." Some portion of the +opposition between the latent and manifest content of the dream must be +therefore derived from the realization of a wish.</p> + +<p><a name="page_025"></a>Another manifestation of the dream work which +all incoherent dreams have in common is still more noticeable. Choose +any instance, and compare the number of separate elements in it, or the +extent of the dream, if written down, with the dream thoughts yielded by +analysis, and of which but a trace can be refound in the dream itself. +There can be no doubt that the dream working has resulted in an +extraordinary compression or <i>condensation</i>. It is not at first easy to +form an opinion as to the extent of the condensation; the more deeply +you go into the analysis, the more deeply you are impressed by it. There +will be found no factor in the dream whence the chains of associations +do not lead in two or more directions, no scene which has not been +pieced together out of two or more impressions and events. For instance, +I once dreamt about a kind of swimming-bath where the bathers suddenly +separated in all directions; at one place on the edge a person stood +bending towards one of the bathers as if to drag him out. The scene was +a composite one, made up out of an event that occurred at the time of +puberty, and of two pictures, one of which I had seen just shortly +before the dream. The two pictures were The Surprise in the Bath, from +Schwind's Cycle of the Melusine (note the bathers suddenly separating), +and The Flood, by an <a name="page_026"></a> Italian master. The little +incident was that I once witnessed a lady, who had tarried in the +swimming-bath until the men's hour, being helped out of the water by the +swimming-master. The scene in the dream which was selected for analysis +led to a whole group of reminiscences, each one of which had contributed +to the dream content. First of all came the little episode from the time +of my courting, of which I have already spoken; the pressure of a hand +under the table gave rise in the dream to the "under the table," which I +had subsequently to find a place for in my recollection. There was, of +course, at the time not a word about "undivided attention." Analysis +taught me that this factor is the realization of a desire through its +contradictory and related to the behavior of my wife at the table +d'hôte. An exactly similar and much more important episode of our +courtship, one which separated us for an entire day, lies hidden behind +this recent recollection. The intimacy, the hand resting upon the knee, +refers to a quite different connection and to quite other persons. This +element in the dream becomes again the starting-point of two distinct +series of reminiscences, and so on.</p> + +<p>The stuff of the dream thoughts which has been accumulated for the +formation of the dream scene must be naturally fit for this application. +There <a name="page_027"></a> must be one or more common factors. The +dream work proceeds like Francis Galton with his family photographs. The +different elements are put one on top of the other; what is common to +the composite picture stands out clearly, the opposing details cancel +each other. This process of reproduction partly explains the wavering +statements, of a peculiar vagueness, in so many elements of the dream. +For the interpretation of dreams this rule holds good: When analysis +discloses <i>uncertainty</i>, as to <i>either</i>—<i>or</i> read <i>and</i>, <i>taking</i> +each section of the apparent alternatives as a separate outlet for a +series of impressions.</p> + +<p>When there is nothing in common between the dream thoughts, the dream +work takes the trouble to create a something, in order to make a common +presentation feasible in the dream. The simplest way to approximate two +dream thoughts, which have as yet nothing in common, consists in making +such a change in the actual expression of one idea as will meet a slight +responsive recasting in the form of the other idea. The process is +analogous to that of rhyme, when consonance supplies the desired common +factor. A good deal of the dream work consists in the creation of those +frequently very witty, but often exaggerated, digressions. These vary +from the common presentation in the dream <a name="page_028"></a> +content to dream thoughts which are as varied as are the causes in form +and essence which give rise to them. In the analysis of our example of a +dream, I find a like case of the transformation of a thought in order +that it might agree with another essentially foreign one. In following +out the analysis I struck upon the thought: <i>I should like to have +something for nothing</i>. But this formula is not serviceable to the +dream. Hence it is replaced by another one: "I should like to enjoy +something free of cost."<a href="#page_028_note_1"><sup>1</sup></a> The +word "kost" (taste), with its double meaning, is appropriate to a table +d'hôte; it, moreover, is in place through the special sense in the +dream. At home if there is a dish which the children decline, their +mother first tries gentle persuasion, with a "Just taste it." That the +dream work should unhesitatingly use the double meaning of the word is +certainly remarkable; ample experience has shown, however, that the +occurrence is quite usual.</p> + +<p>Through condensation of the dream certain constituent <a +name="page_029"></a> parts of its content are explicable which are +peculiar to the dream life alone, and which are not found in the waking +state. Such are the composite and mixed persons, the extraordinary mixed +figures, creations comparable with the fantastic animal compositions of +Orientals; a moment's thought and these are reduced to unity, whilst the +fancies of the dream are ever formed anew in an inexhaustible profusion. +Every one knows such images in his own dreams; manifold are their +origins. I can build up a person by borrowing one feature from one +person and one from another, or by giving to the form of one the name of +another in my dream. I can also visualize one person, but place him in a +position which has occurred to another. There is a meaning in all these +cases when different persons are amalgamated into one substitute. Such +cases denote an "and," a "just like," a comparison of the original +person from a certain point of view, a comparison which can be also +realized in the dream itself. As a rule, however, the identity of the +blended persons is only discoverable by analysis, and is only indicated +in the dream content by the formation of the "combined" person.</p> + +<p>The same diversity in their ways of formation and the same rules for +its solution hold good also for the innumerable medley of dream +contents, examples <a name="page_030"></a> of which I need scarcely +adduce. Their strangeness quite disappears when we resolve not to place +them on a level with the objects of perception as known to us when +awake, but to remember that they represent the art of dream condensation +by an exclusion of unnecessary detail. Prominence is given to the common +character of the combination. Analysis must also generally supply the +common features. The dream says simply: <i>All these things have an "x" in +common</i>. The decomposition of these mixed images by analysis is often +the quickest way to an interpretation of the dream. Thus I once dreamt +that I was sitting with one of my former university tutors on a bench, +which was undergoing a rapid continuous movement amidst other benches. +This was a combination of lecture-room and moving staircase. I will not +pursue the further result of the thought. Another time I was sitting in +a carriage, and on my lap an object in shape like a top-hat, which, +however, was made of transparent glass. The scene at once brought to my +mind the proverb: "He who keeps his hat in his hand will travel safely +through the land." By a slight turn the <i>glass hat</i> reminded me of +<i>Auer's light</i>, and I knew that I was about to invent something which +was to make me as rich and independent as his invention had made my +countryman, Dr. <a name="page_031"></a> Auer, of Welsbach; then I +should be able to travel instead of remaining in Vienna. In the dream I +was traveling with my invention, with the, it is true, rather awkward +glass top-hat. The dream work is peculiarly adept at representing two +contradictory conceptions by means of the same mixed image. Thus, for +instance, a woman dreamt of herself carrying a tall flower-stalk, as in +the picture of the Annunciation (Chastity-Mary is her own name), but the +stalk was bedecked with thick white blossoms resembling camellias +(contrast with chastity: La dame aux Camelias).</p> + +<p>A great deal of what we have called "dream condensation" can be thus +formulated. Each one of the elements of the dream content is +<i>overdetermined</i> by the matter of the dream thoughts; it is not derived +from one element of these thoughts, but from a whole series. These are +not necessarily interconnected in any way, but may belong to the most +diverse spheres of thought. The dream element truly represents all this +disparate matter in the dream content. Analysis, moreover, discloses +another side of the relationship between dream content and dream +thoughts. Just as one element of the dream leads to associations with +several dream thoughts, so, as a rule, the <i>one dream thought represents +more than one dream element</i>. The threads <a name="page_032"></a> of +the association do not simply converge from the dream thoughts to the +dream content, but on the way they overlap and interweave in every +way.</p> + +<p>Next to the transformation of one thought in the scene (its +"dramatization"), condensation is the most important and most +characteristic feature of the dream work. We have as yet no clue as to +the motive calling for such compression of the content.</p> + +<p>In the complicated and intricate dreams with which we are now +concerned, condensation and dramatization do not wholly account for the +difference between dream contents and dream thoughts. There is evidence +of a third factor, which deserves careful consideration.</p> + +<p>When I have arrived at an understanding of the dream thoughts by my +analysis I notice, above all, that the matter of the manifest is very +different from that of the latent dream content. That is, I admit, only +an apparent difference which vanishes on closer investigation, for in +the end I find the whole dream content carried out in the dream +thoughts, nearly all the dream thoughts again represented in the dream +content. Nevertheless, there does remain a certain amount of +difference.</p> + +<p>The essential content which stood out clearly and broadly in the +dream must, after analysis, rest satisfied <a name="page_033"></a> with +a very subordinate rôle among the dream thoughts. These very dream +thoughts which, going by my feelings, have a claim to the greatest +importance are either not present at all in the dream content, or are +represented by some remote allusion in some obscure region of the dream. +I can thus describe these phenomena: <i>During the dream work the +psychical intensity of those thoughts and conceptions to which it +properly pertains flows to others which, in my judgment, have no claim +to such emphasis</i>. There is no other process which contributes so much +to concealment of the dream's meaning and to make the connection between +the dream content and dream ideas irrecognizable. During this process, +which I will call <i>the dream displacement</i>, I notice also the psychical +intensity, significance, or emotional nature of the thoughts become +transposed in sensory vividness. What was clearest in the dream seems to +me, without further consideration, the most important; but often in some +obscure element of the dream I can recognize the most direct offspring +of the principal dream thought.</p> + +<p>I could only designate this dream displacement as the <i>transvaluation +of psychical values</i>. The phenomena will not have been considered in all +its bearings unless I add that this displacement or <a +name="page_034"></a> transvaluation is shared by different dreams in +extremely varying degrees. There are dreams which take place almost +without any displacement. These have the same time, meaning, and +intelligibility as we found in the dreams which recorded a desire. In +other dreams not a bit of the dream idea has retained its own psychical +value, or everything essential in these dream ideas has been replaced by +unessentials, whilst every kind of transition between these conditions +can be found. The more obscure and intricate a dream is, the greater is +the part to be ascribed to the impetus of displacement in its +formation.</p> + +<p>The example that we chose for analysis shows, at least, this much of +displacement—that its content has a different center of interest +from that of the dream ideas. In the forefront of the dream content the +main scene appears as if a woman wished to make advances to me; in the +dream idea the chief interest rests on the desire to enjoy disinterested +love which shall "cost nothing"; this idea lies at the back of the talk +about the beautiful eyes and the far-fetched allusion to "spinach."</p> + +<p>If we abolish the dream displacement, we attain through analysis +quite certain conclusions regarding two problems of the dream which are +most disputed—as to what provokes a dream at all, and as <a +name="page_035"></a> to the connection of the dream with our waking +life. There are dreams which at once expose their links with the events +of the day; in others no trace of such a connection can be found. By the +aid of analysis it can be shown that every dream, without any exception, +is linked up with our impression of the day, or perhaps it would be more +correct to say of the day previous to the dream. The impressions which +have incited the dream may be so important that we are not surprised at +our being occupied with them whilst awake; in this case we are right in +saying that the dream carries on the chief interest of our waking life. +More usually, however, when the dream contains anything relating to the +impressions of the day, it is so trivial, unimportant, and so deserving +of oblivion, that we can only recall it with an effort. The dream +content appears, then, even when coherent and intelligible, to be +concerned with those indifferent trifles of thought undeserving of our +waking interest. The depreciation of dreams is largely due to the +predominance of the indifferent and the worthless in their content.</p> + +<p>Analysis destroys the appearance upon which this derogatory judgment +is based. When the dream content discloses nothing but some indifferent +impression as instigating the dream, analysis ever indicates some +significant event, which has been replaced <a name="page_036"></a> by +something indifferent with which it has entered into abundant +associations. Where the dream is concerned with uninteresting and +unimportant conceptions, analysis reveals the numerous associative paths +which connect the trivial with the momentous in the psychical estimation +of the individual. <i>It is only the action of displacement if what is +indifferent obtains recognition in the dream content instead of those +impressions which are really the stimulus, or instead of the things of +real interest</i>. In answering the question as to what provokes the dream, +as to the connection of the dream, in the daily troubles, we must say, +in terms of the insight given us by replacing the manifest latent dream +content: <i>The dream does never trouble itself about things which are not +deserving of our concern during the day, and trivialities which do not +trouble us during the day have no power to pursue us whilst asleep</i>.</p> + +<p>What provoked the dream in the example which we have analyzed? The +really unimportant event, that a friend invited me to a <i>free ride in +his cab</i>. The table d'hôte scene in the dream contains an allusion to +this indifferent motive, for in conversation I had brought the taxi +parallel with the table d'hôte. But I can indicate the important event +which has as its substitute the trivial one. A few <a +name="page_037"></a> days before I had disbursed a large sum of money +for a member of my family who is very dear to me. Small wonder, says the +dream thought, if this person is grateful to me for this—this love +is not cost-free. But love that shall cost nothing is one of the prime +thoughts of the dream. The fact that shortly before this I had had +several <i>drives</i> with the relative in question puts the one drive with +my friend in a position to recall the connection with the other person. +The indifferent impression which, by such ramifications, provokes the +dream is subservient to another condition which is not true of the real +source of the dream—the impression must be a recent one, +everything arising from the day of the dream.</p> + +<p>I cannot leave the question of dream displacement without the +consideration of a remarkable process in the formation of dreams in +which condensation and displacement work together towards one end. In +condensation we have already considered the case where two conceptions +in the dream having something in common, some point of contact, are +replaced in the dream content by a mixed image, where the distinct germ +corresponds to what is common, and the indistinct secondary +modifications to what is distinctive. If displacement is added to +condensation, there is no formation of a <a name="page_038"></a> mixed +image, but a <i>common mean</i> which bears the same relationship to the +individual elements as does the resultant in the parallelogram of forces +to its components. In one of my dreams, for instance, there is talk of +an injection with <i>propyl</i>. On first analysis I discovered an +indifferent but true incident where <i>amyl</i> played a part as the excitant +of the dream. I cannot yet vindicate the exchange of amyl for propyl. To +the round of ideas of the same dream, however, there belongs the +recollection of my first visit to Munich, when the <i>Propylœa</i> +struck me. The attendant circumstances of the analysis render it +admissible that the influence of this second group of conceptions caused +the displacement of amyl to propyl. <i>Propyl</i> is, so to say, the mean +idea between <i>amyl</i> and <i>propylœa</i>; it got into the dream as a +kind of <i>compromise</i> by simultaneous condensation and displacement.</p> + +<p>The need of discovering some motive for this bewildering work of the +dream is even more called for in the case of displacement than in +condensation.</p> + +<p>Although the work of displacement must be held mainly responsible if +the dream thoughts are not refound or recognized in the dream content +(unless the motive of the changes be guessed), it is another and milder +kind of transformation which will be considered with the dream thoughts +which leads to <a name="page_039"></a> the discovery of a new but +readily understood act of the dream work. The first dream thoughts which +are unravelled by analysis frequently strike one by their unusual +wording. They do not appear to be expressed in the sober form which our +thinking prefers; rather are they expressed symbolically by allegories +and metaphors like the figurative language of the poets. It is not +difficult to find the motives for this degree of constraint in the +expression of dream ideas. The dream content consists chiefly of visual +scenes; hence the dream ideas must, in the first place, be prepared to +make use of these forms of presentation. Conceive that a political +leader's or a barrister's address had to be transposed into pantomime, +and it will be easy to understand the transformations to which the dream +work is constrained by regard for this <i>dramatization of the dream +content</i>.</p> + +<p>Around the psychical stuff of dream thoughts there are ever found +reminiscences of impressions, not infrequently of early +childhood—scenes which, as a rule, have been visually grasped. +Whenever possible, this portion of the dream ideas exercises a definite +influence upon the modelling of the dream content; it works like a +center of crystallization, by attracting and rearranging the stuff of +the dream thoughts. The scene of the dream is not infrequently <a +name="page_040"></a> nothing but a modified repetition, complicated by +interpolations of events that have left such an impression; the dream +but very seldom reproduces accurate and unmixed reproductions of real +scenes.</p> + +<p>The dream content does not, however, consist exclusively of scenes, +but it also includes scattered fragments of visual images, +conversations, and even bits of unchanged thoughts. It will be perhaps +to the point if we instance in the briefest way the means of +dramatization which are at the disposal of the dream work for the +repetition of the dream thoughts in the peculiar language of the +dream.</p> + +<p>The dream thoughts which we learn from the analysis exhibit +themselves as a psychical complex of the most complicated +superstructure. Their parts stand in the most diverse relationship to +each other; they form backgrounds and foregrounds, stipulations, +digressions, illustrations, demonstrations, and protestations. It may be +said to be almost the rule that one train of thought is followed by its +contradictory. No feature known to our reason whilst awake is absent. If +a dream is to grow out of all this, the psychical matter is submitted to +a pressure which condenses it extremely, to an inner shrinking and +displacement, creating at the same time fresh surfaces, to a selective +interweaving <a name="page_041"></a> among the constituents best +adapted for the construction of these scenes. Having regard to the +origin of this stuff, the term <i>regression</i> can be fairly applied to +this process. The logical chains which hitherto held the psychical stuff +together become lost in this transformation to the dream content. The +dream work takes on, as it were, only the essential content of the dream +thoughts for elaboration. It is left to analysis to restore the +connection which the dream work has destroyed.</p> + +<p>The dream's means of expression must therefore be regarded as meager +in comparison with those of our imagination, though the dream does not +renounce all claims to the restitution of logical relation to the dream +thoughts. It rather succeeds with tolerable frequency in replacing these +by formal characters of its own.</p> + +<p>By reason of the undoubted connection existing between all the parts +of dream thoughts, the dream is able to embody this matter into a single +scene. It upholds a <i>logical connection</i> as <i>approximation in time and +space</i>, just as the painter, who groups all the poets for his picture of +Parnassus who, though they have never been all together on a mountain +peak, yet form ideally a community. The dream continues this method of +presentation in individual dreams, and often when it displays two +elements <a name="page_042"></a> close together in the dream content it +warrants some special inner connection between what they represent in +the dream thoughts. It should be, moreover, observed that all the dreams +of one night prove on analysis to originate from the same sphere of +thought.</p> + +<p>The causal connection between two ideas is either left without +presentation, or replaced by two different long portions of dreams one +after the other. This presentation is frequently a reversed one, the +beginning of the dream being the deduction, and its end the hypothesis. +The direct <i>transformation</i> of one thing into another in the dream seems +to serve the relationship of <i>cause</i> and <i>effect</i>.</p> + +<p>The dream never utters the <i>alternative "either-or,"</i> but accepts +both as having equal rights in the same connection. When "either-or" is +used in the reproduction of dreams, it is, as I have already mentioned, +to be replaced by "<i>and</i>."</p> + +<p>Conceptions which stand in opposition to one another are preferably +expressed in dreams by the same element.<a +href="#page_042_note_2"><sup>2</sup></a> There seems no "not" in dreams. +<a name="page_043"></a> Opposition between two ideas, the relation of +conversion, is represented in dreams in a very remarkable way. It is +expressed by the reversal of another part of the dream content just as +if by way of appendix. We shall later on deal with another form of +expressing disagreement. The common dream sensation of <i>movement +checked</i> serves the purpose of representing disagreement of +impulses—a <i>conflict of the will</i>.</p> + +<p>Only one of the logical relationships—that of <i>similarity, +identity, agreement</i>—is found highly developed in the mechanism of +dream formation. Dream work makes use of these cases as a starting-point +for condensation, drawing together everything which shows such agreement +to a <i>fresh unity</i>.</p> + +<p>These short, crude observations naturally do not suffice as an +estimate of the abundance of the dream's formal means of presenting the +logical relationships of the dream thoughts. In this respect, individual +dreams are worked up more nicely or more carelessly, our text will have +been followed more or less closely, auxiliaries of the dream work <a +name="page_044"></a> will have been taken more or less into +consideration. In the latter case they appear obscure, intricate, +incoherent. When the dream appears openly absurd, when it contains an +obvious paradox in its content, it is so of purpose. Through its +apparent disregard of all logical claims, it expresses a part of the +intellectual content of the dream ideas. Absurdity in the dream denotes +<i>disagreement, scorn, disdain</i> in the dream thoughts. As this +explanation is in entire disagreement with the view that the dream owes +its origin to dissociated, uncritical cerebral activity, I will +emphasize my view by an example:</p> + +<p><i>"One of my acquaintances, Mr. M____, has been attacked by no less a +person than Goethe in an essay with, we all maintain, unwarrantable +violence. Mr. M____ has naturally been ruined by this attack. He +complains very bitterly of this at a dinner-party, but his respect for +Goethe has not diminished through this personal experience. I now +attempt to clear up the chronological relations which strike me as +improbable. Goethe died in 1832. As his attack upon Mr. M____ must, of +course, have taken place before, Mr. M____ must have been then a very +young man. It seems to me plausible that he was eighteen. I am not +certain, however, what year we are actually in, and the whole +calculation <a name="page_045"></a> falls into obscurity. The attack +was, moreover, contained in Goethe's well-known essay on 'Nature.'"</i></p> + +<p>The absurdity of the dream becomes the more glaring when I state that +Mr. M____ is a young business man without any poetical or literary +interests. My analysis of the dream will show what method there is in +this madness. The dream has derived its material from three sources:</p> + +<p>1. Mr. M____, to whom I was introduced at a dinner-party, begged me +one day to examine his elder brother, who showed signs of mental +trouble. In conversation with the patient, an unpleasant episode +occurred. Without the slightest occasion he disclosed one of his +brother's <i>youthful escapades</i>. I had asked the patient the <i>year of his +birth</i> (<i>year of death</i> in dream), and led him to various calculations +which might show up his want of memory.</p> + +<p>2. A medical journal which displayed my name among others on the +cover had published a <i>ruinous</i> review of a book by my friend F____ of +Berlin, from the pen of a very <i>juvenile</i> reviewer. I communicated with +the editor, who, indeed, expressed his regret, but would not promise any +redress. Thereupon I broke off my connection with the paper; in my +letter of resignation I expressed the hope that our <i>personal relations +would not suffer <a name="page_046"></a> from this</i>. Here is the real +source of the dream. The derogatory reception of my friend's work had +made a deep impression upon me. In my judgment, it contained a +fundamental biological discovery which only now, several years later, +commences to find favor among the professors.</p> + +<p>3. A little while before, a patient gave me the medical history of +her brother, who, exclaiming "<i>Nature, Nature!</i>" had gone out of his +mind. The doctors considered that the exclamation arose from a study of +<i>Goethe's</i> beautiful essay, and indicated that the patient had been +overworking. I expressed the opinion that it seemed more <i>plausible</i> to +me that the exclamation "Nature!" was to be taken in that sexual meaning +known also to the less educated in our country. It seemed to me that +this view had something in it, because the unfortunate youth afterwards +mutilated his genital organs. The patient was eighteen years old when +the attack occurred.</p> + +<p>The first person in the dream-thoughts behind the ego was my friend +who had been so scandalously treated. <i>"I now attempted to clear up the +chronological relation."</i> My friend's book deals with the chronological +relations of life, and, amongst other things, correlates <i>Goethe's</i> +duration of life with a number of days in many ways important to +biology. <a name="page_047"></a> The ego is, however, represented as a +general paralytic (<i>"I am not certain what year we are actually in"</i>). +The dream exhibits my friend as behaving like a general paralytic, and +thus riots in absurdity. But the dream thoughts run ironically. "Of +course he is a madman, a fool, and you are the genius who understands +all about it. But shouldn't it be the <i>other way round</i>?" This inversion +obviously took place in the dream when Goethe attacked the young man, +which is absurd, whilst any one, however young, can to-day easily attack +the great Goethe.</p> + +<p>I am prepared to maintain that no dream is inspired by other than +egoistic emotions. The ego in the dream does not, indeed, represent only +my friend, but stands for myself also. I identify myself with him +because the fate of his discovery appears to me typical of the +acceptance of <i>my own</i>. If I were to publish my own theory, which gives +sexuality predominance in the ætiology of psychoneurotic disorders (see +the allusion to the eighteen-year-old patient—<i>"Nature, +Nature!"</i>), the same criticism would be leveled at me, and it would even +now meet with the same contempt.</p> + +<p>When I follow out the dream thoughts closely, I ever find only +<i>scorn</i> and <i>contempt</i> as <i>correlated with the dream's absurdity</i>. It is +well known that the discovery of a cracked sheep's skull on the Lido in +<a name="page_048"></a> Venice gave Goethe the hint for the so-called +vertebral theory of the skull. My friend plumes himself on having as a +student raised a hubbub for the resignation of an aged professor who had +done good work (including some in this very subject of comparative +anatomy), but who, on account of <i>decrepitude</i>, had become quite +incapable of teaching. The agitation my friend inspired was so +successful because in the German Universities an <i>age limit</i> is not +demanded for academic work. <i>Age is no protection against folly.</i> In the +hospital here I had for years the honor to serve under a chief who, long +fossilized, was for decades notoriously <i>feebleminded</i>, and was yet +permitted to continue in his responsible office. A trait, after the +manner of the find in the Lido, forces itself upon me here. It was to +this man that some youthful colleagues in the hospital adapted the then +popular slang of that day: "No Goethe has written that," "No Schiller +composed that," etc.</p> + +<p>We have not exhausted our valuation of the dream work. In addition to +condensation, displacement, and definite arrangement of the psychical +matter, we must ascribe to it yet another activity—one which is, +indeed, not shared by every dream. I shall not treat this position of +the dream work exhaustively; I will only point out that the readiest <a +name="page_049"></a> way to arrive at a conception of it is to take for +granted, probably unfairly, that it <i>only subsequently influences the +dream content which has already been built up</i>. Its mode of action thus +consists in so coördinating the parts of the dream that these coalesce +to a coherent whole, to a dream composition. The dream gets a kind of +façade which, it is true, does not conceal the whole of its content. +There is a sort of preliminary explanation to be strengthened by +interpolations and slight alterations. Such elaboration of the dream +content must not be too pronounced; the misconception of the dream +thoughts to which it gives rise is merely superficial, and our first +piece of work in analyzing a dream is to get rid of these early attempts +at interpretation.</p> + +<p>The motives for this part of the dream work are easily gauged. This +final elaboration of the dream is due to a <i>regard for +intelligibility</i>—a fact at once betraying the origin of an action +which behaves towards the actual dream content just as our normal +psychical action behaves towards some proffered perception that is to +our liking. The dream content is thus secured under the pretense of +certain expectations, is perceptually classified by the supposition of +its intelligibility, thereby risking its falsification, whilst, in fact, +the most extraordinary <a name="page_050"></a> misconceptions arise if +the dream can be correlated with nothing familiar. Every one is aware +that we are unable to look at any series of unfamiliar signs, or to +listen to a discussion of unknown words, without at once making +perpetual changes through <i>our regard for intelligibility</i>, through our +falling back upon what is familiar.</p> + +<p>We can call those dreams <i>properly made up</i> which are the result of +an elaboration in every way analogous to the psychical action of our +waking life. In other dreams there is no such action; not even an +attempt is made to bring about order and meaning. We regard the dream as +"quite mad," because on awaking it is with this last-named part of the +dream work, the dream elaboration, that we identify ourselves. So far, +however, as our analysis is concerned, the dream, which resembles a +medley of disconnected fragments, is of as much value as the one with a +smooth and beautifully polished surface. In the former case we are +spared, to some extent, the trouble of breaking down the +super-elaboration of the dream content.</p> + +<p>All the same, it would be an error to see in the dream façade nothing +but the misunderstood and somewhat arbitrary elaboration of the dream +carried out at the instance of our psychical life. Wishes and phantasies +are not infrequently employed <a name="page_051"></a> in the erection +of this façade, which were already fashioned in the dream thoughts; they +are akin to those of our waking life—"day-dreams," as they are +very properly called. These wishes and phantasies, which analysis +discloses in our dreams at night, often present themselves as +repetitions and refashionings of the scenes of infancy. Thus the dream +façade may show us directly the true core of the dream, distorted +through admixture with other matter.</p> + +<p>Beyond these four activities there is nothing else to be discovered +in the dream work. If we keep closely to the definition that dream work +denotes the transference of dream thoughts to dream content, we are +compelled to say that the dream work is not creative; it develops no +fancies of its own, it judges nothing, decides nothing. It does nothing +but prepare the matter for condensation and displacement, and refashions +it for dramatization, to which must be added the inconstant last-named +mechanism—that of explanatory elaboration. It is true that a good +deal is found in the dream content which might be understood as the +result of another and more intellectual performance; but analysis shows +conclusively every time that these <i>intellectual operations were already +present in the dream thoughts, and have only been taken over by <a +name="page_052"></a> the dream content</i>. A syllogism in the dream is +nothing other than the repetition of a syllogism in the dream thoughts; +it seems inoffensive if it has been transferred to the dream without +alteration; it becomes absurd if in the dream work it has been +transferred to other matter. A calculation in the dream content simply +means that there was a calculation in the dream thoughts; whilst this is +always correct, the calculation in the dream can furnish the silliest +results by the condensation of its factors and the displacement of the +same operations to other things. Even speeches which are found in the +dream content are not new compositions; they prove to be pieced together +out of speeches which have been made or heard or read; the words are +faithfully copied, but the occasion of their utterance is quite +overlooked, and their meaning is most violently changed.</p> + +<p>It is, perhaps, not superfluous to support these assertions by +examples:</p> + +<p>1. <i>A seemingly inoffensive, well-made dream of a patient. She was +going to market with her cook, who carried the basket. The butcher said +to her when she asked him for something: "That is all gone," and wished +to give her something else, remarking; "That's very good." She declines, +and goes to the greengrocer, who wants to sell her a <a +name="page_053"></a> peculiar vegetable which is bound up in bundles +and of a black color. She says: "I don't know that; I won't take +it."</i></p> + +<p>The remark "That is all gone" arose from the treatment. A few days +before I said myself to the patient that the earliest reminiscences of +childhood <i>are all gone</i> as such, but are replaced by transferences and +dreams. Thus I am the butcher.</p> + +<p>The second remark, <i>"I don't know that"</i> arose in a very different +connection. The day before she had herself called out in rebuke to the +cook (who, moreover, also appears in the dream): "<i>Behave yourself +properly</i>; I don't know <i>that</i>"—that is, "I don't know this kind +of behavior; I won't have it." The more harmless portion of this speech +was arrived at by a displacement of the dream content; in the dream +thoughts only the other portion of the speech played a part, because the +dream work changed an imaginary situation into utter irrecognizability +and complete inoffensiveness (while in a certain sense I behave in an +unseemly way to the lady). The situation resulting in this phantasy is, +however, nothing but a new edition of one that actually took place.</p> + +<p>2. A dream apparently meaningless relates to figures. <i>"She wants to +pay something; her daughter takes three florins sixty-five kreuzers out +of her <a name="page_054"></a> purse; but she says: 'What are you +doing? It only cost twenty-one kreuzers.'"</i></p> + +<p>The dreamer was a stranger who had placed her child at school in +Vienna, and who was able to continue under my treatment so long as her +daughter remained at Vienna. The day before the dream the directress of +the school had recommended her to keep the child another year at school. +In this case she would have been able to prolong her treatment by one +year. The figures in the dream become important if it be remembered that +time is money. One year equals 365 days, or, expressed in kreuzers, 365 +kreuzers, which is three florins sixty-five kreuzers. The twenty-one +kreuzers correspond with the three weeks which remained from the day of +the dream to the end of the school term, and thus to the end of the +treatment. It was obviously financial considerations which had moved the +lady to refuse the proposal of the directress, and which were answerable +for the triviality of the amount in the dream.</p> + +<p>3. A lady, young, but already ten years married, heard that a friend +of hers, Miss Elise L____, of about the same age, had become engaged. +This gave rise to the following dream:</p> + +<p><i>She was sitting with her husband in the theater; the one side of the +stalls was quite empty. Her <a name="page_055"></a> husband tells her, +Elise L____ and her fiancé had intended coming, but could only get some +cheap seats, three for one florin fifty kreuzers, and these they would +not take. In her opinion, that would not have mattered very much.</i></p> + +<p>The origin of the figures from the matter of the dream thoughts and +the changes the figures underwent are of interest. Whence came the one +florin fifty kreuzers? From a trifling occurrence of the previous day. +Her sister-in-law had received 150 florins as a present from her +husband, and had quickly got rid of it by buying some ornament. Note +that 150 florins is one hundred times one florin fifty kreuzers. For the +<i>three</i> concerned with the tickets, the only link is that Elise L____ is +exactly three months younger than the dreamer. The scene in the dream is +the repetition of a little adventure for which she has often been teased +by her husband. She was once in a great hurry to get tickets in time for +a piece, and when she came to the theater <i>one side of the stalls was +almost empty</i>. It was therefore quite unnecessary for her to have been +in <i>such a hurry</i>. Nor must we overlook the absurdity of the dream that +two persons should take three tickets for the theater.</p> + +<p>Now for the dream ideas. It was <i>stupid</i> to have married so early; I +<i>need not</i> have been <i>in so great a <a name="page_056"></a> hurry</i>. +Elise L____'s example shows me that I should have been able to get a +husband later; indeed, one a <i>hundred times better</i> if I had but waited. +I could have bought <i>three</i> such men with the money (dowry).</p> + +<p><small><a name="page_028_note_1"></a><a href="#page_028">Footnote +1</a>: "Ich möchte gerne etwas geniessen ohne 'Kosten' zu haben." A a +pun upon the word "kosten," which has two meanings—"taste" and +"cost." In "Die Traumdeutung," third edition, p. 71 footnote, Professor +Freud remarks that "the finest example of dream interpretation left us +by the ancients is based upon a pun" (from "The Interpretation of +Dreams," by Artemidorus Daldianus). "Moreover, dreams are so intimately +bound up with language that Ferenczi truly points out that every tongue +has its own language of dreams. A dream is as a rule untranslatable into +other languages."—TRANSLATOR.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_042_note_2"></a><a href="#page_042">Footnote +2</a>: It is worthy of remark that eminent philologists maintain that +the oldest languages used the same word for expressing quite general +antitheses. In C. Abel's essay, "Ueber den Gegensinn der Urworter" +(1884, the following examples of such words in England are given: +"gleam—gloom"; "to lock—loch"; "down—The Downs"; "to +step—to stop." In his essay on "The Origin of Language" +("Linguistic Essays," p. 240), Abel says: "When the Englishman says +'without,' is not his judgment based upon the comparative juxtaposition +of two opposites, 'with' and 'out'; 'with' itself originally meant +'without,' as may still be seen in 'withdraw.' 'Bid' includes the +opposite sense of giving and of proffering." Abel, "The English Verbs of +Command," "Linguistic Essays," p. 104; see also Freud, "Ueber den +Gegensinn der Urworte"; <i>Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und +Psychopathologische Forschungen</i>, Band II., part i., p. +179).—TRANSLATOR.</small></p> + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_057"></a>III<br> + +WHY THE DREAM DISGUISES THE DESIRES</h2></center> + + +<p>In the foregoing exposition we have now learnt something of the dream +work; we must regard it as a quite special psychical process, which, so +far as we are aware, resembles nothing else. To the dream work has been +transferred that bewilderment which its product, the dream, has aroused +in us. In truth, the dream work is only the first recognition of a group +of psychical processes to which must be referred the origin of +hysterical symptoms, the ideas of morbid dread, obsession, and illusion. +Condensation, and especially displacement, are never-failing features in +these other processes. The regard for appearance remains, on the other +hand, peculiar to the dream work. If this explanation brings the dream +into line with the formation of psychical disease, it becomes the more +important to fathom the essential conditions of processes like dream +building. It will be probably a surprise to hear that neither the state +of sleep nor illness is among the indispensable conditions. A whole +number of phenomena of the everyday life of <a name="page_058"></a> +healthy persons, forgetfulness, slips in speaking and in holding things, +together with a certain class of mistakes, are due to a psychical +mechanism analogous to that of the dream and the other members of this +group.</p> + +<p>Displacement is the core of the problem, and the most striking of all +the dream performances. A thorough investigation of the subject shows +that the essential condition of displacement is purely psychological; it +is in the nature of a motive. We get on the track by thrashing out +experiences which one cannot avoid in the analysis of dreams. I had to +break off the relations of my dream thoughts in the analysis of my dream +on <a href="#page_008">p. 8</a> because I found some experiences which I +do not wish strangers to know, and which I could not relate without +serious damage to important considerations. I added, it would be no use +were I to select another instead of that particular dream; in every +dream where the content is obscure or intricate, I should hit upon dream +thoughts which call for secrecy. If, however, I continue the analysis +for myself, without regard to those others, for whom, indeed, so +personal an event as my dream cannot matter, I arrive finally at ideas +which surprise me, which I have not known to be mine, which not only +appear <i>foreign</i> to me, but which are <i>unpleasant</i>, and which I would +like to <a name="page_059"></a> oppose vehemently, whilst the chain of +ideas running through the analysis intrudes upon me inexorably. I can +only take these circumstances into account by admitting that these +thoughts are actually part of my psychical life, possessing a certain +psychical intensity or energy. However, by virtue of a particular +psychological condition, the <i>thoughts could not become conscious to +me</i>. I call this particular condition "<i>Repression</i>." It is therefore +impossible for me not to recognize some casual relationship between the +obscurity of the dream content and this state of repression—this +<i>incapacity of consciousness</i>. Whence I conclude that the cause of the +obscurity is <i>the desire to conceal these thoughts</i>. Thus I arrive at +the conception of the <i>dream distortion</i> as the deed of the dream work, +and of <i>displacement</i> serving to disguise this object.</p> + +<p>I will test this in my own dream, and ask myself, What is the thought +which, quite innocuous in its distorted form, provokes my liveliest +opposition in its real form? I remember that the free drive reminded me +of the last expensive drive with a member of my family, the +interpretation of the dream being: I should for once like to experience +affection for which I should not have to pay, and that shortly before +the dream I had to make a heavy disbursement for this very person. In +this connection, <a name="page_060"></a> I cannot get away from the +thought <i>that I regret this disbursement</i>. It is only when I acknowledge +this feeling that there is any sense in my wishing in the dream for an +affection that should entail no outlay. And yet I can state on my honor +that I did not hesitate for a moment when it became necessary to expend +that sum. The regret, the counter-current, was unconscious to me. Why it +was unconscious is quite another question which would lead us far away +from the answer which, though within my knowledge, belongs +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>If I subject the dream of another person instead of one of my own to +analysis, the result is the same; the motives for convincing others is, +however, changed. In the dream of a healthy person the only way for me +to enable him to accept this repressed idea is the coherence of the +dream thoughts. He is at liberty to reject this explanation. But if we +are dealing with a person suffering from any neurosis—say from +hysteria—the recognition of these repressed ideas is compulsory by +reason of their connection with the symptoms of his illness and of the +improvement resulting from exchanging the symptoms for the repressed +ideas. Take the patient from whom I got the last dream about the three +tickets for one florin fifty kreuzers. Analysis shows that she does not +think highly of her husband, <a name="page_061"></a> that she regrets +having married him, that she would be glad to change him for some one +else. It is true that she maintains that she loves her husband, that her +emotional life knows nothing about this depreciation (a hundred times +better!), but all her symptoms lead to the same conclusion as this +dream. When her repressed memories had rewakened a certain period when +she was conscious that she did not love her husband, her symptoms +disappeared, and therewith disappeared her resistance to the +interpretation of the dream.</p> + +<p>This conception of repression once fixed, together with the +distortion of the dream in relation to repressed psychical matter, we +are in a position to give a general exposition of the principal results +which the analysis of dreams supplies. We learnt that the most +intelligible and meaningful dreams are unrealized desires; the desires +they pictured as realized are known to consciousness, have been held +over from the daytime, and are of absorbing interest. The analysis of +obscure and intricate dreams discloses something very similar; the dream +scene again pictures as realized some desire which regularly proceeds +from the dream ideas, but the picture is unrecognizable, and is only +cleared up in the analysis. The desire itself is either one repressed, +foreign to consciousness, or it is closely bound up <a +name="page_062"></a> with repressed ideas. The formula for these dreams +may be thus stated: <i>They are concealed realizations of repressed +desires</i>. It is interesting to note that they are right who regard the +dream as foretelling the future. Although the future which the dream +shows us is not that which will occur, but that which we would like to +occur. Folk psychology proceeds here according to its wont; it believes +what it wishes to believe.</p> + +<p>Dreams can be divided into three classes according to their relation +towards the realization of desire. Firstly come those which exhibit a +<i>non-repressed, non-concealed desire</i>; these are dreams of the infantile +type, becoming ever rarer among adults. Secondly, dreams which express +in <i>veiled</i> form some <i>repressed desire</i>; these constitute by far the +larger number of our dreams, and they require analysis for their +understanding. Thirdly, these dreams where repression exists, but +<i>without</i> or with but slight concealment. These dreams are invariably +accompanied by a feeling of dread which brings the dream to an end. This +feeling of dread here replaces dream displacement; I regarded the dream +work as having prevented this in the dream of the second class. It is +not very difficult to prove that what is now present as intense dread in +the dream <a name="page_063"></a> was once desire, and is now secondary +to the repression.</p> + +<p>There are also definite dreams with a painful content, without the +presence of any anxiety in the dream. These cannot be reckoned among +dreams of dread; they have, however, always been used to prove the +unimportance and the psychical futility of dreams. An analysis of such +an example will show that it belongs to our second class of +dreams—a <i>perfectly concealed</i> realization of repressed desires. +Analysis will demonstrate at the same time how excellently adapted is +the work of displacement to the concealment of desires.</p> + +<p>A girl dreamt that she saw lying dead before her the only surviving +child of her sister amid the same surroundings as a few years before she +saw the first child lying dead. She was not sensible of any pain, but +naturally combatted the view that the scene represented a desire of +hers. Nor was that view necessary. Years ago it was at the funeral of +the child that she had last seen and spoken to the man she loved. Were +the second child to die, she would be sure to meet this man again in her +sister's house. She is longing to meet him, but struggles against this +feeling. The day of the dream she had taken a ticket for a lecture, +which announced the presence <a name="page_064"></a> of the man she +always loved. The dream is simply a dream of impatience common to those +which happen before a journey, theater, or simply anticipated pleasures. +The longing is concealed by the shifting of the scene to the occasion +when any joyous feeling were out of place, and yet where it did once +exist. Note, further, that the emotional behavior in the dream is +adapted, not to the displaced, but to the real but suppressed dream +ideas. The scene anticipates the long-hoped-for meeting; there is here +no call for painful emotions.</p> + +<p>There has hitherto been no occasion for philosophers to bestir +themselves with a psychology of repression. We must be allowed to +construct some clear conception as to the origin of dreams as the first +steps in this unknown territory. The scheme which we have formulated not +only from a study of dreams is, it is true, already somewhat +complicated, but we cannot find any simpler one that will suffice. We +hold that our psychical apparatus contains two procedures for the +construction of thoughts. The second one has the advantage that its +products find an open path to consciousness, whilst the activity of the +first procedure is unknown to itself, and can only arrive at +consciousness through the second one. At the borderland of these two +procedures, where the first passes over into the second, a censorship <a +name="page_065"></a> is established which only passes what pleases it, +keeping back everything else. That which is rejected by the censorship +is, according to our definition, in a state of repression. Under certain +conditions, one of which is the sleeping state, the balance of power +between the two procedures is so changed that what is repressed can no +longer be kept back. In the sleeping state this may possibly occur +through the negligence of the censor; what has been hitherto repressed +will now succeed in finding its way to consciousness. But as the +censorship is never absent, but merely off guard, certain alterations +must be conceded so as to placate it. It is a compromise which becomes +conscious in this case—a compromise between what one procedure has +in view and the demands of the other. <i>Repression, laxity of the censor, +compromise</i>—this is the foundation for the origin of many another +psychological process, just as it is for the dream. In such compromises +we can observe the processes of condensation, of displacement, the +acceptance of superficial associations, which we have found in the dream +work.</p> + +<p>It is not for us to deny the demonic element which has played a part +in constructing our explanation of dream work. The impression left is +that the formation of obscure dreams proceeds as <a +name="page_066"></a> if a person had something to say which must be +agreeable for another person upon whom he is dependent to hear. It is by +the use of this image that we figure to ourselves the conception of the +<i>dream distortion</i> and of the censorship, and ventured to crystallize +our impression in a rather crude, but at least definite, psychological +theory. Whatever explanation the future may offer of these first and +second procedures, we shall expect a confirmation of our correlate that +the second procedure commands the entrance to consciousness, and can +exclude the first from consciousness.</p> + +<p>Once the sleeping state overcome, the censorship resumes complete +sway, and is now able to revoke that which was granted in a moment of +weakness. That the <i>forgetting</i> of dreams explains this in part, at +least, we are convinced by our experience, confirmed again and again. +During the relation of a dream, or during analysis of one, it not +infrequently happens that some fragment of the dream is suddenly +forgotten. This fragment so forgotten invariably contains the best and +readiest approach to an understanding of the dream. Probably that is why +it sinks into oblivion—<i>i.e.</i>, into a renewed suppression.</p> + +<p>Viewing the dream content as the representation of a realized desire, +and referring its vagueness to <a name="page_067"></a> the changes made +by the censor in the repressed matter, it is no longer difficult to +grasp the function of dreams. In fundamental contrast with those saws +which assume that sleep is disturbed by dreams, we hold the <i>dream as +the guardian of sleep</i>. So far as children's dreams are concerned, our +view should find ready acceptance.</p> + +<p>The sleeping state or the psychical change to sleep, whatsoever it +be, is brought about by the child being sent to sleep or compelled +thereto by fatigue, only assisted by the removal of all stimuli which +might open other objects to the psychical apparatus. The means which +serve to keep external stimuli distant are known; but what are the means +we can employ to depress the internal psychical stimuli which frustrate +sleep? Look at a mother getting her child to sleep. The child is full of +beseeching; he wants another kiss; he wants to play yet awhile. His +requirements are in part met, in part drastically put off till the +following day. Clearly these desires and needs, which agitate him, are +hindrances to sleep. Every one knows the charming story of the bad boy +(Baldwin Groller's) who awoke at night bellowing out, "<i>I want the +rhinoceros</i>." A really good boy, instead of bellowing, would have +<i>dreamt</i> that he was playing with the rhinoceros. Because the dream +which realizes <a name="page_068"></a> his desire is believed during +sleep, it removes the desire and makes sleep possible. It cannot be +denied that this belief accords with the dream image, because it is +arrayed in the psychical appearance of probability; the child is without +the capacity which it will acquire later to distinguish hallucinations +or phantasies from reality.</p> + +<p>The adult has learnt this differentiation; he has also learnt the +futility of desire, and by continuous practice manages to postpone his +aspirations, until they can be granted in some roundabout method by a +change in the external world. For this reason it is rare for him to have +his wishes realized during sleep in the short psychical way. It is even +possible that this never happens, and that everything which appears to +us like a child's dream demands a much more elaborate explanation. Thus +it is that for adults—for every sane person without +exception—a differentiation of the psychical matter has been +fashioned which the child knew not. A psychical procedure has been +reached which, informed by the experience of life, exercises with +jealous power a dominating and restraining influence upon psychical +emotions; by its relation to consciousness, and by its spontaneous +mobility, it is endowed with the greatest means of psychical power. A +portion of the infantile emotions has <a name="page_069"></a> been +withheld from this procedure as useless to life, and all the thoughts +which flow from these are found in the state of repression.</p> + +<p>Whilst the procedure in which we recognize our normal ego reposes +upon the desire for sleep, it appears compelled by the +psycho-physiological conditions of sleep to abandon some of the energy +with which it was wont during the day to keep down what was repressed. +This neglect is really harmless; however much the emotions of the +child's spirit may be stirred, they find the approach to consciousness +rendered difficult, and that to movement blocked in consequence of the +state of sleep. The danger of their disturbing sleep must, however, be +avoided. Moreover, we must admit that even in deep sleep some amount of +free attention is exerted as a protection against sense-stimuli which +might, perchance, make an awakening seem wiser than the continuance of +sleep. Otherwise we could not explain the fact of our being always +awakened by stimuli of certain quality. As the old physiologist Burdach +pointed out, the mother is awakened by the whimpering of her child, the +miller by the cessation of his mill, most people by gently calling out +their names. This attention, thus on the alert, makes use of the +internal stimuli arising from repressed desires, and fuses them into the +dream, <a name="page_070"></a> which as a compromise satisfies both +procedures at the same time. The dream creates a form of psychical +release for the wish which is either suppressed or formed by the aid of +repression, inasmuch as it presents it as realized. The other procedure +is also satisfied, since the continuance of the sleep is assured. Our +ego here gladly behaves like a child; it makes the dream pictures +believable, saying, as it were, "Quite right, but let me sleep." The +contempt which, once awakened, we bear the dream, and which rests upon +the absurdity and apparent illogicality of the dream, is probably +nothing but the reasoning of our sleeping ego on the feelings about what +was repressed; with greater right it should rest upon the incompetency +of this disturber of our sleep. In sleep we are now and then aware of +this contempt; the dream content transcends the censorship rather too +much, we think, "It's only a dream," and sleep on.</p> + +<p>It is no objection to this view if there are borderlines for the +dream where its function, to preserve sleep from interruption, can no +longer be maintained—as in the dreams of impending dread. It is +here changed for another function—to suspend the sleep at the +proper time. It acts like a conscientious night-watchman, who first does +his duty by quelling disturbances so as not to waken the <a +name="page_071"></a> citizen, but equally does his duty quite properly +when he awakens the street should the causes of the trouble seem to him +serious and himself unable to cope with them alone.</p> + +<p>This function of dreams becomes especially well marked when there +arises some incentive for the sense perception. That the senses aroused +during sleep influence the dream is well known, and can be +experimentally verified; it is one of the certain but much overestimated +results of the medical investigation of dreams. Hitherto there has been +an insoluble riddle connected with this discovery. The stimulus to the +sense by which the investigator affects the sleeper is not properly +recognized in the dream, but is intermingled with a number of indefinite +interpretations, whose determination appears left to psychical +free-will. There is, of course, no such psychical free-will. To an +external sense-stimulus the sleeper can react in many ways. Either he +awakens or he succeeds in sleeping on. In the latter case he can make +use of the dream to dismiss the external stimulus, and this, again, in +more ways than one. For instance, he can stay the stimulus by dreaming +of a scene which is absolutely intolerable to him. This was the means +used by one who was troubled by a painful perineal abscess. He dreamt +that he was on horseback, and <a name="page_072"></a> made use of the +poultice, which was intended to alleviate his pain, as a saddle, and +thus got away from the cause of the trouble. Or, as is more frequently +the case, the external stimulus undergoes a new rendering, which leads +him to connect it with a repressed desire seeking its realization, and +robs him of its reality, and is treated as if it were a part of the +psychical matter. Thus, some one dreamt that he had written a comedy +which embodied a definite <i>motif</i>; it was being performed; the first act +was over amid enthusiastic applause; there was great clapping. At this +moment the dreamer must have succeeded in prolonging his sleep despite +the disturbance, for when he woke he no longer heard the noise; he +concluded rightly that some one must have been beating a carpet or bed. +The dreams which come with a loud noise just before waking have all +attempted to cover the stimulus to waking by some other explanation, and +thus to prolong the sleep for a little while.</p> + +<p>Whosoever has firmly accepted this <i>censorship</i> as the chief motive +for the distortion of dreams will not be surprised to learn as the +result of dream interpretation that most of the dreams of adults are +traced by analysis to erotic desires. This assertion is not drawn from +dreams obviously of a sexual nature, which are known to all dreamers +from their <a name="page_073"></a> own experience, and are the only +ones usually described as "sexual dreams." These dreams are ever +sufficiently mysterious by reason of the choice of persons who are made +the objects of sex, the removal of all the barriers which cry halt to +the dreamer's sexual needs in his waking state, the many strange +reminders as to details of what are called perversions. But analysis +discovers that, in many other dreams in whose manifest content nothing +erotic can be found, the work of interpretation shows them up as, in +reality, realization of sexual desires; whilst, on the other hand, that +much of the thought-making when awake, the thoughts saved us as surplus +from the day only, reaches presentation in dreams with the help of +repressed erotic desires.</p> + +<p>Towards the explanation of this statement, which is no theoretical +postulate, it must be remembered that no other class of instincts has +required so vast a suppression at the behest of civilization as the +sexual, whilst their mastery by the highest psychical processes are in +most persons soonest of all relinquished. Since we have learnt to +understand <i>infantile sexuality</i>, often so vague in its expression, so +invariably overlooked and misunderstood, we are justified in saying that +nearly every civilized person has retained at some point or other the +infantile <a name="page_074"></a> type of sex life; thus we understand +that repressed infantile sex desires furnish the most frequent and most +powerful impulses for the formation of dreams.<a +href="#page_074_note_1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> + +<p>If the dream, which is the expression of some erotic desire, succeeds +in making its manifest content appear innocently asexual, it is only +possible in one way. The matter of these sexual presentations cannot be +exhibited as such, but must be replaced by allusions, suggestions, and +similar indirect means; differing from other cases of indirect +presentation, those used in dreams must be deprived of direct +understanding. The means of presentation which answer these requirements +are commonly termed "symbols." A special interest has been directed +towards these, since it has been observed that the dreamers of the same +language use the like symbols—indeed, that in certain cases +community of symbol is greater than community of speech. Since the +dreamers do not themselves know the meaning of the symbols they use, it +remains a puzzle whence arises their relationship with what they replace +and denote. The fact itself is undoubted, and becomes of importance for +the technique of the <a name="page_075"></a> interpretation of dreams, +since by the aid of a knowledge of this symbolism it is possible to +understand the meaning of the elements of a dream, or parts of a dream, +occasionally even the whole dream itself, without having to question the +dreamer as to his own ideas. We thus come near to the popular idea of an +interpretation of dreams, and, on the other hand, possess again the +technique of the ancients, among whom the interpretation of dreams was +identical with their explanation through symbolism.</p> + +<p>Though the study of dream symbolism is far removed from finality, we +now possess a series of general statements and of particular +observations which are quite certain. There are symbols which +practically always have the same meaning: Emperor and Empress (King and +Queen) always mean the parents; room, a woman<a +href="#page_075_note_2"><sup>2</sup></a>, and so on. The sexes are +represented by a great variety of symbols, many of which would be at +first quite incomprehensible had not the clews to the meaning been often +obtained through other channels.</p> + +<p>There are symbols of universal circulation, found in all dreamers, of +one range of speech and culture; <a name="page_076"></a> there are +others of the narrowest individual significance which an individual has +built up out of his own material. In the first class those can be +differentiated whose claim can be at once recognized by the replacement +of sexual things in common speech (those, for instance, arising from +agriculture, as reproduction, seed) from others whose sexual references +appear to reach back to the earliest times and to the obscurest depths +of our image-building. The power of building symbols in both these +special forms of symbols has not died out. Recently discovered things, +like the airship, are at once brought into universal use as sex +symbols.</p> + +<p>It would be quite an error to suppose that a profounder knowledge of +dream symbolism (the "Language of Dreams") would make us independent of +questioning the dreamer regarding his impressions about the dream, and +would give us back the whole technique of ancient dream interpreters. +Apart from individual symbols and the variations in the use of what is +general, one never knows whether an element in the dream is to be +understood symbolically or in its proper meaning; the whole content of +the dream is certainly not to be interpreted symbolically. The knowledge +of dream symbols will only help us in understanding portions of the +dream content, and does not render the use of the <a +name="page_077"></a> technical rules previously given at all +superfluous. But it must be of the greatest service in interpreting a +dream just when the impressions of the dreamer are withheld or are +insufficient.</p> + +<p>Dream symbolism proves also indispensable for understanding the +so-called "typical" dreams and the dreams that "repeat themselves." +Dream symbolism leads us far beyond the dream; it does not belong only +to dreams, but is likewise dominant in legend, myth, and saga, in wit +and in folklore. It compels us to pursue the inner meaning of the dream +in these productions. But we must acknowledge that symbolism is not a +result of the dream work, but is a peculiarity probably of our +unconscious thinking, which furnishes to the dream work the matter for +condensation, displacement, and dramatization.</p> + +<p><small><a name="page_074_note_1"></a><a href="#page_074">Footnote +1</a>: Freud, "Three Contributions to Sexual Theory," translated by A.A. +Brill (<i>Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease</i> Publishing Company, New +York).</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_075_note_2"></a><a href="#page_075">Footnote +2</a>: The words from "and" to "channels" in the next sentence is a +short summary of the passage in the original. As this book will be read +by other than professional people the passage has not been translated, +in deference to English opinion.—TRANSLATOR.</small></p> + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_078"></a>IV<br> + +DREAM ANALYSIS</h2></center> + + +<p>Perhaps we shall now begin to suspect that dream interpretation is +capable of giving us hints about the structure of our psychic apparatus +which we have thus far expected in vain from philosophy. We shall not, +however, follow this track, but return to our original problem as soon +as we have cleared up the subject of dream-disfigurement. The question +has arisen how dreams with disagreeable content can be analyzed as the +fulfillment of wishes. We see now that this is possible in case +dream-disfigurement has taken place, in case the disagreeable content +serves only as a disguise for what is wished. Keeping in mind our +assumptions in regard to the two psychic instances, we may now proceed +to say: disagreeable dreams, as a matter of fact, contain something +which is disagreeable to the second instance, but which at the same time +fulfills a wish of the first instance. They are wish dreams in the sense +that every dream originates in the first instance, while the second +instance acts towards the dream only in repelling, not in a creative +manner. <a name="page_079"></a> If we limit ourselves to a +consideration of what the second instance contributes to the dream, we +can never understand the dream. If we do so, all the riddles which the +authors have found in the dream remain unsolved.</p> + +<p>That the dream actually has a secret meaning, which turns out to be +the fulfillment of a wish, must be proved afresh for every case by means +of an analysis. I therefore select several dreams which have painful +contents and attempt an analysis of them. They are partly dreams of +hysterical subjects, which require long preliminary statements, and now +and then also an examination of the psychic processes which occur in +hysteria. I cannot, however, avoid this added difficulty in the +exposition.</p> + +<p>When I give a psychoneurotic patient analytical treatment, dreams are +always, as I have said, the subject of our discussion. It must, +therefore, give him all the psychological explanations through whose aid +I myself have come to an understanding of his symptoms, and here I +undergo an unsparing criticism, which is perhaps not less keen than that +I must expect from my colleagues. Contradiction of the thesis that all +dreams are the fulfillments of wishes is raised by my patients with +perfect regularity. Here are several examples of the dream <a +name="page_080"></a> material which is offered me to refute this +position.</p> + +<p>"You always tell me that the dream is a wish fulfilled," begins a +clever lady patient. "Now I shall tell you a dream in which the content +is quite the opposite, in which a wish of mine is <i>not</i> fulfilled. How +do you reconcile that with your theory? The dream is as +follows:—</p> + +<p><i>"I want to give a supper, but having nothing at hand except some +smoked salmon, I think of going marketing, but I remember that it is +Sunday afternoon, when all the shops are closed. I next try to telephone +to some caterers, but the telephone is out of order.... Thus I must +resign my wish to give a supper."</i></p> + +<p>I answer, of course, that only the analysis can decide the meaning of +this dream, although I admit that at first sight it seems sensible and +coherent, and looks like the opposite of a wish-fulfillment. "But what +occurrence has given rise to this dream?" I ask. "You know that the +stimulus for a dream always lies among the experiences of the preceding +day."</p> + +<p><i>Analysis.</i>—The husband of the patient, an upright and +conscientious wholesale butcher, had told her the day before that he is +growing too fat, and that he must, therefore, begin treatment for +obesity. He was going to get up early, take exercise, keep <a +name="page_081"></a> to a strict diet, and above all accept no more +invitations to suppers. She proceeds laughingly to relate how her +husband at an inn table had made the acquaintance of an artist, who +insisted upon painting his portrait because he, the painter, had never +found such an expressive head. But her husband had answered in his rough +way, that he was very thankful for the honor, but that he was quite +convinced that a portion of the backside of a pretty young girl would +please the artist better than his whole face<a +href="#page_081_note_1"><sup>1</sup></a>. She said that she was at the +time very much in love with her husband, and teased him a good deal. She +had also asked him not to send her any caviare. What does that mean?</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, she had wanted for a long time to eat a caviare +sandwich every forenoon, but had grudged herself the expense. Of course, +she would at once get the caviare from her husband, as soon as she asked +him for it. But she had begged him, on the contrary, not to send her the +caviare, in order that she might tease him about it longer.</p> + +<p>This explanation seems far-fetched to me. Unadmitted motives are in +the habit of hiding behind such unsatisfactory explanations. We are +reminded of subjects hypnotized by Bernheim, who <a name="page_082"></a> +carried out a posthypnotic order, and who, upon being asked for their +motives, instead of answering: "I do not know why I did that," had to +invent a reason that was obviously inadequate. Something similar is +probably the case with the caviare of my patient. I see that she is +compelled to create an unfulfilled wish in life. Her dream also shows +the reproduction of the wish as accomplished. But why does she need an +unfulfilled wish?</p> + +<p>The ideas so far produced are insufficient for the interpretation of +the dream. I beg for more. After a short pause, which corresponds to the +overcoming of a resistance, she reports further that the day before she +had made a visit to a friend, of whom she is really jealous, because her +husband is always praising this woman so much. Fortunately, this friend +is very lean and thin, and her husband likes well-rounded figures. Now +of what did this lean friend speak? Naturally of her wish to become +somewhat stouter. She also asked my patient: "When are you going to +invite us again? You always have such a good table."</p> + +<p>Now the meaning of the dream is clear. I may say to the patient: "It +is just as though you had thought at the time of the request: 'Of +course, I'll invite you, so you can eat yourself fat at my <a +name="page_083"></a> house and become still more pleasing to my +husband. I would rather give no more suppers.' The dream then tells you +that you cannot give a supper, thereby fulfilling your wish not to +contribute anything to the rounding out of your friend's figure. The +resolution of your husband to refuse invitations to supper for the sake +of getting thin teaches you that one grows fat on the things served in +company." Now only some conversation is necessary to confirm the +solution. The smoked salmon in the dream has not yet been traced. "How +did the salmon mentioned in the dream occur to you?" "Smoked salmon is +the favorite dish of this friend," she answered. I happen to know the +lady, and may corroborate this by saying that she grudges herself the +salmon just as much as my patient grudges herself the caviare.</p> + +<p>The dream admits of still another and more exact interpretation, +which is necessitated only by a subordinate circumstance. The two +interpretations do not contradict one another, but rather cover each +other and furnish a neat example of the usual ambiguity of dreams as +well as of all other psychopathological formations. We have seen that at +the same time that she dreams of the denial of the wish, the patient is +in reality occupied in securing an unfulfilled wish (the caviare +sandwiches). Her <a name="page_084"></a> friend, too, had expressed a +wish, namely, to get fatter, and it would not surprise us if our lady +had dreamt that the wish of the friend was not being fulfilled. For it +is her own wish that a wish of her friend's—for increase in +weight—should not be fulfilled. Instead of this, however, she +dreams that one of her own wishes is not fulfilled. The dream becomes +capable of a new interpretation, if in the dream she does not intend +herself, but her friend, if she has put herself in the place of her +friend, or, as we may say, has identified herself with her friend.</p> + +<p>I think she has actually done this, and as a sign of this +identification she has created an unfulfilled wish in reality. But what +is the meaning of this hysterical identification? To clear this up a +thorough exposition is necessary. Identification is a highly important +factor in the mechanism of hysterical symptoms; by this means patients +are enabled in their symptoms to represent not merely their own +experiences, but the experiences of a great number of other persons, and +can suffer, as it were, for a whole mass of people, and fill all the +parts of a drama by means of their own personalities alone. It will here +be objected that this is well-known hysterical imitation, the ability of +hysteric subjects to copy all the symptoms which impress <a +name="page_085"></a> them when they occur in others, as though their +pity were stimulated to the point of reproduction. But this only +indicates the way in which the psychic process is discharged in +hysterical imitation; the way in which a psychic act proceeds and the +act itself are two different things. The latter is slightly more +complicated than one is apt to imagine the imitation of hysterical +subjects to be: it corresponds to an unconscious concluded process, as +an example will show. The physician who has a female patient with a +particular kind of twitching, lodged in the company of other patients in +the same room of the hospital, is not surprised when some morning he +learns that this peculiar hysterical attack has found imitations. He +simply says to himself: The others have seen her and have done likewise: +that is psychic infection. Yes, but psychic infection proceeds in +somewhat the following manner: As a rule, patients know more about one +another than the physician knows about each of them, and they are +concerned about each other when the visit of the doctor is over. Some of +them have an attack to-day: soon it is known among the rest that a +letter from home, a return of lovesickness or the like, is the cause of +it. Their sympathy is aroused, and the following syllogism, which does +not reach consciousness, is completed in them: "If <a +name="page_086"></a> it is possible to have this kind of an attack from +such causes, I too may have this kind of an attack, for I have the same +reasons." If this were a cycle capable of becoming conscious, it would +perhaps express itself in <i>fear</i> of getting the same attack; but it +takes place in another psychic sphere, and, therefore, ends in the +realization of the dreaded symptom. Identification is therefore not a +simple imitation, but a sympathy based upon the same etiological claim; +it expresses an "as though," and refers to some common quality which has +remained in the unconscious.</p> + +<p>Identification is most often used in hysteria to express sexual +community. An hysterical woman identifies herself most +readily—although not exclusively—with persons with whom she +has had sexual relations, or who have sexual intercourse with the same +persons as herself. Language takes such a conception into consideration: +two lovers are "one." In the hysterical phantasy, as well as in the +dream, it is sufficient for the identification if one thinks of sexual +relations, whether or not they become real. The patient, then, only +follows the rules of the hysterical thought processes when she gives +expression to her jealousy of her friend (which, moreover, she herself +admits to be unjustified, in that she puts herself in her place and +identifies herself with her <a name="page_087"></a> by creating a +symptom—the denied wish). I might further clarify the process +specifically as follows: She puts herself in the place of her friend in +the dream, because her friend has taken her own place relation to her +husband, and because she would like to take her friend's place in the +esteem of her husband<a href="#page_087_note_2"><sup>2</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>The contradiction to my theory of dreams in the case of another +female patient, the most witty among all my dreamers, was solved in a +simpler manner, although according to the scheme that the +non-fulfillment of one wish signifies the fulfillment of another. I had +one day explained to her that the dream is a wish of fulfillment. The +next day she brought me a dream to the effect that she was traveling +with her mother-in-law to their common summer resort. Now I knew that +she had struggled violently against spending the summer in the +neighborhood of her mother-in-law. I also knew that she had luckily +avoided her mother-in-law by renting an estate in a far-distant country +resort. Now the <a name="page_088"></a> dream reversed this wished-for +solution; was not this in the flattest contradiction to my theory of +wish-fulfillment in the dream? Certainly, it was only necessary to draw +the inferences from this dream in order to get at its interpretation. +According to this dream, I was in the wrong. <i>It was thus her wish that +I should be in the wrong, and this wish the dream showed her as +fulfilled.</i> But the wish that I should be in the wrong, which was +fulfilled in the theme of the country home, referred to a more serious +matter. At that time I had made up my mind, from the material furnished +by her analysis, that something of significance for her illness must +have occurred at a certain time in her life. She had denied it because +it was not present in her memory. We soon came to see that I was in the +right. Her wish that I should be in the wrong, which is transformed into +the dream, thus corresponded to the justifiable wish that those things, +which at the time had only been suspected, had never occurred at +all.</p> + +<p>Without an analysis, and merely by means of an assumption, I took the +liberty of interpreting a little occurrence in the case of a friend, who +had been my colleague through the eight classes of the Gymnasium. He +once heard a lecture of mine delivered <a name="page_089"></a> to a +small assemblage, on the novel subject of the dream as the fulfillment +of a wish. He went home, dreamt <i>that he had lost all his +suits</i>—he was a lawyer—and then complained to me about it. I +took refuge in the evasion: "One can't win all one's suits," but I +thought to myself: "If for eight years I sat as Primus on the first +bench, while he moved around somewhere in the middle of the class, may +he not naturally have had a wish from his boyhood days that I, too, +might for once completely disgrace myself?"</p> + +<p>In the same way another dream of a more gloomy character was offered +me by a female patient as a contradiction to my theory of the +wish-dream. The patient, a young girl, began as follows: "You remember +that my sister has now only one boy, Charles: she lost the elder one, +Otto, while I was still at her house. Otto was my favorite; it was I who +really brought him up. I like the other little fellow, too, but of +course not nearly as much as the dead one. Now I dreamt last night that +<i>I saw Charles lying dead before me. He was lying in his little coffin, +his hands folded: there were candles all about, and, in short, it was +just like the time of little Otto's death, which shocked me so +profoundly</i>. Now tell me, what does this mean? You know me: <a +name="page_090"></a> am I really bad enough to wish my sister to lose +the only child she has left? Or does the dream mean that I wish Charles +to be dead rather than Otto, whom I like so much better?"</p> + +<p>I assured her that this interpretation was impossible. After some +reflection I was able to give her the interpretation of the dream, which +I subsequently made her confirm.</p> + +<p>Having become an orphan at an early age, the girl had been brought up +in the house of a much older sister, and had met among the friends and +visitors who came to the house, a man who made a lasting impression upon +her heart. It looked for a time as though these barely expressed +relations were to end in marriage, but this happy culmination was +frustrated by the sister, whose motives have never found a complete +explanation. After the break, the man who was loved by our patient +avoided the house: she herself became independent some time after little +Otto's death, to whom her affection had now turned. But she did not +succeed in freeing herself from the inclination for her sister's friend +in which she had become involved. Her pride commanded her to avoid him; +but it was impossible for her to transfer her love to the other suitors +who presented themselves in order. Whenever the man whom she loved, who +was a member <a name="page_091"></a> of the literary profession, +announced a lecture anywhere, she was sure to be found in the audience; +she also seized every other opportunity to see him from a distance +unobserved by him. I remembered that on the day before she had told me +that the Professor was going to a certain concert, and that she was also +going there, in order to enjoy the sight of him. This was on the day of +the dream; and the concert was to take place on the day on which she +told me the dream. I could now easily see the correct interpretation, +and I asked her whether she could think of any event which had happened +after the death of little Otto. She answered immediately: "Certainly; at +that time the Professor returned after a long absence, and I saw him +once more beside the coffin of little Otto." It was exactly as I had +expected. I interpreted the dream in the following manner: "If now the +other boy were to die, the same thing would be repeated. You would spend +the day with your sister, the Professor would surely come in order to +offer condolence, and you would see him again under the same +circumstances as at that time. The dream signifies nothing but this wish +of yours to see him again, against which you are fighting inwardly. I +know that you are carrying the ticket for to-day's concert in your bag. +Your dream is a dream of impatience; it has anticipated <a +name="page_092"></a> the meeting which is to take place to-day by +several hours."</p> + +<p>In order to disguise her wish she had obviously selected a situation +in which wishes of that sort are commonly suppressed—a situation +which is so filled with sorrow that love is not thought of. And yet, it +is very easily probable that even in the actual situation at the bier of +the second, more dearly loved boy, which the dream copied faithfully, +she had not been able to suppress her feelings of affection for the +visitor whom she had missed for so long a time.</p> + +<p>A different explanation was found in the case of a similar dream of +another female patient, who was distinguished in her earlier years by +her quick wit and her cheerful demeanors and who still showed these +qualities at least in the notion, which occurred to her in the course of +treatment. In connection with a longer dream, it seemed to this lady +that she saw her fifteen-year-old daughter lying dead before her in a +box. She was strongly inclined to convert this dream-image into an +objection to the theory of wish-fulfillment, but herself suspected that +the detail of the box must lead to a different conception of the +dream.<a href="#page_092_note_3"><sup>3</sup></a> In the course of the +analysis it occurred to her that on the evening before, <a +name="page_093"></a> the conversation of the company had turned upon the +English word "box," and upon the numerous translations of it into +German, such as box, theater box, chest, box on the ear, &c. From other +components of the same dream it is now possible to add that the lady had +guessed the relationship between the English word "box" and the German +<i>Büchse</i>, and had then been haunted by the memory that <i>Büchse</i> (as well +as "box") is used in vulgar speech to designate the female genital +organ. It was therefore possible, making a certain allowance for her +notions on the subject of topographical anatomy, to assume that the +child in the box signified a child in the womb of the mother. At this +stage of the explanation she no longer denied that the picture of the +dream really corresponded to one of her wishes. Like so many other young +women, she was by no means happy when she became pregnant, and admitted +to me more than once the wish that her child might die before its birth; +in a fit of anger following a violent scene with her husband she had +even struck her abdomen with her fists in order to hit the child within. +The dead child was, therefore, really the fulfillment of a wish, but a +wish which had been put aside for fifteen years, and it is not +surprising that the fulfillment of the wish was no longer recognized +after so long an interval. <a name="page_094"></a> For there had been +many changes meanwhile.</p> + +<p>The group of dreams to which the two last mentioned belong, having as +content the death of beloved relatives, will be considered again under +the head of "Typical Dreams." I shall there be able to show by new +examples that in spite of their undesirable content, all these dreams +must be interpreted as wish-fulfillments. For the following dream, which +again was told me in order to deter me from a hasty generalization of +the theory of wishing in dreams, I am indebted, not to a patient, but to +an intelligent jurist of my acquaintance. "<i>I dream</i>," my informant +tells me, "<i>that I am walking in front of my house with a lady on my +arm. Here a closed wagon is waiting, a gentleman steps up to me, gives +his authority as an agent of the police, and demands that I should +follow him. I only ask for time in which to arrange my affairs.</i> Can you +possibly suppose this is a wish of mine to be arrested?" "Of course +not," I must admit. "Do you happen to know upon what charge you were +arrested?" "Yes; I believe for infanticide." "Infanticide? But you know +that only a mother can commit this crime upon her newly born child?" +"That is true."<a href="#page_094_note_4"><sup>4</sup></a> "And under +what circumstances <a name="page_095"></a> did you dream; what happened +on the evening before?" "I would rather not tell you that; it is a +delicate matter." "But I must have it, otherwise we must forgo the +interpretation of the dream." "Well, then, I will tell you. I spent the +night, not at home, but at the house of a lady who means very much to +me. When we awoke in the morning, something again passed between us. +Then I went to sleep again, and dreamt what I have told you." "The woman +is married?" "Yes." "And you do not wish her to conceive a child?" "No; +that might betray us." "Then you do not practice normal coitus?" "I take +the precaution to withdraw before ejaculation." "Am I permitted to +assume that you did this trick several times during the night, and that +in the morning you were not quite sure whether you had succeeded?" "That +might be the case." "Then your dream is the fulfillment of a wish. By +means of it you secure the assurance that you have not begotten a child, +or, what amounts to the same thing, that you have killed a child. I can +easily demonstrate the connecting links. Do you remember, a few days ago +we were talking about the distress of matrimony (Ehenot), and about the +inconsistency of permitting the practice of coitus as long <a +name="page_096"></a> as no impregnation takes place, while every +delinquency after the ovum and the semen meet and a fœtus is +formed is punished as a crime? In connection with this, we also recalled +the mediæval controversy about the moment of time at which the soul is +really lodged in the fœtus, since the concept of murder becomes +admissible only from that point on. Doubtless you also know the gruesome +poem by Lenau, which puts infanticide and the prevention of children on +the same plane." "Strangely enough, I had happened to think of Lenau +during the afternoon." "Another echo of your dream. And now I shall +demonstrate to you another subordinate wish-fulfillment in your dream. +You walk in front of your house with the lady on your arm. So you take +her home, instead of spending the night at her house, as you do in +actuality. The fact that the wish-fulfillment, which is the essence of +the dream, disguises itself in such an unpleasant form, has perhaps more +than one reason. From my essay on the etiology of anxiety neuroses, you +will see that I note interrupted coitus as one of the factors which +cause the development of neurotic fear. It would be consistent with this +that if after repeated cohabitation of the kind mentioned you should be +left in an uncomfortable mood, which now becomes an element in the +composition of your <a name="page_097"></a> dream. You also make use of +this unpleasant state of mind to conceal the wish-fulfillment. +Furthermore, the mention of infanticide has not yet been explained. Why +does this crime, which is peculiar to females, occur to you?" "I shall +confess to you that I was involved in such an affair years ago. Through +my fault a girl tried to protect herself from the consequences of a +<i>liaison</i> with me by securing an abortion. I had nothing to do with +carrying out the plan, but I was naturally for a long time worried lest +the affair might be discovered." "I understand; this recollection +furnished a second reason why the supposition that you had done your +trick badly must have been painful to you."</p> + +<p>A young physician, who had heard this dream of my colleague when it +was told, must have felt implicated by it, for he hastened to imitate it +in a dream of his own, applying its mode of thinking to another subject. +The day before he had handed in a declaration of his income, which was +perfectly honest, because he had little to declare. He dreamt that an +acquaintance of his came from a meeting of the tax commission and +informed him that all the other declarations of income had passed +uncontested, but that his own had awakened general suspicion, and that +he would be punished with a heavy fine. The dream is a poorly-concealed +fulfillment <a name="page_098"></a> of the wish to be known as a +physician with a large income. It likewise recalls the story of the +young girl who was advised against accepting her suitor because he was a +man of quick temper who would surely treat her to blows after they were +married.</p> + +<p>The answer of the girl was: "I wish he <i>would</i> strike me!" Her wish +to be married is so strong that she takes into the bargain the +discomfort which is said to be connected with matrimony, and which is +predicted for her, and even raises it to a wish.</p> + +<p>If I group the very frequently occurring dreams of this sort, which +seem flatly to contradict my theory, in that they contain the denial of +a wish or some occurrence decidedly unwished for, under the head of +"counter wish-dreams," I observe that they may all be referred to two +principles, of which one has not yet been mentioned, although it plays a +large part in the dreams of human beings. One of the motives inspiring +these dreams is the wish that I should appear in the wrong. These dreams +regularly occur in the course of my treatment if the patient shows a +resistance against me, and I can count with a large degree of certainty +upon causing such a dream after I have once explained to the patient my +theory that the dream is a wish-fulfillment.<a +href="#page_098_note_5"><sup>5</sup></a> I <a name="page_099"></a> may +even expect this to be the case in a dream merely in order to fulfill +the wish that I may appear in the wrong. The last dream which I shall +tell from those occurring in the course of treatment again shows this +very thing. A young girl who has struggled hard to continue my +treatment, against the will of her relatives and the authorities whom +she had consulted, dreams as follows: <i>She is forbidden at home to come +to me any more. She then reminds me of the promise I made her to treat +her for nothing if necessary, and I say to her: "I can show no +consideration in money matters."</i></p> + +<p>It is not at all easy in this case to demonstrate the fulfillment of +a wish, but in all cases of this kind there is a second problem, the +solution of which helps also to solve the first. Where does she get the +words which she puts into my mouth? Of course I have never told her +anything like that, but one of her brothers, the very one who has the +greatest influence over her, has been kind enough to make this remark +about me. It is then the purpose of the dream that this brother should +remain in the right; and she does not try to justify this brother merely +in the dream; it is her purpose in life and the motive for her being +ill.</p> + +<p>The other motive for counter wish-dreams is so <a +name="page_100"></a> clear that there is danger of overlooking it, as +for some time happened in my own case. In the sexual make-up of many +people there is a masochistic component, which has arisen through the +conversion of the aggressive, sadistic component into its opposite. Such +people are called "ideal" masochists, if they seek pleasure not in the +bodily pain which may be inflicted upon them, but in humiliation and in +chastisement of the soul. It is obvious that such persons can have +counter wish-dreams and disagreeable dreams, which, however, for them +are nothing but wish-fulfillment, affording satisfaction for their +masochistic inclinations. Here is such a dream. A young man, who has in +earlier years tormented his elder brother, towards whom he was +homosexually inclined, but who had undergone a complete change of +character, has the following dream, which consists of three parts: (1) +<i>He is "insulted" by his brother.</i> (2) <i>Two adults are caressing each +other with homosexual intentions.</i> (3) <i>His brother has sold the +enterprise whose management the young man reserved for his own future.</i> +He awakens from the last-mentioned dream with the most unpleasant +feelings, and yet it is a masochistic wish-dream, which might be +translated: It would serve me quite right if my brother were to make +that sale against my interest, as a punishment <a name="page_101"></a> +for all the torments which he has suffered at my hands.</p> + +<p>I hope that the above discussion and examples will +suffice—until further objection can be raised—to make it +seem credible that even dreams with a painful content are to be analyzed +as the fulfillments of wishes. Nor will it seem a matter of chance that +in the course of interpretation one always happens upon subjects of +which one does not like to speak or think. The disagreeable sensation +which such dreams arouse is simply identical with the antipathy which +endeavors—usually with success—to restrain us from the +treatment or discussion of such subjects, and which must be overcome by +all of us, if, in spite of its unpleasantness, we find it necessary to +take the matter in hand. But this disagreeable sensation, which occurs +also in dreams, does not preclude the existence of a wish; every one has +wishes which he would not like to tell to others, which he does not want +to admit even to himself. We are, on other grounds, justified in +connecting the disagreeable character of all these dreams with the fact +of dream disfigurement, and in concluding that these dreams are +distorted, and that the wish-fulfillment in them is disguised until +recognition is impossible for no other reason than that a repugnance, a +will to suppress, exists in relation <a name="page_102"></a> to the +subject-matter of the dream or in relation to the wish which the dream +creates. Dream disfigurement, then, turns out in reality to be an act of +the censor. We shall take into consideration everything which the +analysis of disagreeable dreams has brought to light if we reword our +formula as follows: <i>The dream is the (disguised) fulfillment of a +(suppressed, repressed) wish</i>.</p> + +<p>Now there still remain as a particular species of dreams with painful +content, dreams of anxiety, the inclusion of which under dreams of +wishing will find least acceptance with the uninitiated. But I can +settle the problem of anxiety dreams in very short order; for what they +may reveal is not a new aspect of the dream problem; it is a question in +their case of understanding neurotic anxiety in general. The fear which +we experience in the dream is only seemingly explained by the dream +content. If we subject the content of the dream to analysis, we become +aware that the dream fear is no more justified by the dream content than +the fear in a phobia is justified by the idea upon which the phobia +depends. For example, it is true that it is possible to fall out of a +window, and that some care must be exercised when one is near a window, +but it is inexplicable why the anxiety in the corresponding phobia is so +great, and why it follows its victims to <a name="page_103"></a> an +extent so much greater than is warranted by its origin. The same +explanation, then, which applies to the phobia applies also to the dream +of anxiety. In both cases the anxiety is only superficially attached to +the idea which accompanies it and comes from another source.</p> + +<p>On account of the intimate relation of dream fear to neurotic fear, +discussion of the former obliges me to refer to the latter. In a little +essay on "The Anxiety Neurosis,"<a +href="#page_103_note_6"><sup>6</sup></a> I maintained that neurotic fear +has its origin in the sexual life, and corresponds to a libido which has +been turned away from its object and has not succeeded in being applied. +From this formula, which has since proved its validity more and more +clearly, we may deduce the conclusion that the content of anxiety dreams +is of a sexual nature, the libido belonging to which content has been +transformed into fear.</p> + +<p><small><a name="page_081_note_1"></a><a href="#page_081">Footnote +1</a>: To sit for the painter. Goethe: "And if he has no backside, how +can the nobleman sit?"</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_087_note_2"></a><a href="#page_087">Footnote +2</a>: I myself regret the introduction of such passages from the +psychopathology of hysteria, which, because of their fragmentary +representation and of being torn from all connection with the subject, +cannot have a very enlightening influence. If these passages are capable +of throwing light upon the intimate relations between the dream and the +psychoneuroses, they have served the purpose for which I have taken them +up.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_092_note_3"></a><a href="#page_092">Footnote +3</a>: Something like the smoked salmon in the dream of the deferred +supper.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_094_note_4"></a><a href="#page_094">Footnote +4</a>: It often happens that a dream is told incompletely, and that a +recollection of the omitted portions appear only in the course of the +analysis. These portions subsequently fitted in, regularly furnish the +key to the interpretation. <i>Cf.</i> below, about forgetting in +dreams.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_098_note_5"></a><a href="#page_098">Footnote +5</a>: Similar "counter wish-dreams" have been repeatedly reported to me +within the last few years by my pupils who thus reacted to their first +encounter with the "wish theory of the dream."</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_103_note_6"></a><a href="#page_103">Footnote +6</a>: See <i>Selected Papers on Hysteria and other Psychoneuroses</i>, p. +133, translated by A.A. Brill, <i>Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases</i>, +Monograph Series.</small></p> + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_104"></a>V<br> + +SEX IN DREAMS</h2></center> + + +<p>The more one is occupied with the solution of dreams, the more +willing one must become to acknowledge that the majority of the dreams +of adults treat of sexual material and give expression to erotic wishes. +Only one who really analyzes dreams, that is to say, who pushes forward +from their manifest content to the latent dream thoughts, can form an +opinion on this subject—never the person who is satisfied with +registering the manifest content (as, for example, Näcke in his works on +sexual dreams). Let us recognize at once that this fact is not to be +wondered at, but that it is in complete harmony with the fundamental +assumptions of dream explanation. No other impulse has had to undergo so +much suppression from the time of childhood as the sex impulse in its +numerous components, from no other impulse have survived so many and +such intense unconscious wishes, which now act in the sleeping state in +such a manner as to produce dreams. In dream interpretation, this +significance of sexual complexes must never be forgotten, nor <a +name="page_105"></a> must they, of course, be exaggerated to the point +of being considered exclusive.</p> + +<p>Of many dreams it can be ascertained by a careful interpretation that +they are even to be taken bisexually, inasmuch as they result in an +irrefutable secondary interpretation in which they realize homosexual +feelings—that is, feelings that are common to the normal sexual +activity of the dreaming person. But that all dreams are to be +interpreted bisexually, seems to me to be a generalization as +indemonstrable as it is improbable, which I should not like to support. +Above all I should not know how to dispose of the apparent fact that +there are many dreams satisfying other than—in the widest +sense—erotic needs, as dreams of hunger, thirst, convenience, &c. +Likewise the similar assertions "that behind every dream one finds the +death sentence" (Stekel), and that every dream shows "a continuation +from the feminine to the masculine line" (Adler), seem to me to proceed +far beyond what is admissible in the interpretation of dreams.</p> + +<p>We have already asserted elsewhere that dreams which are +conspicuously innocent invariably embody coarse erotic wishes, and we +might confirm this by means of numerous fresh examples. But many dreams +which appear indifferent, and which would never be suspected of any +particular significance, <a name="page_106"></a> can be traced back, +after analysis, to unmistakably sexual wish-feelings, which are often of +an unexpected nature. For example, who would suspect a sexual wish in +the following dream until the interpretation had been worked out? The +dreamer relates: <i>Between two stately palaces stands a little house, +receding somewhat, whose doors are closed. My wife leads me a little way +along the street up to the little house, and pushes in the door, and +then I slip quickly and easily into the interior of a courtyard that +slants obliquely upwards.</i></p> + +<p>Any one who has had experience in the translating of dreams will, of +course, immediately perceive that penetrating into narrow spaces, and +opening locked doors, belong to the commonest sexual symbolism, and will +easily find in this dream a representation of attempted coition from +behind (between the two stately buttocks of the female body). The narrow +slanting passage is of course the vagina; the assistance attributed to +the wife of the dreamer requires the interpretation that in reality it +is only consideration for the wife which is responsible for the +detention from such an attempt. Moreover, inquiry shows that on the +previous day a young girl had entered the household of the dreamer who +had pleased him, and who had given him the impression that she would not +be altogether opposed to an approach <a name="page_107"></a> of this +sort. The little house between the two palaces is taken from a +reminiscence of the Hradschin in Prague, and thus points again to the +girl who is a native of that city.</p> + +<p>If with my patients I emphasize the frequency of the Oedipus +dream—of having sexual intercourse with one's mother—I get +the answer: "I cannot remember such a dream." Immediately afterwards, +however, there arises the recollection of another disguised and +indifferent dream, which has been dreamed repeatedly by the patient, and +the analysis shows it to be a dream of this same content—that is, +another Oedipus dream. I can assure the reader that veiled dreams of +sexual intercourse with the mother are a great deal more frequent than +open ones to the same effect.</p> + +<p>There are dreams about landscapes and localities in which emphasis is +always laid upon the assurance: "I have been there before." In this case +the locality is always the genital organ of the mother; it can indeed be +asserted with such certainty of no other locality that one "has been +there before."</p> + +<p>A large number of dreams, often full of fear, which are concerned +with passing through narrow spaces or with staying, in the water, are +based upon fancies about the embryonic life, about the sojourn in the +mother's womb, and about the act of birth. <a name="page_108"></a> The +following is the dream of a young man who in his fancy has already while +in embryo taken advantage of his opportunity to spy upon an act of +coition between his parents.</p> + +<p><i>"He is in a deep shaft, in which there is a window, as in the +Semmering Tunnel. At first he sees an empty landscape through this +window, and then he composes a picture into it, which is immediately at +hand and which fills out the empty space. The picture represents a field +which is being thoroughly harrowed by an implement, and the delightful +air, the accompanying idea of hard work, and the bluish-black clods of +earth make a pleasant impression. He then goes on and sees a primary +school opened ... and he is surprised that so much attention is devoted +in it to the sexual feelings of the child, which makes him think of +me."</i></p> + +<p>Here is a pretty water-dream of a female patient, which was turned to +extraordinary account in the course of treatment.</p> + +<p><i>At her summer resort at the ... Lake, she hurls herself into the +dark water at a place where the pale moon is reflected in the +water.</i></p> + +<p>Dreams of this sort are parturition dreams; their interpretation is +accomplished by reversing the fact reported in the manifest dream +content; thus, instead of "throwing one's self into the water," read <a +name="page_109"></a> "coming out of the water," that is, "being born." +The place from which one is born is recognized if one thinks of the bad +sense of the French "la lune." The pale moon thus becomes the white +"bottom" (Popo), which the child soon recognizes as the place from which +it came. Now what can be the meaning of the patient's wishing to be born +at her summer resort? I asked the dreamer this, and she answered without +hesitation: "Hasn't the treatment made me as though I were born again?" +Thus the dream becomes an invitation to continue the cure at this summer +resort, that is, to visit her there; perhaps it also contains a very +bashful allusion to the wish to become a mother herself.<a +href="#page_109_note_1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> + +<p>Another dream of parturition, with its interpretation, I take from +the work of E. Jones. <i>"She stood at the seashore watching a small boy, +who seemed to be hers, wading into the water. This he did till the water +covered him, and she could only see his head bobbing up and down near +the surface. The scene then changed to the crowded hall of a <a +name="page_110"></a> hotel. Her husband left her, and she 'entered into +conversation with' a stranger."</i> The second half of the dream was +discovered in the analysis to represent a flight from her husband, and +the entering into intimate relations with a third person, behind whom +was plainly indicated Mr. X.'s brother mentioned in a former dream. The +first part of the dream was a fairly evident birth phantasy. In dreams +as in mythology, the delivery of a child <i>from</i> the uterine waters is +commonly presented by distortion as the entry of the child <i>into</i> water; +among many others, the births of Adonis, Osiris, Moses, and Bacchus are +well-known illustrations of this. The bobbing up and down of the head in +the water at once recalled to the patient the sensation of quickening +she had experienced in her only pregnancy. Thinking of the boy going +into the water induced a reverie in which she saw herself taking him out +of the water, carrying him into the nursery, washing him and dressing +him, and installing him in her household.</p> + +<p>The second half of the dream, therefore, represents thoughts +concerning the elopement, which belonged to the first half of the +underlying latent content; the first half of the dream corresponded with +the second half of the latent content, the birth phantasy. Besides this +inversion in order, further <a name="page_111"></a> inversions took +place in each half of the dream. In the first half the child <i>entered</i> +the water, and then his head bobbed; in the underlying dream thoughts +first the quickening occurred, and then the child left the water (a +double inversion). In the second half her husband left her; in the dream +thoughts she left her husband.</p> + +<p>Another parturition dream is related by Abraham of a young woman +looking forward to her first confinement. From a place in the floor of +the house a subterranean canal leads directly into the water +(parturition path, amniotic liquor). She lifts up a trap in the floor, +and there immediately appears a creature dressed in a brownish fur, +which almost resembles a seal. This creature changes into the younger +brother of the dreamer, to whom she has always stood in maternal +relationship.</p> + +<p>Dreams of "saving" are connected with parturition dreams. To save, +especially to save from the water, is equivalent to giving birth when +dreamed by a woman; this sense is, however, modified when the dreamer is +a man.</p> + +<p>Robbers, burglars at night, and ghosts, of which we are afraid before +going to bed, and which occasionally even disturb our sleep, originate +in one and the same childish reminiscence. They are the <a +name="page_112"></a> nightly visitors who have awakened the child to +set it on the chamber so that it may not wet the bed, or have lifted the +cover in order to see clearly how the child is holding its hands while +sleeping. I have been able to induce an exact recollection of the +nocturnal visitor in the analysis of some of these anxiety dreams. The +robbers were always the father, the ghosts more probably corresponded to +feminine persons with white night-gowns.</p> + +<p>When one has become familiar with the abundant use of symbolism for +the representation of sexual material in dreams, one naturally raises +the question whether there are not many of these symbols which appear +once and for all with a firmly established significance like the signs +in stenography; and one is tempted to compile a new dream-book according +to the cipher method. In this connection it may be remarked that this +symbolism does not belong peculiarly to the dream, but rather to +unconscious thinking, particularly that of the masses, and it is to be +found in greater perfection in the folklore, in the myths, legends, and +manners of speech, in the proverbial sayings, and in the current +witticisms of a nation than in its dreams.</p> + +<p>The dream takes advantage of this symbolism in order to give a +disguised representation to its latent <a name="page_113"></a> +thoughts. Among the symbols which are used in this manner there are of +course many which regularly, or almost regularly, mean the same thing. +Only it is necessary to keep in mind the curious plasticity of psychic +material. Now and then a symbol in the dream content may have to be +interpreted not symbolically, but according to its real meaning; at +another time the dreamer, owing to a peculiar set of recollections, may +create for himself the right to use anything whatever as a sexual +symbol, though it is not ordinarily used in that way. Nor are the most +frequently used sexual symbols unambiguous every time.</p> + +<p>After these limitations and reservations I may call attention to the +following: Emperor and Empress (King and Queen) in most cases really +represent the parents of the dreamer; the dreamer himself or herself is +the prince or princess. All elongated objects, sticks, tree-trunks, and +umbrellas (on account of the stretching-up which might be compared to an +erection! all elongated and sharp weapons, knives, daggers, and pikes, +are intended to represent the male member. A frequent, not very +intelligible, symbol for the same is a nail-file (on account of the +rubbing and scraping?). Little cases, boxes, caskets, closets, and +stoves correspond to the female part. The symbolism of lock and <a +name="page_114"></a> key has been very gracefully employed by Uhland in +his song about the "Grafen Eberstein," to make a common smutty joke. The +dream of walking through a row of rooms is a brothel or harem dream. +Staircases, ladders, and flights of stairs, or climbing on these, either +upwards or downwards, are symbolic representations of the sexual act. +Smooth walls over which one is climbing, façades of houses upon which +one is letting oneself down, frequently under great anxiety, correspond +to the erect human body, and probably repeat in the dream reminiscences +of the upward climbing of little children on their parents or foster +parents. "Smooth" walls are men. Often in a dream of anxiety one is +holding on firmly to some projection from a house. Tables, set tables, +and boards are women, perhaps on account of the opposition which does +away with the bodily contours. Since "bed and board" (<i>mensa et thorus</i>) +constitute marriage, the former are often put for the latter in the +dream, and as far as practicable the sexual presentation complex is +transposed to the eating complex. Of articles of dress the woman's hat +may frequently be definitely interpreted as the male genital. In dreams +of men one often finds the cravat as a symbol for the penis; this indeed +is not only because cravats hang down long, and are characteristic of <a +name="page_115"></a> the man, but also because one can select them at +pleasure, a freedom which is prohibited by nature in the original of the +symbol. Persons who make use of this symbol in the dream are very +extravagant with cravats, and possess regular collections of them. All +complicated machines and apparatus in dream are very probably genitals, +in the description of which dream symbolism shows itself to be as +tireless as the activity of wit. Likewise many landscapes in dreams, +especially with bridges or with wooded mountains, can be readily +recognized as descriptions of the genitals. Finally where one finds +incomprehensible neologisms one may think of combinations made up of +components having a sexual significance. Children also in the dream +often signify the genitals, as men and women are in the habit of fondly +referring to their genital organ as their "little one." As a very recent +symbol of the male genital may be mentioned the flying machine, +utilization of which is justified by its relation to flying as well as +occasionally by its form. To play with a little child or to beat a +little one is often the dream's representation of onanism. A number of +other symbols, in part not sufficiently verified are given by Stekel, +who illustrates them with examples. Right and left, according to him, +are to be conceived in the dream in an ethical sense. <a +name="page_116"></a> "The right way always signifies the road to +righteousness, the left the one to crime. Thus the left may signify +homosexuality, incest, and perversion, while the right signifies +marriage, relations with a prostitute, &c. The meaning is always +determined by the individual moral view-point of the dreamer." Relatives +in the dream generally play the rôle of genitals. Not to be able to +catch up with a wagon is interpreted by Stekel as regret not to be able +to come up to a difference in age. Baggage with which one travels is the +burden of sin by which one is oppressed. Also numbers, which frequently +occur in the dream, are assigned by Stekel a fixed symbolical meaning, +but these interpretations seem neither sufficiently verified nor of +general validity, although the interpretation in individual cases can +generally be recognized as probable. In a recently published book by W. +Stekel, <i>Die Sprache des Traumes</i>, which I was unable to utilize, there +is a list of the most common sexual symbols, the object of which is to +prove that all sexual symbols can be bisexually used. He states: "Is +there a symbol which (if in any way permitted by the phantasy) may not +be used simultaneously in the masculine and the feminine sense!" To be +sure the clause in parentheses takes away much of the absoluteness of +this assertion, for this is not at all permitted by <a +name="page_117"></a> the phantasy. I do not, however, think it +superfluous to state that in my experience Stekel's general statement +has to give way to the recognition of a greater manifoldness. Besides +those symbols, which are just as frequent for the male as for the female +genitals, there are others which preponderately, or almost exclusively, +designate one of the sexes, and there are still others of which only the +male or only the female signification is known. To use long, firm +objects and weapons as symbols of the female genitals, or hollow objects +(chests, pouches, &c.), as symbols of the male genitals, is indeed not +allowed by the fancy.</p> + +<p>It is true that the tendency of the dream and the unconscious fancy +to utilize the sexual symbol bisexually betrays an archaic trend, for in +childhood a difference in the genitals is unknown, and the same genitals +are attributed to both sexes.</p> + +<p>These very incomplete suggestions may suffice to stimulate others to +make a more careful collection.</p> + +<p>I shall now add a few examples of the application of such symbolisms +in dreams, which will serve to show how impossible it becomes to +interpret a dream without taking into account the symbolism of dreams, +and how imperatively it obtrudes itself in many cases.</p> + + + +<p><a name="page_118"></a>1. The hat as a symbol of the man (of the male +genital): (a fragment from the dream of a young woman who suffered from +agoraphobia on account of a fear of temptation).</p> + +<p>"I am walking in the street in summer, I wear a straw hat of peculiar +shape, the middle piece of which is bent upwards and the side pieces of +which hang downwards (the description became here obstructed), and in +such a fashion that one is lower than the other. I am cheerful and in a +confidential mood, and as I pass a troop of young officers I think to +myself: None of you can have any designs upon me."</p> + +<p>As she could produce no associations to the hat, I said to her: "The +hat is really a male genital, with its raised middle piece and the two +downward hanging side pieces." I intentionally refrained from +interpreting those details concerning the unequal downward hanging of +the two side pieces, although just such individualities in the +determinations lead the way to the interpretation. I continued by saying +that if she only had a man with such a virile genital she would not have +to fear the officers—that is, she would have nothing to wish from +them, for she is mainly kept from going without protection and company +by her fancies of temptation. This last explanation of her fear I had +already <a name="page_119"></a> been able to give her repeatedly on the +basis of other material.</p> + +<p>It is quite remarkable how the dreamer behaved after this +interpretation. She withdrew her description of the hat, and claimed not +to have said that the two side pieces were hanging downwards. I was, +however, too sure of what I had heard to allow myself to be misled, and +I persisted in it. She was quiet for a while, and then found the courage +to ask why it was that one of her husband's testicles was lower than the +other, and whether it was the same in all men. With this the peculiar +detail of the hat was explained, and the whole interpretation was +accepted by her. The hat symbol was familiar to me long before the +patient related this dream. From other but less transparent cases I +believe that the hat may also be taken as a female genital.</p> + + +<p>2. The little one as the genital—to be run over as a symbol of +sexual intercourse (another dream of the same agoraphobic patient).</p> + +<p>"Her mother sends away her little daughter so that she must go alone. +She rides with her mother to the railroad and sees her little one +walking directly upon the tracks, so that she cannot avoid being run +over. She hears the bones crackle. (From this she experiences a feeling +of discomfort <a name="page_120"></a> but no real horror.) She then +looks out through the car window to see whether the parts cannot be seen +behind. She then reproaches her mother for allowing the little one to go +out alone." Analysis. It is not an easy matter to give here a complete +interpretation of the dream. It forms part of a cycle of dreams, and can +be fully understood only in connection with the others. For it is not +easy to get the necessary material sufficiently isolated to prove the +symbolism. The patient at first finds that the railroad journey is to be +interpreted historically as an allusion to a departure from a sanatorium +for nervous diseases, with the superintendent of which she naturally was +in love. Her mother took her away from this place, and the physician +came to the railroad station and handed her a bouquet of flowers on +leaving; she felt uncomfortable because her mother witnessed this +homage. Here the mother, therefore, appears as a disturber of her love +affairs, which is the rôle actually played by this strict woman during +her daughter's girlhood. The next thought referred to the sentence: "She +then looks to see whether the parts can be seen behind." In the dream +façade one would naturally be compelled to think of the parts of the +little daughter run over and ground up. The thought, however, turns in +quite a different direction. She recalls that she <a +name="page_121"></a> once saw her father in the bath-room naked from +behind; she then begins to talk about the sex differentiation, and +asserts that in the man the genitals can be seen from behind, but in the +woman they cannot. In this connection she now herself offers the +interpretation that the little one is the genital, her little one (she +has a four-year-old daughter) her own genital. She reproaches her mother +for wanting her to live as though she had no genital, and recognizes +this reproach in the introductory sentence of the dream; the mother +sends away her little one so that she must go alone. In her phantasy +going alone on the street signifies to have no man and no sexual +relations (coire = to go together), and this she does not like. +According to all her statements she really suffered as a girl on account +of the jealousy of her mother, because she showed a preference for her +father.</p> + +<p>The "little one" has been noted as a symbol for the male or the +female genitals by Stekel, who can refer in this connection to a very +widespread usage of language.</p> + +<p>The deeper interpretation of this dream depends upon another dream of +the same night in which the dreamer identifies herself with her brother. +She was a "tomboy," and was always being told that she should have been +born a boy. This identification <a name="page_122"></a> with the +brother shows with special clearness that "the little one" signifies the +genital. The mother threatened him (her) with castration, which could +only be understood as a punishment for playing with the parts, and the +identification, therefore, shows that she herself had masturbated as a +child, though this fact she now retained only in memory concerning her +brother. An early knowledge of the male genital which she later lost she +must have acquired at that time according to the assertions of this +second dream. Moreover the second dream points to the infantile sexual +theory that girls originate from boys through castration. After I had +told her of this childish belief, she at once confirmed it with an +anecdote in which the boy asks the girl: "Was it cut off?" to which the +girl replied, "No, it's always been so."</p> + +<p>The sending away of the little one, of the genital, in the first +dream therefore also refers to the threatened castration. Finally she +blames her mother for not having been born a boy.</p> + +<p>That "being run over" symbolizes sexual intercourse would not be +evident from this dream if we were not sure of it from many other +sources.</p> + + +<p>3. Representation of the genital by structures, stairways, and +shafts. (Dream of a young man inhibited by a father complex.)</p> + +<p><a name="page_123"></a>"He is taking a walk with his father in a +place which is surely the Prater, for the <i>Rotunda</i> may be seen in front +of which there is a small front structure to which is attached a captive +balloon; the balloon, however, seems quite collapsed. His father asks +him what this is all for; he is surprised at it, but he explains it to +his father. They come into a court in which lies a large sheet of tin. +His father wants to pull off a big piece of this, but first looks around +to see if any one is watching. He tells his father that all he needs to +do is to speak to the watchman, and then he can take without any further +difficulty as much as he wants to. From this court a stairway leads down +into a shaft, the walls of which are softly upholstered something like a +leather pocketbook. At the end of this shaft there is a longer platform, +and then a new shaft begins...."</p> + +<p>Analysis. This dream belongs to a type of patient which is not +favorable from a therapeutic point of view. They follow in the analysis +without offering any resistances whatever up to a certain point, but +from that point on they remain almost inaccessible. This dream he almost +analyzed himself. "The Rotunda," he said, "is my genital, the captive +balloon in front is my penis, about the weakness of which I have +worried." We must, however, <a name="page_124"></a> interpret in +greater detail; the Rotunda is the buttock which is regularly associated +by the child with the genital, the smaller front structure is the +scrotum. In the dream his father asks him what this is all +for—that is, he asks him about the purpose and arrangement of the +genitals. It is quite evident that this state of affairs should be +turned around, and that he should be the questioner. As such a +questioning on the side of the father has never taken place in reality, +we must conceive the dream thought as a wish, or take it conditionally, +as follows: "If I had only asked my father for sexual enlightenment." +The continuation of this thought we shall soon find in another +place.</p> + +<p>The court in which the tin sheet is spread out is not to be conceived +symbolically in the first instance, but originates from his father's +place of business. For discretionary reasons I have inserted the tin for +another material in which the father deals, without, however, changing +anything in the verbal expression of the dream. The dreamer had entered +his father's business, and had taken a terrible dislike to the +questionable practices upon which profit mainly depends. Hence the +continuation of the above dream thought ("if I had only asked him") +would be: "He would have deceived me just as he does his customers." For +the pulling off, which <a name="page_125"></a> serves to represent +commercial dishonesty, the dreamer himself gives a second +explanation—namely, onanism. This is not only entirely familiar to +us, but agrees very well with the fact that the secrecy of onanism is +expressed by its opposite ("Why one can do it quite openly"). It, +moreover, agrees entirely with our expectations that the onanistic +activity is again put off on the father, just as was the questioning in +the first scene of the dream. The shaft he at once interprets as the +vagina by referring to the soft upholstering of the walls. That the act +of coition in the vagina is described as a going down instead of in the +usual way as a going up, I have also found true in other instances<a +href="#page_125_note_2"><sup>2</sup></a>.</p> + +<p>The details that at the end of the first shaft there is a longer +platform and then a new shaft, he himself explains biographically. He +had for some time consorted with women sexually, but had then given it +up because of inhibitions and now hopes to be able to take it up again +with the aid of the treatment. The dream, however, becomes indistinct +toward the end, and to the experienced interpreter it becomes evident +that in the second scene of the dream the influence of another subject +has begun to assert itself; in this his father's business <a +name="page_126"></a> and his dishonest practices signify the first +vagina represented as a shaft so that one might think of a reference to +the mother.</p> + + +<p>4. The male genital symbolized by persons and the female by a +landscape.</p> + +<p>(Dream of a woman of the lower class, whose husband is a policeman, +reported by B. Dattner.)</p> + +<p>... Then some one broke into the house and anxiously called for a +policeman. But he went with two tramps by mutual consent into a +church,<a href="#page_126_note_3"><sup>3</sup></a> to which led a great +many stairs;<a href="#page_126_note_4"><sup>4</sup></a> behind the +church there was a mountain,<a href="#page_126_note_5"><sup>5</sup></a> +on top of which a dense forest.<a +href="#page_126_note_6"><sup>6</sup></a> The policeman was furnished +with a helmet, a gorget, and a cloak.<a +href="#page_126_note_7"><sup>7</sup></a> The two vagrants, who went +along with the policeman quite peaceably, had tied to their loins +sack-like aprons.<a href="#page_126_note_8"><sup>8</sup></a> A road led +from the church to the mountain. This road was overgrown on each side +with grass and brushwood, which became thicker and thicker as it reached +the height of the mountain, where it spread out into quite a forest.</p> + + +<p>5. A stairway dream.</p> + +<p>(Reported and interpreted by Otto Rank.)</p> + +<p><a name="page_127"></a>For the following transparent pollution +dream, I am indebted to the same colleague who furnished us with the +dental-irritation dream.</p> + +<p>"I am running down the stairway in the stair-house after a little +girl, whom I wish to punish because she has done something to me. At the +bottom of the stairs some one held the child for me. (A grown-up woman?) +I grasp it, but do not know whether I have hit it, for I suddenly find +myself in the middle of the stairway where I practice coitus with the +child (in the air as it were). It is really no coitus, I only rub my +genital on her external genital, and in doing this I see it very +distinctly, as distinctly as I see her head which is lying sideways. +During the sexual act I see hanging to the left and above me (also as if +in the air) two small pictures, landscapes, representing a house on a +green. On the smaller one my surname stood in the place where the +painter's signature should be; it seemed to be intended for my birthday +present. A small sign hung in front of the pictures to the effect that +cheaper pictures could also be obtained. I then see myself very +indistinctly lying in bed, just as I had seen myself at the foot of the +stairs, and I am awakened by a feeling of dampness which came from the +pollution."</p> + +<p>Interpretation. The dreamer had been in a <a name="page_128"></a> +book-store on the evening of the day of the dream, where, while he was +waiting, he examined some pictures which were exhibited, which +represented motives similar to the dream pictures. He stepped nearer to +a small picture which particularly took his fancy in order to see the +name of the artist, which, however, was quite unknown to him.</p> + +<p>Later in the same evening, in company, he heard about a Bohemian +servant-girl who boasted that her illegitimate child "was made on the +stairs." The dreamer inquired about the details of this unusual +occurrence, and learned that the servant-girl went with her lover to the +home of her parents, where there was no opportunity for sexual +relations, and that the excited man performed the act on the stairs. In +witty allusion to the mischievous expression used about wine-adulterers, +the dreamer remarked, "The child really grew on the cellar steps."</p> + +<p>These experiences of the day, which are quite prominent in the dream +content, were readily reproduced by the dreamer. But he just as readily +reproduced an old fragment of infantile recollection which was also +utilized by the dream. The stair-house was the house in which he had +spent the greatest part of his childhood, and in which he had first +become acquainted with sexual problems. In <a name="page_129"></a> this +house he used, among other things, to slide down the banister astride +which caused him to become sexually excited. In the dream he also comes +down the stairs very rapidly—so rapidly that, according to his own +distinct assertions, he hardly touched the individual stairs, but rather +"flew" or "slid down," as we used to say. Upon reference to this +infantile experience, the beginning of the dream seems to represent the +factor of sexual excitement. In the same house and in the adjacent +residence the dreamer used to play pugnacious games with the neighboring +children, in which he satisfied himself just as he did in the dream.</p> + +<p>If one recalls from Freud's investigation of sexual symbolism<a +href="#page_129_note_9"><sup>9</sup></a> that in the dream stairs or +climbing stairs almost regularly symbolizes coitus, the dream becomes +clear. Its motive power as well as its effect, as is shown by the +pollution, is of a purely libidinous nature. Sexual excitement became +aroused during the sleeping state (in the dream this is represented by +the rapid running or sliding down the stairs) and the sadistic thread in +this is, on the basis of the pugnacious playing, indicated in the +pursuing and overcoming of the child. The libidinous excitement becomes +enhanced and urges to sexual action (represented in the dream by the <a +name="page_130"></a> grasping of the child and the conveyance of it to +the middle of the stairway). Up to this point the dream would be one of +pure, sexual symbolism, and obscure for the unpracticed dream +interpreter. But this symbolic gratification, which would have insured +undisturbed sleep, was not sufficient for the powerful libidinous +excitement. The excitement leads to an orgasm, and thus the whole +stairway symbolism is unmasked as a substitute for coitus. Freud lays +stress on the rhythmical character of both actions as one of the reasons +for the sexual utilization of the stairway symbolism, and this dream +especially seems to corroborate this, for, according to the express +assertion of the dreamer, the rhythm of a sexual act was the most +pronounced feature in the whole dream.</p> + +<p>Still another remark concerning the two pictures, which, aside from +their real significance, also have the value of "Weibsbilder" (literally +<i>woman-pictures</i>, but idiomatically <i>women</i>). This is at once shown by +the fact that the dream deals with a big and a little picture, just as +the dream content presents a big (grown up) and a little girl. That +cheap pictures could also be obtained points to the prostitution +complex, just as the dreamer's surname on the little picture and the +thought that it was intended for his birthday, point to the parent <a +name="page_131"></a> complex (to be born on the stairway—to be +conceived in coitus).</p> + +<p>The indistinct final scene, in which the dreamer sees himself on the +staircase landing lying in bed and feeling wet, seems to go back into +childhood even beyond the infantile onanism, and manifestly has its +prototype in similarly pleasurable scenes of bed-wetting.</p> + + +<p>6. A modified stair-dream.</p> + +<p>To one of my very nervous patients, who was an abstainer, whose fancy +was fixed on his mother, and who repeatedly dreamed of climbing stairs +accompanied by his mother, I once remarked that moderate masturbation +would be less harmful to him than enforced abstinence. This influence +provoked the following dream:</p> + +<p>"His piano teacher reproaches him for neglecting his piano-playing, +and for not practicing the <i>Etudes</i> of Moscheles and Clementi's <i>Gradus +ad Parnassum</i>." In relation to this he remarked that the <i>Gradus</i> is +only a stairway, and that the piano itself is only a stairway as it has +a scale.</p> + +<p>It is correct to say that there is no series of associations which +cannot be adapted to the representation of sexual facts. I conclude with +the dream of a chemist, a young man, who has been <a +name="page_132"></a> trying to give up his habit of masturbation by +replacing it with intercourse with women.</p> + +<p><i>Preliminary statement.</i>—On the day before the dream he had +given a student instruction concerning Grignard's reaction, in which +magnesium is to be dissolved in absolutely pure ether under the +catalytic influence of iodine. Two days before, there had been an +explosion in the course of the same reaction, in which the investigator +had burned his hand.</p> + +<p>Dream I. <i>He is to make phenylmagnesium-bromid; he sees the apparatus +with particular clearness, but he has substituted himself for the +magnesium. He is now in a curious swaying attitude. He keeps repeating +to himself, "This is the right thing, it is working, my feet are +beginning to dissolve and my knees are getting soft." Then he reaches +down and feels for his feet, and meanwhile (he does not know how) he +takes his legs out of the crucible, and then again he says to himself, +"That cannot be.... Yes, it must be so, it has been done correctly." +Then he partially awakens, and repeats the dream to himself, because he +wants to tell it to me. He is distinctly afraid of the analysis of the +dream. He is much excited during this semi-sleeping state, and repeats +continually, "Phenyl, phenyl."</i></p> + +<p><a name="page_133"></a>II. <i>He is in ....ing with his whole family; +at half-past eleven. He is to be at the Schottenthor for a rendezvous +with a certain lady, but he does not wake up until half-past eleven. He +says to himself, "It is too late now; when you get there it will be +half-past twelve." The next instant he sees the whole family gathered +about the table—his mother and the servant girl with the +soup-tureen with particular clearness. Then he says to himself, "Well, +if we are eating already, I certainly can't get away."</i></p> + +<p>Analysis: He feels sure that even the first dream contains a +reference to the lady whom he is to meet at the rendezvous (the dream +was dreamed during the night before the expected meeting). The student +to whom he gave the instruction is a particularly unpleasant fellow; he +had said to the chemist: "That isn't right," because the magnesium was +still unaffected, and the latter answered as though he did not care +anything about it: "It certainly isn't right." He himself must be this +student; he is as indifferent towards his analysis as the student is +towards his synthesis; the <i>He</i> in the dream, however, who accomplishes +the operation, is myself. How unpleasant he must seem to me with his +indifference towards the success achieved!</p> + +<p>Moreover, he is the material with which the analysis <a +name="page_134"></a> (synthesis) is made. For it is a question of the +success of the treatment. The legs in the dream recall an impression of +the previous evening. He met a lady at a dancing lesson whom he wished +to conquer; he pressed her to him so closely that she once cried out. +After he had stopped pressing against her legs, he felt her firm +responding pressure against his lower thighs as far as just above his +knees, at the place mentioned in the dream. In this situation, then, the +woman is the magnesium in the retort, which is at last working. He is +feminine towards me, as he is masculine towards the woman. If it will +work with the woman, the treatment will also work. Feeling and becoming +aware of himself in the region of his knees refers to masturbation, and +corresponds to his fatigue of the previous day.... The rendezvous had +actually been set for half-past eleven. His wish to oversleep and to +remain with his usual sexual objects (that is, with masturbation) +corresponds with his resistance.</p> + +<p><small><a name="page_109_note_1"></a><a href="#page_109">Footnote +1</a>: It is only of late that I have learned to value the significance +of fancies and unconscious thoughts about life in the womb. They contain +the explanation of the curious fear felt by so many people of being +buried alive, as well as the profoundest unconscious reason for the +belief in a life after death which represents nothing but a projection +into the future of this mysterious life before birth. <i>The act of birth, +moreover, is the first experience with fear, and is thus the source and +model of the emotion of fear.</i></small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_125_note_2"></a><a href="#page_125">Footnote +2</a>: Cf. <i>Zentralblatt für psychoanalyse</i>, I.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_126_note_3"></a><a href="#page_126">Footnote +3</a>: Or chapel—vagina.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_126_note_4"></a><a href="#page_126">Footnote +4</a>: Symbol of coitus.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_126_note_5"></a><a href="#page_126">Footnote +5</a>: Mons veneris.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_126_note_6"></a><a href="#page_126">Footnote +6</a>: Crines pubis.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_126_note_7"></a><a href="#page_126">Footnote +7</a>: Demons in cloaks and capucines are, according to the explanation +of a man versed in the subject, of a phallic nature.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_126_note_8"></a><a href="#page_126">Footnote +8</a>: The two halves of the scrotum.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_129_note_9"></a><a href="#page_129">Footnote +9</a>: See <i>Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse</i>, vol. i., p. 2.</small></p> + + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_135"></a>VI<br> + +THE WISH IN DREAMS</h2></center> + + +<p>That the dream should be nothing but a wish-fulfillment surely seemed +strange to us all—and that not alone because of the contradictions +offered by the anxiety dream.</p> + +<p>After learning from the first analytical explanations that the dream +conceals sense and psychic validity, we could hardly expect so simple a +determination of this sense. According to the correct but concise +definition of Aristotle, the dream is a continuation of thinking in +sleep (in so far as one sleeps). Considering that during the day our +thoughts produce such a diversity of psychic acts—judgments, +conclusions, contradictions, expectations, intentions, &c.—why +should our sleeping thoughts be forced to confine themselves to the +production of wishes? Are there not, on the contrary, many dreams that +present a different psychic act in dream form, <i>e.g.</i>, a solicitude, and +is not the very transparent father's dream mentioned above of just such +a nature? From the gleam of light falling into his eyes while asleep the +father draws the <a name="page_136"></a> solicitous conclusion that a +candle has been upset and may have set fire to the corpse; he transforms +this conclusion into a dream by investing it with a senseful situation +enacted in the present tense. What part is played in this dream by the +wish-fulfillment, and which are we to suspect—the predominance of +the thought continued from, the waking state or of the thought incited +by the new sensory impression?</p> + +<p>All these considerations are just, and force us to enter more deeply +into the part played by the wish-fulfillment in the dream, and into the +significance of the waking thoughts continued in sleep.</p> + +<p>It is in fact the wish-fulfillment that has already induced us to +separate dreams into two groups. We have found some dreams that were +plainly wish-fulfillments; and others in which wish-fulfillment could +not be recognized, and was frequently concealed by every available +means. In this latter class of dreams we recognized the influence of the +dream censor. The undisguised wish dreams were chiefly found in +children, yet fleeting open-hearted wish dreams <i>seemed</i> (I purposely +emphasize this word) to occur also in adults.</p> + +<p>We may now ask whence the wish fulfilled in the dream originates. But +to what opposition or to what diversity do we refer this "whence"? I +think <a name="page_137"></a> it is to the opposition between conscious +daily life and a psychic activity remaining unconscious which can only +make itself noticeable during the night. I thus find a threefold +possibility for the origin of a wish. Firstly, it may have been incited +during the day, and owing to external circumstances failed to find +gratification, there is thus left for the night an acknowledged but +unfulfilled wish. Secondly, it may come to the surface during the day +but be rejected, leaving an unfulfilled but suppressed wish. Or, +thirdly, it may have no relation to daily life, and belong to those +wishes that originate during the night from the suppression. If we now +follow our scheme of the psychic apparatus, we can localize a wish of +the first order in the system Forec. We may assume that a wish of the +second order has been forced back from the Forec. system into the Unc. +system, where alone, if anywhere, it can maintain itself; while a +wish-feeling of the third order we consider altogether incapable of +leaving the Unc. system. This brings up the question whether wishes +arising from these different sources possess the same value for the +dream, and whether they have the same power to incite a dream.</p> + +<p>On reviewing the dreams which we have at our disposal for answering +this question, we are at once moved to add as a fourth source of the +dream-wish <a name="page_138"></a> the actual wish incitements arising +during the night, such as thirst and sexual desire. It then becomes +evident that the source of the dream-wish does not affect its capacity +to incite a dream. That a wish suppressed during the day asserts itself +in the dream can be shown by a great many examples. I shall mention a +very simple example of this class. A somewhat sarcastic young lady, +whose younger friend has become engaged to be married, is asked +throughout the day by her acquaintances whether she knows and what she +thinks of the fiancé. She answers with unqualified praise, thereby +silencing her own judgment, as she would prefer to tell the truth, +namely, that he is an ordinary person. The following night she dreams +that the same question is put to her, and that she replies with the +formula: "In case of subsequent orders it will suffice to mention the +number." Finally, we have learned from numerous analyses that the wish +in all dreams that have been subject to distortion has been derived from +the unconscious, and has been unable to come to perception in the waking +state. Thus it would appear that all wishes are of the same value and +force for the dream formation.</p> + +<p>I am at present unable to prove that the state of affairs is really +different, but I am strongly inclined to assume a more stringent +determination of <a name="page_139"></a> the dream-wish. Children's +dreams leave no doubt that an unfulfilled wish of the day may be the +instigator of the dream. But we must not forget that it is, after all, +the wish of a child, that it is a wish-feeling of infantile strength +only. I have a strong doubt whether an unfulfilled wish from the day +would suffice to create a dream in an adult. It would rather seem that +as we learn to control our impulses by intellectual activity, we more +and more reject as vain the formation or retention of such intense +wishes as are natural to childhood. In this, indeed, there may be +individual variations; some retain the infantile type of psychic +processes longer than others. The differences are here the same as those +found in the gradual decline of the originally distinct visual +imagination.</p> + +<p>In general, however, I am of the opinion that unfulfilled wishes of +the day are insufficient to produce a dream in adults. I readily admit +that the wish instigators originating in conscious like contribute +towards the incitement of dreams, but that is probably all. The dream +would not originate if the foreconscious wish were not reinforced from +another source.</p> + +<p>That source is the unconscious. I believe that <i>the conscious wish is +a dream inciter only if it succeeds in arousing a similar unconscious +wish which <a name="page_140"></a> reinforces it</i>. Following the +suggestions obtained through the psychoanalysis of the neuroses, I +believe that these unconscious wishes are always active and ready for +expression whenever they find an opportunity to unite themselves with an +emotion from conscious life, and that they transfer their greater +intensity to the lesser intensity of the latter.<a +href="#page_140_note_1"><sup>1</sup></a> It may therefore seem that the +conscious wish alone has been realized in a dream; but a slight +peculiarity in the formation of this dream will put us on the track of +the powerful helper from the unconscious. These ever active and, as it +were, immortal wishes from the unconscious recall the legendary Titans +who from time immemorial have borne the ponderous mountains which were +once rolled upon them by the victorious gods, and which even now quiver +from time to time from the convulsions of their mighty limbs; I say that +these wishes found in the repression are of themselves of an infantile +origin, as we have learned from the psychological <a +name="page_141"></a> investigation of the neuroses. I should like, +therefore, to withdraw the opinion previously expressed that it is +unimportant whence the dream-wish originates, and replace it by another, +as follows: <i>The wish manifested in the dream must be an infantile one</i>. +In the adult it originates in the Unc., while in the child, where no +separation and censor as yet exist between Forec. and Unc., or where +these are only in the process of formation, it is an unfulfilled and +unrepressed wish from the waking state. I am aware that this conception +cannot be generally demonstrated, but I maintain nevertheless that it +can be frequently demonstrated, even when it was not suspected, and that +it cannot be generally refuted.</p> + +<p>The wish-feelings which remain from the conscious waking state are, +therefore, relegated to the background in the dream formation. In the +dream content I shall attribute to them only the part attributed to the +material of actual sensations during sleep. If I now take into account +those other psychic instigations remaining from the waking state which +are not wishes, I shall only adhere to the line mapped out for me by +this train of thought. We may succeed in provisionally terminating the +sum of energy of our waking thoughts by deciding to go to sleep. He is a +good sleeper <a name="page_142"></a> who can do this; Napoleon I. is +reputed to have been a model of this sort. But we do not always succeed +in accomplishing it, or in accomplishing it perfectly. Unsolved +problems, harassing cares, overwhelming impressions continue the +thinking activity even during sleep, maintaining psychic processes in +the system which we have termed the foreconscious. These mental +processes continuing into sleep may be divided into the following +groups: 1, That which has not been terminated during the day owing to +casual prevention; 2, that which has been left unfinished by temporary +paralysis of our mental power, <i>i.e.</i> the unsolved; 3, that which has +been rejected and suppressed during the day. This unites with a powerful +group (4) formed by that which has been excited in our Unc. during the +day by the work of the foreconscious. Finally, we may add group (5) +consisting of the indifferent and hence unsettled impressions of the +day.</p> + +<p>We should not underrate the psychic intensities introduced into sleep +by these remnants of waking life, especially those emanating from the +group of the unsolved. These excitations surely continue to strive for +expression during the night, and we may assume with equal certainty that +the sleeping state renders impossible the usual continuation of the +excitement in the foreconscious and the termination <a +name="page_143"></a> of the excitement by its becoming conscious. As far +as we can normally become conscious of our mental processes, even during +the night, in so far we are not asleep. I shall not venture to state +what change is produced in the Forec. system by the sleeping state, but +there is no doubt that the psychological character of sleep is +essentially due to the change of energy in this very system, which also +dominates the approach to motility, which is paralyzed during sleep. In +contradistinction to this, there seems to be nothing in the psychology +of the dream to warrant the assumption that sleep produces any but +secondary changes in the conditions of the Unc. system. Hence, for the +nocturnal excitation in the Force, there remains no other path than that +followed by the wish excitements from the Unc. This excitation must seek +reinforcement from the Unc., and follow the detours of the unconscious +excitations. But what is the relation of the foreconscious day remnants +to the dream? There is no doubt that they penetrate abundantly into the +dream, that they utilize the dream content to obtrude themselves upon +consciousness even during the night; indeed, they occasionally even +dominate the dream content, and impel it to continue the work of the +day; it is also certain that the day remnants may just as well <a +name="page_144"></a> have any other character as that of wishes; but it +is highly instructive and even decisive for the theory of +wish-fulfillment to see what conditions they must comply with in order +to be received into the dream.</p> + +<p>Let us pick out one of the dreams cited above as examples, <i>e.g.</i>, +the dream in which my friend Otto seems to show the symptoms of +Basedow's disease. My friend Otto's appearance occasioned me some +concern during the day, and this worry, like everything else referring +to this person, affected me. I may also assume that these feelings +followed me into sleep. I was probably bent on finding out what was the +matter with him. In the night my worry found expression in the dream +which I have reported, the content of which was not only senseless, but +failed to show any wish-fulfillment. But I began to investigate for the +source of this incongruous expression of the solicitude felt during the +day, and analysis revealed the connection. I identified my friend Otto +with a certain Baron L. and myself with a Professor R. There was only +one explanation for my being impelled to select just this substitution +for the day thought. I must have always been prepared in the Unc. to +identify myself with Professor R., as it meant the realization of one of +the immortal infantile wishes, viz. that of becoming great. Repulsive +<a name="page_145"></a> ideas respecting my friend, that would certainly +have been repudiated in a waking state, took advantage of the +opportunity to creep into the dream, but the worry of the day likewise +found some form of expression through a substitution in the dream +content. The day thought, which was no wish in itself but rather a +worry, had in some way to find a connection with the infantile now +unconscious and suppressed wish, which then allowed it, though already +properly prepared, to "originate" for consciousness. The more dominating +this worry, the stronger must be the connection to be established; +between the contents of the wish and that of the worry there need be no +connection, nor was there one in any of our examples.</p> + +<p>We can now sharply define the significance of the unconscious wish +for the dream. It may be admitted that there is a whole class of dreams +in which the incitement originates preponderatingly or even exclusively +from the remnants of daily life; and I believe that even my cherished +desire to become at some future time a "professor extraordinarius" would +have allowed me to slumber undisturbed that night had not my worry about +my friend's health been still active. But this worry alone would not +have produced a dream; the motive power needed by the dream had to be +contributed <a name="page_146"></a> by a wish, and it was the affair of +the worriment to procure for itself such wish as a motive power of the +dream. To speak figuratively, it is quite possible that a day thought +plays the part of the contractor (<i>entrepreneur</i>) in the dream. But it +is known that no matter what idea the contractor may have in mind, and +how desirous he may be of putting it into operation, he can do nothing +without capital; he must depend upon a capitalist to defray the +necessary expenses, and this capitalist, who supplies the psychic +expenditure for the dream is invariably and indisputably <i>a wish from +the unconscious</i>, no matter what the nature of the waking thought may +be.</p> + +<p>In other cases the capitalist himself is the contractor for the +dream; this, indeed, seems to be the more usual case. An unconscious +wish is produced by the day's work, which in turn creates the dream. The +dream processes, moreover, run parallel with all the other possibilities +of the economic relationship used here as an illustration. Thus, the +entrepreneur may contribute some capital himself, or several +entrepreneurs may seek the aid of the same capitalist, or several +capitalists may jointly supply the capital required by the entrepreneur. +Thus there are dreams produced by more than one dream-wish, and many +similar variations which may <a name="page_147"></a> readily be passed +over and are of no further interest to us. What we have left unfinished +in this discussion of the dream-wish we shall be able to develop +later.</p> + +<p>The "tertium comparationis" in the comparisons just +employed—<i>i.e.</i> the sum placed at our free disposal in proper +allotment—admits of still finer application for the illustration +of the dream structure. We can recognize in most dreams a center +especially supplied with perceptible intensity. This is regularly the +direct representation of the wish-fulfillment; for, if we undo the +displacements of the dream-work by a process of retrogression, we find +that the psychic intensity of the elements in the dream thoughts is +replaced by the perceptible intensity of the elements in the dream +content. The elements adjoining the wish-fulfillment have frequently +nothing to do with its sense, but prove to be descendants of painful +thoughts which oppose the wish. But, owing to their frequently +artificial connection with the central element, they have acquired +sufficient intensity to enable them to come to expression. Thus, the +force of expression of the wish-fulfillment is diffused over a certain +sphere of association, within which it raises to expression all +elements, including those that are in themselves impotent. In dreams <a +name="page_148"></a> having several strong wishes we can readily +separate from one another the spheres of the individual +wish-fulfillments; the gaps in the dream likewise can often be explained +as boundary zones.</p> + +<p>Although the foregoing remarks have considerably limited the +significance of the day remnants for the dream, it will nevertheless be +worth our while to give them some attention. For they must be a +necessary ingredient in the formation of the dream, inasmuch as +experience reveals the surprising fact that every dream shows in its +content a connection with some impression of a recent day, often of the +most indifferent kind. So far we have failed to see any necessity for +this addition to the dream mixture. This necessity appears only when we +follow closely the part played by the unconscious wish, and then seek +information in the psychology of the neuroses. We thus learn that the +unconscious idea, as such, is altogether incapable of entering into the +foreconscious, and that it can exert an influence there only by uniting +with a harmless idea already belonging to the foreconscious, to which it +transfers its intensity and under which it allows itself to be +concealed. This is the fact of transference which furnishes an +explanation for so many surprising occurrences in the psychic life of +neurotics.</p> + +<p><a name="page_149"></a>The idea from the foreconscious which thus +obtains an unmerited abundance of intensity may be left unchanged by the +transference, or it may have forced upon it a modification from the +content of the transferring idea. I trust the reader will pardon my +fondness for comparisons from daily life, but I feel tempted to say that +the relations existing for the repressed idea are similar to the +situations existing in Austria for the American dentist, who is +forbidden to practise unless he gets permission from a regular physician +to use his name on the public signboard and thus cover the legal +requirements. Moreover, just as it is naturally not the busiest +physicians who form such alliances with dental practitioners, so in the +psychic life only such foreconscious or conscious ideas are chosen to +cover a repressed idea as have not themselves attracted much of the +attention which is operative in the foreconscious. The unconscious +entangles with its connections preferentially either those impressions +and ideas of the foreconscious which have been left unnoticed as +indifferent, or those that have soon been deprived of this attention +through rejection. It is a familiar fact from the association studies +confirmed by every experience, that ideas which have formed intimate +connections in one direction assume an almost negative attitude to whole +groups <a name="page_150"></a> of new connections. I once tried from +this principle to develop a theory for hysterical paralysis.</p> + +<p>If we assume that the same need for the transference of the repressed +ideas which we have learned to know from the analysis of the neuroses +makes its influence felt in the dream as well, we can at once explain +two riddles of the dream, viz. that every dream analysis shows an +interweaving of a recent impression, and that this recent element is +frequently of the most indifferent character. We may add what we have +already learned elsewhere, that these recent and indifferent elements +come so frequently into the dream content as a substitute for the most +deep-lying of the dream thoughts, for the further reason that they have +least to fear from the resisting censor. But while this freedom from +censorship explains only the preference for trivial elements, the +constant presence of recent elements points to the fact that there is a +need for transference. Both groups of impressions satisfy the demand of +the repression for material still free from associations, the +indifferent ones because they have offered no inducement for extensive +associations, and the recent ones because they have had insufficient +time to form such associations.</p> + +<p>We thus see that the day remnants, among which we may now include the +indifferent impressions <a name="page_151"></a> when they participate +in the dream formation, not only borrow from the Unc. the motive power +at the disposal of the repressed wish, but also offer to the unconscious +something indispensable, namely, the attachment necessary to the +transference. If we here attempted to penetrate more deeply into the +psychic processes, we should first have to throw more light on the play +of emotions between the foreconscious and the unconscious, to which, +indeed, we are urged by the study of the psychoneuroses, whereas the +dream itself offers no assistance in this respect.</p> + +<p>Just one further remark about the day remnants. There is no doubt +that they are the actual disturbers of sleep, and not the dream, which, +on the contrary, strives to guard sleep. But we shall return to this +point later.</p> + +<p>We have so far discussed the dream-wish, we have traced it to the +sphere of the Unc., and analyzed its relations to the day remnants, +which in turn may be either wishes, psychic emotions of any other kind, +or simply recent impressions. We have thus made room for any claims that +may be made for the importance of conscious thought activity in dream +formations in all its variations. Relying upon our thought series, it +would not be at all impossible for us to explain even those extreme +cases <a name="page_152"></a> in which the dream as a continuer of the +day work brings to a happy conclusion and unsolved problem possess an +example, the analysis of which might reveal the infantile or repressed +wish source furnishing such alliance and successful strengthening of the +efforts of the foreconscious activity. But we have not come one step +nearer a solution of the riddle: Why can the unconscious furnish the +motive power for the wish-fulfillment only during sleep? The answer to +this question must throw light on the psychic nature of wishes; and it +will be given with the aid of the diagram of the psychic apparatus.</p> + +<p>We do not doubt that even this apparatus attained its present +perfection through a long course of development. Let us attempt to +restore it as it existed in an early phase of its activity. From +assumptions, to be confirmed elsewhere, we know that at first the +apparatus strove to keep as free from excitement as possible, and in its +first formation, therefore, the scheme took the form of a reflex +apparatus, which enabled it promptly to discharge through the motor +tracts any sensible stimulus reaching it from without. But this simple +function was disturbed by the wants of life, which likewise furnish the +impulse for the further development <a name="page_153"></a> of the +apparatus. The wants of life first manifested themselves to it in the +form of the great physical needs. The excitement aroused by the inner +want seeks an outlet in motility, which may be designated as "inner +changes" or as an "expression of the emotions." The hungry child cries +or fidgets helplessly, but its situation remains unchanged; for the +excitation proceeding from an inner want requires, not a momentary +outbreak, but a force working continuously. A change can occur only if +in some way a feeling of gratification is experienced—which in the +case of the child must be through outside help—in order to remove +the inner excitement. An essential constituent of this experience is the +appearance of a certain perception (of food in our example), the memory +picture of which thereafter remains associated with the memory trace of +the excitation of want.</p> + +<p>Thanks to the established connection, there results at the next +appearance of this want a psychic feeling which revives the memory +picture of the former perception, and thus recalls the former perception +itself, <i>i.e.</i> it actually re-establishes the situation of the first +gratification. We call such a feeling a wish; the reappearance of the +perception constitutes the wish-fulfillment, and the full revival of the +perception by the want excitement constitutes <a name="page_154"></a> +the shortest road to the wish-fulfillment. We may assume a primitive +condition of the psychic apparatus in which this road is really +followed, <i>i.e.</i> where the wishing merges into an hallucination, This +first psychic activity therefore aims at an identity of perception, +<i>i.e.</i> it aims at a repetition of that perception which is connected +with the fulfillment of the want.</p> + +<p>This primitive mental activity must have been modified by bitter +practical experience into a more expedient secondary activity. The +establishment of the identity perception on the short regressive road +within the apparatus does not in another respect carry with it the +result which inevitably follows the revival of the same perception from +without. The gratification does not take place, and the want continues. +In order to equalize the internal with the external sum of energy, the +former must be continually maintained, just as actually happens in the +hallucinatory psychoses and in the deliriums of hunger which exhaust +their psychic capacity in clinging to the object desired. In order to +make more appropriate use of the psychic force, it becomes necessary to +inhibit the full regression so as to prevent it from extending beyond +the image of memory, whence it can select other paths leading ultimately +to the establishment of the desired <a name="page_155"></a> identity +from the outer world. This inhibition and consequent deviation from the +excitation becomes the task of a second system which dominates the +voluntary motility, <i>i.e.</i> through whose activity the expenditure of +motility is now devoted to previously recalled purposes. But this entire +complicated mental activity which works its way from the memory picture +to the establishment of the perception identity from the outer world +merely represents a detour which has been forced upon the +wish-fulfillment by experience.<a +href="#page_155_note_2"><sup>2</sup></a> Thinking is indeed nothing but +the equivalent of the hallucinatory wish; and if the dream be called a +wish-fulfillment this becomes self-evident, as nothing but a wish can +impel our psychic apparatus to activity. The dream, which in fulfilling +its wishes follows the short regressive path, thereby preserves for us +only an example of the primary form of the psychic apparatus which has +been abandoned as inexpedient. What once ruled in the waking state when +the psychic life was still young and unfit seems to have been banished +into the sleeping state, just as we see again in the nursery the bow and +arrow, the discarded primitive weapons of grown-up humanity. <i>The dream +is a fragment of the abandoned <a name="page_156"></a> psychic life of +the child.</i> In the psychoses these modes of operation of the psychic +apparatus, which are normally suppressed in the waking state, reassert +themselves, and then betray their inability to satisfy our wants in the +outer world.</p> + +<p>The unconscious wish-feelings evidently strive to assert themselves +during the day also, and the fact of transference and the psychoses +teach us that they endeavor to penetrate to consciousness and dominate +motility by the road leading through the system of the foreconscious. It +is, therefore, the censor lying between the Unc. and the Forec., the +assumption of which is forced upon us by the dream, that we have to +recognize and honor as the guardian of our psychic health. But is it not +carelessness on the part of this guardian to diminish its vigilance +during the night and to allow the suppressed emotions of the Unc. to +come to expression, thus again making possible the hallucinatory +regression? I think not, for when the critical guardian goes to +rest—and we have proof that his slumber is not profound—he +takes care to close the gate to motility. No matter what feelings from +the otherwise inhibited Unc. may roam about on the scene, they need not +be interfered with; they remain harmless because they are unable to put +in motion the motor apparatus which alone can exert a modifying <a +name="page_157"></a> influence upon the outer world. Sleep guarantees +the security of the fortress which is under guard. Conditions are less +harmless when a displacement of forces is produced, not through a +nocturnal diminution in the operation of the critical censor, but +through pathological enfeeblement of the latter or through pathological +reinforcement of the unconscious excitations, and this while the +foreconscious is charged with energy and the avenues to motility are +open. The guardian is then overpowered, the unconscious excitations +subdue the Forec.; through it they dominate our speech and actions, or +they enforce the hallucinatory regression, thus governing an apparatus +not designed for them by virtue of the attraction exerted by the +perceptions on the distribution of our psychic energy. We call this +condition a psychosis.</p> + +<p>We are now in the best position to complete our psychological +construction, which has been interrupted by the introduction of the two +systems, Unc. and Forec. We have still, however, ample reason for giving +further consideration to the wish as the sole psychic motive power in +the dream. We have explained that the reason why the dream is in every +case a wish realization is because it is a product of the Unc., which +knows no other aim in its activity but the fulfillment of wishes, and +which has no other <a name="page_158"></a> forces at its disposal but +wish-feelings. If we avail ourselves for a moment longer of the right to +elaborate from the dream interpretation such far-reaching psychological +speculations, we are in duty bound to demonstrate that we are thereby +bringing the dream into a relationship which may also comprise other +psychic structures. If there exists a system of the Unc.—or +something sufficiently analogous to it for the purpose of our +discussion—the dream cannot be its sole manifestation; every dream +may be a wish-fulfillment, but there must be other forms of abnormal +wish-fulfillment beside this of dreams. Indeed, the theory of all +psychoneurotic symptoms culminates in the proposition <i>that they too +must be taken as wish-fulfillments of the unconscious</i>. Our explanation +makes the dream only the first member of a group most important for the +psychiatrist, an understanding of which means the solution of the purely +psychological part of the psychiatric problem. But other members of this +group of wish-fulfillments, <i>e.g.</i>, the hysterical symptoms, evince one +essential quality which I have so far failed to find in the dream. Thus, +from the investigations frequently referred to in this treatise, I know +that the formation of an hysterical symptom necessitates the combination +of both streams of our psychic life. The symptom is <a +name="page_159"></a> not merely the expression of a realized +unconscious wish, but it must be joined by another wish from the +foreconscious which is fulfilled by the same symptom; so that the +symptom is at least doubly determined, once by each one of the +conflicting systems. Just as in the dream, there is no limit to further +over-determination. The determination not derived from the Unc. is, as +far as I can see, invariably a stream of thought in reaction against the +unconscious wish, <i>e.g.</i>, a self-punishment. Hence I may say, in +general, that <i>an hysterical symptom originates only where two +contrasting wish-fulfillments, having their source in different psychic +systems, are able to combine in one expression</i>. (Compare my latest +formulation of the origin of the hysterical symptoms in a treatise +published by the <i>Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft</i>, by Hirschfeld and +others, 1908). Examples on this point would prove of little value, as +nothing but a complete unveiling of the complication in question would +carry conviction. I therefore content myself with the mere assertion, +and will cite an example, not for conviction but for explication. The +hysterical vomiting of a female patient proved, on the one hand, to be +the realization of an unconscious fancy from the time of puberty, that +she might be continuously pregnant and <a name="page_160"></a> have a +multitude of children, and this was subsequently united with the wish +that she might have them from as many men as possible. Against this +immoderate wish there arose a powerful defensive impulse. But as the +vomiting might spoil the patient's figure and beauty, so that she would +not find favor in the eyes of mankind, the symptom was therefore in +keeping with her punitive trend of thought, and, being thus admissible +from both sides, it was allowed to become a reality. This is the same +manner of consenting to a wish-fulfillment which the queen of the +Parthians chose for the triumvir Crassus. Believing that he had +undertaken the campaign out of greed for gold, she caused molten gold to +be poured into the throat of the corpse. "Now hast thou what thou hast +longed for." As yet we know of the dream only that it expresses a +wish-fulfillment of the unconscious; and apparently the dominating +foreconscious permits this only after it has subjected the wish to some +distortions. We are really in no position to demonstrate regularly a +stream of thought antagonistic to the dream-wish which is realized in +the dream as in its counterpart. Only now and then have we found in the +dream traces of reaction formations, as, for instance, the tenderness +toward friend R. in the "uncle dream." But the contribution <a +name="page_161"></a> from the foreconscious, which is missing here, may +be found in another place. While the dominating system has withdrawn on +the wish to sleep, the dream may bring to expression with manifold +distortions a wish from the Unc., and realize this wish by producing the +necessary changes of energy in the psychic apparatus, and may finally +retain it through the entire duration of sleep.<a +href="#page_161_note_3"><sup>3</sup></a></p> + +<p>This persistent wish to sleep on the part of the foreconscious in +general facilitates the formation of the dream. Let us refer to the +dream of the father who, by the gleam of light from the death chamber, +was brought to the conclusion that the body has been set on fire. We +have shown that one of the psychic forces decisive in causing the father +to form this conclusion, instead of being awakened by the gleam of +light, was the wish to prolong the life of the child seen in the dream +by one moment. Other wishes proceeding from the repression probably +escape us, because we are unable to analyze this dream. But as a second +motive power of the dream we may mention the father's desire to sleep, +for, like the life of the child, the sleep of the father is prolonged +for a moment by the dream. The underlying motive is: "Let the dream go +on, <a name="page_162"></a> otherwise I must wake up." As in this dream +so also in all other dreams, the wish to sleep lends its support to the +unconscious wish. We reported dreams which were apparently dreams of +convenience. But, properly speaking, all dreams may claim this +designation. The efficacy of the wish to continue to sleep is the most +easily recognized in the waking dreams, which so transform the objective +sensory stimulus as to render it compatible with the continuance of +sleep; they interweave this stimulus with the dream in order to rob it +of any claims it might make as a warning to the outer world. But this +wish to continue to sleep must also participate in the formation of all +other dreams which may disturb the sleeping state from within only. +"Now, then, sleep on; why, it's but a dream"; this is in many cases the +suggestion of the Forec. to consciousness when the dream goes too far; +and this also describes in a general way the attitude of our dominating +psychic activity toward dreaming, though the thought remains tacit. I +must draw the conclusion that <i>throughout our entire sleeping state we +are just as certain that we are dreaming as we are certain that we are +sleeping</i>. We are compelled to disregard the objection urged against +this conclusion that our consciousness is never directed to a knowledge +of the former, and <a name="page_163"></a> that it is directed to a +knowledge of the latter only on special occasions when the censor is +unexpectedly surprised. Against this objection we may say that there are +persons who are entirely conscious of their sleeping and dreaming, and +who are apparently endowed with the conscious faculty of guiding their +dream life. Such a dreamer, when dissatisfied with the course taken by +the dream, breaks it off without awakening, and begins it anew in order +to continue it with a different turn, like the popular author who, on +request, gives a happier ending to his play. Or, at another time, if +placed by the dream in a sexually exciting situation, he thinks in his +sleep: "I do not care to continue this dream and exhaust myself by a +pollution; I prefer to defer it in favor of a real situation."</p> + +<p><small><a name="page_140_note_1"></a><a href="#page_140">Footnote +1</a>: They share this character of indestructibility with all psychic +acts that are really unconscious—that is, with psychic acts +belonging to the system of the unconscious only. These paths are +constantly open and never fall into disuse; they conduct the discharge +of the exciting process as often as it becomes endowed with unconscious +excitement To speak metaphorically they suffer the same form of +annihilation as the shades of the lower region in the <i>Odyssey</i>, who +awoke to new life the moment they drank blood. The processes depending +on the foreconscious system are destructible in a different way. The +psychotherapy of the neuroses is based on this difference.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_155_note_2"></a><a href="#page_155">Footnote +2</a>: Le Lorrain justly extols the wish-fulfilment of the dream: "Sans +fatigue sérieuse, sans être obligé de recourir à cette lutte opinâtre et +longue qui use et corrode les jouissances poursuivies."</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_161_note_3"></a><a href="#page_161">Footnote +3</a>: This idea has been borrowed from <i>The Theory of Sleep</i> by +Liébault, who revived hypnotic investigation in our days. (<i>Du Sommeil +provoqué</i>, etc.; Paris, 1889.)</small></p> + + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_164"></a>VII<br> + +THE FUNCTION OF THE DREAM</h2></center> + + +<p>Since we know that the foreconscious is suspended during the night by +the wish to sleep, we can proceed to an intelligent investigation of the +dream process. But let us first sum up the knowledge of this process +already gained. We have shown that the waking activity leaves day +remnants from which the sum of energy cannot be entirely removed; or the +waking activity revives during the day one of the unconscious wishes; or +both conditions occur simultaneously; we have already discovered the +many variations that may take place. The unconscious wish has already +made its way to the day remnants, either during the day or at any rate +with the beginning of sleep, and has effected a transference to it. This +produces a wish transferred to the recent material, or the suppressed +recent wish comes to life again through a reinforcement from the +unconscious. This wish now endeavors to make its way to consciousness on +the normal path of the mental processes through the foreconscious, to +which indeed it belongs through <a name="page_165"></a> one of its +constituent elements. It is confronted, however, by the censor, which is +still active, and to the influence of which it now succumbs. It now +takes on the distortion for which the way has already been paved by its +transference to the recent material. Thus far it is in the way of +becoming something resembling an obsession, delusion, or the like, +<i>i.e.</i> a thought reinforced by a transference and distorted in +expression by the censor. But its further progress is now checked +through the dormant state of the foreconscious; this system has +apparently protected itself against invasion by diminishing its +excitements. The dream process, therefore, takes the regressive course, +which has just been opened by the peculiarity of the sleeping state, and +thereby follows the attraction exerted on it by the memory groups, which +themselves exist in part only as visual energy not yet translated into +terms of the later systems. On its way to regression the dream takes on +the form of dramatization. The subject of compression will be discussed +later. The dream process has now terminated the second part of its +repeatedly impeded course. The first part expended itself progressively +from the unconscious scenes or phantasies to the foreconscious, while +the second part gravitates from the advent of the censor back to the +perceptions. But when the <a name="page_166"></a> dream process becomes +a content of perception it has, so to speak, eluded the obstacle set up +in the Forec. by the censor and by the sleeping state. It succeeds in +drawing attention to itself and in being noticed by consciousness. For +consciousness, which means to us a sensory organ for the reception of +psychic qualities, may receive stimuli from two sources—first, +from the periphery of the entire apparatus, viz. from the perception +system, and, secondly, from the pleasure and pain stimuli, which +constitute the sole psychic quality produced in the transformation of +energy within the apparatus. All other processes in the system, even +those in the foreconscious, are devoid of any psychic quality, and are +therefore not objects of consciousness inasmuch as they do not furnish +pleasure or pain for perception. We shall have to assume that those +liberations of pleasure and pain automatically regulate the outlet of +the occupation processes. But in order to make possible more delicate +functions, it was later found necessary to render the course of the +presentations more independent of the manifestations of pain. To +accomplish this the Forec. system needed some qualities of its own which +could attract consciousness, and most probably received them through the +connection of the foreconscious processes with the memory system of the +<a name="page_167"></a> signs of speech, which is not devoid of +qualities. Through the qualities of this system, consciousness, which +had hitherto been a sensory organ only for the perceptions, now becomes +also a sensory organ for a part of our mental processes. Thus we have +now, as it were, two sensory surfaces, one directed to perceptions and +the other to the foreconscious mental processes.</p> + +<p>I must assume that the sensory surface of consciousness devoted to +the Forec. is rendered less excitable by sleep than that directed to the +P-systems. The giving up of interest for the nocturnal mental processes +is indeed purposeful. Nothing is to disturb the mind; the Forec. wants +to sleep. But once the dream becomes a perception, it is then capable of +exciting consciousness through the qualities thus gained. The sensory +stimulus accomplishes what it was really destined for, namely, it +directs a part of the energy at the disposal of the Forec. in the form +of attention upon the stimulant. We must, therefore, admit that the +dream invariably awakens us, that is, it puts into activity a part of +the dormant force of the Forec. This force imparts to the dream that +influence which we have designated as secondary elaboration for the sake +of connection and comprehensibility. This means that the dream is +treated by it like any other content <a name="page_168"></a> of +perception; it is subjected to the same ideas of expectation, as far at +least as the material admits. As far as the direction is concerned in +this third part of the dream, it may be said that here again the +movement is progressive.</p> + +<p>To avoid misunderstanding, it will not be amiss to say a few words +about the temporal peculiarities of these dream processes. In a very +interesting discussion, apparently suggested by Maury's puzzling +guillotine dream, Goblet tries to demonstrate that the dream requires no +other time than the transition period between sleeping and awakening. +The awakening requires time, as the dream takes place during that +period. One is inclined to believe that the final picture of the dream +is so strong that it forces the dreamer to awaken; but, as a matter of +fact, this picture is strong only because the dreamer is already very +near awakening when it appears. "Un rêve c'est un réveil qui +commence."</p> + +<p>It has already been emphasized by Dugas that Goblet was forced to +repudiate many facts in order to generalize his theory. There are, +moreover, dreams from which we do not awaken, <i>e.g.</i>, some dreams in +which we dream that we dream. From our knowledge of the dream-work, we +can by no means admit that it extends only over the period of awakening. +On the contrary, we must consider it <a name="page_169"></a> probable +that the first part of the dream-work begins during the day when we are +still under the domination of the foreconscious. The second phase of the +dream-work, viz. the modification through the censor, the attraction by +the unconscious scenes, and the penetration to perception must continue +throughout the night. And we are probably always right when we assert +that we feel as though we had been dreaming the whole night, although we +cannot say what. I do not, however, think it necessary to assume that, +up to the time of becoming conscious, the dream processes really follow +the temporal sequence which we have described, viz. that there is first +the transferred dream-wish, then the distortion of the censor, and +consequently the change of direction to regression, and so on. We were +forced to form such a succession for the sake of <i>description</i>; in +reality, however, it is much rather a matter of simultaneously trying +this path and that, and of emotions fluctuating to and fro, until +finally, owing to the most expedient distribution, one particular +grouping is secured which remains. From certain personal experiences, I +am myself inclined to believe that the dream-work often requires more +than one day and one night to produce its result; if this be true, the +extraordinary art manifested in the construction of the dream loses <a +name="page_170"></a> all its marvels. In my opinion, even the regard +for comprehensibility as an occurrence of perception may take effect +before the dream attracts consciousness to itself. To be sure, from now +on the process is accelerated, as the dream is henceforth subjected to +the same treatment as any other perception. It is like fireworks, which +require hours of preparation and only a moment for ignition.</p> + +<p>Through the dream-work the dream process now gains either sufficient +intensity to attract consciousness to itself and arouse the +foreconscious, which is quite independent of the time or profundity of +sleep, or, its intensity being insufficient it must wait until it meets +the attention which is set in motion immediately before awakening. Most +dreams seem to operate with relatively slight psychic intensities, for +they wait for the awakening. This, however, explains the fact that we +regularly perceive something dreamt on being suddenly aroused from a +sound sleep. Here, as well as in spontaneous awakening, the first glance +strikes the perception content created by the dream-work, while the next +strikes the one produced from without.</p> + +<p>But of greater theoretical interest are those dreams which are +capable of waking us in the midst of sleep. We must bear in mind the +expediency elsewhere universally demonstrated, and ask ourselves <a +name="page_171"></a> why the dream or the unconscious wish has the power +to disturb sleep, <i>i.e.</i> the fulfillment of the foreconscious wish. This +is probably due to certain relations of energy into which we have no +insight. If we possessed such insight we should probably find that the +freedom given to the dream and the expenditure of a certain amount of +detached attention represent for the dream an economy in energy, keeping +in view the fact that the unconscious must be held in check at night +just as during the day. We know from experience that the dream, even if +it interrupts sleep, repeatedly during the same night, still remains +compatible with sleep. We wake up for an instant, and immediately resume +our sleep. It is like driving off a fly during sleep, we awake <i>ad hoc</i>, +and when we resume our sleep we have removed the disturbance. As +demonstrated by familiar examples from the sleep of wet nurses, &c., the +fulfillment of the wish to sleep is quite compatible with the retention +of a certain amount of attention in a given direction.</p> + +<p>But we must here take cognizance of an objection that is based on a +better knowledge of the unconscious processes. Although we have +ourselves described the unconscious wishes as always active, we have, +nevertheless, asserted that they are not sufficiently strong during the +day to make themselves <a name="page_172"></a> perceptible. But when we +sleep, and the unconscious wish has shown its power to form a dream, and +with it to awaken the foreconscious, why, then, does this power become +exhausted after the dream has been taken cognizance of? Would it not +seem more probable that the dream should continually renew itself, like +the troublesome fly which, when driven away, takes pleasure in returning +again and again? What justifies our assertion that the dream removes the +disturbance of sleep?</p> + +<p>That the unconscious wishes always remain active is quite true. They +represent paths which are passable whenever a sum of excitement makes +use of them. Moreover, a remarkable peculiarity of the unconscious +processes is the fact that they remain indestructible. Nothing can be +brought to an end in the unconscious; nothing can cease or be forgotten. +This impression is most strongly gained in the study of the neuroses, +especially of hysteria. The unconscious stream of thought which leads to +the discharge through an attack becomes passable again as soon as there +is an accumulation of a sufficient amount of excitement. The +mortification brought on thirty years ago, after having gained access to +the unconscious affective source, operates during all these thirty years +like a recent one. Whenever its memory is touched, it is revived and <a +name="page_173"></a> shows itself to be supplied with the excitement +which is discharged in a motor attack. It is just here that the office +of psychotherapy begins, its task being to bring about adjustment and +forgetfulness for the unconscious processes. Indeed, the fading of +memories and the flagging of affects, which we are apt to take as +self-evident and to explain as a primary influence of time on the +psychic memories, are in reality secondary changes brought about by +painstaking work. It is the foreconscious that accomplishes this work; +and the only course to be pursued by psychotherapy is the subjugate the +Unc, to the domination of the Forec.</p> + +<p>There are, therefore, two exits for the individual unconscious +emotional process. It is either left to itself, in which case it +ultimately breaks through somewhere and secures for once a discharge for +its excitation into motility; or it succumbs to the influence of the +foreconscious, and its excitation becomes confined through this +influence instead of being discharged. It is the latter process that +occurs in the dream. Owing to the fact that it is directed by the +conscious excitement, the energy from the Forec., which confronts the +dream when grown to perception, restricts the unconscious excitement of +the dream and renders it harmless as a disturbing factor. When the +dreamer wakes up <a name="page_174"></a> for a moment, he has actually +chased away the fly that has threatened to disturb his sleep. We can now +understand that it is really more expedient and economical to give full +sway to the unconscious wish, and clear its way to regression so that it +may form a dream, and then restrict and adjust this dream by means of a +small expenditure of foreconscious labor, than to curb the unconscious +throughout the entire period of sleep. We should, indeed, expect that +the dream, even if it was not originally an expedient process, would +have acquired some function in the play of forces of the psychic life. +We now see what this function is. The dream has taken it upon itself to +bring the liberated excitement of the Unc. back under the domination of +the foreconscious; it thus affords relief for the excitement of the Unc. +and acts as a safety-valve for the latter, and at the same time it +insures the sleep of the foreconscious at a slight expenditure of the +waking state. Like the other psychic formations of its group, the dream +offers itself as a compromise serving simultaneously both systems by +fulfilling both wishes in so far as they are compatible with each other. +A glance at Robert's "elimination theory," will show that we must agree +with this author in his main point, viz. in the determination of the +function of the dream, though we differ from him in <a +name="page_175"></a> our hypotheses and in our treatment of the dream +process.</p> + +<p>The above qualification—in so far as the two wishes are +compatible with each other—contains a suggestion that there may be +cases in which the function of the dream suffers shipwreck. The dream +process is in the first instance admitted as a wish-fulfillment of the +unconscious, but if this tentative wish-fulfillment disturbs the +foreconscious to such an extent that the latter can no longer maintain +its rest, the dream then breaks the compromise and fails to perform the +second part of its task. It is then at once broken off, and replaced by +complete wakefulness. Here, too, it is not really the fault of the +dream, if, while ordinarily the guardian of sleep, it is here compelled +to appear as the disturber of sleep, nor should this cause us to +entertain any doubts as to its efficacy. This is not the only case in +the organism in which an otherwise efficacious arrangement became +inefficacious and disturbing as soon as some element is changed in the +conditions of its origin; the disturbance then serves at least the new +purpose of announcing the change, and calling into play against it the +means of adjustment of the organism. In this connection, I naturally +bear in mind the case of the anxiety dream, and in order not to have the +appearance of <a name="page_176"></a> trying to exclude this testimony +against the theory of wish-fulfillment wherever I encounter it, I will +attempt an explanation of the anxiety dream, at least offering some +suggestions.</p> + +<p>That a psychic process developing anxiety may still be a +wish-fulfillment has long ceased to impress us as a contradiction. We +may explain this occurrence by the fact that the wish belongs to one +system (the Unc.), while by the other system (the Forec.), this wish has +been rejected and suppressed. The subjection of the Unc. by the Forec. +is not complete even in perfect psychic health; the amount of this +suppression shows the degree of our psychic normality. Neurotic symptoms +show that there is a conflict between the two systems; the symptoms are +the results of a compromise of this conflict, and they temporarily put +an end to it. On the one hand, they afford the Unc. an outlet for the +discharge of its excitement, and serve it as a sally port, while, on the +other hand, they give the Forec. the capability of dominating the Unc. +to some extent. It is highly instructive to consider, <i>e.g.</i>, the +significance of any hysterical phobia or of an agoraphobia. Suppose a +neurotic incapable of crossing the street alone, which we would justly +call a "symptom." We attempt to remove this symptom by urging him to the +action which he deems <a name="page_177"></a> himself incapable of. The +result will be an attack of anxiety, just as an attack of anxiety in the +street has often been the cause of establishing an agoraphobia. We thus +learn that the symptom has been constituted in order to guard against +the outbreak of the anxiety. The phobia is thrown before the anxiety +like a fortress on the frontier.</p> + +<p>Unless we enter into the part played by the affects in these +processes, which can be done here only imperfectly, we cannot continue +our discussion. Let us therefore advance the proposition that the reason +why the suppression of the unconscious becomes absolutely necessary is +because, if the discharge of presentation should be left to itself, it +would develop an affect in the Unc. which originally bore the character +of pleasure, but which, since the appearance of the repression, bears +the character of pain. The aim, as well as the result, of the +suppression is to stop the development of this pain. The suppression +extends over the unconscious ideation, because the liberation of pain +might emanate from the ideation. The foundation is here laid for a very +definite assumption concerning the nature of the affective development. +It is regarded as a motor or secondary activity, the key to the +innervation of which is located in the presentations of the Unc. Through +the domination of the Forec. <a name="page_178"></a> these +presentations become, as it were, throttled and inhibited at the exit of +the emotion-developing impulses. The danger, which is due to the fact +that the Forec. ceases to occupy the energy, therefore consists in the +fact that the unconscious excitations liberate such an affect +as—in consequence of the repression that has previously taken +place—can only be perceived as pain or anxiety.</p> + +<p>This danger is released through the full sway of the dream process. +The determinations for its realization consist in the fact that +repressions have taken place, and that the suppressed emotional wishes +shall become sufficiently strong. They thus stand entirely without the +psychological realm of the dream structure. Were it not for the fact +that our subject is connected through just one factor, namely, the +freeing of the Unc. during sleep, with the subject of the development of +anxiety, I could dispense with discussion of the anxiety dream, and thus +avoid all obscurities connected with it.</p> + +<p>As I have often repeated, the theory of the anxiety belongs to the +psychology of the neuroses. I would say that the anxiety in the dream is +an anxiety problem and not a dream problem. We have nothing further to +do with it after having once demonstrated its point of contact with the +subject of the dream process. There is only one thing left <a +name="page_179"></a> for me to do. As I have asserted that the neurotic +anxiety originates from sexual sources, I can subject anxiety dreams to +analysis in order to demonstrate the sexual material in their dream +thoughts.</p> + +<p>For good reasons I refrain from citing here any of the numerous +examples placed at my disposal by neurotic patients, but prefer to give +anxiety dreams from young persons.</p> + +<p>Personally, I have had no real anxiety dream for decades, but I +recall one from my seventh or eighth year which I subjected to +interpretation about thirty years later. The dream was very vivid, and +showed me <i>my beloved mother, with peculiarly calm sleeping countenance, +carried into the room and laid on the bed by two (or three) persons with +birds' beaks</i>. I awoke crying and screaming, and disturbed my parents. +The very tall figures—draped in a peculiar manner—with +beaks, I had taken from the illustrations of Philippson's bible; I +believe they represented deities with heads of sparrowhawks from an +Egyptian tomb relief. The analysis also introduced the reminiscence of a +naughty janitor's boy, who used to play with us children on the meadow +in front of the house; I would add that his name was Philip. I feel that +I first heard from this boy the vulgar word signifying sexual +intercourse, which is replaced among the educated <a +name="page_180"></a> by the Latin "coitus," but to which the dream +distinctly alludes by the selection of the birds' heads. I must have +suspected the sexual significance of the word from the facial expression +of my worldly-wise teacher. My mother's features in the dream were +copied from the countenance of my grandfather, whom I had seen a few +days before his death snoring in the state of coma. The interpretation +of the secondary elaboration in the dream must therefore have been that +my mother was dying; the tomb relief, too, agrees with this. In this +anxiety I awoke, and could not calm myself until I had awakened my +parents. I remember that I suddenly became calm on coming face to face +with my mother, as if I needed the assurance that my mother was not +dead. But this secondary interpretation of the dream had been effected +only under the influence of the developed anxiety. I was not frightened +because I dreamed that my mother was dying, but I interpreted the dream +in this manner in the foreconscious elaboration because I was already +under the domination of the anxiety. The latter, however, could be +traced by means of the repression to an obscure obviously sexual desire, +which had found its satisfying expression in the visual content of the +dream.</p> + +<p>A man twenty-seven years old who had been severely <a +name="page_181"></a> ill for a year had had many terrifying dreams +between the ages of eleven and thirteen. He thought that a man with an +ax was running after him; he wished to run, but felt paralyzed and could +not move from the spot. This may be taken as a good example of a very +common, and apparently sexually indifferent, anxiety dream. In the +analysis the dreamer first thought of a story told him by his uncle, +which chronologically was later than the dream, viz. that he was +attacked at night by a suspicious-looking individual. This occurrence +led him to believe that he himself might have already heard of a similar +episode at the time of the dream. In connection with the ax he recalled +that during that period of his life he once hurt his hand with an ax +while chopping wood. This immediately led to his relations with his +younger brother, whom he used to maltreat and knock down. In particular, +he recalled an occasion when he struck his brother on the head with his +boot until he bled, whereupon his mother remarked: "I fear he will kill +him some day." While he was seemingly thinking of the subject of +violence, a reminiscence from his ninth year suddenly occurred to him. +His parents came home late and went to bed while he was feigning sleep. +He soon heard panting and other noises that appeared strange to him, and +he <a name="page_182"></a> could also make out the position of his +parents in bed. His further associations showed that he had established +an analogy between this relation between his parents and his own +relation toward his younger brother. He subsumed what occurred between +his parents under the conception "violence and wrestling," and thus +reached a sadistic conception of the coitus act, as often happens among +children. The fact that he often noticed blood on his mother's bed +corroborated his conception.</p> + +<p>That the sexual intercourse of adults appears strange to children who +observe it, and arouses fear in them, I dare say is a fact of daily +experience. I have explained this fear by the fact that sexual +excitement is not mastered by their understanding, and is probably also +inacceptable to them because their parents are involved in it. For the +same son this excitement is converted into fear. At a still earlier +period of life sexual emotion directed toward the parent of opposite sex +does not meet with repression but finds free expression, as we have seen +before.</p> + +<p>For the night terrors with hallucinations (<i>pavor nocturnus</i>) +frequently found in children, I would unhesitatingly give the same +explanation. Here, too, we are certainly dealing with the +incomprehensible and rejected sexual feelings, which, if noted, <a +name="page_183"></a> would probably show a temporal periodicity, for an +enhancement of the sexual <i>libido</i> may just as well be produced +accidentally through emotional impressions as through the spontaneous +and gradual processes of development.</p> + +<p>I lack the necessary material to sustain these explanations from +observation. On the other hand, the pediatrists seem to lack the point +of view which alone makes comprehensible the whole series of phenomena, +on the somatic as well as on the psychic side. To illustrate by a +comical example how one wearing the blinders of medical mythology may +miss the understanding of such cases I will relate a case which I found +in a thesis on <i>pavor nocturnus</i> by <i>Debacker</i>, 1881. A +thirteen-year-old boy of delicate health began to become anxious and +dreamy; his sleep became restless, and about once a week it was +interrupted by an acute attack of anxiety with hallucinations. The +memory of these dreams was invariably very distinct. Thus, he related +that the <i>devil</i> shouted at him: "Now we have you, now we have you," and +this was followed by an odor of sulphur; the fire burned his skin. This +dream aroused him, terror-stricken. He was unable to scream at first; +then his voice returned, and he was heard to say distinctly: "No, no, +not me; why, I have done nothing," or, "Please don't, <a +name="page_184"></a> I shall never do it again." Occasionally, also, he +said: "Albert has not done that." Later he avoided undressing, because, +as he said, the fire attacked him only when he was undressed. From amid +these evil dreams, which menaced his health, he was sent into the +country, where he recovered within a year and a half, but at the age of +fifteen he once confessed: "Je n'osais pas l'avouer, mais j'éprouvais +continuellement des picotements et des surexcitations aux <i>parties</i>; à +la fin, cela m'énervait tant que plusieurs fois, j'ai pensé me jeter par +la fenêtre au dortoir."</p> + +<p>It is certainly not difficult to suspect: 1, that the boy had +practiced masturbation in former years, that he probably denied it, and +was threatened with severe punishment for his wrongdoing (his +confession: Je ne le ferai plus; his denial: Albert n'a jamais fait ça). +2, That under the pressure of puberty the temptation to self-abuse +through the tickling of the genitals was reawakened. 3, That now, +however, a struggle of repression arose in him, suppressing the <i>libido</i> +and changing it into fear, which subsequently took the form of the +punishments with which he was then threatened.</p> + +<p>Let us, however, quote the conclusions drawn by our author. This +observation shows: 1, That <a name="page_185"></a> the influence of +puberty may produce in a boy of delicate health a condition of extreme +weakness, and that it may lead to a <i>very marked cerebral anæmia</i>.</p> + +<p>2. This cerebral anæmia produces a transformation of character, +demonomaniacal hallucinations, and very violent nocturnal, perhaps also +diurnal, states of anxiety.</p> + +<p>3. Demonomania and the self-reproaches of the day can be traced to +the influences of religious education which the subject underwent as a +child.</p> + +<p>4. All manifestations disappeared as a result of a lengthy sojourn in +the country, bodily exercise, and the return of physical strength after +the termination of the period of puberty.</p> + +<p>5. A predisposing influence for the origin of the cerebral condition +of the boy may be attributed to heredity and to the father's chronic +syphilitic state.</p> + +<p>The concluding remarks of the author read: "Nous avons fait entrer +cette observation dans le cadre des délires apyrétiques d'inanition, car +c'est à l'ischémie cérébrale que nous rattachons cet état +particulier."</p> + + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_186"></a>VIII<br> + +THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PROCESS—REGRESSION</h2></center> + + +<p>In venturing to attempt to penetrate more deeply into the psychology +of the dream processes, I have undertaken a difficult task, to which, +indeed, my power of description is hardly equal. To reproduce in +description by a succession of words the simultaneousness of so complex +a chain of events, and in doing so to appear unbiassed throughout the +exposition, goes fairly beyond my powers. I have now to atone for the +fact that I have been unable in my description of the dream psychology +to follow the historic development of my views. The view-points for my +conception of the dream were reached through earlier investigations in +the psychology of the neuroses, to which I am not supposed to refer +here, but to which I am repeatedly forced to refer, whereas I should +prefer to proceed in the opposite direction, and, starting from the +dream, to establish a connection with the psychology of the neuroses. I +am well aware of all the inconveniences arising for the reader from this +difficulty, but I know of no way to avoid them.</p> + +<p><a name="page_187"></a>As I am dissatisfied with this state of +affairs, I am glad to dwell upon another view-point which seems to raise +the value of my efforts. As has been shown in the introduction to the +first chapter, I found myself confronted with a theme which had been +marked by the sharpest contradictions on the part of the authorities. +After our elaboration of the dream problems we found room for most of +these contradictions. We have been forced, however, to take decided +exception to two of the views pronounced, viz. that the dream is a +senseless and that it is a somatic process; apart from these cases we +have had to accept all the contradictory views in one place or another +of the complicated argument, and we have been able to demonstrate that +they had discovered something that was correct. That the dream continues +the impulses and interests of the waking state has been quite generally +confirmed through the discovery of the latent thoughts of the dream. +These thoughts concern themselves only with things that seem important +and of momentous interest to us. The dream never occupies itself with +trifles. But we have also concurred with the contrary view, viz., that +the dream gathers up the indifferent remnants from the day, and that not +until it has in some measure withdrawn itself from the waking activity +can an important <a name="page_188"></a> event of the day be taken up +by the dream. We found this holding true for the dream content, which +gives the dream thought its changed expression by means of +disfigurement. We have said that from the nature of the association +mechanism the dream process more easily takes possession of recent or +indifferent material which has not yet been seized by the waking mental +activity; and by reason of the censor it transfers the psychic intensity +from the important but also disagreeable to the indifferent material. +The hypermnesia of the dream and the resort to infantile material have +become main supports in our theory. In our theory of the dream we have +attributed to the wish originating from the infantile the part of an +indispensable motor for the formation of the dream. We naturally could +not think of doubting the experimentally demonstrated significance of +the objective sensory stimuli during sleep; but we have brought this +material into the same relation to the dream-wish as the thought +remnants from the waking activity. There was no need of disputing the +fact that the dream interprets the objective sensory stimuli after the +manner of an illusion; but we have supplied the motive for this +interpretation which has been left undecided by the authorities. The +interpretation follows in such a manner that the <a +name="page_189"></a> perceived object is rendered harmless as a sleep +disturber and becomes available for the wish-fulfillment. Though we do +not admit as special sources of the dream the subjective state of +excitement of the sensory organs during sleep, which seems to have been +demonstrated by Trumbull Ladd, we are nevertheless able to explain this +excitement through the regressive revival of active memories behind the +dream. A modest part in our conception has also been assigned to the +inner organic sensations which are wont to be taken as the cardinal +point in the explanation of the dream. These—the sensation of +falling, flying, or inhibition—stand as an ever ready material to +be used by the dream-work to express the dream thought as often as need +arises.</p> + +<p>That the dream process is a rapid and momentary one seems to be true +for the perception through consciousness of the already prepared dream +content; the preceding parts of the dream process probably take a slow, +fluctuating course. We have solved the riddle of the superabundant dream +content compressed within the briefest moment by explaining that this is +due to the appropriation of almost fully formed structures from the +psychic life. That the dream is disfigured and distorted by memory we +found to be correct, but not troublesome, as this is <a +name="page_190"></a> only the last manifest operation in the work of +disfigurement which has been active from the beginning of the +dream-work. In the bitter and seemingly irreconcilable controversy as to +whether the psychic life sleeps at night or can make the same use of all +its capabilities as during the day, we have been able to agree with both +sides, though not fully with either. We have found proof that the dream +thoughts represent a most complicated intellectual activity, employing +almost every means furnished by the psychic apparatus; still it cannot +be denied that these dream thoughts have originated during the day, and +it is indispensable to assume that there is a sleeping state of the +psychic life. Thus, even the theory of partial sleep has come into play; +but the characteristics of the sleeping state have been found not in the +dilapidation of the psychic connections but in the cessation of the +psychic system dominating the day, arising from its desire to sleep. The +withdrawal from the outer world retains its significance also for our +conception; though not the only factor, it nevertheless helps the +regression to make possible the representation of the dream. That we +should reject the voluntary guidance of the presentation course is +uncontestable; but the psychic life does not thereby become aimless, for +we have seen that after the abandonment of the desired <a +name="page_191"></a> end-presentation undesired ones gain the mastery. +The loose associative connection in the dream we have not only +recognized, but we have placed under its control a far greater territory +than could have been supposed; we have, however, found it merely the +feigned substitute for another correct and senseful one. To be sure we, +too, have called the dream absurd; but we have been able to learn from +examples how wise the dream really is when it simulates absurdity. We do +not deny any of the functions that have been attributed to the dream. +That the dream relieves the mind like a valve, and that, according to +Robert's assertion, all kinds of harmful material are rendered harmless +through representation in the dream, not only exactly coincides with our +theory of the twofold wish-fulfillment in the dream, but, in his own +wording, becomes even more comprehensible for us than for Robert +himself. The free indulgence of the psychic in the play of its faculties +finds expression with us in the non-interference with the dream on the +part of the foreconscious activity. The "return to the embryonal state +of psychic life in the dream" and the observation of Havelock Ellis, "an +archaic world of vast emotions and imperfect thoughts," appear to us as +happy anticipations of our deductions to the effect that <i>primitive</i> +modes of work suppressed during <a name="page_192"></a> the day +participate in the formation of the dream; and with us, as with Delage, +the <i>suppressed</i> material becomes the mainspring of the dreaming.</p> + +<p>We have fully recognized the rôle which Scherner ascribes to the +dream phantasy, and even his interpretation; but we have been obliged, +so to speak, to conduct them to another department in the problem. It is +not the dream that produces the phantasy but the unconscious phantasy +that takes the greatest part in the formation of the dream thoughts. We +are indebted to Scherner for his clew to the source of the dream +thoughts, but almost everything that he ascribes to the dream-work is +attributable to the activity of the unconscious, which is at work during +the day, and which supplies incitements not only for dreams but for +neurotic symptoms as well. We have had to separate the dream-work from +this activity as being something entirely different and far more +restricted. Finally, we have by no means abandoned the relation of the +dream to mental disturbances, but, on the contrary, we have given it a +more solid foundation on new ground.</p> + +<p>Thus held together by the new material of our theory as by a superior +unity, we find the most varied and most contradictory conclusions of the +authorities fitting into our structure; some of them <a +name="page_193"></a> are differently disposed, only a few of them are +entirely rejected. But our own structure is still unfinished. For, +disregarding the many obscurities which we have necessarily encountered +in our advance into the darkness of psychology, we are now apparently +embarrassed by a new contradiction. On the one hand, we have allowed the +dream thoughts to proceed from perfectly normal mental operations, +while, on the other hand, we have found among the dream thoughts a +number of entirely abnormal mental processes which extend likewise to +the dream contents. These, consequently, we have repeated in the +interpretation of the dream. All that we have termed the "dream-work" +seems so remote from the psychic processes recognized by us as correct, +that the severest judgments of the authors as to the low psychic +activity of dreaming seem to us well founded.</p> + +<p>Perhaps only through still further advance can enlightenment and +improvement be brought about. I shall pick out one of the constellations +leading to the formation of dreams.</p> + +<p>We have learned that the dream replaces a number of thoughts derived +from daily life which are perfectly formed logically. We cannot +therefore doubt that these thoughts originate from our normal mental +life. All the qualities which we esteem <a name="page_194"></a> in our +mental operations, and which distinguish these as complicated activities +of a high order, we find repeated in the dream thoughts. There is, +however, no need of assuming that this mental work is performed during +sleep, as this would materially impair the conception of the psychic +state of sleep we have hitherto adhered to. These thoughts may just as +well have originated from the day, and, unnoticed by our consciousness +from their inception, they may have continued to develop until they +stood complete at the onset of sleep. If we are to conclude anything +from this state of affairs, it will at most prove <i>that the most complex +mental operations are possible without the coöperation of +consciousness</i>, which we have already learned independently from every +psychoanalysis of persons suffering from hysteria or obsessions. These +dream thoughts are in themselves surely not incapable of consciousness; +if they have not become conscious to us during the day, this may have +various reasons. The state of becoming conscious depends on the exercise +of a certain psychic function, viz. attention, which seems to be +extended only in a definite quantity, and which may have been withdrawn +from the stream of thought in Question by other aims. Another way in +which such mental streams are kept from consciousness is the +following:—Our conscious <a name="page_195"></a> reflection +teaches us that when exercising attention we pursue a definite course. +But if that course leads us to an idea which does not hold its own with +the critic, we discontinue and cease to apply our attention. Now, +apparently, the stream of thought thus started and abandoned may spin on +without regaining attention unless it reaches a spot of especially +marked intensity which forces the return of attention. An initial +rejection, perhaps consciously brought about by the judgment on the +ground of incorrectness or unfitness for the actual purpose of the +mental act, may therefore account for the fact that a mental process +continues until the onset of sleep unnoticed by consciousness.</p> + +<p>Let us recapitulate by saying that we call such a stream of thought a +foreconscious one, that we believe it to be perfectly correct, and that +it may just as well be a more neglected one or an interrupted and +suppressed one. Let us also state frankly in what manner we conceive +this presentation course. We believe that a certain sum of excitement, +which we call occupation energy, is displaced from an end-presentation +along the association paths selected by that end-presentation. A +"neglected" stream of thought has received no such occupation, and from +a "suppressed" or "rejected" one this occupation has been withdrawn; +both have thus been left to <a name="page_196"></a> their own emotions. +The end-stream of thought stocked with energy is under certain +conditions able to draw to itself the attention of consciousness, +through which means it then receives a "surplus of energy." We shall be +obliged somewhat later to elucidate our assumption concerning the nature +and activity of consciousness.</p> + +<p>A train of thought thus incited in the Forec. may either disappear +spontaneously or continue. The former issue we conceive as follows: It +diffuses its energy through all the association paths emanating from it, +and throws the entire chain of ideas into a state of excitement which, +after lasting for a while, subsides through the transformation of the +excitement requiring an outlet into dormant energy.<a +href="#page_196_note_1"><sup>1</sup></a> If this first issue is brought +about the process has no further significance for the dream formation. +But other end-presentations are lurking in our foreconscious that +originate from the sources of our unconscious and from the ever active +wishes. These may take possession of the excitations in the circle of +thought thus left to itself, establish a connection between it and the +unconscious wish, and transfer to it the energy inherent in the +unconscious wish. Henceforth the neglected or suppressed <a +name="page_197"></a> train of thought is in a position to maintain +itself, although this reinforcement does not help it to gain access to +consciousness. We may say that the hitherto foreconscious train of +thought has been drawn into the unconscious.</p> + +<p>Other constellations for the dream formation would result if the +foreconscious train of thought had from the beginning been connected +with the unconscious wish, and for that reason met with rejection by the +dominating end-occupation; or if an unconscious wish were made active +for other—possibly somatic—reasons and of its own accord +sought a transference to the psychic remnants not occupied by the Forec. +All three cases finally combine in one issue, so that there is +established in the foreconscious a stream of thought which, having been +abandoned by the foreconscious occupation, receives occupation from the +unconscious wish.</p> + +<p>The stream of thought is henceforth subjected to a series of +transformations which we no longer recognize as normal psychic processes +and which give us a surprising result, viz. a psychopathological +formation. Let us emphasize and group the same.</p> + +<p>1. The intensities of the individual ideas become capable of +discharge in their entirety, and, proceeding from one conception to the +other, they thus form single presentations endowed with marked +intensity. <a name="page_198"></a> Through the repeated recurrence of +this process the intensity of an entire train of ideas may ultimately be +gathered in a single presentation element. This is the principle of +<i>compression or condensation</i>. It is condensation that is mainly +responsible for the strange impression of the dream, for we know of +nothing analogous to it in the normal psychic life accessible to +consciousness. We find here, also, presentations which possess great +psychic significance as junctions or as end-results of whole chains of +thought; but this validity does not manifest itself in any character +conspicuous enough for internal perception; hence, what has been +presented in it does not become in any way more intensive. In the +process of condensation the entire psychic connection becomes +transformed into the intensity of the presentation content. It is the +same as in a book where we space or print in heavy type any word upon +which particular stress is laid for the understanding of the text. In +speech the same word would be pronounced loudly and deliberately and +with emphasis. The first comparison leads us at once to an example taken +from the chapter on "The Dream-Work" (trimethylamine in the dream of +Irma's injection). Historians of art call our attention to the fact that +the most ancient historical sculptures follow a similar principle <a +name="page_199"></a> in expressing the rank of the persons represented +by the size of the statue. The king is made two or three times as large +as his retinue or the vanquished enemy. A piece of art, however, from +the Roman period makes use of more subtle means to accomplish the same +purpose. The figure of the emperor is placed in the center in a firmly +erect posture; special care is bestowed on the proper modelling of his +figure; his enemies are seen cowering at his feet; but he is no longer +represented a giant among dwarfs. However, the bowing of the subordinate +to his superior in our own days is only an echo of that ancient +principle of representation.</p> + +<p>The direction taken by the condensations of the dream is prescribed +on the one hand by the true foreconscious relations of the dream +thoughts, an the other hand by the attraction of the visual +reminiscences in the unconscious. The success of the condensation work +produces those intensities which are required for penetration into the +perception systems.</p> + +<p>2. Through this free transferability of the intensities, moreover, +and in the service of condensation, <i>intermediary +presentations</i>—compromises, as it were—are formed (<i>cf.</i> the +numerous examples). This, likewise, is something unheard of in the +normal presentation course, where it is above all a <a +name="page_200"></a> question of selection and retention of the +"proper" presentation element. On the other hand, composite and +compromise formations occur with extraordinary frequency when we are +trying to find the linguistic expression for foreconscious thoughts; +these are considered "slips of the tongue."</p> + +<p>3. The presentations which transfer their intensities to one another +are <i>very loosely connected</i>, and are joined together by such forms of +association as are spurned in our serious thought and are utilized in +the production of the effect of wit only. Among these we particularly +find associations of the sound and consonance types.</p> + +<p>4. Contradictory thoughts do not strive to eliminate one another, but +remain side by side. They often unite to produce condensation <i>as if no +contradiction</i> existed, or they form compromises for which we should +never forgive our thoughts, but which we frequently approve of in our +actions.</p> + +<p>These are some of the most conspicuous abnormal processes to which +the thoughts which have previously been rationally formed are subjected +in the course of the dream-work. As the main feature of these processes +we recognize the high importance attached to the fact of rendering the +occupation energy mobile and capable of discharge; the content and the +actual significance of the psychic elements, <a name="page_201"></a> to +which these energies adhere, become a matter of secondary importance. +One might possibly think that the condensation and compromise formation +is effected only in the service of regression, when occasion arises for +changing thoughts into pictures. But the analysis and—still more +distinctly—the synthesis of dreams which lack regression toward +pictures, <i>e.g.</i> the dream "Autodidasker—Conversation with +Court-Councilor N.," present the same processes of displacement and +condensation as the others.</p> + +<p>Hence we cannot refuse to acknowledge that the two kinds of +essentially different psychic processes participate in the formation of +the dream; one forms perfectly correct dream thoughts which are +equivalent to normal thoughts, while the other treats these ideas in a +highly surprising and incorrect manner. The latter process we have +already set apart as the dream-work proper. What have we now to advance +concerning this latter psychic process?</p> + +<p>We should be unable to answer this question here if we had not +penetrated considerably into the psychology of the neuroses and +especially of hysteria. From this we learn that the same incorrect +psychic processes—as well as others that have not been +enumerated—control the formation of hysterical <a +name="page_202"></a> symptoms. In hysteria, too, we at once find a +series of perfectly correct thoughts equivalent to our conscious +thoughts, of whose existence, however, in this form we can learn nothing +and which we can only subsequently reconstruct. If they have forced +their way anywhere to our perception, we discover from the analysis of +the symptom formed that these normal thoughts have been subjected to +abnormal treatment and <i>have been transformed into the symptom by means +of condensation and compromise formation, through superficial +associations, under cover of contradictions, and eventually over the +road of regression</i>. In view of the complete identity found between the +peculiarities of the dream-work and of the psychic activity forming the +psychoneurotic symptoms, we shall feel justified in transferring to the +dream the conclusions urged upon us by hysteria.</p> + +<p>From the theory of hysteria we borrow the proposition that <i>such an +abnormal psychic elaboration of a normal train of thought takes place +only when the latter has been used for the transference of an +unconscious wish which dates from the infantile life and is in a state +of repression</i>. In accordance with this proposition we have construed +the theory of the dream on the assumption that the actuating dream-wish +invariably originates in the unconscious, <a name="page_203"></a> +which, as we ourselves have admitted, cannot be universally demonstrated +though it cannot be refuted. But in order to explain the real meaning of +the term <i>repression</i>, which we have employed so freely, we shall be +obliged to make some further addition to our psychological +construction.</p> + +<p>We have above elaborated the fiction of a primitive psychic +apparatus, whose work is regulated by the efforts to avoid accumulation +of excitement and as far as possible to maintain itself free from +excitement. For this reason it was constructed after the plan of a +reflex apparatus; the motility, originally the path for the inner bodily +change, formed a discharging path standing at its disposal. We +subsequently discussed the psychic results of a feeling of +gratification, and we might at the same time have introduced the second +assumption, viz. that accumulation of excitement—following certain +modalities that do not concern us—is perceived as pain and sets +the apparatus in motion in order to reproduce a feeling of gratification +in which the diminution of the excitement is perceived as pleasure. Such +a current in the apparatus which emanates from pain and strives for +pleasure we call a wish. We have said that nothing but a wish is capable +of setting the apparatus in motion, and that the discharge of excitement +in the apparatus <a name="page_204"></a> is regulated automatically by +the perception of pleasure and pain. The first wish must have been an +hallucinatory occupation of the memory for gratification. But this +hallucination, unless it were maintained to the point of exhaustion, +proved incapable of bringing about a cessation of the desire and +consequently of securing the pleasure connected with gratification.</p> + +<p>Thus there was required a second activity—in our terminology +the activity of a second system—which should not permit the memory +occupation to advance to perception and therefrom to restrict the +psychic forces, but should lead the excitement emanating from the +craving stimulus by a devious path over the spontaneous motility which +ultimately should so change the outer world as to allow the real +perception of the object of gratification to take place. Thus far we +have elaborated the plan of the psychic apparatus; these two systems are +the germ of the Unc. and Forec, which we include in the fully developed +apparatus.</p> + +<p>In order to be in a position successfully to change the outer world +through the motility, there is required the accumulation of a large sum +of experiences in the memory systems as well as a manifold fixation of +the relations which are evoked in this memory material by different +end-presentations. <a name="page_205"></a> We now proceed further with +our assumption. The manifold activity of the second system, tentatively +sending forth and retracting energy, must on the one hand have full +command over all memory material, but on the other hand it would be a +superfluous expenditure for it to send to the individual mental paths +large quantities of energy which would thus flow off to no purpose, +diminishing the quantity available for the transformation of the outer +world. In the interests of expediency I therefore postulate that the +second system succeeds in maintaining the greater part of the occupation +energy in a dormant state and in using but a small portion for the +purposes of displacement. The mechanism of these processes is entirely +unknown to me; any one who wishes to follow up these ideas must try to +find the physical analogies and prepare the way for a demonstration of +the process of motion in the stimulation of the neuron. I merely hold to +the idea that the activity of the first Ψ-system is directed <i>to +the free outflow of the quantities of excitement</i>, and that the second +system brings about an inhibition of this outflow through the energies +emanating from it, <i>i.e.</i> it produces a <i>transformation into dormant +energy, probably by raising the level</i>. I therefore assume that under +the control of the second system as compared <a name="page_206"></a> +with the first, the course of the excitement is bound to entirely +different mechanical conditions. After the second system has finished +its tentative mental work, it removes the inhibition and congestion of +the excitements and allows these excitements to flow off to the +motility.</p> + +<p>An interesting train of thought now presents itself if we consider +the relations of this inhibition of discharge by the second system to +the regulation through the principle of pain. Let us now seek the +counterpart of the primary feeling of gratification, namely, the +objective feeling of fear. A perceptive stimulus acts on the primitive +apparatus, becoming the source of a painful emotion. This will then be +followed by irregular motor manifestations until one of these withdraws +the apparatus from perception and at the same time from pain, but on the +reappearance of the perception this manifestation will immediately +repeat itself (perhaps as a movement of flight) until the perception has +again disappeared. But there will here remain no tendency again to +occupy the perception of the source of pain in the form of an +hallucination or in any other form. On the contrary, there will be a +tendency in the primary apparatus to abandon the painful memory picture +as soon as it is in any way awakened, as the overflow of its excitement +would <a name="page_207"></a> surely produce (more precisely, begin to +produce) pain. The deviation from memory, which is but a repetition of +the former flight from perception, is facilitated also by the fact that, +unlike perception, memory does not possess sufficient quality to excite +consciousness and thereby to attract to itself new energy. This easy and +regularly occurring deviation of the psychic process from the former +painful memory presents to us the model and the first example of +<i>psychic repression</i>. As is generally known, much of this deviation from +the painful, much of the behavior of the ostrich, can be readily +demonstrated even in the normal psychic life of adults.</p> + +<p>By virtue of the principle of pain the first system is therefore +altogether incapable of introducing anything unpleasant into the mental +associations. The system cannot do anything but wish. If this remained +so the mental activity of the second system, which should have at its +disposal all the memories stored up by experiences, would be hindered. +But two ways are now opened: the work of the second system either frees +itself completely from the principle of pain and continues its course, +paying no heed to the painful reminiscence, or it contrives to occupy +the painful memory in such a manner as to preclude the liberation of +pain. We may reject <a name="page_208"></a> the first possibility, as +the principle of pain also manifests itself as a regulator for the +emotional discharge of the second system; we are, therefore, directed to +the second possibility, namely, that this system occupies a reminiscence +in such a manner as to inhibit its discharge and hence, also, to inhibit +the discharge comparable to a motor innervation for the development of +pain. Thus from two starting points we are led to the hypothesis that +occupation through the second system is at the same time an inhibition +for the emotional discharge, viz. from a consideration of the principle +of pain and from the principle of the smallest expenditure of +innervation. Let us, however, keep to the fact—this is the key to +the theory of repression—that the second system is capable of +occupying an idea only when it is in position to check the development +of pain emanating from it. Whatever withdraws itself from this +inhibition also remains inaccessible for the second system and would +soon be abandoned by virtue of the principle of pain. The inhibition of +pain, however, need not be complete; it must be permitted to begin, as +it indicates to the second system the nature of the memory and possibly +its defective adaptation for the purpose sought by the mind.</p> + +<p>The psychic process which is admitted by the <a name="page_209"></a> +first system only I shall now call the <i>primary</i> process; and the one +resulting from the inhibition of the second system I shall call the +<i>secondary</i> process. I show by another point for what purpose the second +system is obliged to correct the primary process. The primary process +strives for a discharge of the excitement in order to establish a +<i>perception</i> identity with the sum of excitement thus gathered; the +secondary process has abandoned this intention and undertaken instead +the task of bringing about a <i>thought identity</i>. All thinking is only a +circuitous path from the memory of gratification taken as an +end-presentation to the identical occupation of the same memory, which +is again to be attained on the track of the motor experiences. The state +of thinking must take an interest in the connecting paths between the +presentations without allowing itself to be misled by their intensities. +But it is obvious that condensations and intermediate or compromise +formations occurring in the presentations impede the attainment of this +end-identity; by substituting one idea for the other they deviate from +the path which otherwise would have been continued from the original +idea. Such processes are therefore carefully avoided in the secondary +thinking. Nor is it difficult to understand that the principle of pain +also impedes the progress of <a name="page_210"></a> the mental stream +in its pursuit of the thought identity, though, indeed, it offers to the +mental stream the most important points of departure. Hence the tendency +of the thinking process must be to free itself more and more from +exclusive adjustment by the principle of pain, and through the working +of the mind to restrict the affective development to that minimum which +is necessary as a signal. This refinement of the activity must have been +attained through a recent over-occupation of energy brought about by +consciousness. But we are aware that this refinement is seldom +completely successful even in the most normal psychic life and that our +thoughts ever remain accessible to falsification through the +interference of the principle of pain.</p> + +<p>This, however, is not the breach in the functional efficiency of our +psychic apparatus through which the thoughts forming the material of the +secondary mental work are enabled to make their way into the primary +psychic process—with which formula we may now describe the work +leading to the dream and to the hysterical symptoms. This case of +insufficiency results from the union of the two factors from the history +of our evolution; one of which belongs solely to the psychic apparatus +and has exerted a determining influence on the relation of the <a +name="page_211"></a> two systems, while the other operates +fluctuatingly and introduces motive forces of organic origin into the +psychic life. Both originate in the infantile life and result from the +transformation which our psychic and somatic organism has undergone +since the infantile period.</p> + +<p>When I termed one of the psychic processes in the psychic apparatus +the primary process, I did so not only in consideration of the order of +precedence and capability, but also as admitting the temporal relations +to a share in the nomenclature. As far as our knowledge goes there is no +psychic apparatus possessing only the primary process, and in so far it +is a theoretic fiction; but so much is based on fact that the primary +processes are present in the apparatus from the beginning, while the +secondary processes develop gradually in the course of life, inhibiting +and covering the primary ones, and gaining complete mastery over them +perhaps only at the height of life. Owing to this retarded appearance of +the secondary processes, the essence of our being, consisting in +unconscious wish feelings, can neither be seized nor inhibited by the +foreconscious, whose part is once for all restricted to the indication +of the most suitable paths for the wish feelings originating in the +unconscious. These unconscious wishes establish for all subsequent +psychic efforts <a name="page_212"></a> a compulsion to which they have +to submit and which they must strive if possible to divert from its +course and direct to higher aims. In consequence of this retardation of +the foreconscious occupation a large sphere of the memory material +remains inaccessible.</p> + +<p>Among these indestructible and unincumbered wish feelings originating +from the infantile life, there are also some, the fulfillments of which +have entered into a relation of contradiction to the end-presentation of +the secondary thinking. The fulfillment of these wishes would no longer +produce an affect of pleasure but one of pain; <i>and it is just this +transformation of affect that constitutes the nature of what we +designate as "repression," in which we recognize the infantile first +step of passing adverse sentence or of rejecting through reason</i>. To +investigate in what way and through what motive forces such a +transformation can be produced constitutes the problem of repression, +which we need here only skim over. It will suffice to remark that such a +transformation of affect occurs in the course of development (one may +think of the appearance in infantile life of disgust which was +originally absent), and that it is connected with the activity of the +secondary system. The memories from which the unconscious wish brings +about the emotional discharge <a name="page_213"></a> have never been +accessible to the Forec., and for that reason their emotional discharge +cannot be inhibited. It is just on account of this affective development +that these ideas are not even now accessible to the foreconscious +thoughts to which they have transferred their wishing power. On the +contrary, the principle of pain comes into play, and causes the Forec. +to deviate from these thoughts of transference. The latter, left to +themselves, are "repressed," and thus the existence of a store of +infantile memories, from the very beginning withdrawn from the Forec., +becomes the preliminary condition of repression.</p> + +<p>In the most favorable case the development of pain terminates as soon +as the energy has been withdrawn from the thoughts of transference in +the Forec., and this effect characterizes the intervention of the +principle of pain as expedient. It is different, however, if the +repressed unconscious wish receives an organic enforcement which it can +lend to its thoughts of transference and through which it can enable +them to make an effort towards penetration with their excitement, even +after they have been abandoned by the occupation of the Forec. A +defensive struggle then ensues, inasmuch as the Forec. reinforces the +antagonism against the repressed ideas, and subsequently this leads to a +penetration <a name="page_214"></a> by the thoughts of transference +(the carriers of the unconscious wish) in some form of compromise +through symptom formation. But from the moment that the suppressed +thoughts are powerfully occupied by the unconscious wish-feeling and +abandoned by the foreconscious occupation, they succumb to the primary +psychic process and strive only for motor discharge; or, if the path be +free, for hallucinatory revival of the desired perception identity. We +have previously found, empirically, that the incorrect processes +described are enacted only with thoughts that exist in the repression. +We now grasp another part of the connection. These incorrect processes +are those that are primary in the psychic apparatus; <i>they appear +wherever thoughts abandoned by the foreconscious occupation are left to +themselves, and can fill themselves with the uninhibited energy, +striving for discharge from the unconscious</i>. We may add a few further +observations to support the view that these processes designated +"incorrect" are really not falsifications of the normal defective +thinking, but the modes of activity of the psychic apparatus when freed +from inhibition. Thus we see that the transference of the foreconscious +excitement to the motility takes place according to the same processes, +and that the connection of the foreconscious presentations <a +name="page_215"></a> with words readily manifest the same displacements +and mixtures which are ascribed to inattention. Finally, I should like +to adduce proof that an increase of work necessarily results from the +inhibition of these primary courses from the fact that we gain a +<i>comical effect</i>, a surplus to be discharged through laughter, <i>if we +allow these streams of thought to come to consciousness</i>.</p> + +<p>The theory of the psychoneuroses asserts with complete certainty that +only sexual wish-feelings from the infantile life experience repression +(emotional transformation) during the developmental period of childhood. +These are capable of returning to activity at a later period of +development, and then have the faculty of being revived, either as a +consequence of the sexual constitution, which is really formed from the +original bisexuality, or in consequence of unfavorable influences of the +sexual life; and they thus supply the motive power for all +psychoneurotic symptom formations. It is only by the introduction of +these sexual forces that the gaps still demonstrable in the theory of +repression can be filled. I will leave it undecided whether the +postulate of the sexual and infantile may also be asserted for the +theory of the dream; I leave this here unfinished because I have already +passed a step beyond the demonstrable in assuming that the <a +name="page_216"></a> dream-wish invariably originates from the +unconscious.<a href="#page_216_note_2"><sup>2</sup></a> Nor will I +further investigate the difference in the play of the psychic forces in +the dream formation and in the formation of the hysterical symptoms, for +to do this we ought to possess a more explicit knowledge of one of the +members to be compared. But I regard another point as important, and +will here confess that it was on account <a name="page_217"></a> of +this very point that I have just undertaken this entire discussion +concerning the two psychic systems, their modes of operation, and the +repression. For it is now immaterial whether I have conceived the +psychological relations in question with approximate correctness, or, as +is easily possible in such a difficult matter, in an erroneous and +fragmentary manner. Whatever changes may be made in the interpretation +of the psychic censor and of the correct and of the abnormal elaboration +of the dream content, the fact nevertheless remains that such processes +are active in dream formation, and that essentially they show the +closest analogy to the processes observed in the formation of the +hysterical symptoms. The dream is not a pathological phenomenon, and it +does not leave behind an enfeeblement of the mental faculties. The +objection that no deduction can be drawn regarding the dreams of healthy +persons from my own dreams and from those of neurotic patients may be +rejected without comment. Hence, when we draw conclusions from the +phenomena as to their motive forces, we recognize that the psychic +mechanism made use of by the neuroses is not created by a morbid +disturbance of the psychic life, but is found ready in the normal +structure of the psychic apparatus. The two psychic systems, the censor +crossing between <a name="page_218"></a> them, the inhibition and the +covering of the one activity by the other, the relations of both to +consciousness—or whatever may offer a more correct interpretation +of the actual conditions in their stead—all these belong to the +normal structure of our psychic instrument, and the dream points out for +us one of the roads leading to a knowledge of this structure. If, in +addition to our knowledge, we wish to be contented with a minimum +perfectly established, we shall say that the dream gives us proof that +the <i>suppressed, material continues to exist even in the normal person +and remains capable of psychic activity</i>. The dream itself is one of the +manifestations of this suppressed material; theoretically, this is true +in <i>all</i> cases; according to substantial experience it is true in at +least a great number of such as most conspicuously display the prominent +characteristics of dream life. The suppressed psychic material, which in +the waking state has been prevented from expression and cut off from +internal perception <i>by the antagonistic adjustment of the +contradictions</i>, finds ways and means of obtruding itself on +consciousness during the night under the domination of the compromise +formations.</p> + +<blockquote><i>"Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta +movebo."</i></blockquote> + +<p><a name="page_219"></a>At any rate the interpretation of dreams is +the <i>via regia</i> to a knowledge of the unconscious in the psychic +life.</p> + +<p>In following the analysis of the dream we have made some progress +toward an understanding of the composition of this most marvelous and +most mysterious of instruments; to be sure, we have not gone very far, +but enough of a beginning has been made to allow us to advance from +other so-called pathological formations further into the analysis of the +unconscious. Disease—at least that which is justly termed +functional—is not due to the destruction of this apparatus, and +the establishment of new splittings in its interior; it is rather to be +explained dynamically through the strengthening and weakening of the +components in the play of forces by which so many activities are +concealed during the normal function. We have been able to show in +another place how the composition of the apparatus from the two systems +permits a subtilization even of the normal activity which would be +impossible for a single system.</p> + +<p><small><a name="page_196_note_1"></a><a href="#page_196">Footnote +1</a>: <i>Cf.</i> the significant observations by J. Bueuer in our <i>Studies +on Hysteria</i>, 1895, and 2nd ed. 1909.</small></p> + +<p><small><a name="page_216_note_2"></a><a href="#page_216">Footnote +2</a>: Here, as in other places, there are gaps in the treatment of the +subject, which I have left intentionally, because to fill them up would +require on the one hand too great effort, and on the other hand an +extensive reference to material that is foreign to the dream. Thus I +have avoided stating whether I connect with the word "suppressed" +another sense than with the word "repressed." It has been made clear +only that the latter emphasizes more than the former the relation to the +unconscious. I have not entered into the cognate problem why the dream +thoughts also experience distortion by the censor when they abandon the +progressive continuation to consciousness and choose the path of +regression. I have been above all anxious to awaken an interest in the +problems to which the further analysis of the dreamwork leads and to +indicate the other themes which meet these on the way. It was not always +easy to decide just where the pursuit should be discontinued. That I +have not treated exhaustively the part played in the dream by the +psychosexual life and have avoided the interpretation of dreams of an +obvious sexual content is due to a special reason which may not come up +to the reader's expectation. To be sure, it is very far from my ideas +and the principles expressed by me in neuropathology to regard the +sexual life as a "pudendum" which should be left unconsidered by the +physician and the scientific investigator. I also consider ludicrous the +moral indignation which prompted the translator of Artemidoros of Daldis +to keep from the reader's knowledge the chapter on sexual dreams +contained in the <i>Symbolism of the Dreams</i>. As for myself, I have been +actuated solely by the conviction that in the explanation of sexual +dreams I should be bound to entangle myself deeply in the still +unexplained problems of perversion and bisexuality; and for that reason +I have reserved this material for another connection.</small></p> + + + + + +<center><h2><a name="page_220"></a>IX<br> + +THE UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUSNESS—REALITY</h2></center> + + +<p>On closer inspection we find that it is not the existence of two +systems near the motor end of the apparatus but of two kinds of +processes or modes of emotional discharge, the assumption of which was +explained in the psychological discussions of the previous chapter. This +can make no difference for us, for we must always be ready to drop our +auxiliary ideas whenever we deem ourselves in position to replace them +by something else approaching more closely to the unknown reality. Let +us now try to correct some views which might be erroneously formed as +long as we regarded the two systems in the crudest and most obvious +sense as two localities within the psychic apparatus, views which have +left their traces in the terms "repression" and "penetration." Thus, +when we say that an unconscious idea strives for transference into the +foreconscious in order later to penetrate consciousness, we do not mean +that a second idea is to be formed situated in a new locality like an +interlineation near <a name="page_221"></a> which the original +continues to remain; also, when we speak of penetration into +consciousness, we wish carefully to avoid any idea of change of +locality. When we say that a foreconscious idea is repressed and +subsequently taken up by the unconscious, we might be tempted by these +figures, borrowed from the idea of a struggle over a territory, to +assume that an arrangement is really broken up in one psychic locality +and replaced by a new one in the other locality. For these comparisons +we substitute what would seem to correspond better with the real state +of affairs by saying that an energy occupation is displaced to or +withdrawn from a certain arrangement so that the psychic formation falls +under the domination of a system or is withdrawn from the same. Here +again we replace a topical mode of presentation by a dynamic; it is not +the psychic formation that appears to us as the moving factor but the +innervation of the same.</p> + +<p>I deem it appropriate and justifiable, however, to apply ourselves +still further to the illustrative conception of the two systems. We +shall avoid any misapplication of this manner of representation if we +remember that presentations, thoughts, and psychic formations should +generally not be localized in the organic elements of the nervous +system, but, so to speak, between them, where resistances and <a +name="page_222"></a> paths form the correlate corresponding to them. +Everything that can become an object of our internal perception is +virtual, like the image in the telescope produced by the passage of the +rays of light. But we are justified in assuming the existence of the +systems, which have nothing psychic in themselves and which never become +accessible to our psychic perception, corresponding to the lenses of the +telescope which design the image. If we continue this comparison, we may +say that the censor between two systems corresponds to the refraction of +rays during their passage into a new medium.</p> + +<p>Thus far we have made psychology on our own responsibility; it is now +time to examine the theoretical opinions governing present-day +psychology and to test their relation to our theories. The question of +the unconscious, in psychology is, according to the authoritative words +of Lipps, less a psychological question than the question of psychology. +As long as psychology settled this question with the verbal explanation +that the "psychic" is the "conscious" and that "unconscious psychic +occurrences" are an obvious contradiction, a psychological estimate of +the observations gained by the physician from abnormal mental states was +precluded. The physician and the philosopher agree only when both <a +name="page_223"></a> acknowledge that unconscious psychic processes are +"the appropriate and well-justified expression for an established fact." +The physician cannot but reject with a shrug of his shoulders the +assertion that "consciousness is the indispensable quality of the +psychic"; he may assume, if his respect for the utterings of the +philosophers still be strong enough, that he and they do not treat the +same subject and do not pursue the same science. For a single +intelligent observation of the psychic life of a neurotic, a single +analysis of a dream must force upon him the unalterable conviction that +the most complicated and correct mental operations, to which no one will +refuse the name of psychic occurrences, may take place without exciting +the consciousness of the person. It is true that the physician does not +learn of these unconscious processes until they have exerted such an +effect on consciousness as to admit communication or observation. But +this effect of consciousness may show a psychic character widely +differing from the unconscious process, so that the internal perception +cannot possibly recognize the one as a substitute for the other. The +physician must reserve for himself the right to penetrate, by a process +of deduction, from the effect on consciousness to the unconscious +psychic process; he learns in this way that the effect on consciousness +is only <a name="page_224"></a> a remote psychic product of the +unconscious process and that the latter has not become conscious as +such; that it has been in existence and operative without betraying +itself in any way to consciousness.</p> + +<p>A reaction from the over-estimation of the quality of consciousness +becomes the indispensable preliminary condition for any correct insight +into the behavior of the psychic. In the words of Lipps, the unconscious +must be accepted as the general basis of the psychic life. The +unconscious is the larger circle which includes within itself the +smaller circle of the conscious; everything conscious has its +preliminary step in the unconscious, whereas the unconscious may stop +with this step and still claim full value as a psychic activity. +Properly speaking, the unconscious is the real psychic; <i>its inner +nature is just as unknown to us as the reality of the external world, +and it is just as imperfectly reported to us through the data of +consciousness as is the external world through the indications of our +sensory organs</i>.</p> + +<p>A series of dream problems which have intensely occupied older +authors will be laid aside when the old opposition between conscious +life and dream life is abandoned and the unconscious psychic assigned to +its proper place. Thus many of the activities whose performances in the +dream have excited our <a name="page_225"></a> admiration are now no +longer to be attributed to the dream but to unconscious thinking, which +is also active during the day. If, according to Scherner, the dream +seems to play with a symboling representation of the body, we know that +this is the work of certain unconscious phantasies which have probably +given in to sexual emotions, and that these phantasies come to +expression not only in dreams but also in hysterical phobias and in +other symptoms. If the dream continues and settles activities of the day +and even brings to light valuable inspirations, we have only to subtract +from it the dream disguise as a feat of dream-work and a mark of +assistance from obscure forces in the depth of the mind (<i>cf.</i> the devil +in Tartini's sonata dream). The intellectual task as such must be +attributed to the same psychic forces which perform all such tasks +during the day. We are probably far too much inclined to over-estimate +the conscious character even of intellectual and artistic productions. +From the communications of some of the most highly productive persons, +such as Goethe and Helmholtz, we learn, indeed, that the most essential +and original parts in their creations came to them in the form of +inspirations and reached their perceptions almost finished. There is +nothing strange about the assistance of the conscious activity in other +cases where <a name="page_226"></a> there was a concerted effort of all +the psychic forces. But it is a much abused privilege of the conscious +activity that it is allowed to hide from us all other activities +wherever it participates.</p> + +<p>It will hardly be worth while to take up the historical significance +of dreams as a special subject. Where, for instance, a chieftain has +been urged through a dream to engage in a bold undertaking the success +of which has had the effect of changing history, a new problem results +only so long as the dream, regarded as a strange power, is contrasted +with other more familiar psychic forces; the problem, however, +disappears when we regard the dream as a form of expression for feelings +which are burdened with resistance during the day and which can receive +reinforcements at night from deep emotional sources. But the great +respect shown by the ancients for the dream is based on a correct +psychological surmise. It is a homage paid to the unsubdued and +indestructible in the human mind, and to the demoniacal which furnishes +the dream-wish and which we find again in our unconscious.</p> + +<p>Not inadvisedly do I use the expression "in our unconscious," for +what we so designate does not coincide with the unconscious of the +philosophers, nor with the unconscious of Lipps. In the latter uses it +is intended to designate only the opposite of <a name="page_227"></a> +conscious. That there are also unconscious psychic processes beside the +conscious ones is the hotly contested and energetically defended issue. +Lipps gives us the more far-reaching theory that everything psychic +exists as unconscious, but that some of it may exist also as conscious. +But it was not to prove this theory that we have adduced the phenomena +of the dream and of the hysterical symptom formation; the observation of +normal life alone suffices to establish its correctness beyond any +doubt. The new fact that we have learned from the analysis of the +psychopathological formations, and indeed from their first member, viz. +dreams, is that the unconscious—hence the psychic—occurs as +a function of two separate systems and that it occurs as such even in +normal psychic life. Consequently there are two kinds of unconscious, +which we do not as yet find distinguished by the psychologists. Both are +unconscious in the psychological sense; but in our sense the first, +which we call Unc., is likewise incapable of consciousness, whereas the +second we term "Forec." because its emotions, after the observance of +certain rules, can reach consciousness, perhaps not before they have +again undergone censorship, but still regardless of the Unc. system. The +fact that in order to attain consciousness the emotions must traverse an +unalterable series of <a name="page_228"></a> events or succession of +instances, as is betrayed through their alteration by the censor, has +helped us to draw a comparison from spatiality. We described the +relations of the two systems to each other and to consciousness by +saying that the system Forec. is like a screen between the system Unc. +and consciousness. The system Forec. not only bars access to +consciousness, but also controls the entrance to voluntary motility and +is capable of sending out a sum of mobile energy, a portion of which is +familiar to us as attention.</p> + +<p>We must also steer clear of the distinctions superconscious and +subconscious which have found so much favor in the more recent +literature on the psychoneuroses, for just such a distinction seems to +emphasize the equivalence of the psychic and the conscious.</p> + +<p>What part now remains in our description of the once all-powerful and +all-overshadowing consciousness? None other than that of a sensory organ +for the perception of psychic qualities. According to the fundamental +idea of schematic undertaking we can conceive the conscious perception +only as the particular activity of an independent system for which the +abbreviated designation "Cons." commends itself. This system we conceive +to be similar in its mechanical characteristics to the perception <a +name="page_229"></a> system P, hence excitable by qualities and +incapable of retaining the trace of changes, <i>i.e.</i> it is devoid of +memory. The psychic apparatus which, with the sensory organs of the +P-system, is turned to the outer world, is itself the outer world for +the sensory organ of Cons.; the teleological justification of which +rests on this relationship. We are here once more confronted with the +principle of the succession of instances which seems to dominate the +structure of the apparatus. The material under excitement flows to the +Cons, sensory organ from two sides, firstly from the P-system whose +excitement, qualitatively determined, probably experiences a new +elaboration until it comes to conscious perception; and, secondly, from +the interior of the apparatus itself, the quantitative processes of +which are perceived as a qualitative series of pleasure and pain as soon +as they have undergone certain changes.</p> + +<p>The philosophers, who have learned that correct and highly +complicated thought structures are possible even without the coöperation +of consciousness, have found it difficult to attribute any function to +consciousness; it has appeared to them a superfluous mirroring of the +perfected psychic process. The analogy of our Cons. system with the +systems of perception relieves us of this embarrassment. We <a +name="page_230"></a> see that perception through our sensory organs +results in directing the occupation of attention to those paths on which +the incoming sensory excitement is diffused; the qualitative excitement +of the P-system serves the mobile quantity of the psychic apparatus as a +regulator for its discharge. We may claim the same function for the +overlying sensory organ of the Cons. system. By assuming new qualities, +it furnishes a new contribution toward the guidance and suitable +distribution of the mobile occupation quantities. By means of the +perceptions of pleasure and pain, it influences the course of the +occupations within the psychic apparatus, which normally operates +unconsciously and through the displacement of quantities. It is probable +that the principle of pain first regulates the displacements of +occupation automatically, but it is quite possible that the +consciousness of these qualities adds a second and more subtle +regulation which may even oppose the first and perfect the working +capacity of the apparatus by placing it in a position contrary to its +original design for occupying and developing even that which is +connected with the liberation of pain. We learn from neuropsychology +that an important part in the functional activity of the apparatus is +attributed to such regulations through the qualitative excitation <a +name="page_231"></a> of the sensory organs. The automatic control of +the primary principle of pain and the restriction of mental capacity +connected with it are broken by the sensible regulations, which in their +turn are again automatisms. We learn that the repression which, though +originally expedient, terminates nevertheless in a harmful rejection of +inhibition and of psychic domination, is so much more easily +accomplished with reminiscences than with perceptions, because in the +former there is no increase in occupation through the excitement of the +psychic sensory organs. When an idea to be rejected has once failed to +become conscious because it has succumbed to repression, it can be +repressed on other occasions only because it has been withdrawn from +conscious perception on other grounds. These are hints employed by +therapy in order to bring about a retrogression of accomplished +repressions.</p> + +<p>The value of the over-occupation which is produced by the regulating +influence of the Cons. sensory organ on the mobile quantity, is +demonstrated in the teleological connection by nothing more clearly than +by the creation of a new series of qualities and consequently a new +regulation which constitutes the precedence of man over the animals. For +the mental processes are in themselves devoid of quality except for the +excitements of pleasure <a name="page_232"></a> and pain accompanying +them, which, as we know, are to be held in check as possible +disturbances of thought. In order to endow them with a quality, they are +associated in man with verbal memories, the qualitative remnants of +which suffice to draw upon them the attention of consciousness which in +turn endows thought with a new mobile energy.</p> + +<p>The manifold problems of consciousness in their entirety can be +examined only through an analysis of the hysterical mental process. From +this analysis we receive the impression that the transition from the +foreconscious to the occupation of consciousness is also connected with +a censorship similar to the one between the Unc. and the Forec. This +censorship, too, begins to act only with the reaching of a certain +quantitative degree, so that few intense thought formations escape it. +Every possible case of detention from consciousness, as well as of +penetration to consciousness, under restriction is found included within +the picture of the psychoneurotic phenomena; every case points to the +intimate and twofold connection between the censor and consciousness. I +shall conclude these psychological discussions with the report of two +such occurrences.</p> + +<p>On the occasion of a consultation a few years ago the subject was an +intelligent and innocent-looking girl. Her attire was strange; whereas a +woman's <a name="page_233"></a> garb is usually groomed to the last +fold, she had one of her stockings hanging down and two of her waist +buttons opened. She complained of pains in one of her legs, and exposed +her leg unrequested. Her chief complaint, however, was in her own words +as follows: She had a feeling in her body as if something was stuck into +it which moved to and fro and made her tremble through and through. This +sometimes made her whole body stiff. On hearing this, my colleague in +consultation looked at me; the complaint was quite plain to him. To both +of us it seemed peculiar that the patient's mother thought nothing of +the matter; of course she herself must have been repeatedly in the +situation described by her child. As for the girl, she had no idea of +the import of her words or she would never have allowed them to pass her +lips. Here the censor had been deceived so successfully that under the +mask of an innocent complaint a phantasy was admitted to consciousness +which otherwise would have remained in the foreconscious.</p> + +<p>Another example: I began the psychoanalytic treatment of a boy of +fourteen years who was suffering from <i>tic convulsif</i>, hysterical +vomiting, headache, &c., by assuring him that, after closing his eyes, +he would see pictures or have ideas, which I requested him to +communicate to me. He answered <a name="page_234"></a> by describing +pictures. The last impression he had received before coming to me was +visually revived in his memory. He had played a game of checkers with +his uncle, and now saw the checkerboard before him. He commented on +various positions that were favorable or unfavorable, on moves that were +not safe to make. He then saw a dagger lying on the checker-board, an +object belonging to his father, but transferred to the checker-board by +his phantasy. Then a sickle was lying on the board; next a scythe was +added; and, finally, he beheld the likeness of an old peasant mowing the +grass in front of the boy's distant parental home. A few days later I +discovered the meaning of this series of pictures. Disagreeable family +relations had made the boy nervous. It was the case of a strict and +crabbed father who lived unhappily with his mother, and whose +educational methods consisted in threats; of the separation of his +father from his tender and delicate mother, and the remarrying of his +father, who one day brought home a young woman as his new mamma. The +illness of the fourteen-year-old boy broke out a few days later. It was +the suppressed anger against his father that had composed these pictures +into intelligible allusions. The material was furnished by a +reminiscence from mythology, The sickle was the <a name="page_235"></a> +one with which Zeus castrated his father; the scythe and the likeness of +the peasant represented Kronos, the violent old man who eats his +children and upon whom Zeus wreaks vengeance in so unfilial a manner. +The marriage of the father gave the boy an opportunity to return the +reproaches and threats of his father—which had previously been +made because the child played with his genitals (the checkerboard; the +prohibitive moves; the dagger with which a person may be killed). We +have here long repressed memories and their unconscious remnants which, +under the guise of senseless pictures have slipped into consciousness by +devious paths left open to them.</p> + +<p>I should then expect to find the theoretical value of the study of +dreams in its contribution to psychological knowledge and in its +preparation for an understanding of neuroses. Who can foresee the +importance of a thorough knowledge of the structure and activities of +the psychic apparatus when even our present state of knowledge produces +a happy therapeutic influence in the curable forms of the +psychoneuroses? What about the practical value of such study some one +may ask, for psychic knowledge and for the discovering of the secret +peculiarities of individual character? Have not the unconscious feelings +revealed by the dream the <a name="page_236"></a> value of real forces +in the psychic life? Should we take lightly the ethical significance of +the suppressed wishes which, as they now create dreams, may some day +create other things?</p> + +<p>I do not feel justified in answering these questions. I have not +thought further upon this side of the dream problem. I believe, however, +that at all events the Roman Emperor was in the wrong who ordered one of +his subjects executed because the latter dreamt that he had killed the +Emperor. He should first have endeavored to discover the significance of +the dream; most probably it was not what it seemed to be. And even if a +dream of different content had the significance of this offense against +majesty, it would still have been in place to remember the words of +Plato, that the virtuous man contents himself with dreaming that which +the wicked man does in actual life. I am therefore of the opinion that +it is best to accord freedom to dreams. Whether any reality is to be +attributed to the unconscious wishes, and in what sense, I am not +prepared to say offhand. Reality must naturally be denied to all +transition—and intermediate thoughts. If we had before us the +unconscious wishes, brought to their last and truest expression, we +should still do well to remember that more than one single form of +existence must be ascribed to the psychic reality. <a +name="page_237"></a> Action and the conscious expression of thought +mostly suffice for the practical need of judging a man's character. +Action, above all, merits to be placed in the first rank; for many of +the impulses penetrating consciousness are neutralized by real forces of +the psychic life before they are converted into action; indeed, the +reason why they frequently do not encounter any psychic obstacle on +their way is because the unconscious is certain of their meeting with +resistances later. In any case it is instructive to become familiar with +the much raked-up soil from which our virtues proudly arise. For the +complication of human character moving dynamically in all directions +very rarely accommodates itself to adjustment through a simple +alternative, as our antiquated moral philosophy would have it.</p> + +<p>And how about the value of the dream for a knowledge of the future? +That, of course, we cannot consider. One feels inclined to substitute: +"for a knowledge of the past." For the dream originates from the past in +every sense. To be sure the ancient belief that the dream reveals the +future is not entirely devoid of truth. By representing to us a wish as +fulfilled the dream certainly leads us into the future; but this future, +taken by the dreamer as present, has been formed into the likeness of +that past by the indestructible wish.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dream Psychology, by Sigmund Freud + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DREAM PSYCHOLOGY *** + +***** This file should be named 15489-h.htm or 15489-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/4/8/15489/ + +Produced by David Newman, Joel Schlosberg and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dream Psychology + Psychoanalysis for Beginners + +Author: Sigmund Freud + +Release Date: March 28, 2005 [EBook #15489] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DREAM PSYCHOLOGY *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman, Joel Schlosberg and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +DREAM PSYCHOLOGY + +_PSYCHOANALYSIS FOR BEGINNERS_ + +BY +PROF. DR. SIGMUND FREUD + +AUTHORIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATION +BY +M.D. EDER + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +ANDRE TRIDON +Author of "Psychoanalysis, its History, Theory and Practice." +"Psychoanalysis and Behavior" and "Psychoanalysis, Sleep and Dreams" + +NEW YORK +THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY +1920 + + + + +THE JAMES A. McCANN COMPANY + +PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The medical profession is justly conservative. Human life should not be +considered as the proper material for wild experiments. + +Conservatism, however, is too often a welcome excuse for lazy minds, +loath to adapt themselves to fast changing conditions. + +Remember the scornful reception which first was accorded to Freud's +discoveries in the domain of the unconscious. + +When after years of patient observations, he finally decided to appear +before medical bodies to tell them modestly of some facts which always +recurred in his dream and his patients' dreams, he was first laughed at +and then avoided as a crank. + +The words "dream interpretation" were and still are indeed fraught with +unpleasant, unscientific associations. They remind one of all sorts of +childish, superstitious notions, which make up the thread and woof of +dream books, read by none but the ignorant and the primitive. + +The wealth of detail, the infinite care never to let anything pass +unexplained, with which he presented to the public the result of his +investigations, are impressing more and more serious-minded scientists, +but the examination of his evidential data demands arduous work and +presupposes an absolutely open mind. + +This is why we still encounter men, totally unfamiliar with Freud's +writings, men who were not even interested enough in the subject to +attempt an interpretation of their dreams or their patients' dreams, +deriding Freud's theories and combatting them with the help of +statements which he never made. + +Some of them, like Professor Boris Sidis, reach at times conclusions +which are strangely similar to Freud's, but in their ignorance of +psychoanalytic literature, they fail to credit Freud for observations +antedating theirs. + +Besides those who sneer at dream study, because they have never looked +into the subject, there are those who do not dare to face the facts +revealed by dream study. Dreams tell us many an unpleasant biological +truth about ourselves and only very free minds can thrive on such a +diet. Self-deception is a plant which withers fast in the pellucid +atmosphere of dream investigation. + +The weakling and the neurotic attached to his neurosis are not anxious +to turn such a powerful searchlight upon the dark corners of their +psychology. + +Freud's theories are anything but theoretical. + +He was moved by the fact that there always seemed to be a close +connection between his patients' dreams and their mental abnormalities, +to collect thousands of dreams and to compare them with the case +histories in his possession. + +He did not start out with a preconceived bias, hoping to find evidence +which might support his views. He looked at facts a thousand times +"until they began to tell him something." + +His attitude toward dream study was, in other words, that of a +statistician who does not know, and has no means of foreseeing, what +conclusions will be forced on him by the information he is gathering, +but who is fully prepared to accept those unavoidable conclusions. + +This was indeed a novel way in psychology. Psychologists had always been +wont to build, in what Bleuler calls "autistic ways," that is through +methods in no wise supported by evidence, some attractive hypothesis, +which sprung from their brain, like Minerva from Jove's brain, fully +armed. + +After which, they would stretch upon that unyielding frame the hide of a +reality which they had previously killed. + +It is only to minds suffering from the same distortions, to minds also +autistically inclined, that those empty, artificial structures appear +acceptable molds for philosophic thinking. + +The pragmatic view that "truth is what works" had not been as yet +expressed when Freud published his revolutionary views on the psychology +of dreams. + +Five facts of first magnitude were made obvious to the world by his +interpretation of dreams. + +First of all, Freud pointed out a constant connection between some part +of every dream and some detail of the dreamer's life during the previous +waking state. This positively establishes a relation between sleeping +states and waking states and disposes of the widely prevalent view that +dreams are purely nonsensical phenomena coming from nowhere and leading +nowhere. + +Secondly, Freud, after studying the dreamer's life and modes of thought, +after noting down all his mannerisms and the apparently insignificant +details of his conduct which reveal his secret thoughts, came to the +conclusion that there was in every dream the attempted or successful +gratification of some wish, conscious or unconscious. + +Thirdly, he proved that many of our dream visions are symbolical, which +causes us to consider them as absurd and unintelligible; the +universality of those symbols, however, makes them very transparent to +the trained observer. + +Fourthly, Freud showed that sexual desires play an enormous part in our +unconscious, a part which puritanical hypocrisy has always tried to +minimize, if not to ignore entirely. + +Finally, Freud established a direct connection between dreams and +insanity, between the symbolic visions of our sleep and the symbolic +actions of the mentally deranged. + +There were, of course, many other observations which Freud made while +dissecting the dreams of his patients, but not all of them present as +much interest as the foregoing nor were they as revolutionary or likely +to wield as much influence on modern psychiatry. + +Other explorers have struck the path blazed by Freud and leading into +man's unconscious. Jung of Zurich, Adler of Vienna and Kempf of +Washington, D.C., have made to the study of the unconscious, +contributions which have brought that study into fields which Freud +himself never dreamt of invading. + +One fact which cannot be too emphatically stated, however, is that but +for Freud's wishfulfillment theory of dreams, neither Jung's "energic +theory," nor Adler's theory of "organ inferiority and compensation," +nor Kempf's "dynamic mechanism" might have been formulated. + +Freud is the father of modern abnormal psychology and he established the +psychoanalytical point of view. No one who is not well grounded in +Freudian lore can hope to achieve any work of value in the field of +psychoanalysis. + +On the other hand, let no one repeat the absurd assertion that Freudism +is a sort of religion bounded with dogmas and requiring an act of faith. +Freudism as such was merely a stage in the development of +psychoanalysis, a stage out of which all but a few bigoted camp +followers, totally lacking in originality, have evolved. Thousands of +stones have been added to the structure erected by the Viennese +physician and many more will be added in the course of time. + +But the new additions to that structure would collapse like a house of +cards but for the original foundations which are as indestructible as +Harvey's statement as to the circulation of the blood. + +Regardless of whatever additions or changes have been made to the +original structure, the analytic point of view remains unchanged. + +That point of view is not only revolutionising all the methods of +diagnosis and treatment of mental derangements, but compelling the +intelligent, up-to-date physician to revise entirely his attitude to +almost every kind of disease. + +The insane are no longer absurd and pitiable people, to be herded in +asylums till nature either cures them or relieves them, through death, +of their misery. The insane who have not been made so by actual injury +to their brain or nervous system, are the victims of unconscious forces +which cause them to do abnormally things which they might be helped to +do normally. + +Insight into one's psychology is replacing victoriously sedatives and +rest cures. + +Physicians dealing with "purely" physical cases have begun to take into +serious consideration the "mental" factors which have predisposed a +patient to certain ailments. + +Freud's views have also made a revision of all ethical and social values +unavoidable and have thrown an unexpected flood of light upon literary +and artistic accomplishment. + +But the Freudian point of view, or more broadly speaking, the +psychoanalytic point of view, shall ever remain a puzzle to those who, +from laziness or indifference, refuse to survey with the great Viennese +the field over which he carefully groped his way. We shall never be +convinced until we repeat under his guidance all his laboratory +experiments. + +We must follow him through the thickets of the unconscious, through the +land which had never been charted because academic philosophers, +following the line of least effort, had decided _a priori_ that it could +not be charted. + +Ancient geographers, when exhausting their store of information about +distant lands, yielded to an unscientific craving for romance and, +without any evidence to support their day dreams, filled the blank +spaces left on their maps by unexplored tracts with amusing inserts such +as "Here there are lions." + +Thanks to Freud's interpretation of dreams the "royal road" into the +unconscious is now open to all explorers. They shall not find lions, +they shall find man himself, and the record of all his life and of his +struggle with reality. + +And it is only after seeing man as his unconscious, revealed by his +dreams, presents him to us that we shall understand him fully. For as +Freud said to Putnam: "We are what we are because we have been what we +have been." + +Not a few serious-minded students, however, have been discouraged from +attempting a study of Freud's dream psychology. + +The book in which he originally offered to the world his interpretation +of dreams was as circumstantial as a legal record to be pondered over by +scientists at their leisure, not to be assimilated in a few hours by +the average alert reader. In those days, Freud could not leave out any +detail likely to make his extremely novel thesis evidentially acceptable +to those willing to sift data. + +Freud himself, however, realized the magnitude of the task which the +reading of his _magnum opus_ imposed upon those who have not been +prepared for it by long psychological and scientific training and he +abstracted from that gigantic work the parts which constitute the +essential of his discoveries. + +The publishers of the present book deserve credit for presenting to the +reading public the gist of Freud's psychology in the master's own words, +and in a form which shall neither discourage beginners, nor appear too +elementary to those who are more advanced in psychoanalytic study. + +Dream psychology is the key to Freud's works and to all modern +psychology. With a simple, compact manual such as _Dream Psychology_ +there shall be no longer any excuse for ignorance of the most +revolutionary psychological system of modern times. + +ANDRE TRIDON. + 121 Madison Avenue, New York. + November, 1920. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I DREAMS HAVE A MEANING 1 + + II THE DREAM MECHANISM 24 + + III WHY THE DREAM DISGUISES THE DESIRES 57 + + IV DREAM ANALYSIS 78 + + V SEX IN DREAMS 104 + + VI THE WISH IN DREAMS 135 + + VII THE FUNCTION OF THE DREAM 164 + +VIII THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PROCESS--REGRESSION 186 + + IX THE UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUSNESS--REALITY 220 + + + + +DREAM PSYCHOLOGY + + + + +I + +DREAMS HAVE A MEANING + + +In what we may term "prescientific days" people were in no uncertainty +about the interpretation of dreams. When they were recalled after +awakening they were regarded as either the friendly or hostile +manifestation of some higher powers, demoniacal and Divine. With the +rise of scientific thought the whole of this expressive mythology was +transferred to psychology; to-day there is but a small minority among +educated persons who doubt that the dream is the dreamer's own psychical +act. + +But since the downfall of the mythological hypothesis an interpretation +of the dream has been wanting. The conditions of its origin; its +relationship to our psychical life when we are awake; its independence +of disturbances which, during the state of sleep, seem to compel notice; +its many peculiarities repugnant to our waking thought; the incongruence +between its images and the feelings they engender; then the dream's +evanescence, the way in which, on awakening, our thoughts thrust it +aside as something bizarre, and our reminiscences mutilating or +rejecting it--all these and many other problems have for many hundred +years demanded answers which up till now could never have been +satisfactory. Before all there is the question as to the meaning of the +dream, a question which is in itself double-sided. There is, firstly, +the psychical significance of the dream, its position with regard to the +psychical processes, as to a possible biological function; secondly, has +the dream a meaning--can sense be made of each single dream as of other +mental syntheses? + +Three tendencies can be observed in the estimation of dreams. Many +philosophers have given currency to one of these tendencies, one which +at the same time preserves something of the dream's former +over-valuation. The foundation of dream life is for them a peculiar +state of psychical activity, which they even celebrate as elevation to +some higher state. Schubert, for instance, claims: "The dream is the +liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a +detachment of the soul from the fetters of matter." Not all go so far as +this, but many maintain that dreams have their origin in real spiritual +excitations, and are the outward manifestations of spiritual powers +whose free movements have been hampered during the day ("Dream +Phantasies," Scherner, Volkelt). A large number of observers acknowledge +that dream life is capable of extraordinary achievements--at any rate, +in certain fields ("Memory"). + +In striking contradiction with this the majority of medical writers +hardly admit that the dream is a psychical phenomenon at all. According +to them dreams are provoked and initiated exclusively by stimuli +proceeding from the senses or the body, which either reach the sleeper +from without or are accidental disturbances of his internal organs. The +dream has no greater claim to meaning and importance than the sound +called forth by the ten fingers of a person quite unacquainted with +music running his fingers over the keys of an instrument. The dream is +to be regarded, says Binz, "as a physical process always useless, +frequently morbid." All the peculiarities of dream life are explicable +as the incoherent effort, due to some physiological stimulus, of certain +organs, or of the cortical elements of a brain otherwise asleep. + +But slightly affected by scientific opinion and untroubled as to the +origin of dreams, the popular view holds firmly to the belief that +dreams really have got a meaning, in some way they do foretell the +future, whilst the meaning can be unravelled in some way or other from +its oft bizarre and enigmatical content. The reading of dreams consists +in replacing the events of the dream, so far as remembered, by other +events. This is done either scene by scene, _according to some rigid +key_, or the dream as a whole is replaced by something else of which it +was a _symbol_. Serious-minded persons laugh at these efforts--"Dreams +are but sea-foam!" + +One day I discovered to my amazement that the popular view grounded in +superstition, and not the medical one, comes nearer to the truth about +dreams. I arrived at new conclusions about dreams by the use of a new +method of psychological investigation, one which had rendered me good +service in the investigation of phobias, obsessions, illusions, and the +like, and which, under the name "psycho-analysis," had found acceptance +by a whole school of investigators. The manifold analogies of dream life +with the most diverse conditions of psychical disease in the waking +state have been rightly insisted upon by a number of medical observers. +It seemed, therefore, _a priori_, hopeful to apply to the interpretation +of dreams methods of investigation which had been tested in +psychopathological processes. Obsessions and those peculiar sensations +of haunting dread remain as strange to normal consciousness as do +dreams to our waking consciousness; their origin is as unknown to +consciousness as is that of dreams. It was practical ends that impelled +us, in these diseases, to fathom their origin and formation. Experience +had shown us that a cure and a consequent mastery of the obsessing ideas +did result when once those thoughts, the connecting links between the +morbid ideas and the rest of the psychical content, were revealed which +were heretofore veiled from consciousness. The procedure I employed for +the interpretation of dreams thus arose from psychotherapy. + +This procedure is readily described, although its practice demands +instruction and experience. Suppose the patient is suffering from +intense morbid dread. He is requested to direct his attention to the +idea in question, without, however, as he has so frequently done, +meditating upon it. Every impression about it, without any exception, +which occurs to him should be imparted to the doctor. The statement +which will be perhaps then made, that he cannot concentrate his +attention upon anything at all, is to be countered by assuring him most +positively that such a blank state of mind is utterly impossible. As a +matter of fact, a great number of impressions will soon occur, with +which others will associate themselves. These will be invariably +accompanied by the expression of the observer's opinion that they have +no meaning or are unimportant. It will be at once noticed that it is +this self-criticism which prevented the patient from imparting the +ideas, which had indeed already excluded them from consciousness. If the +patient can be induced to abandon this self-criticism and to pursue the +trains of thought which are yielded by concentrating the attention, most +significant matter will be obtained, matter which will be presently seen +to be clearly linked to the morbid idea in question. Its connection with +other ideas will be manifest, and later on will permit the replacement +of the morbid idea by a fresh one, which is perfectly adapted to +psychical continuity. + +This is not the place to examine thoroughly the hypothesis upon which +this experiment rests, or the deductions which follow from its +invariable success. It must suffice to state that we obtain matter +enough for the resolution of every morbid idea if we especially direct +our attention to the _unbidden_ associations _which disturb our +thoughts_--those which are otherwise put aside by the critic as +worthless refuse. If the procedure is exercised on oneself, the best +plan of helping the experiment is to write down at once all one's first +indistinct fancies. + +I will now point out where this method leads when I apply it to the +examination of dreams. Any dream could be made use of in this way. From +certain motives I, however, choose a dream of my own, which appears +confused and meaningless to my memory, and one which has the advantage +of brevity. Probably my dream of last night satisfies the requirements. +Its content, fixed immediately after awakening, runs as follows: + +_"Company; at table or table d'hote.... Spinach is served. Mrs. E.L., +sitting next to me, gives me her undivided attention, and places her +hand familiarly upon my knee. In defence I remove her hand. Then she +says: 'But you have always had such beautiful eyes.'.... I then +distinctly see something like two eyes as a sketch or as the contour of +a spectacle lens...."_ + +This is the whole dream, or, at all events, all that I can remember. It +appears to me not only obscure and meaningless, but more especially odd. +Mrs. E.L. is a person with whom I am scarcely on visiting terms, nor to +my knowledge have I ever desired any more cordial relationship. I have +not seen her for a long time, and do not think there was any mention of +her recently. No emotion whatever accompanied the dream process. + +Reflecting upon this dream does not make it a bit clearer to my mind. I +will now, however, present the ideas, without premeditation and without +criticism, which introspection yielded. I soon notice that it is an +advantage to break up the dream into its elements, and to search out the +ideas which link themselves to each fragment. + +_Company; at table or table d'hote._ The recollection of the slight +event with which the evening of yesterday ended is at once called up. I +left a small party in the company of a friend, who offered to drive me +home in his cab. "I prefer a taxi," he said; "that gives one such a +pleasant occupation; there is always something to look at." When we were +in the cab, and the cab-driver turned the disc so that the first sixty +hellers were visible, I continued the jest. "We have hardly got in and +we already owe sixty hellers. The taxi always reminds me of the table +d'hote. It makes me avaricious and selfish by continuously reminding me +of my debt. It seems to me to mount up too quickly, and I am always +afraid that I shall be at a disadvantage, just as I cannot resist at +table d'hote the comical fear that I am getting too little, that I must +look after myself." In far-fetched connection with this I quote: + + "To earth, this weary earth, ye bring us, + To guilt ye let us heedless go." + +Another idea about the table d'hote. A few weeks ago I was very cross +with my dear wife at the dinner-table at a Tyrolese health resort, +because she was not sufficiently reserved with some neighbors with whom +I wished to have absolutely nothing to do. I begged her to occupy +herself rather with me than with the strangers. That is just as if I had +_been at a disadvantage at the table d'hote_. The contrast between the +behavior of my wife at the table and that of Mrs. E.L. in the dream now +strikes me: _"Addresses herself entirely to me."_ + +Further, I now notice that the dream is the reproduction of a little +scene which transpired between my wife and myself when I was secretly +courting her. The caressing under cover of the tablecloth was an answer +to a wooer's passionate letter. In the dream, however, my wife is +replaced by the unfamiliar E.L. + +Mrs. E.L. is the daughter of a man to whom I _owed money_! I cannot help +noticing that here there is revealed an unsuspected connection between +the dream content and my thoughts. If the chain of associations be +followed up which proceeds from one element of the dream one is soon led +back to another of its elements. The thoughts evoked by the dream stir +up associations which were not noticeable in the dream itself. + +Is it not customary, when some one expects others to look after his +interests without any advantage to themselves, to ask the innocent +question satirically: "Do you think this will be done _for the sake of +your beautiful eyes_?" Hence Mrs. E.L.'s speech in the dream. "You have +always had such beautiful eyes," means nothing but "people always do +everything to you for love of you; you have had _everything for +nothing_." The contrary is, of course, the truth; I have always paid +dearly for whatever kindness others have shown me. Still, the fact that +_I had a ride for nothing_ yesterday when my friend drove me home in his +cab must have made an impression upon me. + +In any case, the friend whose guests we were yesterday has often made me +his debtor. Recently I allowed an opportunity of requiting him to go by. +He has had only one present from me, an antique shawl, upon which eyes +are painted all round, a so-called Occhiale, as a _charm_ against the +_Malocchio_. Moreover, he is an _eye specialist_. That same evening I +had asked him after a patient whom I had sent to him for _glasses_. + +As I remarked, nearly all parts of the dream have been brought into this +new connection. I still might ask why in the dream it was _spinach_ +that was served up. Because spinach called up a little scene which +recently occurred at our table. A child, whose _beautiful eyes_ are +really deserving of praise, refused to eat spinach. As a child I was +just the same; for a long time I loathed _spinach_, until in later life +my tastes altered, and it became one of my favorite dishes. The mention +of this dish brings my own childhood and that of my child's near +together. "You should be glad that you have some spinach," his mother +had said to the little gourmet. "Some children would be very glad to get +spinach." Thus I am reminded of the parents' duties towards their +children. Goethe's words-- + + "To earth, this weary earth, ye bring us, + To guilt ye let us heedless go"-- + +take on another meaning in this connection. + +Here I will stop in order that I may recapitulate the results of the +analysis of the dream. By following the associations which were linked +to the single elements of the dream torn from their context, I have been +led to a series of thoughts and reminiscences where I am bound to +recognize interesting expressions of my psychical life. The matter +yielded by an analysis of the dream stands in intimate relationship with +the dream content, but this relationship is so special that I should +never have been able to have inferred the new discoveries directly from +the dream itself. The dream was passionless, disconnected, and +unintelligible. During the time that I am unfolding the thoughts at the +back of the dream I feel intense and well-grounded emotions. The +thoughts themselves fit beautifully together into chains logically bound +together with certain central ideas which ever repeat themselves. Such +ideas not represented in the dream itself are in this instance the +antitheses _selfish, unselfish, to be indebted, to work for nothing_. I +could draw closer the threads of the web which analysis has disclosed, +and would then be able to show how they all run together into a single +knot; I am debarred from making this work public by considerations of a +private, not of a scientific, nature. After having cleared up many +things which I do not willingly acknowledge as mine, I should have much +to reveal which had better remain my secret. Why, then, do not I choose +another dream whose analysis would be more suitable for publication, so +that I could awaken a fairer conviction of the sense and cohesion of the +results disclosed by analysis? The answer is, because every dream which +I investigate leads to the same difficulties and places me under the +same need of discretion; nor should I forgo this difficulty any the +more were I to analyze the dream of some one else. That could only be +done when opportunity allowed all concealment to be dropped without +injury to those who trusted me. + +The conclusion which is now forced upon me is that the dream is a _sort +of substitution_ for those emotional and intellectual trains of thought +which I attained after complete analysis. I do not yet know the process +by which the dream arose from those thoughts, but I perceive that it is +wrong to regard the dream as psychically unimportant, a purely physical +process which has arisen from the activity of isolated cortical elements +awakened out of sleep. + +I must further remark that the dream is far shorter than the thoughts +which I hold it replaces; whilst analysis discovered that the dream was +provoked by an unimportant occurrence the evening before the dream. + +Naturally, I would not draw such far-reaching conclusions if only one +analysis were known to me. Experience has shown me that when the +associations of any dream are honestly followed such a chain of thought +is revealed, the constituent parts of the dream reappear correctly and +sensibly linked together; the slight suspicion that this concatenation +was merely an accident of a single first observation must, therefore, +be absolutely relinquished. I regard it, therefore, as my right to +establish this new view by a proper nomenclature. I contrast the dream +which my memory evokes with the dream and other added matter revealed by +analysis: the former I call the dream's _manifest content_; the latter, +without at first further subdivision, its _latent content_. I arrive at +two new problems hitherto unformulated: (1) What is the psychical +process which has transformed the latent content of the dream into its +manifest content? (2) What is the motive or the motives which have made +such transformation exigent? The process by which the change from latent +to manifest content is executed I name the _dream-work_. In contrast +with this is the _work of analysis_, which produces the reverse +transformation. The other problems of the dream--the inquiry as to its +stimuli, as to the source of its materials, as to its possible purpose, +the function of dreaming, the forgetting of dreams--these I will discuss +in connection with the latent dream-content. + +I shall take every care to avoid a confusion between the _manifest_ and +the _latent content_, for I ascribe all the contradictory as well as the +incorrect accounts of dream-life to the ignorance of this latent +content, now first laid bare through analysis. + +The conversion of the latent dream thoughts into those manifest deserves +our close study as the first known example of the transformation of +psychical stuff from one mode of expression into another. From a mode of +expression which, moreover, is readily intelligible into another which +we can only penetrate by effort and with guidance, although this new +mode must be equally reckoned as an effort of our own psychical +activity. From the standpoint of the relationship of latent to manifest +dream-content, dreams can be divided into three classes. We can, in the +first place, distinguish those dreams which have a _meaning_ and are, at +the same time, _intelligible_, which allow us to penetrate into our +psychical life without further ado. Such dreams are numerous; they are +usually short, and, as a general rule, do not seem very noticeable, +because everything remarkable or exciting surprise is absent. Their +occurrence is, moreover, a strong argument against the doctrine which +derives the dream from the isolated activity of certain cortical +elements. All signs of a lowered or subdivided psychical activity are +wanting. Yet we never raise any objection to characterizing them as +dreams, nor do we confound them with the products of our waking life. + +A second group is formed by those dreams which are indeed self-coherent +and have a distinct meaning, but appear strange because we are unable to +reconcile their meaning with our mental life. That is the case when we +dream, for instance, that some dear relative has died of plague when we +know of no ground for expecting, apprehending, or assuming anything of +the sort; we can only ask ourself wonderingly: "What brought that into +my head?" To the third group those dreams belong which are void of both +meaning and intelligibility; they are _incoherent, complicated, and +meaningless_. The overwhelming number of our dreams partake of this +character, and this has given rise to the contemptuous attitude towards +dreams and the medical theory of their limited psychical activity. It is +especially in the longer and more complicated dream-plots that signs of +incoherence are seldom missing. + +The contrast between manifest and latent dream-content is clearly only +of value for the dreams of the second and more especially for those of +the third class. Here are problems which are only solved when the +manifest dream is replaced by its latent content; it was an example of +this kind, a complicated and unintelligible dream, that we subjected to +analysis. Against our expectation we, however, struck upon reasons which +prevented a complete cognizance of the latent dream thought. On the +repetition of this same experience we were forced to the supposition +that there is an _intimate bond, with laws of its own, between the +unintelligible and complicated nature of the dream and the difficulties +attending communication of the thoughts connected with the dream_. +Before investigating the nature of this bond, it will be advantageous to +turn our attention to the more readily intelligible dreams of the first +class where, the manifest and latent content being identical, the dream +work seems to be omitted. + +The investigation of these dreams is also advisable from another +standpoint. The dreams of _children_ are of this nature; they have a +meaning, and are not bizarre. This, by the way, is a further objection +to reducing dreams to a dissociation of cerebral activity in sleep, for +why should such a lowering of psychical functions belong to the nature +of sleep in adults, but not in children? We are, however, fully +justified in expecting that the explanation of psychical processes in +children, essentially simplified as they may be, should serve as an +indispensable preparation towards the psychology of the adult. + +I shall therefore cite some examples of dreams which I have gathered +from children. A girl of nineteen months was made to go without food +for a day because she had been sick in the morning, and, according to +nurse, had made herself ill through eating strawberries. During the +night, after her day of fasting, she was heard calling out her name +during sleep, and adding: "_Tawberry, eggs, pap_." She is dreaming that +she is eating, and selects out of her menu exactly what she supposes she +will not get much of just now. + +The same kind of dream about a forbidden dish was that of a little boy +of twenty-two months. The day before he was told to offer his uncle a +present of a small basket of cherries, of which the child was, of +course, only allowed one to taste. He woke up with the joyful news: +"Hermann eaten up all the cherries." + +A girl of three and a half years had made during the day a sea trip +which was too short for her, and she cried when she had to get out of +the boat. The next morning her story was that during the night she had +been on the sea, thus continuing the interrupted trip. + +A boy of five and a half years was not at all pleased with his party +during a walk in the Dachstein region. Whenever a new peak came into +sight he asked if that were the Dachstein, and, finally, refused to +accompany the party to the waterfall. His behavior was ascribed to +fatigue; but a better explanation was forthcoming when the next morning +he told his dream: _he had ascended the Dachstein_. Obviously he +expected the ascent of the Dachstein to be the object of the excursion, +and was vexed by not getting a glimpse of the mountain. The dream gave +him what the day had withheld. The dream of a girl of six was similar; +her father had cut short the walk before reaching the promised objective +on account of the lateness of the hour. On the way back she noticed a +signpost giving the name of another place for excursions; her father +promised to take her there also some other day. She greeted her father +next day with the news that she had dreamt that _her father had been +with her to both places_. + +What is common in all these dreams is obvious. They completely satisfy +wishes excited during the day which remain unrealized. They are simply +and undisguisedly realizations of wishes. + +The following child-dream, not quite understandable at first sight, is +nothing else than a wish realized. On account of poliomyelitis a girl, +not quite four years of age, was brought from the country into town, and +remained over night with a childless aunt in a big--for her, naturally, +huge--bed. The next morning she stated that she had dreamt that _the +bed was much too small for her, so that she could find no place in it_. +To explain this dream as a wish is easy when we remember that to be +"big" is a frequently expressed wish of all children. The bigness of the +bed reminded Miss Little-Would-be-Big only too forcibly of her +smallness. This nasty situation became righted in her dream, and she +grew so big that the bed now became too small for her. + +Even when children's dreams are complicated and polished, their +comprehension as a realization of desire is fairly evident. A boy of +eight dreamt that he was being driven with Achilles in a war-chariot, +guided by Diomedes. The day before he was assiduously reading about +great heroes. It is easy to show that he took these heroes as his +models, and regretted that he was not living in those days. + +From this short collection a further characteristic of the dreams of +children is manifest--_their connection with the life of the day_. The +desires which are realized in these dreams are left over from the day +or, as a rule, the day previous, and the feeling has become intently +emphasized and fixed during the day thoughts. Accidental and indifferent +matters, or what must appear so to the child, find no acceptance in the +contents of the dream. + +Innumerable instances of such dreams of the infantile type can be found +among adults also, but, as mentioned, these are mostly exactly like the +manifest content. Thus, a random selection of persons will generally +respond to thirst at night-time with a dream about drinking, thus +striving to get rid of the sensation and to let sleep continue. Many +persons frequently have these comforting _dreams_ before waking, just +when they are called. They then dream that they are already up, that +they are washing, or already in school, at the office, etc., where they +ought to be at a given time. The night before an intended journey one +not infrequently dreams that one has already arrived at the destination; +before going to a play or to a party the dream not infrequently +anticipates, in impatience, as it were, the expected pleasure. At other +times the dream expresses the realization of the desire somewhat +indirectly; some connection, some sequel must be known--the first step +towards recognizing the desire. Thus, when a husband related to me the +dream of his young wife, that her monthly period had begun, I had to +bethink myself that the young wife would have expected a pregnancy if +the period had been absent. The dream is then a sign of pregnancy. Its +meaning is that it shows the wish realized that pregnancy should not +occur just yet. Under unusual and extreme circumstances, these dreams +of the infantile type become very frequent. The leader of a polar +expedition tells us, for instance, that during the wintering amid the +ice the crew, with their monotonous diet and slight rations, dreamt +regularly, like children, of fine meals, of mountains of tobacco, and of +home. + +It is not uncommon that out of some long, complicated and intricate +dream one specially lucid part stands out containing unmistakably the +realization of a desire, but bound up with much unintelligible matter. +On more frequently analyzing the seemingly more transparent dreams of +adults, it is astonishing to discover that these are rarely as simple as +the dreams of children, and that they cover another meaning beyond that +of the realization of a wish. + +It would certainly be a simple and convenient solution of the riddle if +the work of analysis made it at all possible for us to trace the +meaningless and intricate dreams of adults back to the infantile type, +to the realization of some intensely experienced desire of the day. But +there is no warrant for such an expectation. Their dreams are generally +full of the most indifferent and bizarre matter, and no trace of the +realization of the wish is to be found in their content. + +Before leaving these infantile dreams, which are obviously unrealized +desires, we must not fail to mention another chief characteristic of +dreams, one that has been long noticed, and one which stands out most +clearly in this class. I can replace any of these dreams by a phrase +expressing a desire. If the sea trip had only lasted longer; if I were +only washed and dressed; if I had only been allowed to keep the cherries +instead of giving them to my uncle. But the dream gives something more +than the choice, for here the desire is already realized; its +realization is real and actual. The dream presentations consist chiefly, +if not wholly, of scenes and mainly of visual sense images. Hence a kind +of transformation is not entirely absent in this class of dreams, and +this may be fairly designated as the dream work. _An idea merely +existing in the region of possibility is replaced by a vision of its +accomplishment._ + + + + +II + +THE DREAM MECHANISM + + +We are compelled to assume that such transformation of scene has also +taken place in intricate dreams, though we do not know whether it has +encountered any possible desire. The dream instanced at the +commencement, which we analyzed somewhat thoroughly, did give us +occasion in two places to suspect something of the kind. Analysis +brought out that my wife was occupied with others at table, and that I +did not like it; in the dream itself _exactly the opposite_ occurs, for +the person who replaces my wife gives me her undivided attention. But +can one wish for anything pleasanter after a disagreeable incident than +that the exact contrary should have occurred, just as the dream has it? +The stinging thought in the analysis, that I have never had anything for +nothing, is similarly connected with the woman's remark in the dream: +"You have always had such beautiful eyes." Some portion of the +opposition between the latent and manifest content of the dream must be +therefore derived from the realization of a wish. + +Another manifestation of the dream work which all incoherent dreams have +in common is still more noticeable. Choose any instance, and compare the +number of separate elements in it, or the extent of the dream, if +written down, with the dream thoughts yielded by analysis, and of which +but a trace can be refound in the dream itself. There can be no doubt +that the dream working has resulted in an extraordinary compression or +_condensation_. It is not at first easy to form an opinion as to the +extent of the condensation; the more deeply you go into the analysis, +the more deeply you are impressed by it. There will be found no factor +in the dream whence the chains of associations do not lead in two or +more directions, no scene which has not been pieced together out of two +or more impressions and events. For instance, I once dreamt about a kind +of swimming-bath where the bathers suddenly separated in all directions; +at one place on the edge a person stood bending towards one of the +bathers as if to drag him out. The scene was a composite one, made up +out of an event that occurred at the time of puberty, and of two +pictures, one of which I had seen just shortly before the dream. The two +pictures were The Surprise in the Bath, from Schwind's Cycle of the +Melusine (note the bathers suddenly separating), and The Flood, by an +Italian master. The little incident was that I once witnessed a lady, +who had tarried in the swimming-bath until the men's hour, being helped +out of the water by the swimming-master. The scene in the dream which +was selected for analysis led to a whole group of reminiscences, each +one of which had contributed to the dream content. First of all came the +little episode from the time of my courting, of which I have already +spoken; the pressure of a hand under the table gave rise in the dream to +the "under the table," which I had subsequently to find a place for in +my recollection. There was, of course, at the time not a word about +"undivided attention." Analysis taught me that this factor is the +realization of a desire through its contradictory and related to the +behavior of my wife at the table d'hote. An exactly similar and much +more important episode of our courtship, one which separated us for an +entire day, lies hidden behind this recent recollection. The intimacy, +the hand resting upon the knee, refers to a quite different connection +and to quite other persons. This element in the dream becomes again the +starting-point of two distinct series of reminiscences, and so on. + +The stuff of the dream thoughts which has been accumulated for the +formation of the dream scene must be naturally fit for this application. +There must be one or more common factors. The dream work proceeds like +Francis Galton with his family photographs. The different elements are +put one on top of the other; what is common to the composite picture +stands out clearly, the opposing details cancel each other. This process +of reproduction partly explains the wavering statements, of a peculiar +vagueness, in so many elements of the dream. For the interpretation of +dreams this rule holds good: When analysis discloses _uncertainty_, as +to _either_--_or_ read _and_, _taking_ each section of the apparent +alternatives as a separate outlet for a series of impressions. + +When there is nothing in common between the dream thoughts, the dream +work takes the trouble to create a something, in order to make a common +presentation feasible in the dream. The simplest way to approximate two +dream thoughts, which have as yet nothing in common, consists in making +such a change in the actual expression of one idea as will meet a slight +responsive recasting in the form of the other idea. The process is +analogous to that of rhyme, when consonance supplies the desired common +factor. A good deal of the dream work consists in the creation of those +frequently very witty, but often exaggerated, digressions. These vary +from the common presentation in the dream content to dream thoughts +which are as varied as are the causes in form and essence which give +rise to them. In the analysis of our example of a dream, I find a like +case of the transformation of a thought in order that it might agree +with another essentially foreign one. In following out the analysis I +struck upon the thought: _I should like to have something for nothing_. +But this formula is not serviceable to the dream. Hence it is replaced +by another one: "I should like to enjoy something free of cost."[1] The +word "kost" (taste), with its double meaning, is appropriate to a table +d'hote; it, moreover, is in place through the special sense in the +dream. At home if there is a dish which the children decline, their +mother first tries gentle persuasion, with a "Just taste it." That the +dream work should unhesitatingly use the double meaning of the word is +certainly remarkable; ample experience has shown, however, that the +occurrence is quite usual. + +Through condensation of the dream certain constituent parts of its +content are explicable which are peculiar to the dream life alone, and +which are not found in the waking state. Such are the composite and +mixed persons, the extraordinary mixed figures, creations comparable +with the fantastic animal compositions of Orientals; a moment's thought +and these are reduced to unity, whilst the fancies of the dream are ever +formed anew in an inexhaustible profusion. Every one knows such images +in his own dreams; manifold are their origins. I can build up a person +by borrowing one feature from one person and one from another, or by +giving to the form of one the name of another in my dream. I can also +visualize one person, but place him in a position which has occurred to +another. There is a meaning in all these cases when different persons +are amalgamated into one substitute. Such cases denote an "and," a "just +like," a comparison of the original person from a certain point of view, +a comparison which can be also realized in the dream itself. As a rule, +however, the identity of the blended persons is only discoverable by +analysis, and is only indicated in the dream content by the formation of +the "combined" person. + +The same diversity in their ways of formation and the same rules for its +solution hold good also for the innumerable medley of dream contents, +examples of which I need scarcely adduce. Their strangeness quite +disappears when we resolve not to place them on a level with the objects +of perception as known to us when awake, but to remember that they +represent the art of dream condensation by an exclusion of unnecessary +detail. Prominence is given to the common character of the combination. +Analysis must also generally supply the common features. The dream says +simply: _All these things have an "x" in common_. The decomposition of +these mixed images by analysis is often the quickest way to an +interpretation of the dream. Thus I once dreamt that I was sitting with +one of my former university tutors on a bench, which was undergoing a +rapid continuous movement amidst other benches. This was a combination +of lecture-room and moving staircase. I will not pursue the further +result of the thought. Another time I was sitting in a carriage, and on +my lap an object in shape like a top-hat, which, however, was made of +transparent glass. The scene at once brought to my mind the proverb: "He +who keeps his hat in his hand will travel safely through the land." By a +slight turn the _glass hat_ reminded me of _Auer's light_, and I knew +that I was about to invent something which was to make me as rich and +independent as his invention had made my countryman, Dr. Auer, of +Welsbach; then I should be able to travel instead of remaining in +Vienna. In the dream I was traveling with my invention, with the, it is +true, rather awkward glass top-hat. The dream work is peculiarly adept +at representing two contradictory conceptions by means of the same mixed +image. Thus, for instance, a woman dreamt of herself carrying a tall +flower-stalk, as in the picture of the Annunciation (Chastity-Mary is +her own name), but the stalk was bedecked with thick white blossoms +resembling camellias (contrast with chastity: La dame aux Camelias). + +A great deal of what we have called "dream condensation" can be thus +formulated. Each one of the elements of the dream content is +_overdetermined_ by the matter of the dream thoughts; it is not derived +from one element of these thoughts, but from a whole series. These are +not necessarily interconnected in any way, but may belong to the most +diverse spheres of thought. The dream element truly represents all this +disparate matter in the dream content. Analysis, moreover, discloses +another side of the relationship between dream content and dream +thoughts. Just as one element of the dream leads to associations with +several dream thoughts, so, as a rule, the _one dream thought represents +more than one dream element_. The threads of the association do not +simply converge from the dream thoughts to the dream content, but on the +way they overlap and interweave in every way. + +Next to the transformation of one thought in the scene (its +"dramatization"), condensation is the most important and most +characteristic feature of the dream work. We have as yet no clue as to +the motive calling for such compression of the content. + +In the complicated and intricate dreams with which we are now concerned, +condensation and dramatization do not wholly account for the difference +between dream contents and dream thoughts. There is evidence of a third +factor, which deserves careful consideration. + +When I have arrived at an understanding of the dream thoughts by my +analysis I notice, above all, that the matter of the manifest is very +different from that of the latent dream content. That is, I admit, only +an apparent difference which vanishes on closer investigation, for in +the end I find the whole dream content carried out in the dream +thoughts, nearly all the dream thoughts again represented in the dream +content. Nevertheless, there does remain a certain amount of difference. + +The essential content which stood out clearly and broadly in the dream +must, after analysis, rest satisfied with a very subordinate role among +the dream thoughts. These very dream thoughts which, going by my +feelings, have a claim to the greatest importance are either not present +at all in the dream content, or are represented by some remote allusion +in some obscure region of the dream. I can thus describe these +phenomena: _During the dream work the psychical intensity of those +thoughts and conceptions to which it properly pertains flows to others +which, in my judgment, have no claim to such emphasis_. There is no +other process which contributes so much to concealment of the dream's +meaning and to make the connection between the dream content and dream +ideas irrecognizable. During this process, which I will call _the dream +displacement_, I notice also the psychical intensity, significance, or +emotional nature of the thoughts become transposed in sensory vividness. +What was clearest in the dream seems to me, without further +consideration, the most important; but often in some obscure element of +the dream I can recognize the most direct offspring of the principal +dream thought. + +I could only designate this dream displacement as the _transvaluation of +psychical values_. The phenomena will not have been considered in all +its bearings unless I add that this displacement or transvaluation is +shared by different dreams in extremely varying degrees. There are +dreams which take place almost without any displacement. These have the +same time, meaning, and intelligibility as we found in the dreams which +recorded a desire. In other dreams not a bit of the dream idea has +retained its own psychical value, or everything essential in these dream +ideas has been replaced by unessentials, whilst every kind of transition +between these conditions can be found. The more obscure and intricate a +dream is, the greater is the part to be ascribed to the impetus of +displacement in its formation. + +The example that we chose for analysis shows, at least, this much of +displacement--that its content has a different center of interest from +that of the dream ideas. In the forefront of the dream content the main +scene appears as if a woman wished to make advances to me; in the dream +idea the chief interest rests on the desire to enjoy disinterested love +which shall "cost nothing"; this idea lies at the back of the talk about +the beautiful eyes and the far-fetched allusion to "spinach." + +If we abolish the dream displacement, we attain through analysis quite +certain conclusions regarding two problems of the dream which are most +disputed--as to what provokes a dream at all, and as to the connection +of the dream with our waking life. There are dreams which at once expose +their links with the events of the day; in others no trace of such a +connection can be found. By the aid of analysis it can be shown that +every dream, without any exception, is linked up with our impression of +the day, or perhaps it would be more correct to say of the day previous +to the dream. The impressions which have incited the dream may be so +important that we are not surprised at our being occupied with them +whilst awake; in this case we are right in saying that the dream carries +on the chief interest of our waking life. More usually, however, when +the dream contains anything relating to the impressions of the day, it +is so trivial, unimportant, and so deserving of oblivion, that we can +only recall it with an effort. The dream content appears, then, even +when coherent and intelligible, to be concerned with those indifferent +trifles of thought undeserving of our waking interest. The depreciation +of dreams is largely due to the predominance of the indifferent and the +worthless in their content. + +Analysis destroys the appearance upon which this derogatory judgment is +based. When the dream content discloses nothing but some indifferent +impression as instigating the dream, analysis ever indicates some +significant event, which has been replaced by something indifferent +with which it has entered into abundant associations. Where the dream is +concerned with uninteresting and unimportant conceptions, analysis +reveals the numerous associative paths which connect the trivial with +the momentous in the psychical estimation of the individual. _It is only +the action of displacement if what is indifferent obtains recognition in +the dream content instead of those impressions which are really the +stimulus, or instead of the things of real interest_. In answering the +question as to what provokes the dream, as to the connection of the +dream, in the daily troubles, we must say, in terms of the insight given +us by replacing the manifest latent dream content: _The dream does never +trouble itself about things which are not deserving of our concern +during the day, and trivialities which do not trouble us during the day +have no power to pursue us whilst asleep_. + +What provoked the dream in the example which we have analyzed? The +really unimportant event, that a friend invited me to a _free ride in +his cab_. The table d'hote scene in the dream contains an allusion to +this indifferent motive, for in conversation I had brought the taxi +parallel with the table d'hote. But I can indicate the important event +which has as its substitute the trivial one. A few days before I had +disbursed a large sum of money for a member of my family who is very +dear to me. Small wonder, says the dream thought, if this person is +grateful to me for this--this love is not cost-free. But love that shall +cost nothing is one of the prime thoughts of the dream. The fact that +shortly before this I had had several _drives_ with the relative in +question puts the one drive with my friend in a position to recall the +connection with the other person. The indifferent impression which, by +such ramifications, provokes the dream is subservient to another +condition which is not true of the real source of the dream--the +impression must be a recent one, everything arising from the day of the +dream. + +I cannot leave the question of dream displacement without the +consideration of a remarkable process in the formation of dreams in +which condensation and displacement work together towards one end. In +condensation we have already considered the case where two conceptions +in the dream having something in common, some point of contact, are +replaced in the dream content by a mixed image, where the distinct germ +corresponds to what is common, and the indistinct secondary +modifications to what is distinctive. If displacement is added to +condensation, there is no formation of a mixed image, but a _common +mean_ which bears the same relationship to the individual elements as +does the resultant in the parallelogram of forces to its components. In +one of my dreams, for instance, there is talk of an injection with +_propyl_. On first analysis I discovered an indifferent but true +incident where _amyl_ played a part as the excitant of the dream. I +cannot yet vindicate the exchange of amyl for propyl. To the round of +ideas of the same dream, however, there belongs the recollection of my +first visit to Munich, when the _Propyloea_ struck me. The attendant +circumstances of the analysis render it admissible that the influence of +this second group of conceptions caused the displacement of amyl to +propyl. _Propyl_ is, so to say, the mean idea between _amyl_ and +_propyloea_; it got into the dream as a kind of _compromise_ by +simultaneous condensation and displacement. + +The need of discovering some motive for this bewildering work of the +dream is even more called for in the case of displacement than in +condensation. + +Although the work of displacement must be held mainly responsible if the +dream thoughts are not refound or recognized in the dream content +(unless the motive of the changes be guessed), it is another and milder +kind of transformation which will be considered with the dream thoughts +which leads to the discovery of a new but readily understood act of the +dream work. The first dream thoughts which are unravelled by analysis +frequently strike one by their unusual wording. They do not appear to be +expressed in the sober form which our thinking prefers; rather are they +expressed symbolically by allegories and metaphors like the figurative +language of the poets. It is not difficult to find the motives for this +degree of constraint in the expression of dream ideas. The dream content +consists chiefly of visual scenes; hence the dream ideas must, in the +first place, be prepared to make use of these forms of presentation. +Conceive that a political leader's or a barrister's address had to be +transposed into pantomime, and it will be easy to understand the +transformations to which the dream work is constrained by regard for +this _dramatization of the dream content_. + +Around the psychical stuff of dream thoughts there are ever found +reminiscences of impressions, not infrequently of early +childhood--scenes which, as a rule, have been visually grasped. Whenever +possible, this portion of the dream ideas exercises a definite influence +upon the modelling of the dream content; it works like a center of +crystallization, by attracting and rearranging the stuff of the dream +thoughts. The scene of the dream is not infrequently nothing but a +modified repetition, complicated by interpolations of events that have +left such an impression; the dream but very seldom reproduces accurate +and unmixed reproductions of real scenes. + +The dream content does not, however, consist exclusively of scenes, but +it also includes scattered fragments of visual images, conversations, +and even bits of unchanged thoughts. It will be perhaps to the point if +we instance in the briefest way the means of dramatization which are at +the disposal of the dream work for the repetition of the dream thoughts +in the peculiar language of the dream. + +The dream thoughts which we learn from the analysis exhibit themselves +as a psychical complex of the most complicated superstructure. Their +parts stand in the most diverse relationship to each other; they form +backgrounds and foregrounds, stipulations, digressions, illustrations, +demonstrations, and protestations. It may be said to be almost the rule +that one train of thought is followed by its contradictory. No feature +known to our reason whilst awake is absent. If a dream is to grow out of +all this, the psychical matter is submitted to a pressure which +condenses it extremely, to an inner shrinking and displacement, creating +at the same time fresh surfaces, to a selective interweaving among the +constituents best adapted for the construction of these scenes. Having +regard to the origin of this stuff, the term _regression_ can be fairly +applied to this process. The logical chains which hitherto held the +psychical stuff together become lost in this transformation to the dream +content. The dream work takes on, as it were, only the essential content +of the dream thoughts for elaboration. It is left to analysis to restore +the connection which the dream work has destroyed. + +The dream's means of expression must therefore be regarded as meager in +comparison with those of our imagination, though the dream does not +renounce all claims to the restitution of logical relation to the dream +thoughts. It rather succeeds with tolerable frequency in replacing these +by formal characters of its own. + +By reason of the undoubted connection existing between all the parts of +dream thoughts, the dream is able to embody this matter into a single +scene. It upholds a _logical connection_ as _approximation in time and +space_, just as the painter, who groups all the poets for his picture of +Parnassus who, though they have never been all together on a mountain +peak, yet form ideally a community. The dream continues this method of +presentation in individual dreams, and often when it displays two +elements close together in the dream content it warrants some special +inner connection between what they represent in the dream thoughts. It +should be, moreover, observed that all the dreams of one night prove on +analysis to originate from the same sphere of thought. + +The causal connection between two ideas is either left without +presentation, or replaced by two different long portions of dreams one +after the other. This presentation is frequently a reversed one, the +beginning of the dream being the deduction, and its end the hypothesis. +The direct _transformation_ of one thing into another in the dream seems +to serve the relationship of _cause_ and _effect_. + +The dream never utters the _alternative "either-or,"_ but accepts both +as having equal rights in the same connection. When "either-or" is used +in the reproduction of dreams, it is, as I have already mentioned, to be +replaced by "_and_." + +Conceptions which stand in opposition to one another are preferably +expressed in dreams by the same element.[2] There seems no "not" in +dreams. Opposition between two ideas, the relation of conversion, is +represented in dreams in a very remarkable way. It is expressed by the +reversal of another part of the dream content just as if by way of +appendix. We shall later on deal with another form of expressing +disagreement. The common dream sensation of _movement checked_ serves +the purpose of representing disagreement of impulses--a _conflict of the +will_. + +Only one of the logical relationships--that of _similarity, identity, +agreement_--is found highly developed in the mechanism of dream +formation. Dream work makes use of these cases as a starting-point for +condensation, drawing together everything which shows such agreement to +a _fresh unity_. + +These short, crude observations naturally do not suffice as an estimate +of the abundance of the dream's formal means of presenting the logical +relationships of the dream thoughts. In this respect, individual dreams +are worked up more nicely or more carelessly, our text will have been +followed more or less closely, auxiliaries of the dream work will have +been taken more or less into consideration. In the latter case they +appear obscure, intricate, incoherent. When the dream appears openly +absurd, when it contains an obvious paradox in its content, it is so of +purpose. Through its apparent disregard of all logical claims, it +expresses a part of the intellectual content of the dream ideas. +Absurdity in the dream denotes _disagreement, scorn, disdain_ in the +dream thoughts. As this explanation is in entire disagreement with the +view that the dream owes its origin to dissociated, uncritical cerebral +activity, I will emphasize my view by an example: + +_"One of my acquaintances, Mr. M----, has been attacked by no less a +person than Goethe in an essay with, we all maintain, unwarrantable +violence. Mr. M---- has naturally been ruined by this attack. He +complains very bitterly of this at a dinner-party, but his respect for +Goethe has not diminished through this personal experience. I now +attempt to clear up the chronological relations which strike me as +improbable. Goethe died in 1832. As his attack upon Mr. M---- must, of +course, have taken place before, Mr. M---- must have been then a very +young man. It seems to me plausible that he was eighteen. I am not +certain, however, what year we are actually in, and the whole +calculation falls into obscurity. The attack was, moreover, contained +in Goethe's well-known essay on 'Nature.'"_ + +The absurdity of the dream becomes the more glaring when I state that +Mr. M---- is a young business man without any poetical or literary +interests. My analysis of the dream will show what method there is in +this madness. The dream has derived its material from three sources: + +1. Mr. M----, to whom I was introduced at a dinner-party, begged me one +day to examine his elder brother, who showed signs of mental trouble. In +conversation with the patient, an unpleasant episode occurred. Without +the slightest occasion he disclosed one of his brother's _youthful +escapades_. I had asked the patient the _year of his birth_ (_year of +death_ in dream), and led him to various calculations which might show +up his want of memory. + +2. A medical journal which displayed my name among others on the cover +had published a _ruinous_ review of a book by my friend F---- of Berlin, +from the pen of a very _juvenile_ reviewer. I communicated with the +editor, who, indeed, expressed his regret, but would not promise any +redress. Thereupon I broke off my connection with the paper; in my +letter of resignation I expressed the hope that our _personal relations +would not suffer from this_. Here is the real source of the dream. The +derogatory reception of my friend's work had made a deep impression upon +me. In my judgment, it contained a fundamental biological discovery +which only now, several years later, commences to find favor among the +professors. + +3. A little while before, a patient gave me the medical history of her +brother, who, exclaiming "_Nature, Nature!_" had gone out of his mind. +The doctors considered that the exclamation arose from a study of +_Goethe's_ beautiful essay, and indicated that the patient had been +overworking. I expressed the opinion that it seemed more _plausible_ to +me that the exclamation "Nature!" was to be taken in that sexual meaning +known also to the less educated in our country. It seemed to me that +this view had something in it, because the unfortunate youth afterwards +mutilated his genital organs. The patient was eighteen years old when +the attack occurred. + +The first person in the dream-thoughts behind the ego was my friend who +had been so scandalously treated. _"I now attempted to clear up the +chronological relation."_ My friend's book deals with the chronological +relations of life, and, amongst other things, correlates _Goethe's_ +duration of life with a number of days in many ways important to +biology. The ego is, however, represented as a general paralytic (_"I +am not certain what year we are actually in"_). The dream exhibits my +friend as behaving like a general paralytic, and thus riots in +absurdity. But the dream thoughts run ironically. "Of course he is a +madman, a fool, and you are the genius who understands all about it. But +shouldn't it be the _other way round_?" This inversion obviously took +place in the dream when Goethe attacked the young man, which is absurd, +whilst any one, however young, can to-day easily attack the great +Goethe. + +I am prepared to maintain that no dream is inspired by other than +egoistic emotions. The ego in the dream does not, indeed, represent only +my friend, but stands for myself also. I identify myself with him +because the fate of his discovery appears to me typical of the +acceptance of _my own_. If I were to publish my own theory, which gives +sexuality predominance in the aetiology of psychoneurotic disorders (see +the allusion to the eighteen-year-old patient--_"Nature, Nature!"_), the +same criticism would be leveled at me, and it would even now meet with +the same contempt. + +When I follow out the dream thoughts closely, I ever find only _scorn_ +and _contempt_ as _correlated with the dream's absurdity_. It is well +known that the discovery of a cracked sheep's skull on the Lido in +Venice gave Goethe the hint for the so-called vertebral theory of the +skull. My friend plumes himself on having as a student raised a hubbub +for the resignation of an aged professor who had done good work +(including some in this very subject of comparative anatomy), but who, +on account of _decrepitude_, had become quite incapable of teaching. The +agitation my friend inspired was so successful because in the German +Universities an _age limit_ is not demanded for academic work. _Age is +no protection against folly._ In the hospital here I had for years the +honor to serve under a chief who, long fossilized, was for decades +notoriously _feebleminded_, and was yet permitted to continue in his +responsible office. A trait, after the manner of the find in the Lido, +forces itself upon me here. It was to this man that some youthful +colleagues in the hospital adapted the then popular slang of that day: +"No Goethe has written that," "No Schiller composed that," etc. + +We have not exhausted our valuation of the dream work. In addition to +condensation, displacement, and definite arrangement of the psychical +matter, we must ascribe to it yet another activity--one which is, +indeed, not shared by every dream. I shall not treat this position of +the dream work exhaustively; I will only point out that the readiest +way to arrive at a conception of it is to take for granted, probably +unfairly, that it _only subsequently influences the dream content which +has already been built up_. Its mode of action thus consists in so +cooerdinating the parts of the dream that these coalesce to a coherent +whole, to a dream composition. The dream gets a kind of facade which, it +is true, does not conceal the whole of its content. There is a sort of +preliminary explanation to be strengthened by interpolations and slight +alterations. Such elaboration of the dream content must not be too +pronounced; the misconception of the dream thoughts to which it gives +rise is merely superficial, and our first piece of work in analyzing a +dream is to get rid of these early attempts at interpretation. + +The motives for this part of the dream work are easily gauged. This +final elaboration of the dream is due to a _regard for +intelligibility_--a fact at once betraying the origin of an action which +behaves towards the actual dream content just as our normal psychical +action behaves towards some proffered perception that is to our liking. +The dream content is thus secured under the pretense of certain +expectations, is perceptually classified by the supposition of its +intelligibility, thereby risking its falsification, whilst, in fact, the +most extraordinary misconceptions arise if the dream can be correlated +with nothing familiar. Every one is aware that we are unable to look at +any series of unfamiliar signs, or to listen to a discussion of unknown +words, without at once making perpetual changes through _our regard for +intelligibility_, through our falling back upon what is familiar. + +We can call those dreams _properly made up_ which are the result of an +elaboration in every way analogous to the psychical action of our waking +life. In other dreams there is no such action; not even an attempt is +made to bring about order and meaning. We regard the dream as "quite +mad," because on awaking it is with this last-named part of the dream +work, the dream elaboration, that we identify ourselves. So far, +however, as our analysis is concerned, the dream, which resembles a +medley of disconnected fragments, is of as much value as the one with a +smooth and beautifully polished surface. In the former case we are +spared, to some extent, the trouble of breaking down the +super-elaboration of the dream content. + +All the same, it would be an error to see in the dream facade nothing +but the misunderstood and somewhat arbitrary elaboration of the dream +carried out at the instance of our psychical life. Wishes and phantasies +are not infrequently employed in the erection of this facade, which +were already fashioned in the dream thoughts; they are akin to those of +our waking life--"day-dreams," as they are very properly called. These +wishes and phantasies, which analysis discloses in our dreams at night, +often present themselves as repetitions and refashionings of the scenes +of infancy. Thus the dream facade may show us directly the true core of +the dream, distorted through admixture with other matter. + +Beyond these four activities there is nothing else to be discovered in +the dream work. If we keep closely to the definition that dream work +denotes the transference of dream thoughts to dream content, we are +compelled to say that the dream work is not creative; it develops no +fancies of its own, it judges nothing, decides nothing. It does nothing +but prepare the matter for condensation and displacement, and refashions +it for dramatization, to which must be added the inconstant last-named +mechanism--that of explanatory elaboration. It is true that a good deal +is found in the dream content which might be understood as the result of +another and more intellectual performance; but analysis shows +conclusively every time that these _intellectual operations were already +present in the dream thoughts, and have only been taken over by the +dream content_. A syllogism in the dream is nothing other than the +repetition of a syllogism in the dream thoughts; it seems inoffensive if +it has been transferred to the dream without alteration; it becomes +absurd if in the dream work it has been transferred to other matter. A +calculation in the dream content simply means that there was a +calculation in the dream thoughts; whilst this is always correct, the +calculation in the dream can furnish the silliest results by the +condensation of its factors and the displacement of the same operations +to other things. Even speeches which are found in the dream content are +not new compositions; they prove to be pieced together out of speeches +which have been made or heard or read; the words are faithfully copied, +but the occasion of their utterance is quite overlooked, and their +meaning is most violently changed. + +It is, perhaps, not superfluous to support these assertions by examples: + +1. _A seemingly inoffensive, well-made dream of a patient. She was going +to market with her cook, who carried the basket. The butcher said to her +when she asked him for something: "That is all gone," and wished to give +her something else, remarking; "That's very good." She declines, and +goes to the greengrocer, who wants to sell her a peculiar vegetable +which is bound up in bundles and of a black color. She says: "I don't +know that; I won't take it."_ + +The remark "That is all gone" arose from the treatment. A few days +before I said myself to the patient that the earliest reminiscences of +childhood _are all gone_ as such, but are replaced by transferences and +dreams. Thus I am the butcher. + +The second remark, _"I don't know that"_ arose in a very different +connection. The day before she had herself called out in rebuke to the +cook (who, moreover, also appears in the dream): "_Behave yourself +properly_; I don't know _that_"--that is, "I don't know this kind of +behavior; I won't have it." The more harmless portion of this speech was +arrived at by a displacement of the dream content; in the dream thoughts +only the other portion of the speech played a part, because the dream +work changed an imaginary situation into utter irrecognizability and +complete inoffensiveness (while in a certain sense I behave in an +unseemly way to the lady). The situation resulting in this phantasy is, +however, nothing but a new edition of one that actually took place. + +2. A dream apparently meaningless relates to figures. _"She wants to pay +something; her daughter takes three florins sixty-five kreuzers out of +her purse; but she says: 'What are you doing? It only cost twenty-one +kreuzers.'"_ + +The dreamer was a stranger who had placed her child at school in Vienna, +and who was able to continue under my treatment so long as her daughter +remained at Vienna. The day before the dream the directress of the +school had recommended her to keep the child another year at school. In +this case she would have been able to prolong her treatment by one year. +The figures in the dream become important if it be remembered that time +is money. One year equals 365 days, or, expressed in kreuzers, 365 +kreuzers, which is three florins sixty-five kreuzers. The twenty-one +kreuzers correspond with the three weeks which remained from the day of +the dream to the end of the school term, and thus to the end of the +treatment. It was obviously financial considerations which had moved the +lady to refuse the proposal of the directress, and which were answerable +for the triviality of the amount in the dream. + +3. A lady, young, but already ten years married, heard that a friend of +hers, Miss Elise L----, of about the same age, had become engaged. This +gave rise to the following dream: + +_She was sitting with her husband in the theater; the one side of the +stalls was quite empty. Her husband tells her, Elise L---- and her +fiance had intended coming, but could only get some cheap seats, three +for one florin fifty kreuzers, and these they would not take. In her +opinion, that would not have mattered very much._ + +The origin of the figures from the matter of the dream thoughts and the +changes the figures underwent are of interest. Whence came the one +florin fifty kreuzers? From a trifling occurrence of the previous day. +Her sister-in-law had received 150 florins as a present from her +husband, and had quickly got rid of it by buying some ornament. Note +that 150 florins is one hundred times one florin fifty kreuzers. For the +_three_ concerned with the tickets, the only link is that Elise L---- is +exactly three months younger than the dreamer. The scene in the dream is +the repetition of a little adventure for which she has often been teased +by her husband. She was once in a great hurry to get tickets in time for +a piece, and when she came to the theater _one side of the stalls was +almost empty_. It was therefore quite unnecessary for her to have been +in _such a hurry_. Nor must we overlook the absurdity of the dream that +two persons should take three tickets for the theater. + +Now for the dream ideas. It was _stupid_ to have married so early; I +_need not_ have been _in so great a hurry_. Elise L----'s example shows +me that I should have been able to get a husband later; indeed, one a +_hundred times better_ if I had but waited. I could have bought _three_ +such men with the money (dowry). + +[1] "Ich moechte gerne etwas geniessen ohne 'Kosten' zu haben." A a pun +upon the word "kosten," which has two meanings--"taste" and "cost." In +"Die Traumdeutung," third edition, p. 71 footnote, Professor Freud +remarks that "the finest example of dream interpretation left us by the +ancients is based upon a pun" (from "The Interpretation of Dreams," by +Artemidorus Daldianus). "Moreover, dreams are so intimately bound up +with language that Ferenczi truly points out that every tongue has its +own language of dreams. A dream is as a rule untranslatable into other +languages."--TRANSLATOR. + +[2] It is worthy of remark that eminent philologists maintain that the +oldest languages used the same word for expressing quite general +antitheses. In C. Abel's essay, "Ueber den Gegensinn der Urworter" +(1884, the following examples of such words in England are given: +"gleam--gloom"; "to lock--loch"; "down--The Downs"; "to step--to stop." +In his essay on "The Origin of Language" ("Linguistic Essays," p. 240), +Abel says: "When the Englishman says 'without,' is not his judgment +based upon the comparative juxtaposition of two opposites, 'with' and +'out'; 'with' itself originally meant 'without,' as may still be seen in +'withdraw.' 'Bid' includes the opposite sense of giving and of +proffering." Abel, "The English Verbs of Command," "Linguistic Essays," +p. 104; see also Freud, "Ueber den Gegensinn der Urworte"; _Jahrbuch fuer +Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen_, Band II., part +i., p. 179).--TRANSLATOR. + + + + +III + +WHY THE DREAM DISGUISES THE DESIRES + + +In the foregoing exposition we have now learnt something of the dream +work; we must regard it as a quite special psychical process, which, so +far as we are aware, resembles nothing else. To the dream work has been +transferred that bewilderment which its product, the dream, has aroused +in us. In truth, the dream work is only the first recognition of a group +of psychical processes to which must be referred the origin of +hysterical symptoms, the ideas of morbid dread, obsession, and illusion. +Condensation, and especially displacement, are never-failing features in +these other processes. The regard for appearance remains, on the other +hand, peculiar to the dream work. If this explanation brings the dream +into line with the formation of psychical disease, it becomes the more +important to fathom the essential conditions of processes like dream +building. It will be probably a surprise to hear that neither the state +of sleep nor illness is among the indispensable conditions. A whole +number of phenomena of the everyday life of healthy persons, +forgetfulness, slips in speaking and in holding things, together with a +certain class of mistakes, are due to a psychical mechanism analogous to +that of the dream and the other members of this group. + +Displacement is the core of the problem, and the most striking of all +the dream performances. A thorough investigation of the subject shows +that the essential condition of displacement is purely psychological; it +is in the nature of a motive. We get on the track by thrashing out +experiences which one cannot avoid in the analysis of dreams. I had to +break off the relations of my dream thoughts in the analysis of my dream +on p. 8 because I found some experiences which I do not wish strangers +to know, and which I could not relate without serious damage to +important considerations. I added, it would be no use were I to select +another instead of that particular dream; in every dream where the +content is obscure or intricate, I should hit upon dream thoughts which +call for secrecy. If, however, I continue the analysis for myself, +without regard to those others, for whom, indeed, so personal an event +as my dream cannot matter, I arrive finally at ideas which surprise me, +which I have not known to be mine, which not only appear _foreign_ to +me, but which are _unpleasant_, and which I would like to oppose +vehemently, whilst the chain of ideas running through the analysis +intrudes upon me inexorably. I can only take these circumstances into +account by admitting that these thoughts are actually part of my +psychical life, possessing a certain psychical intensity or energy. +However, by virtue of a particular psychological condition, the +_thoughts could not become conscious to me_. I call this particular +condition "_Repression_." It is therefore impossible for me not to +recognize some casual relationship between the obscurity of the dream +content and this state of repression--this _incapacity of +consciousness_. Whence I conclude that the cause of the obscurity is +_the desire to conceal these thoughts_. Thus I arrive at the conception +of the _dream distortion_ as the deed of the dream work, and of +_displacement_ serving to disguise this object. + +I will test this in my own dream, and ask myself, What is the thought +which, quite innocuous in its distorted form, provokes my liveliest +opposition in its real form? I remember that the free drive reminded me +of the last expensive drive with a member of my family, the +interpretation of the dream being: I should for once like to experience +affection for which I should not have to pay, and that shortly before +the dream I had to make a heavy disbursement for this very person. In +this connection, I cannot get away from the thought _that I regret this +disbursement_. It is only when I acknowledge this feeling that there is +any sense in my wishing in the dream for an affection that should entail +no outlay. And yet I can state on my honor that I did not hesitate for a +moment when it became necessary to expend that sum. The regret, the +counter-current, was unconscious to me. Why it was unconscious is quite +another question which would lead us far away from the answer which, +though within my knowledge, belongs elsewhere. + +If I subject the dream of another person instead of one of my own to +analysis, the result is the same; the motives for convincing others is, +however, changed. In the dream of a healthy person the only way for me +to enable him to accept this repressed idea is the coherence of the +dream thoughts. He is at liberty to reject this explanation. But if we +are dealing with a person suffering from any neurosis--say from +hysteria--the recognition of these repressed ideas is compulsory by +reason of their connection with the symptoms of his illness and of the +improvement resulting from exchanging the symptoms for the repressed +ideas. Take the patient from whom I got the last dream about the three +tickets for one florin fifty kreuzers. Analysis shows that she does not +think highly of her husband, that she regrets having married him, that +she would be glad to change him for some one else. It is true that she +maintains that she loves her husband, that her emotional life knows +nothing about this depreciation (a hundred times better!), but all her +symptoms lead to the same conclusion as this dream. When her repressed +memories had rewakened a certain period when she was conscious that she +did not love her husband, her symptoms disappeared, and therewith +disappeared her resistance to the interpretation of the dream. + +This conception of repression once fixed, together with the distortion +of the dream in relation to repressed psychical matter, we are in a +position to give a general exposition of the principal results which the +analysis of dreams supplies. We learnt that the most intelligible and +meaningful dreams are unrealized desires; the desires they pictured as +realized are known to consciousness, have been held over from the +daytime, and are of absorbing interest. The analysis of obscure and +intricate dreams discloses something very similar; the dream scene again +pictures as realized some desire which regularly proceeds from the dream +ideas, but the picture is unrecognizable, and is only cleared up in the +analysis. The desire itself is either one repressed, foreign to +consciousness, or it is closely bound up with repressed ideas. The +formula for these dreams may be thus stated: _They are concealed +realizations of repressed desires_. It is interesting to note that they +are right who regard the dream as foretelling the future. Although the +future which the dream shows us is not that which will occur, but that +which we would like to occur. Folk psychology proceeds here according to +its wont; it believes what it wishes to believe. + +Dreams can be divided into three classes according to their relation +towards the realization of desire. Firstly come those which exhibit a +_non-repressed, non-concealed desire_; these are dreams of the infantile +type, becoming ever rarer among adults. Secondly, dreams which express +in _veiled_ form some _repressed desire_; these constitute by far the +larger number of our dreams, and they require analysis for their +understanding. Thirdly, these dreams where repression exists, but +_without_ or with but slight concealment. These dreams are invariably +accompanied by a feeling of dread which brings the dream to an end. This +feeling of dread here replaces dream displacement; I regarded the dream +work as having prevented this in the dream of the second class. It is +not very difficult to prove that what is now present as intense dread in +the dream was once desire, and is now secondary to the repression. + +There are also definite dreams with a painful content, without the +presence of any anxiety in the dream. These cannot be reckoned among +dreams of dread; they have, however, always been used to prove the +unimportance and the psychical futility of dreams. An analysis of such +an example will show that it belongs to our second class of dreams--a +_perfectly concealed_ realization of repressed desires. Analysis will +demonstrate at the same time how excellently adapted is the work of +displacement to the concealment of desires. + +A girl dreamt that she saw lying dead before her the only surviving +child of her sister amid the same surroundings as a few years before she +saw the first child lying dead. She was not sensible of any pain, but +naturally combatted the view that the scene represented a desire of +hers. Nor was that view necessary. Years ago it was at the funeral of +the child that she had last seen and spoken to the man she loved. Were +the second child to die, she would be sure to meet this man again in her +sister's house. She is longing to meet him, but struggles against this +feeling. The day of the dream she had taken a ticket for a lecture, +which announced the presence of the man she always loved. The dream is +simply a dream of impatience common to those which happen before a +journey, theater, or simply anticipated pleasures. The longing is +concealed by the shifting of the scene to the occasion when any joyous +feeling were out of place, and yet where it did once exist. Note, +further, that the emotional behavior in the dream is adapted, not to the +displaced, but to the real but suppressed dream ideas. The scene +anticipates the long-hoped-for meeting; there is here no call for +painful emotions. + +There has hitherto been no occasion for philosophers to bestir +themselves with a psychology of repression. We must be allowed to +construct some clear conception as to the origin of dreams as the first +steps in this unknown territory. The scheme which we have formulated not +only from a study of dreams is, it is true, already somewhat +complicated, but we cannot find any simpler one that will suffice. We +hold that our psychical apparatus contains two procedures for the +construction of thoughts. The second one has the advantage that its +products find an open path to consciousness, whilst the activity of the +first procedure is unknown to itself, and can only arrive at +consciousness through the second one. At the borderland of these two +procedures, where the first passes over into the second, a censorship +is established which only passes what pleases it, keeping back +everything else. That which is rejected by the censorship is, according +to our definition, in a state of repression. Under certain conditions, +one of which is the sleeping state, the balance of power between the two +procedures is so changed that what is repressed can no longer be kept +back. In the sleeping state this may possibly occur through the +negligence of the censor; what has been hitherto repressed will now +succeed in finding its way to consciousness. But as the censorship is +never absent, but merely off guard, certain alterations must be conceded +so as to placate it. It is a compromise which becomes conscious in this +case--a compromise between what one procedure has in view and the +demands of the other. _Repression, laxity of the censor, +compromise_--this is the foundation for the origin of many another +psychological process, just as it is for the dream. In such compromises +we can observe the processes of condensation, of displacement, the +acceptance of superficial associations, which we have found in the dream +work. + +It is not for us to deny the demonic element which has played a part in +constructing our explanation of dream work. The impression left is that +the formation of obscure dreams proceeds as if a person had something +to say which must be agreeable for another person upon whom he is +dependent to hear. It is by the use of this image that we figure to +ourselves the conception of the _dream distortion_ and of the +censorship, and ventured to crystallize our impression in a rather +crude, but at least definite, psychological theory. Whatever explanation +the future may offer of these first and second procedures, we shall +expect a confirmation of our correlate that the second procedure +commands the entrance to consciousness, and can exclude the first from +consciousness. + +Once the sleeping state overcome, the censorship resumes complete sway, +and is now able to revoke that which was granted in a moment of +weakness. That the _forgetting_ of dreams explains this in part, at +least, we are convinced by our experience, confirmed again and again. +During the relation of a dream, or during analysis of one, it not +infrequently happens that some fragment of the dream is suddenly +forgotten. This fragment so forgotten invariably contains the best and +readiest approach to an understanding of the dream. Probably that is why +it sinks into oblivion--_i.e._, into a renewed suppression. + +Viewing the dream content as the representation of a realized desire, +and referring its vagueness to the changes made by the censor in the +repressed matter, it is no longer difficult to grasp the function of +dreams. In fundamental contrast with those saws which assume that sleep +is disturbed by dreams, we hold the _dream as the guardian of sleep_. So +far as children's dreams are concerned, our view should find ready +acceptance. + +The sleeping state or the psychical change to sleep, whatsoever it be, +is brought about by the child being sent to sleep or compelled thereto +by fatigue, only assisted by the removal of all stimuli which might open +other objects to the psychical apparatus. The means which serve to keep +external stimuli distant are known; but what are the means we can employ +to depress the internal psychical stimuli which frustrate sleep? Look at +a mother getting her child to sleep. The child is full of beseeching; he +wants another kiss; he wants to play yet awhile. His requirements are in +part met, in part drastically put off till the following day. Clearly +these desires and needs, which agitate him, are hindrances to sleep. +Every one knows the charming story of the bad boy (Baldwin Groller's) +who awoke at night bellowing out, "_I want the rhinoceros_." A really +good boy, instead of bellowing, would have _dreamt_ that he was playing +with the rhinoceros. Because the dream which realizes his desire is +believed during sleep, it removes the desire and makes sleep possible. +It cannot be denied that this belief accords with the dream image, +because it is arrayed in the psychical appearance of probability; the +child is without the capacity which it will acquire later to distinguish +hallucinations or phantasies from reality. + +The adult has learnt this differentiation; he has also learnt the +futility of desire, and by continuous practice manages to postpone his +aspirations, until they can be granted in some roundabout method by a +change in the external world. For this reason it is rare for him to have +his wishes realized during sleep in the short psychical way. It is even +possible that this never happens, and that everything which appears to +us like a child's dream demands a much more elaborate explanation. Thus +it is that for adults--for every sane person without exception--a +differentiation of the psychical matter has been fashioned which the +child knew not. A psychical procedure has been reached which, informed +by the experience of life, exercises with jealous power a dominating and +restraining influence upon psychical emotions; by its relation to +consciousness, and by its spontaneous mobility, it is endowed with the +greatest means of psychical power. A portion of the infantile emotions +has been withheld from this procedure as useless to life, and all the +thoughts which flow from these are found in the state of repression. + +Whilst the procedure in which we recognize our normal ego reposes upon +the desire for sleep, it appears compelled by the psycho-physiological +conditions of sleep to abandon some of the energy with which it was wont +during the day to keep down what was repressed. This neglect is really +harmless; however much the emotions of the child's spirit may be +stirred, they find the approach to consciousness rendered difficult, and +that to movement blocked in consequence of the state of sleep. The +danger of their disturbing sleep must, however, be avoided. Moreover, we +must admit that even in deep sleep some amount of free attention is +exerted as a protection against sense-stimuli which might, perchance, +make an awakening seem wiser than the continuance of sleep. Otherwise we +could not explain the fact of our being always awakened by stimuli of +certain quality. As the old physiologist Burdach pointed out, the mother +is awakened by the whimpering of her child, the miller by the cessation +of his mill, most people by gently calling out their names. This +attention, thus on the alert, makes use of the internal stimuli arising +from repressed desires, and fuses them into the dream, which as a +compromise satisfies both procedures at the same time. The dream creates +a form of psychical release for the wish which is either suppressed or +formed by the aid of repression, inasmuch as it presents it as realized. +The other procedure is also satisfied, since the continuance of the +sleep is assured. Our ego here gladly behaves like a child; it makes the +dream pictures believable, saying, as it were, "Quite right, but let me +sleep." The contempt which, once awakened, we bear the dream, and which +rests upon the absurdity and apparent illogicality of the dream, is +probably nothing but the reasoning of our sleeping ego on the feelings +about what was repressed; with greater right it should rest upon the +incompetency of this disturber of our sleep. In sleep we are now and +then aware of this contempt; the dream content transcends the censorship +rather too much, we think, "It's only a dream," and sleep on. + +It is no objection to this view if there are borderlines for the dream +where its function, to preserve sleep from interruption, can no longer +be maintained--as in the dreams of impending dread. It is here changed +for another function--to suspend the sleep at the proper time. It acts +like a conscientious night-watchman, who first does his duty by quelling +disturbances so as not to waken the citizen, but equally does his duty +quite properly when he awakens the street should the causes of the +trouble seem to him serious and himself unable to cope with them alone. + +This function of dreams becomes especially well marked when there arises +some incentive for the sense perception. That the senses aroused during +sleep influence the dream is well known, and can be experimentally +verified; it is one of the certain but much overestimated results of the +medical investigation of dreams. Hitherto there has been an insoluble +riddle connected with this discovery. The stimulus to the sense by which +the investigator affects the sleeper is not properly recognized in the +dream, but is intermingled with a number of indefinite interpretations, +whose determination appears left to psychical free-will. There is, of +course, no such psychical free-will. To an external sense-stimulus the +sleeper can react in many ways. Either he awakens or he succeeds in +sleeping on. In the latter case he can make use of the dream to dismiss +the external stimulus, and this, again, in more ways than one. For +instance, he can stay the stimulus by dreaming of a scene which is +absolutely intolerable to him. This was the means used by one who was +troubled by a painful perineal abscess. He dreamt that he was on +horseback, and made use of the poultice, which was intended to +alleviate his pain, as a saddle, and thus got away from the cause of the +trouble. Or, as is more frequently the case, the external stimulus +undergoes a new rendering, which leads him to connect it with a +repressed desire seeking its realization, and robs him of its reality, +and is treated as if it were a part of the psychical matter. Thus, some +one dreamt that he had written a comedy which embodied a definite +_motif_; it was being performed; the first act was over amid +enthusiastic applause; there was great clapping. At this moment the +dreamer must have succeeded in prolonging his sleep despite the +disturbance, for when he woke he no longer heard the noise; he concluded +rightly that some one must have been beating a carpet or bed. The dreams +which come with a loud noise just before waking have all attempted to +cover the stimulus to waking by some other explanation, and thus to +prolong the sleep for a little while. + +Whosoever has firmly accepted this _censorship_ as the chief motive for +the distortion of dreams will not be surprised to learn as the result of +dream interpretation that most of the dreams of adults are traced by +analysis to erotic desires. This assertion is not drawn from dreams +obviously of a sexual nature, which are known to all dreamers from their +own experience, and are the only ones usually described as "sexual +dreams." These dreams are ever sufficiently mysterious by reason of the +choice of persons who are made the objects of sex, the removal of all +the barriers which cry halt to the dreamer's sexual needs in his waking +state, the many strange reminders as to details of what are called +perversions. But analysis discovers that, in many other dreams in whose +manifest content nothing erotic can be found, the work of interpretation +shows them up as, in reality, realization of sexual desires; whilst, on +the other hand, that much of the thought-making when awake, the thoughts +saved us as surplus from the day only, reaches presentation in dreams +with the help of repressed erotic desires. + +Towards the explanation of this statement, which is no theoretical +postulate, it must be remembered that no other class of instincts has +required so vast a suppression at the behest of civilization as the +sexual, whilst their mastery by the highest psychical processes are in +most persons soonest of all relinquished. Since we have learnt to +understand _infantile sexuality_, often so vague in its expression, so +invariably overlooked and misunderstood, we are justified in saying that +nearly every civilized person has retained at some point or other the +infantile type of sex life; thus we understand that repressed infantile +sex desires furnish the most frequent and most powerful impulses for the +formation of dreams.[1] + +If the dream, which is the expression of some erotic desire, succeeds in +making its manifest content appear innocently asexual, it is only +possible in one way. The matter of these sexual presentations cannot be +exhibited as such, but must be replaced by allusions, suggestions, and +similar indirect means; differing from other cases of indirect +presentation, those used in dreams must be deprived of direct +understanding. The means of presentation which answer these requirements +are commonly termed "symbols." A special interest has been directed +towards these, since it has been observed that the dreamers of the same +language use the like symbols--indeed, that in certain cases community +of symbol is greater than community of speech. Since the dreamers do not +themselves know the meaning of the symbols they use, it remains a puzzle +whence arises their relationship with what they replace and denote. The +fact itself is undoubted, and becomes of importance for the technique of +the interpretation of dreams, since by the aid of a knowledge of this +symbolism it is possible to understand the meaning of the elements of a +dream, or parts of a dream, occasionally even the whole dream itself, +without having to question the dreamer as to his own ideas. We thus come +near to the popular idea of an interpretation of dreams, and, on the +other hand, possess again the technique of the ancients, among whom the +interpretation of dreams was identical with their explanation through +symbolism. + +Though the study of dream symbolism is far removed from finality, we now +possess a series of general statements and of particular observations +which are quite certain. There are symbols which practically always have +the same meaning: Emperor and Empress (King and Queen) always mean the +parents; room, a woman[2], and so on. The sexes are represented by a +great variety of symbols, many of which would be at first quite +incomprehensible had not the clews to the meaning been often obtained +through other channels. + +There are symbols of universal circulation, found in all dreamers, of +one range of speech and culture; there are others of the narrowest +individual significance which an individual has built up out of his own +material. In the first class those can be differentiated whose claim can +be at once recognized by the replacement of sexual things in common +speech (those, for instance, arising from agriculture, as reproduction, +seed) from others whose sexual references appear to reach back to the +earliest times and to the obscurest depths of our image-building. The +power of building symbols in both these special forms of symbols has not +died out. Recently discovered things, like the airship, are at once +brought into universal use as sex symbols. + +It would be quite an error to suppose that a profounder knowledge of +dream symbolism (the "Language of Dreams") would make us independent of +questioning the dreamer regarding his impressions about the dream, and +would give us back the whole technique of ancient dream interpreters. +Apart from individual symbols and the variations in the use of what is +general, one never knows whether an element in the dream is to be +understood symbolically or in its proper meaning; the whole content of +the dream is certainly not to be interpreted symbolically. The knowledge +of dream symbols will only help us in understanding portions of the +dream content, and does not render the use of the technical rules +previously given at all superfluous. But it must be of the greatest +service in interpreting a dream just when the impressions of the dreamer +are withheld or are insufficient. + +Dream symbolism proves also indispensable for understanding the +so-called "typical" dreams and the dreams that "repeat themselves." +Dream symbolism leads us far beyond the dream; it does not belong only +to dreams, but is likewise dominant in legend, myth, and saga, in wit +and in folklore. It compels us to pursue the inner meaning of the dream +in these productions. But we must acknowledge that symbolism is not a +result of the dream work, but is a peculiarity probably of our +unconscious thinking, which furnishes to the dream work the matter for +condensation, displacement, and dramatization. + +[1] Freud, "Three Contributions to Sexual Theory," translated by A.A. +Brill (_Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease_ Publishing Company, New +York). + +[2] The words from "and" to "channels" in the next sentence is a short +summary of the passage in the original. As this book will be read by +other than professional people the passage has not been translated, in +deference to English opinion.--TRANSLATOR. + + + + +IV + +DREAM ANALYSIS + + +Perhaps we shall now begin to suspect that dream interpretation is +capable of giving us hints about the structure of our psychic apparatus +which we have thus far expected in vain from philosophy. We shall not, +however, follow this track, but return to our original problem as soon +as we have cleared up the subject of dream-disfigurement. The question +has arisen how dreams with disagreeable content can be analyzed as the +fulfillment of wishes. We see now that this is possible in case +dream-disfigurement has taken place, in case the disagreeable content +serves only as a disguise for what is wished. Keeping in mind our +assumptions in regard to the two psychic instances, we may now proceed +to say: disagreeable dreams, as a matter of fact, contain something +which is disagreeable to the second instance, but which at the same time +fulfills a wish of the first instance. They are wish dreams in the sense +that every dream originates in the first instance, while the second +instance acts towards the dream only in repelling, not in a creative +manner. If we limit ourselves to a consideration of what the second +instance contributes to the dream, we can never understand the dream. If +we do so, all the riddles which the authors have found in the dream +remain unsolved. + +That the dream actually has a secret meaning, which turns out to be the +fulfillment of a wish, must be proved afresh for every case by means of +an analysis. I therefore select several dreams which have painful +contents and attempt an analysis of them. They are partly dreams of +hysterical subjects, which require long preliminary statements, and now +and then also an examination of the psychic processes which occur in +hysteria. I cannot, however, avoid this added difficulty in the +exposition. + +When I give a psychoneurotic patient analytical treatment, dreams are +always, as I have said, the subject of our discussion. It must, +therefore, give him all the psychological explanations through whose aid +I myself have come to an understanding of his symptoms, and here I +undergo an unsparing criticism, which is perhaps not less keen than that +I must expect from my colleagues. Contradiction of the thesis that all +dreams are the fulfillments of wishes is raised by my patients with +perfect regularity. Here are several examples of the dream material +which is offered me to refute this position. + +"You always tell me that the dream is a wish fulfilled," begins a clever +lady patient. "Now I shall tell you a dream in which the content is +quite the opposite, in which a wish of mine is _not_ fulfilled. How do +you reconcile that with your theory? The dream is as follows:-- + +_"I want to give a supper, but having nothing at hand except some smoked +salmon, I think of going marketing, but I remember that it is Sunday +afternoon, when all the shops are closed. I next try to telephone to +some caterers, but the telephone is out of order.... Thus I must resign +my wish to give a supper."_ + +I answer, of course, that only the analysis can decide the meaning of +this dream, although I admit that at first sight it seems sensible and +coherent, and looks like the opposite of a wish-fulfillment. "But what +occurrence has given rise to this dream?" I ask. "You know that the +stimulus for a dream always lies among the experiences of the preceding +day." + +_Analysis._--The husband of the patient, an upright and conscientious +wholesale butcher, had told her the day before that he is growing too +fat, and that he must, therefore, begin treatment for obesity. He was +going to get up early, take exercise, keep to a strict diet, and above +all accept no more invitations to suppers. She proceeds laughingly to +relate how her husband at an inn table had made the acquaintance of an +artist, who insisted upon painting his portrait because he, the painter, +had never found such an expressive head. But her husband had answered in +his rough way, that he was very thankful for the honor, but that he was +quite convinced that a portion of the backside of a pretty young girl +would please the artist better than his whole face[1]. She said that she +was at the time very much in love with her husband, and teased him a +good deal. She had also asked him not to send her any caviare. What does +that mean? + +As a matter of fact, she had wanted for a long time to eat a caviare +sandwich every forenoon, but had grudged herself the expense. Of course, +she would at once get the caviare from her husband, as soon as she asked +him for it. But she had begged him, on the contrary, not to send her the +caviare, in order that she might tease him about it longer. + +This explanation seems far-fetched to me. Unadmitted motives are in the +habit of hiding behind such unsatisfactory explanations. We are reminded +of subjects hypnotized by Bernheim, who carried out a posthypnotic +order, and who, upon being asked for their motives, instead of +answering: "I do not know why I did that," had to invent a reason that +was obviously inadequate. Something similar is probably the case with +the caviare of my patient. I see that she is compelled to create an +unfulfilled wish in life. Her dream also shows the reproduction of the +wish as accomplished. But why does she need an unfulfilled wish? + +The ideas so far produced are insufficient for the interpretation of the +dream. I beg for more. After a short pause, which corresponds to the +overcoming of a resistance, she reports further that the day before she +had made a visit to a friend, of whom she is really jealous, because her +husband is always praising this woman so much. Fortunately, this friend +is very lean and thin, and her husband likes well-rounded figures. Now +of what did this lean friend speak? Naturally of her wish to become +somewhat stouter. She also asked my patient: "When are you going to +invite us again? You always have such a good table." + +Now the meaning of the dream is clear. I may say to the patient: "It is +just as though you had thought at the time of the request: 'Of course, +I'll invite you, so you can eat yourself fat at my house and become +still more pleasing to my husband. I would rather give no more suppers.' +The dream then tells you that you cannot give a supper, thereby +fulfilling your wish not to contribute anything to the rounding out of +your friend's figure. The resolution of your husband to refuse +invitations to supper for the sake of getting thin teaches you that one +grows fat on the things served in company." Now only some conversation +is necessary to confirm the solution. The smoked salmon in the dream has +not yet been traced. "How did the salmon mentioned in the dream occur to +you?" "Smoked salmon is the favorite dish of this friend," she answered. +I happen to know the lady, and may corroborate this by saying that she +grudges herself the salmon just as much as my patient grudges herself +the caviare. + +The dream admits of still another and more exact interpretation, which +is necessitated only by a subordinate circumstance. The two +interpretations do not contradict one another, but rather cover each +other and furnish a neat example of the usual ambiguity of dreams as +well as of all other psychopathological formations. We have seen that at +the same time that she dreams of the denial of the wish, the patient is +in reality occupied in securing an unfulfilled wish (the caviare +sandwiches). Her friend, too, had expressed a wish, namely, to get +fatter, and it would not surprise us if our lady had dreamt that the +wish of the friend was not being fulfilled. For it is her own wish that +a wish of her friend's--for increase in weight--should not be fulfilled. +Instead of this, however, she dreams that one of her own wishes is not +fulfilled. The dream becomes capable of a new interpretation, if in the +dream she does not intend herself, but her friend, if she has put +herself in the place of her friend, or, as we may say, has identified +herself with her friend. + +I think she has actually done this, and as a sign of this identification +she has created an unfulfilled wish in reality. But what is the meaning +of this hysterical identification? To clear this up a thorough +exposition is necessary. Identification is a highly important factor in +the mechanism of hysterical symptoms; by this means patients are enabled +in their symptoms to represent not merely their own experiences, but the +experiences of a great number of other persons, and can suffer, as it +were, for a whole mass of people, and fill all the parts of a drama by +means of their own personalities alone. It will here be objected that +this is well-known hysterical imitation, the ability of hysteric +subjects to copy all the symptoms which impress them when they occur in +others, as though their pity were stimulated to the point of +reproduction. But this only indicates the way in which the psychic +process is discharged in hysterical imitation; the way in which a +psychic act proceeds and the act itself are two different things. The +latter is slightly more complicated than one is apt to imagine the +imitation of hysterical subjects to be: it corresponds to an unconscious +concluded process, as an example will show. The physician who has a +female patient with a particular kind of twitching, lodged in the +company of other patients in the same room of the hospital, is not +surprised when some morning he learns that this peculiar hysterical +attack has found imitations. He simply says to himself: The others have +seen her and have done likewise: that is psychic infection. Yes, but +psychic infection proceeds in somewhat the following manner: As a rule, +patients know more about one another than the physician knows about each +of them, and they are concerned about each other when the visit of the +doctor is over. Some of them have an attack to-day: soon it is known +among the rest that a letter from home, a return of lovesickness or the +like, is the cause of it. Their sympathy is aroused, and the following +syllogism, which does not reach consciousness, is completed in them: "If +it is possible to have this kind of an attack from such causes, I too +may have this kind of an attack, for I have the same reasons." If this +were a cycle capable of becoming conscious, it would perhaps express +itself in _fear_ of getting the same attack; but it takes place in +another psychic sphere, and, therefore, ends in the realization of the +dreaded symptom. Identification is therefore not a simple imitation, but +a sympathy based upon the same etiological claim; it expresses an "as +though," and refers to some common quality which has remained in the +unconscious. + +Identification is most often used in hysteria to express sexual +community. An hysterical woman identifies herself most readily--although +not exclusively--with persons with whom she has had sexual relations, or +who have sexual intercourse with the same persons as herself. Language +takes such a conception into consideration: two lovers are "one." In the +hysterical phantasy, as well as in the dream, it is sufficient for the +identification if one thinks of sexual relations, whether or not they +become real. The patient, then, only follows the rules of the hysterical +thought processes when she gives expression to her jealousy of her +friend (which, moreover, she herself admits to be unjustified, in that +she puts herself in her place and identifies herself with her by +creating a symptom--the denied wish). I might further clarify the +process specifically as follows: She puts herself in the place of her +friend in the dream, because her friend has taken her own place relation +to her husband, and because she would like to take her friend's place in +the esteem of her husband[2]. + +The contradiction to my theory of dreams in the case of another female +patient, the most witty among all my dreamers, was solved in a simpler +manner, although according to the scheme that the non-fulfillment of one +wish signifies the fulfillment of another. I had one day explained to +her that the dream is a wish of fulfillment. The next day she brought me +a dream to the effect that she was traveling with her mother-in-law to +their common summer resort. Now I knew that she had struggled violently +against spending the summer in the neighborhood of her mother-in-law. I +also knew that she had luckily avoided her mother-in-law by renting an +estate in a far-distant country resort. Now the dream reversed this +wished-for solution; was not this in the flattest contradiction to my +theory of wish-fulfillment in the dream? Certainly, it was only +necessary to draw the inferences from this dream in order to get at its +interpretation. According to this dream, I was in the wrong. _It was +thus her wish that I should be in the wrong, and this wish the dream +showed her as fulfilled._ But the wish that I should be in the wrong, +which was fulfilled in the theme of the country home, referred to a more +serious matter. At that time I had made up my mind, from the material +furnished by her analysis, that something of significance for her +illness must have occurred at a certain time in her life. She had denied +it because it was not present in her memory. We soon came to see that I +was in the right. Her wish that I should be in the wrong, which is +transformed into the dream, thus corresponded to the justifiable wish +that those things, which at the time had only been suspected, had never +occurred at all. + +Without an analysis, and merely by means of an assumption, I took the +liberty of interpreting a little occurrence in the case of a friend, who +had been my colleague through the eight classes of the Gymnasium. He +once heard a lecture of mine delivered to a small assemblage, on the +novel subject of the dream as the fulfillment of a wish. He went home, +dreamt _that he had lost all his suits_--he was a lawyer--and then +complained to me about it. I took refuge in the evasion: "One can't win +all one's suits," but I thought to myself: "If for eight years I sat as +Primus on the first bench, while he moved around somewhere in the middle +of the class, may he not naturally have had a wish from his boyhood days +that I, too, might for once completely disgrace myself?" + +In the same way another dream of a more gloomy character was offered me +by a female patient as a contradiction to my theory of the wish-dream. +The patient, a young girl, began as follows: "You remember that my +sister has now only one boy, Charles: she lost the elder one, Otto, +while I was still at her house. Otto was my favorite; it was I who +really brought him up. I like the other little fellow, too, but of +course not nearly as much as the dead one. Now I dreamt last night that +_I saw Charles lying dead before me. He was lying in his little coffin, +his hands folded: there were candles all about, and, in short, it was +just like the time of little Otto's death, which shocked me so +profoundly_. Now tell me, what does this mean? You know me: am I really +bad enough to wish my sister to lose the only child she has left? Or +does the dream mean that I wish Charles to be dead rather than Otto, +whom I like so much better?" + +I assured her that this interpretation was impossible. After some +reflection I was able to give her the interpretation of the dream, which +I subsequently made her confirm. + +Having become an orphan at an early age, the girl had been brought up in +the house of a much older sister, and had met among the friends and +visitors who came to the house, a man who made a lasting impression upon +her heart. It looked for a time as though these barely expressed +relations were to end in marriage, but this happy culmination was +frustrated by the sister, whose motives have never found a complete +explanation. After the break, the man who was loved by our patient +avoided the house: she herself became independent some time after little +Otto's death, to whom her affection had now turned. But she did not +succeed in freeing herself from the inclination for her sister's friend +in which she had become involved. Her pride commanded her to avoid him; +but it was impossible for her to transfer her love to the other suitors +who presented themselves in order. Whenever the man whom she loved, who +was a member of the literary profession, announced a lecture anywhere, +she was sure to be found in the audience; she also seized every other +opportunity to see him from a distance unobserved by him. I remembered +that on the day before she had told me that the Professor was going to a +certain concert, and that she was also going there, in order to enjoy +the sight of him. This was on the day of the dream; and the concert was +to take place on the day on which she told me the dream. I could now +easily see the correct interpretation, and I asked her whether she could +think of any event which had happened after the death of little Otto. +She answered immediately: "Certainly; at that time the Professor +returned after a long absence, and I saw him once more beside the coffin +of little Otto." It was exactly as I had expected. I interpreted the +dream in the following manner: "If now the other boy were to die, the +same thing would be repeated. You would spend the day with your sister, +the Professor would surely come in order to offer condolence, and you +would see him again under the same circumstances as at that time. The +dream signifies nothing but this wish of yours to see him again, against +which you are fighting inwardly. I know that you are carrying the ticket +for to-day's concert in your bag. Your dream is a dream of impatience; +it has anticipated the meeting which is to take place to-day by several +hours." + +In order to disguise her wish she had obviously selected a situation in +which wishes of that sort are commonly suppressed--a situation which is +so filled with sorrow that love is not thought of. And yet, it is very +easily probable that even in the actual situation at the bier of the +second, more dearly loved boy, which the dream copied faithfully, she +had not been able to suppress her feelings of affection for the visitor +whom she had missed for so long a time. + +A different explanation was found in the case of a similar dream of +another female patient, who was distinguished in her earlier years by +her quick wit and her cheerful demeanors and who still showed these +qualities at least in the notion, which occurred to her in the course of +treatment. In connection with a longer dream, it seemed to this lady +that she saw her fifteen-year-old daughter lying dead before her in a +box. She was strongly inclined to convert this dream-image into an +objection to the theory of wish-fulfillment, but herself suspected that +the detail of the box must lead to a different conception of the +dream.[3] In the course of the analysis it occurred to her that on the +evening before, the conversation of the company had turned upon the +English word "box," and upon the numerous translations of it into +German, such as box, theater box, chest, box on the ear, &c. From other +components of the same dream it is now possible to add that the lady had +guessed the relationship between the English word "box" and the German +_Buechse_, and had then been haunted by the memory that _Buechse_ (as well +as "box") is used in vulgar speech to designate the female genital +organ. It was therefore possible, making a certain allowance for her +notions on the subject of topographical anatomy, to assume that the +child in the box signified a child in the womb of the mother. At this +stage of the explanation she no longer denied that the picture of the +dream really corresponded to one of her wishes. Like so many other young +women, she was by no means happy when she became pregnant, and admitted +to me more than once the wish that her child might die before its birth; +in a fit of anger following a violent scene with her husband she had +even struck her abdomen with her fists in order to hit the child within. +The dead child was, therefore, really the fulfillment of a wish, but a +wish which had been put aside for fifteen years, and it is not +surprising that the fulfillment of the wish was no longer recognized +after so long an interval. For there had been many changes meanwhile. + +The group of dreams to which the two last mentioned belong, having as +content the death of beloved relatives, will be considered again under +the head of "Typical Dreams." I shall there be able to show by new +examples that in spite of their undesirable content, all these dreams +must be interpreted as wish-fulfillments. For the following dream, which +again was told me in order to deter me from a hasty generalization of +the theory of wishing in dreams, I am indebted, not to a patient, but to +an intelligent jurist of my acquaintance. "_I dream_," my informant +tells me, "_that I am walking in front of my house with a lady on my +arm. Here a closed wagon is waiting, a gentleman steps up to me, gives +his authority as an agent of the police, and demands that I should +follow him. I only ask for time in which to arrange my affairs._ Can you +possibly suppose this is a wish of mine to be arrested?" "Of course +not," I must admit. "Do you happen to know upon what charge you were +arrested?" "Yes; I believe for infanticide." "Infanticide? But you know +that only a mother can commit this crime upon her newly born child?" +"That is true."[4] "And under what circumstances did you dream; what +happened on the evening before?" "I would rather not tell you that; it +is a delicate matter." "But I must have it, otherwise we must forgo the +interpretation of the dream." "Well, then, I will tell you. I spent the +night, not at home, but at the house of a lady who means very much to +me. When we awoke in the morning, something again passed between us. +Then I went to sleep again, and dreamt what I have told you." "The woman +is married?" "Yes." "And you do not wish her to conceive a child?" "No; +that might betray us." "Then you do not practice normal coitus?" "I take +the precaution to withdraw before ejaculation." "Am I permitted to +assume that you did this trick several times during the night, and that +in the morning you were not quite sure whether you had succeeded?" "That +might be the case." "Then your dream is the fulfillment of a wish. By +means of it you secure the assurance that you have not begotten a child, +or, what amounts to the same thing, that you have killed a child. I can +easily demonstrate the connecting links. Do you remember, a few days ago +we were talking about the distress of matrimony (Ehenot), and about the +inconsistency of permitting the practice of coitus as long as no +impregnation takes place, while every delinquency after the ovum and +the semen meet and a foetus is formed is punished as a crime? In +connection with this, we also recalled the mediaeval controversy about +the moment of time at which the soul is really lodged in the foetus, +since the concept of murder becomes admissible only from that point on. +Doubtless you also know the gruesome poem by Lenau, which puts +infanticide and the prevention of children on the same plane." +"Strangely enough, I had happened to think of Lenau during the +afternoon." "Another echo of your dream. And now I shall demonstrate to +you another subordinate wish-fulfillment in your dream. You walk in +front of your house with the lady on your arm. So you take her home, +instead of spending the night at her house, as you do in actuality. The +fact that the wish-fulfillment, which is the essence of the dream, +disguises itself in such an unpleasant form, has perhaps more than one +reason. From my essay on the etiology of anxiety neuroses, you will see +that I note interrupted coitus as one of the factors which cause the +development of neurotic fear. It would be consistent with this that if +after repeated cohabitation of the kind mentioned you should be left in +an uncomfortable mood, which now becomes an element in the composition +of your dream. You also make use of this unpleasant state of mind to +conceal the wish-fulfillment. Furthermore, the mention of infanticide +has not yet been explained. Why does this crime, which is peculiar to +females, occur to you?" "I shall confess to you that I was involved in +such an affair years ago. Through my fault a girl tried to protect +herself from the consequences of a _liaison_ with me by securing an +abortion. I had nothing to do with carrying out the plan, but I was +naturally for a long time worried lest the affair might be discovered." +"I understand; this recollection furnished a second reason why the +supposition that you had done your trick badly must have been painful to +you." + +A young physician, who had heard this dream of my colleague when it was +told, must have felt implicated by it, for he hastened to imitate it in +a dream of his own, applying its mode of thinking to another subject. +The day before he had handed in a declaration of his income, which was +perfectly honest, because he had little to declare. He dreamt that an +acquaintance of his came from a meeting of the tax commission and +informed him that all the other declarations of income had passed +uncontested, but that his own had awakened general suspicion, and that +he would be punished with a heavy fine. The dream is a poorly-concealed +fulfillment of the wish to be known as a physician with a large income. +It likewise recalls the story of the young girl who was advised against +accepting her suitor because he was a man of quick temper who would +surely treat her to blows after they were married. + +The answer of the girl was: "I wish he _would_ strike me!" Her wish to +be married is so strong that she takes into the bargain the discomfort +which is said to be connected with matrimony, and which is predicted for +her, and even raises it to a wish. + +If I group the very frequently occurring dreams of this sort, which seem +flatly to contradict my theory, in that they contain the denial of a +wish or some occurrence decidedly unwished for, under the head of +"counter wish-dreams," I observe that they may all be referred to two +principles, of which one has not yet been mentioned, although it plays a +large part in the dreams of human beings. One of the motives inspiring +these dreams is the wish that I should appear in the wrong. These dreams +regularly occur in the course of my treatment if the patient shows a +resistance against me, and I can count with a large degree of certainty +upon causing such a dream after I have once explained to the patient my +theory that the dream is a wish-fulfillment.[5] I may even expect this +to be the case in a dream merely in order to fulfill the wish that I may +appear in the wrong. The last dream which I shall tell from those +occurring in the course of treatment again shows this very thing. A +young girl who has struggled hard to continue my treatment, against the +will of her relatives and the authorities whom she had consulted, dreams +as follows: _She is forbidden at home to come to me any more. She then +reminds me of the promise I made her to treat her for nothing if +necessary, and I say to her: "I can show no consideration in money +matters."_ + +It is not at all easy in this case to demonstrate the fulfillment of a +wish, but in all cases of this kind there is a second problem, the +solution of which helps also to solve the first. Where does she get the +words which she puts into my mouth? Of course I have never told her +anything like that, but one of her brothers, the very one who has the +greatest influence over her, has been kind enough to make this remark +about me. It is then the purpose of the dream that this brother should +remain in the right; and she does not try to justify this brother merely +in the dream; it is her purpose in life and the motive for her being +ill. + +The other motive for counter wish-dreams is so clear that there is +danger of overlooking it, as for some time happened in my own case. In +the sexual make-up of many people there is a masochistic component, +which has arisen through the conversion of the aggressive, sadistic +component into its opposite. Such people are called "ideal" masochists, +if they seek pleasure not in the bodily pain which may be inflicted upon +them, but in humiliation and in chastisement of the soul. It is obvious +that such persons can have counter wish-dreams and disagreeable dreams, +which, however, for them are nothing but wish-fulfillment, affording +satisfaction for their masochistic inclinations. Here is such a dream. A +young man, who has in earlier years tormented his elder brother, towards +whom he was homosexually inclined, but who had undergone a complete +change of character, has the following dream, which consists of three +parts: (1) _He is "insulted" by his brother._ (2) _Two adults are +caressing each other with homosexual intentions._ (3) _His brother has +sold the enterprise whose management the young man reserved for his own +future._ He awakens from the last-mentioned dream with the most +unpleasant feelings, and yet it is a masochistic wish-dream, which might +be translated: It would serve me quite right if my brother were to make +that sale against my interest, as a punishment for all the torments +which he has suffered at my hands. + +I hope that the above discussion and examples will suffice--until +further objection can be raised--to make it seem credible that even +dreams with a painful content are to be analyzed as the fulfillments of +wishes. Nor will it seem a matter of chance that in the course of +interpretation one always happens upon subjects of which one does not +like to speak or think. The disagreeable sensation which such dreams +arouse is simply identical with the antipathy which endeavors--usually +with success--to restrain us from the treatment or discussion of such +subjects, and which must be overcome by all of us, if, in spite of its +unpleasantness, we find it necessary to take the matter in hand. But +this disagreeable sensation, which occurs also in dreams, does not +preclude the existence of a wish; every one has wishes which he would +not like to tell to others, which he does not want to admit even to +himself. We are, on other grounds, justified in connecting the +disagreeable character of all these dreams with the fact of dream +disfigurement, and in concluding that these dreams are distorted, and +that the wish-fulfillment in them is disguised until recognition is +impossible for no other reason than that a repugnance, a will to +suppress, exists in relation to the subject-matter of the dream or in +relation to the wish which the dream creates. Dream disfigurement, +then, turns out in reality to be an act of the censor. We shall take +into consideration everything which the analysis of disagreeable dreams +has brought to light if we reword our formula as follows: _The dream is +the (disguised) fulfillment of a (suppressed, repressed) wish_. + +Now there still remain as a particular species of dreams with painful +content, dreams of anxiety, the inclusion of which under dreams of +wishing will find least acceptance with the uninitiated. But I can +settle the problem of anxiety dreams in very short order; for what they +may reveal is not a new aspect of the dream problem; it is a question in +their case of understanding neurotic anxiety in general. The fear which +we experience in the dream is only seemingly explained by the dream +content. If we subject the content of the dream to analysis, we become +aware that the dream fear is no more justified by the dream content than +the fear in a phobia is justified by the idea upon which the phobia +depends. For example, it is true that it is possible to fall out of a +window, and that some care must be exercised when one is near a window, +but it is inexplicable why the anxiety in the corresponding phobia is so +great, and why it follows its victims to an extent so much greater than +is warranted by its origin. The same explanation, then, which applies to +the phobia applies also to the dream of anxiety. In both cases the +anxiety is only superficially attached to the idea which accompanies it +and comes from another source. + +On account of the intimate relation of dream fear to neurotic fear, +discussion of the former obliges me to refer to the latter. In a little +essay on "The Anxiety Neurosis,"[6] I maintained that neurotic fear has +its origin in the sexual life, and corresponds to a libido which has +been turned away from its object and has not succeeded in being applied. +From this formula, which has since proved its validity more and more +clearly, we may deduce the conclusion that the content of anxiety dreams +is of a sexual nature, the libido belonging to which content has been +transformed into fear. + +[1] To sit for the painter. Goethe: "And if he has no backside, how can +the nobleman sit?" + +[2] I myself regret the introduction of such passages from the +psychopathology of hysteria, which, because of their fragmentary +representation and of being torn from all connection with the subject, +cannot have a very enlightening influence. If these passages are capable +of throwing light upon the intimate relations between the dream and the +psychoneuroses, they have served the purpose for which I have taken them +up. + +[3] Something like the smoked salmon in the dream of the deferred +supper. + +[4] It often happens that a dream is told incompletely, and that a +recollection of the omitted portions appear only in the course of the +analysis. These portions subsequently fitted in, regularly furnish the +key to the interpretation. _Cf._ below, about forgetting in dreams. + +[5] Similar "counter wish-dreams" have been repeatedly reported to me +within the last few years by my pupils who thus reacted to their first +encounter with the "wish theory of the dream." + +[6] See _Selected Papers on Hysteria and other Psychoneuroses_, p. 133, +translated by A.A. Brill, _Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases_, +Monograph Series. + + + + +V + +SEX IN DREAMS + + +The more one is occupied with the solution of dreams, the more willing +one must become to acknowledge that the majority of the dreams of adults +treat of sexual material and give expression to erotic wishes. Only one +who really analyzes dreams, that is to say, who pushes forward from +their manifest content to the latent dream thoughts, can form an opinion +on this subject--never the person who is satisfied with registering the +manifest content (as, for example, Naecke in his works on sexual dreams). +Let us recognize at once that this fact is not to be wondered at, but +that it is in complete harmony with the fundamental assumptions of dream +explanation. No other impulse has had to undergo so much suppression +from the time of childhood as the sex impulse in its numerous +components, from no other impulse have survived so many and such intense +unconscious wishes, which now act in the sleeping state in such a manner +as to produce dreams. In dream interpretation, this significance of +sexual complexes must never be forgotten, nor must they, of course, be +exaggerated to the point of being considered exclusive. + +Of many dreams it can be ascertained by a careful interpretation that +they are even to be taken bisexually, inasmuch as they result in an +irrefutable secondary interpretation in which they realize homosexual +feelings--that is, feelings that are common to the normal sexual +activity of the dreaming person. But that all dreams are to be +interpreted bisexually, seems to me to be a generalization as +indemonstrable as it is improbable, which I should not like to support. +Above all I should not know how to dispose of the apparent fact that +there are many dreams satisfying other than--in the widest sense--erotic +needs, as dreams of hunger, thirst, convenience, &c. Likewise the +similar assertions "that behind every dream one finds the death +sentence" (Stekel), and that every dream shows "a continuation from the +feminine to the masculine line" (Adler), seem to me to proceed far +beyond what is admissible in the interpretation of dreams. + +We have already asserted elsewhere that dreams which are conspicuously +innocent invariably embody coarse erotic wishes, and we might confirm +this by means of numerous fresh examples. But many dreams which appear +indifferent, and which would never be suspected of any particular +significance, can be traced back, after analysis, to unmistakably sexual +wish-feelings, which are often of an unexpected nature. For example, +who would suspect a sexual wish in the following dream until the +interpretation had been worked out? The dreamer relates: _Between two +stately palaces stands a little house, receding somewhat, whose doors +are closed. My wife leads me a little way along the street up to the +little house, and pushes in the door, and then I slip quickly and easily +into the interior of a courtyard that slants obliquely upwards._ + +Any one who has had experience in the translating of dreams will, of +course, immediately perceive that penetrating into narrow spaces, and +opening locked doors, belong to the commonest sexual symbolism, and will +easily find in this dream a representation of attempted coition from +behind (between the two stately buttocks of the female body). The narrow +slanting passage is of course the vagina; the assistance attributed to +the wife of the dreamer requires the interpretation that in reality it +is only consideration for the wife which is responsible for the +detention from such an attempt. Moreover, inquiry shows that on the +previous day a young girl had entered the household of the dreamer who +had pleased him, and who had given him the impression that she would not +be altogether opposed to an approach of this sort. The little house +between the two palaces is taken from a reminiscence of the Hradschin +in Prague, and thus points again to the girl who is a native of that +city. + +If with my patients I emphasize the frequency of the Oedipus dream--of +having sexual intercourse with one's mother--I get the answer: "I cannot +remember such a dream." Immediately afterwards, however, there arises +the recollection of another disguised and indifferent dream, which has +been dreamed repeatedly by the patient, and the analysis shows it to be +a dream of this same content--that is, another Oedipus dream. I can +assure the reader that veiled dreams of sexual intercourse with the +mother are a great deal more frequent than open ones to the same effect. + +There are dreams about landscapes and localities in which emphasis is +always laid upon the assurance: "I have been there before." In this case +the locality is always the genital organ of the mother; it can indeed be +asserted with such certainty of no other locality that one "has been +there before." + +A large number of dreams, often full of fear, which are concerned with +passing through narrow spaces or with staying, in the water, are based +upon fancies about the embryonic life, about the sojourn in the mother's +womb, and about the act of birth. The following is the dream of a young +man who in his fancy has already while in embryo taken advantage of his +opportunity to spy upon an act of coition between his parents. + +_"He is in a deep shaft, in which there is a window, as in the Semmering +Tunnel. At first he sees an empty landscape through this window, and +then he composes a picture into it, which is immediately at hand and +which fills out the empty space. The picture represents a field which is +being thoroughly harrowed by an implement, and the delightful air, the +accompanying idea of hard work, and the bluish-black clods of earth make +a pleasant impression. He then goes on and sees a primary school opened +... and he is surprised that so much attention is devoted in it to the +sexual feelings of the child, which makes him think of me."_ + +Here is a pretty water-dream of a female patient, which was turned to +extraordinary account in the course of treatment. + +_At her summer resort at the ... Lake, she hurls herself into the dark +water at a place where the pale moon is reflected in the water._ + +Dreams of this sort are parturition dreams; their interpretation is +accomplished by reversing the fact reported in the manifest dream +content; thus, instead of "throwing one's self into the water," read +"coming out of the water," that is, "being born." The place from which +one is born is recognized if one thinks of the bad sense of the French +"la lune." The pale moon thus becomes the white "bottom" (Popo), which +the child soon recognizes as the place from which it came. Now what can +be the meaning of the patient's wishing to be born at her summer resort? +I asked the dreamer this, and she answered without hesitation: "Hasn't +the treatment made me as though I were born again?" Thus the dream +becomes an invitation to continue the cure at this summer resort, that +is, to visit her there; perhaps it also contains a very bashful allusion +to the wish to become a mother herself.[1] + +Another dream of parturition, with its interpretation, I take from the +work of E. Jones. _"She stood at the seashore watching a small boy, who +seemed to be hers, wading into the water. This he did till the water +covered him, and she could only see his head bobbing up and down near +the surface. The scene then changed to the crowded hall of a hotel. Her +husband left her, and she 'entered into conversation with' a +stranger."_ The second half of the dream was discovered in the analysis +to represent a flight from her husband, and the entering into intimate +relations with a third person, behind whom was plainly indicated Mr. +X.'s brother mentioned in a former dream. The first part of the dream +was a fairly evident birth phantasy. In dreams as in mythology, the +delivery of a child _from_ the uterine waters is commonly presented by +distortion as the entry of the child _into_ water; among many others, +the births of Adonis, Osiris, Moses, and Bacchus are well-known +illustrations of this. The bobbing up and down of the head in the water +at once recalled to the patient the sensation of quickening she had +experienced in her only pregnancy. Thinking of the boy going into the +water induced a reverie in which she saw herself taking him out of the +water, carrying him into the nursery, washing him and dressing him, and +installing him in her household. + +The second half of the dream, therefore, represents thoughts concerning +the elopement, which belonged to the first half of the underlying latent +content; the first half of the dream corresponded with the second half +of the latent content, the birth phantasy. Besides this inversion in +order, further inversions took place in each half of the dream. In the +first half the child _entered_ the water, and then his head bobbed; in +the underlying dream thoughts first the quickening occurred, and then +the child left the water (a double inversion). In the second half her +husband left her; in the dream thoughts she left her husband. + +Another parturition dream is related by Abraham of a young woman looking +forward to her first confinement. From a place in the floor of the house +a subterranean canal leads directly into the water (parturition path, +amniotic liquor). She lifts up a trap in the floor, and there +immediately appears a creature dressed in a brownish fur, which almost +resembles a seal. This creature changes into the younger brother of the +dreamer, to whom she has always stood in maternal relationship. + +Dreams of "saving" are connected with parturition dreams. To save, +especially to save from the water, is equivalent to giving birth when +dreamed by a woman; this sense is, however, modified when the dreamer is +a man. + +Robbers, burglars at night, and ghosts, of which we are afraid before +going to bed, and which occasionally even disturb our sleep, originate +in one and the same childish reminiscence. They are the nightly visitors +who have awakened the child to set it on the chamber so that it may not +wet the bed, or have lifted the cover in order to see clearly how the +child is holding its hands while sleeping. I have been able to induce an +exact recollection of the nocturnal visitor in the analysis of some of +these anxiety dreams. The robbers were always the father, the ghosts +more probably corresponded to feminine persons with white night-gowns. + +When one has become familiar with the abundant use of symbolism for the +representation of sexual material in dreams, one naturally raises the +question whether there are not many of these symbols which appear once +and for all with a firmly established significance like the signs in +stenography; and one is tempted to compile a new dream-book according to +the cipher method. In this connection it may be remarked that this +symbolism does not belong peculiarly to the dream, but rather to +unconscious thinking, particularly that of the masses, and it is to be +found in greater perfection in the folklore, in the myths, legends, and +manners of speech, in the proverbial sayings, and in the current +witticisms of a nation than in its dreams. + +The dream takes advantage of this symbolism in order to give a disguised +representation to its latent thoughts. Among the symbols which are used +in this manner there are of course many which regularly, or almost +regularly, mean the same thing. Only it is necessary to keep in mind the +curious plasticity of psychic material. Now and then a symbol in the +dream content may have to be interpreted not symbolically, but according +to its real meaning; at another time the dreamer, owing to a peculiar +set of recollections, may create for himself the right to use anything +whatever as a sexual symbol, though it is not ordinarily used in that +way. Nor are the most frequently used sexual symbols unambiguous every +time. + +After these limitations and reservations I may call attention to the +following: Emperor and Empress (King and Queen) in most cases really +represent the parents of the dreamer; the dreamer himself or herself is +the prince or princess. All elongated objects, sticks, tree-trunks, and +umbrellas (on account of the stretching-up which might be compared to an +erection! all elongated and sharp weapons, knives, daggers, and pikes, +are intended to represent the male member. A frequent, not very +intelligible, symbol for the same is a nail-file (on account of the +rubbing and scraping?). Little cases, boxes, caskets, closets, and +stoves correspond to the female part. The symbolism of lock and key has +been very gracefully employed by Uhland in his song about the "Grafen +Eberstein," to make a common smutty joke. The dream of walking through a +row of rooms is a brothel or harem dream. Staircases, ladders, and +flights of stairs, or climbing on these, either upwards or downwards, +are symbolic representations of the sexual act. Smooth walls over which +one is climbing, facades of houses upon which one is letting oneself +down, frequently under great anxiety, correspond to the erect human +body, and probably repeat in the dream reminiscences of the upward +climbing of little children on their parents or foster parents. "Smooth" +walls are men. Often in a dream of anxiety one is holding on firmly to +some projection from a house. Tables, set tables, and boards are women, +perhaps on account of the opposition which does away with the bodily +contours. Since "bed and board" (_mensa et thorus_) constitute marriage, +the former are often put for the latter in the dream, and as far as +practicable the sexual presentation complex is transposed to the eating +complex. Of articles of dress the woman's hat may frequently be +definitely interpreted as the male genital. In dreams of men one often +finds the cravat as a symbol for the penis; this indeed is not only +because cravats hang down long, and are characteristic of the man, but +also because one can select them at pleasure, a freedom which is +prohibited by nature in the original of the symbol. Persons who make use +of this symbol in the dream are very extravagant with cravats, and +possess regular collections of them. All complicated machines and +apparatus in dream are very probably genitals, in the description of +which dream symbolism shows itself to be as tireless as the activity of +wit. Likewise many landscapes in dreams, especially with bridges or with +wooded mountains, can be readily recognized as descriptions of the +genitals. Finally where one finds incomprehensible neologisms one may +think of combinations made up of components having a sexual +significance. Children also in the dream often signify the genitals, as +men and women are in the habit of fondly referring to their genital +organ as their "little one." As a very recent symbol of the male genital +may be mentioned the flying machine, utilization of which is justified +by its relation to flying as well as occasionally by its form. To play +with a little child or to beat a little one is often the dream's +representation of onanism. A number of other symbols, in part not +sufficiently verified are given by Stekel, who illustrates them with +examples. Right and left, according to him, are to be conceived in the +dream in an ethical sense. "The right way always signifies the road to +righteousness, the left the one to crime. Thus the left may signify +homosexuality, incest, and perversion, while the right signifies +marriage, relations with a prostitute, &c. The meaning is always +determined by the individual moral view-point of the dreamer." Relatives +in the dream generally play the role of genitals. Not to be able to +catch up with a wagon is interpreted by Stekel as regret not to be able +to come up to a difference in age. Baggage with which one travels is the +burden of sin by which one is oppressed. Also numbers, which frequently +occur in the dream, are assigned by Stekel a fixed symbolical meaning, +but these interpretations seem neither sufficiently verified nor of +general validity, although the interpretation in individual cases can +generally be recognized as probable. In a recently published book by W. +Stekel, _Die Sprache des Traumes_, which I was unable to utilize, there +is a list of the most common sexual symbols, the object of which is to +prove that all sexual symbols can be bisexually used. He states: "Is +there a symbol which (if in any way permitted by the phantasy) may not +be used simultaneously in the masculine and the feminine sense!" To be +sure the clause in parentheses takes away much of the absoluteness of +this assertion, for this is not at all permitted by the phantasy. I do +not, however, think it superfluous to state that in my experience +Stekel's general statement has to give way to the recognition of a +greater manifoldness. Besides those symbols, which are just as frequent +for the male as for the female genitals, there are others which +preponderately, or almost exclusively, designate one of the sexes, and +there are still others of which only the male or only the female +signification is known. To use long, firm objects and weapons as symbols +of the female genitals, or hollow objects (chests, pouches, &c.), as +symbols of the male genitals, is indeed not allowed by the fancy. + +It is true that the tendency of the dream and the unconscious fancy to +utilize the sexual symbol bisexually betrays an archaic trend, for in +childhood a difference in the genitals is unknown, and the same genitals +are attributed to both sexes. + +These very incomplete suggestions may suffice to stimulate others to +make a more careful collection. + +I shall now add a few examples of the application of such symbolisms in +dreams, which will serve to show how impossible it becomes to interpret +a dream without taking into account the symbolism of dreams, and how +imperatively it obtrudes itself in many cases. + + +1. The hat as a symbol of the man (of the male genital): (a fragment +from the dream of a young woman who suffered from agoraphobia on account +of a fear of temptation). + +"I am walking in the street in summer, I wear a straw hat of peculiar +shape, the middle piece of which is bent upwards and the side pieces of +which hang downwards (the description became here obstructed), and in +such a fashion that one is lower than the other. I am cheerful and in a +confidential mood, and as I pass a troop of young officers I think to +myself: None of you can have any designs upon me." + +As she could produce no associations to the hat, I said to her: "The hat +is really a male genital, with its raised middle piece and the two +downward hanging side pieces." I intentionally refrained from +interpreting those details concerning the unequal downward hanging of +the two side pieces, although just such individualities in the +determinations lead the way to the interpretation. I continued by saying +that if she only had a man with such a virile genital she would not have +to fear the officers--that is, she would have nothing to wish from them, +for she is mainly kept from going without protection and company by her +fancies of temptation. This last explanation of her fear I had already +been able to give her repeatedly on the basis of other material. + +It is quite remarkable how the dreamer behaved after this +interpretation. She withdrew her description of the hat, and claimed not +to have said that the two side pieces were hanging downwards. I was, +however, too sure of what I had heard to allow myself to be misled, and +I persisted in it. She was quiet for a while, and then found the courage +to ask why it was that one of her husband's testicles was lower than the +other, and whether it was the same in all men. With this the peculiar +detail of the hat was explained, and the whole interpretation was +accepted by her. The hat symbol was familiar to me long before the +patient related this dream. From other but less transparent cases I +believe that the hat may also be taken as a female genital. + + +2. The little one as the genital--to be run over as a symbol of sexual +intercourse (another dream of the same agoraphobic patient). + +"Her mother sends away her little daughter so that she must go alone. +She rides with her mother to the railroad and sees her little one +walking directly upon the tracks, so that she cannot avoid being run +over. She hears the bones crackle. (From this she experiences a feeling +of discomfort but no real horror.) She then looks out through the car +window to see whether the parts cannot be seen behind. She then +reproaches her mother for allowing the little one to go out alone." +Analysis. It is not an easy matter to give here a complete +interpretation of the dream. It forms part of a cycle of dreams, and can +be fully understood only in connection with the others. For it is not +easy to get the necessary material sufficiently isolated to prove the +symbolism. The patient at first finds that the railroad journey is to be +interpreted historically as an allusion to a departure from a sanatorium +for nervous diseases, with the superintendent of which she naturally was +in love. Her mother took her away from this place, and the physician +came to the railroad station and handed her a bouquet of flowers on +leaving; she felt uncomfortable because her mother witnessed this +homage. Here the mother, therefore, appears as a disturber of her love +affairs, which is the role actually played by this strict woman during +her daughter's girlhood. The next thought referred to the sentence: "She +then looks to see whether the parts can be seen behind." In the dream +facade one would naturally be compelled to think of the parts of the +little daughter run over and ground up. The thought, however, turns in +quite a different direction. She recalls that she once saw her father in +the bath-room naked from behind; she then begins to talk about the sex +differentiation, and asserts that in the man the genitals can be seen +from behind, but in the woman they cannot. In this connection she now +herself offers the interpretation that the little one is the genital, +her little one (she has a four-year-old daughter) her own genital. She +reproaches her mother for wanting her to live as though she had no +genital, and recognizes this reproach in the introductory sentence of +the dream; the mother sends away her little one so that she must go +alone. In her phantasy going alone on the street signifies to have no +man and no sexual relations (coire = to go together), and this she does +not like. According to all her statements she really suffered as a girl +on account of the jealousy of her mother, because she showed a +preference for her father. + +The "little one" has been noted as a symbol for the male or the female +genitals by Stekel, who can refer in this connection to a very +widespread usage of language. + +The deeper interpretation of this dream depends upon another dream of +the same night in which the dreamer identifies herself with her brother. +She was a "tomboy," and was always being told that she should have been +born a boy. This identification with the brother shows with special +clearness that "the little one" signifies the genital. The mother +threatened him (her) with castration, which could only be understood as +a punishment for playing with the parts, and the identification, +therefore, shows that she herself had masturbated as a child, though +this fact she now retained only in memory concerning her brother. An +early knowledge of the male genital which she later lost she must have +acquired at that time according to the assertions of this second dream. +Moreover the second dream points to the infantile sexual theory that +girls originate from boys through castration. After I had told her of +this childish belief, she at once confirmed it with an anecdote in which +the boy asks the girl: "Was it cut off?" to which the girl replied, "No, +it's always been so." + +The sending away of the little one, of the genital, in the first dream +therefore also refers to the threatened castration. Finally she blames +her mother for not having been born a boy. + +That "being run over" symbolizes sexual intercourse would not be evident +from this dream if we were not sure of it from many other sources. + + +3. Representation of the genital by structures, stairways, and shafts. +(Dream of a young man inhibited by a father complex.) + +"He is taking a walk with his father in a place which is surely the +Prater, for the _Rotunda_ may be seen in front of which there is a small +front structure to which is attached a captive balloon; the balloon, +however, seems quite collapsed. His father asks him what this is all +for; he is surprised at it, but he explains it to his father. They come +into a court in which lies a large sheet of tin. His father wants to +pull off a big piece of this, but first looks around to see if any one +is watching. He tells his father that all he needs to do is to speak to +the watchman, and then he can take without any further difficulty as +much as he wants to. From this court a stairway leads down into a shaft, +the walls of which are softly upholstered something like a leather +pocketbook. At the end of this shaft there is a longer platform, and +then a new shaft begins...." + +Analysis. This dream belongs to a type of patient which is not favorable +from a therapeutic point of view. They follow in the analysis without +offering any resistances whatever up to a certain point, but from that +point on they remain almost inaccessible. This dream he almost analyzed +himself. "The Rotunda," he said, "is my genital, the captive balloon in +front is my penis, about the weakness of which I have worried." We must, +however, interpret in greater detail; the Rotunda is the buttock which +is regularly associated by the child with the genital, the smaller front +structure is the scrotum. In the dream his father asks him what this is +all for--that is, he asks him about the purpose and arrangement of the +genitals. It is quite evident that this state of affairs should be +turned around, and that he should be the questioner. As such a +questioning on the side of the father has never taken place in reality, +we must conceive the dream thought as a wish, or take it conditionally, +as follows: "If I had only asked my father for sexual enlightenment." +The continuation of this thought we shall soon find in another place. + +The court in which the tin sheet is spread out is not to be conceived +symbolically in the first instance, but originates from his father's +place of business. For discretionary reasons I have inserted the tin for +another material in which the father deals, without, however, changing +anything in the verbal expression of the dream. The dreamer had entered +his father's business, and had taken a terrible dislike to the +questionable practices upon which profit mainly depends. Hence the +continuation of the above dream thought ("if I had only asked him") +would be: "He would have deceived me just as he does his customers." For +the pulling off, which serves to represent commercial dishonesty, the +dreamer himself gives a second explanation--namely, onanism. This is not +only entirely familiar to us, but agrees very well with the fact that +the secrecy of onanism is expressed by its opposite ("Why one can do it +quite openly"). It, moreover, agrees entirely with our expectations that +the onanistic activity is again put off on the father, just as was the +questioning in the first scene of the dream. The shaft he at once +interprets as the vagina by referring to the soft upholstering of the +walls. That the act of coition in the vagina is described as a going +down instead of in the usual way as a going up, I have also found true +in other instances[2]. + +The details that at the end of the first shaft there is a longer +platform and then a new shaft, he himself explains biographically. He +had for some time consorted with women sexually, but had then given it +up because of inhibitions and now hopes to be able to take it up again +with the aid of the treatment. The dream, however, becomes indistinct +toward the end, and to the experienced interpreter it becomes evident +that in the second scene of the dream the influence of another subject +has begun to assert itself; in this his father's business and his +dishonest practices signify the first vagina represented as a shaft so +that one might think of a reference to the mother. + + +4. The male genital symbolized by persons and the female by a landscape. + +(Dream of a woman of the lower class, whose husband is a policeman, +reported by B. Dattner.) + +... Then some one broke into the house and anxiously called for a +policeman. But he went with two tramps by mutual consent into a +church,[3] to which led a great many stairs;[4] behind the church there +was a mountain,[5] on top of which a dense forest.[6] The policeman was +furnished with a helmet, a gorget, and a cloak.[7] The two vagrants, who +went along with the policeman quite peaceably, had tied to their loins +sack-like aprons.[8] A road led from the church to the mountain. This +road was overgrown on each side with grass and brushwood, which became +thicker and thicker as it reached the height of the mountain, where it +spread out into quite a forest. + + +5. A stairway dream. + +(Reported and interpreted by Otto Rank.) + +For the following transparent pollution dream, I am indebted to the +same colleague who furnished us with the dental-irritation dream. + +"I am running down the stairway in the stair-house after a little girl, +whom I wish to punish because she has done something to me. At the +bottom of the stairs some one held the child for me. (A grown-up woman?) +I grasp it, but do not know whether I have hit it, for I suddenly find +myself in the middle of the stairway where I practice coitus with the +child (in the air as it were). It is really no coitus, I only rub my +genital on her external genital, and in doing this I see it very +distinctly, as distinctly as I see her head which is lying sideways. +During the sexual act I see hanging to the left and above me (also as if +in the air) two small pictures, landscapes, representing a house on a +green. On the smaller one my surname stood in the place where the +painter's signature should be; it seemed to be intended for my birthday +present. A small sign hung in front of the pictures to the effect that +cheaper pictures could also be obtained. I then see myself very +indistinctly lying in bed, just as I had seen myself at the foot of the +stairs, and I am awakened by a feeling of dampness which came from the +pollution." + +Interpretation. The dreamer had been in a book-store on the evening of +the day of the dream, where, while he was waiting, he examined some +pictures which were exhibited, which represented motives similar to the +dream pictures. He stepped nearer to a small picture which particularly +took his fancy in order to see the name of the artist, which, however, +was quite unknown to him. + +Later in the same evening, in company, he heard about a Bohemian +servant-girl who boasted that her illegitimate child "was made on the +stairs." The dreamer inquired about the details of this unusual +occurrence, and learned that the servant-girl went with her lover to the +home of her parents, where there was no opportunity for sexual +relations, and that the excited man performed the act on the stairs. In +witty allusion to the mischievous expression used about wine-adulterers, +the dreamer remarked, "The child really grew on the cellar steps." + +These experiences of the day, which are quite prominent in the dream +content, were readily reproduced by the dreamer. But he just as readily +reproduced an old fragment of infantile recollection which was also +utilized by the dream. The stair-house was the house in which he had +spent the greatest part of his childhood, and in which he had first +become acquainted with sexual problems. In this house he used, among +other things, to slide down the banister astride which caused him to +become sexually excited. In the dream he also comes down the stairs very +rapidly--so rapidly that, according to his own distinct assertions, he +hardly touched the individual stairs, but rather "flew" or "slid down," +as we used to say. Upon reference to this infantile experience, the +beginning of the dream seems to represent the factor of sexual +excitement. In the same house and in the adjacent residence the dreamer +used to play pugnacious games with the neighboring children, in which he +satisfied himself just as he did in the dream. + +If one recalls from Freud's investigation of sexual symbolism[9] that in +the dream stairs or climbing stairs almost regularly symbolizes coitus, +the dream becomes clear. Its motive power as well as its effect, as is +shown by the pollution, is of a purely libidinous nature. Sexual +excitement became aroused during the sleeping state (in the dream this +is represented by the rapid running or sliding down the stairs) and the +sadistic thread in this is, on the basis of the pugnacious playing, +indicated in the pursuing and overcoming of the child. The libidinous +excitement becomes enhanced and urges to sexual action (represented in +the dream by the grasping of the child and the conveyance of it to the +middle of the stairway). Up to this point the dream would be one of +pure, sexual symbolism, and obscure for the unpracticed dream +interpreter. But this symbolic gratification, which would have insured +undisturbed sleep, was not sufficient for the powerful libidinous +excitement. The excitement leads to an orgasm, and thus the whole +stairway symbolism is unmasked as a substitute for coitus. Freud lays +stress on the rhythmical character of both actions as one of the reasons +for the sexual utilization of the stairway symbolism, and this dream +especially seems to corroborate this, for, according to the express +assertion of the dreamer, the rhythm of a sexual act was the most +pronounced feature in the whole dream. + +Still another remark concerning the two pictures, which, aside from +their real significance, also have the value of "Weibsbilder" (literally +_woman-pictures_, but idiomatically _women_). This is at once shown by +the fact that the dream deals with a big and a little picture, just as +the dream content presents a big (grown up) and a little girl. That +cheap pictures could also be obtained points to the prostitution +complex, just as the dreamer's surname on the little picture and the +thought that it was intended for his birthday, point to the parent +complex (to be born on the stairway--to be conceived in coitus). + +The indistinct final scene, in which the dreamer sees himself on the +staircase landing lying in bed and feeling wet, seems to go back into +childhood even beyond the infantile onanism, and manifestly has its +prototype in similarly pleasurable scenes of bed-wetting. + + +6. A modified stair-dream. + +To one of my very nervous patients, who was an abstainer, whose fancy +was fixed on his mother, and who repeatedly dreamed of climbing stairs +accompanied by his mother, I once remarked that moderate masturbation +would be less harmful to him than enforced abstinence. This influence +provoked the following dream: + +"His piano teacher reproaches him for neglecting his piano-playing, and +for not practicing the _Etudes_ of Moscheles and Clementi's _Gradus ad +Parnassum_." In relation to this he remarked that the _Gradus_ is only a +stairway, and that the piano itself is only a stairway as it has a +scale. + +It is correct to say that there is no series of associations which +cannot be adapted to the representation of sexual facts. I conclude with +the dream of a chemist, a young man, who has been trying to give up his +habit of masturbation by replacing it with intercourse with women. + +_Preliminary statement._--On the day before the dream he had given a +student instruction concerning Grignard's reaction, in which magnesium +is to be dissolved in absolutely pure ether under the catalytic +influence of iodine. Two days before, there had been an explosion in the +course of the same reaction, in which the investigator had burned his +hand. + +Dream I. _He is to make phenylmagnesium-bromid; he sees the apparatus +with particular clearness, but he has substituted himself for the +magnesium. He is now in a curious swaying attitude. He keeps repeating +to himself, "This is the right thing, it is working, my feet are +beginning to dissolve and my knees are getting soft." Then he reaches +down and feels for his feet, and meanwhile (he does not know how) he +takes his legs out of the crucible, and then again he says to himself, +"That cannot be.... Yes, it must be so, it has been done correctly." +Then he partially awakens, and repeats the dream to himself, because he +wants to tell it to me. He is distinctly afraid of the analysis of the +dream. He is much excited during this semi-sleeping state, and repeats +continually, "Phenyl, phenyl."_ + +II. _He is in ... ing with his whole family; at half-past eleven. He is +to be at the Schottenthor for a rendezvous with a certain lady, but he +does not wake up until half-past eleven. He says to himself, "It is too +late now; when you get there it will be half-past twelve." The next +instant he sees the whole family gathered about the table--his mother +and the servant girl with the soup-tureen with particular clearness. +Then he says to himself, "Well, if we are eating already, I certainly +can't get away."_ + +Analysis: He feels sure that even the first dream contains a reference +to the lady whom he is to meet at the rendezvous (the dream was dreamed +during the night before the expected meeting). The student to whom he +gave the instruction is a particularly unpleasant fellow; he had said to +the chemist: "That isn't right," because the magnesium was still +unaffected, and the latter answered as though he did not care anything +about it: "It certainly isn't right." He himself must be this student; +he is as indifferent towards his analysis as the student is towards his +synthesis; the _He_ in the dream, however, who accomplishes the +operation, is myself. How unpleasant he must seem to me with his +indifference towards the success achieved! + +Moreover, he is the material with which the analysis (synthesis) is +made. For it is a question of the success of the treatment. The legs in +the dream recall an impression of the previous evening. He met a lady at +a dancing lesson whom he wished to conquer; he pressed her to him so +closely that she once cried out. After he had stopped pressing against +her legs, he felt her firm responding pressure against his lower thighs +as far as just above his knees, at the place mentioned in the dream. In +this situation, then, the woman is the magnesium in the retort, which is +at last working. He is feminine towards me, as he is masculine towards +the woman. If it will work with the woman, the treatment will also work. +Feeling and becoming aware of himself in the region of his knees refers +to masturbation, and corresponds to his fatigue of the previous day.... +The rendezvous had actually been set for half-past eleven. His wish to +oversleep and to remain with his usual sexual objects (that is, with +masturbation) corresponds with his resistance. + +[1] It is only of late that I have learned to value the significance of +fancies and unconscious thoughts about life in the womb. They contain +the explanation of the curious fear felt by so many people of being +buried alive, as well as the profoundest unconscious reason for the +belief in a life after death which represents nothing but a projection +into the future of this mysterious life before birth. _The act of birth, +moreover, is the first experience with fear, and is thus the source and +model of the emotion of fear._ + +[2] Cf. _Zentralblatt fuer psychoanalyse_, I. + +[3] Or chapel--vagina. + +[4] Symbol of coitus. + +[5] Mons veneris. + +[6] Crines pubis. + +[7] Demons in cloaks and capucines are, according to the explanation of +a man versed in the subject, of a phallic nature. + +[8] The two halves of the scrotum. + +[9] See _Zentralblatt fuer Psychoanalyse_, vol. i., p. 2. + + + + +VI + +THE WISH IN DREAMS + + +That the dream should be nothing but a wish-fulfillment surely seemed +strange to us all--and that not alone because of the contradictions +offered by the anxiety dream. + +After learning from the first analytical explanations that the dream +conceals sense and psychic validity, we could hardly expect so simple a +determination of this sense. According to the correct but concise +definition of Aristotle, the dream is a continuation of thinking in +sleep (in so far as one sleeps). Considering that during the day our +thoughts produce such a diversity of psychic acts--judgments, +conclusions, contradictions, expectations, intentions, &c.--why should +our sleeping thoughts be forced to confine themselves to the production +of wishes? Are there not, on the contrary, many dreams that present a +different psychic act in dream form, _e.g._, a solicitude, and is not +the very transparent father's dream mentioned above of just such a +nature? From the gleam of light falling into his eyes while asleep the +father draws the solicitous conclusion that a candle has been upset and +may have set fire to the corpse; he transforms this conclusion into a +dream by investing it with a senseful situation enacted in the present +tense. What part is played in this dream by the wish-fulfillment, and +which are we to suspect--the predominance of the thought continued from, +the waking state or of the thought incited by the new sensory +impression? + +All these considerations are just, and force us to enter more deeply +into the part played by the wish-fulfillment in the dream, and into the +significance of the waking thoughts continued in sleep. + +It is in fact the wish-fulfillment that has already induced us to +separate dreams into two groups. We have found some dreams that were +plainly wish-fulfillments; and others in which wish-fulfillment could +not be recognized, and was frequently concealed by every available +means. In this latter class of dreams we recognized the influence of the +dream censor. The undisguised wish dreams were chiefly found in +children, yet fleeting open-hearted wish dreams _seemed_ (I purposely +emphasize this word) to occur also in adults. + +We may now ask whence the wish fulfilled in the dream originates. But to +what opposition or to what diversity do we refer this "whence"? I think +it is to the opposition between conscious daily life and a psychic +activity remaining unconscious which can only make itself noticeable +during the night. I thus find a threefold possibility for the origin of +a wish. Firstly, it may have been incited during the day, and owing to +external circumstances failed to find gratification, there is thus left +for the night an acknowledged but unfulfilled wish. Secondly, it may +come to the surface during the day but be rejected, leaving an +unfulfilled but suppressed wish. Or, thirdly, it may have no relation to +daily life, and belong to those wishes that originate during the night +from the suppression. If we now follow our scheme of the psychic +apparatus, we can localize a wish of the first order in the system +Forec. We may assume that a wish of the second order has been forced +back from the Forec. system into the Unc. system, where alone, if +anywhere, it can maintain itself; while a wish-feeling of the third +order we consider altogether incapable of leaving the Unc. system. This +brings up the question whether wishes arising from these different +sources possess the same value for the dream, and whether they have the +same power to incite a dream. + +On reviewing the dreams which we have at our disposal for answering this +question, we are at once moved to add as a fourth source of the +dream-wish the actual wish incitements arising during the night, such +as thirst and sexual desire. It then becomes evident that the source of +the dream-wish does not affect its capacity to incite a dream. That a +wish suppressed during the day asserts itself in the dream can be shown +by a great many examples. I shall mention a very simple example of this +class. A somewhat sarcastic young lady, whose younger friend has become +engaged to be married, is asked throughout the day by her acquaintances +whether she knows and what she thinks of the fiance. She answers with +unqualified praise, thereby silencing her own judgment, as she would +prefer to tell the truth, namely, that he is an ordinary person. The +following night she dreams that the same question is put to her, and +that she replies with the formula: "In case of subsequent orders it will +suffice to mention the number." Finally, we have learned from numerous +analyses that the wish in all dreams that have been subject to +distortion has been derived from the unconscious, and has been unable to +come to perception in the waking state. Thus it would appear that all +wishes are of the same value and force for the dream formation. + +I am at present unable to prove that the state of affairs is really +different, but I am strongly inclined to assume a more stringent +determination of the dream-wish. Children's dreams leave no doubt that +an unfulfilled wish of the day may be the instigator of the dream. But +we must not forget that it is, after all, the wish of a child, that it +is a wish-feeling of infantile strength only. I have a strong doubt +whether an unfulfilled wish from the day would suffice to create a dream +in an adult. It would rather seem that as we learn to control our +impulses by intellectual activity, we more and more reject as vain the +formation or retention of such intense wishes as are natural to +childhood. In this, indeed, there may be individual variations; some +retain the infantile type of psychic processes longer than others. The +differences are here the same as those found in the gradual decline of +the originally distinct visual imagination. + +In general, however, I am of the opinion that unfulfilled wishes of the +day are insufficient to produce a dream in adults. I readily admit that +the wish instigators originating in conscious like contribute towards +the incitement of dreams, but that is probably all. The dream would not +originate if the foreconscious wish were not reinforced from another +source. + +That source is the unconscious. I believe that _the conscious wish is a +dream inciter only if it succeeds in arousing a similar unconscious wish +which reinforces it_. Following the suggestions obtained through the +psychoanalysis of the neuroses, I believe that these unconscious wishes +are always active and ready for expression whenever they find an +opportunity to unite themselves with an emotion from conscious life, and +that they transfer their greater intensity to the lesser intensity of +the latter.[1] It may therefore seem that the conscious wish alone has +been realized in a dream; but a slight peculiarity in the formation of +this dream will put us on the track of the powerful helper from the +unconscious. These ever active and, as it were, immortal wishes from the +unconscious recall the legendary Titans who from time immemorial have +borne the ponderous mountains which were once rolled upon them by the +victorious gods, and which even now quiver from time to time from the +convulsions of their mighty limbs; I say that these wishes found in the +repression are of themselves of an infantile origin, as we have learned +from the psychological investigation of the neuroses. I should like, +therefore, to withdraw the opinion previously expressed that it is +unimportant whence the dream-wish originates, and replace it by another, +as follows: _The wish manifested in the dream must be an infantile one_. +In the adult it originates in the Unc., while in the child, where no +separation and censor as yet exist between Forec. and Unc., or where +these are only in the process of formation, it is an unfulfilled and +unrepressed wish from the waking state. I am aware that this conception +cannot be generally demonstrated, but I maintain nevertheless that it +can be frequently demonstrated, even when it was not suspected, and that +it cannot be generally refuted. + +The wish-feelings which remain from the conscious waking state are, +therefore, relegated to the background in the dream formation. In the +dream content I shall attribute to them only the part attributed to the +material of actual sensations during sleep. If I now take into account +those other psychic instigations remaining from the waking state which +are not wishes, I shall only adhere to the line mapped out for me by +this train of thought. We may succeed in provisionally terminating the +sum of energy of our waking thoughts by deciding to go to sleep. He is a +good sleeper who can do this; Napoleon I. is reputed to have been a +model of this sort. But we do not always succeed in accomplishing it, or +in accomplishing it perfectly. Unsolved problems, harassing cares, +overwhelming impressions continue the thinking activity even during +sleep, maintaining psychic processes in the system which we have termed +the foreconscious. These mental processes continuing into sleep may be +divided into the following groups: 1, That which has not been terminated +during the day owing to casual prevention; 2, that which has been left +unfinished by temporary paralysis of our mental power, _i.e._ the +unsolved; 3, that which has been rejected and suppressed during the day. +This unites with a powerful group (4) formed by that which has been +excited in our Unc. during the day by the work of the foreconscious. +Finally, we may add group (5) consisting of the indifferent and hence +unsettled impressions of the day. + +We should not underrate the psychic intensities introduced into sleep by +these remnants of waking life, especially those emanating from the group +of the unsolved. These excitations surely continue to strive for +expression during the night, and we may assume with equal certainty that +the sleeping state renders impossible the usual continuation of the +excitement in the foreconscious and the termination of the excitement by +its becoming conscious. As far as we can normally become conscious of +our mental processes, even during the night, in so far we are not +asleep. I shall not venture to state what change is produced in the +Forec. system by the sleeping state, but there is no doubt that the +psychological character of sleep is essentially due to the change of +energy in this very system, which also dominates the approach to +motility, which is paralyzed during sleep. In contradistinction to this, +there seems to be nothing in the psychology of the dream to warrant the +assumption that sleep produces any but secondary changes in the +conditions of the Unc. system. Hence, for the nocturnal excitation in +the Force, there remains no other path than that followed by the wish +excitements from the Unc. This excitation must seek reinforcement from +the Unc., and follow the detours of the unconscious excitations. But +what is the relation of the foreconscious day remnants to the dream? +There is no doubt that they penetrate abundantly into the dream, that +they utilize the dream content to obtrude themselves upon consciousness +even during the night; indeed, they occasionally even dominate the dream +content, and impel it to continue the work of the day; it is also +certain that the day remnants may just as well have any other character +as that of wishes; but it is highly instructive and even decisive for +the theory of wish-fulfillment to see what conditions they must comply +with in order to be received into the dream. + +Let us pick out one of the dreams cited above as examples, _e.g._, the +dream in which my friend Otto seems to show the symptoms of Basedow's +disease. My friend Otto's appearance occasioned me some concern during +the day, and this worry, like everything else referring to this person, +affected me. I may also assume that these feelings followed me into +sleep. I was probably bent on finding out what was the matter with him. +In the night my worry found expression in the dream which I have +reported, the content of which was not only senseless, but failed to +show any wish-fulfillment. But I began to investigate for the source of +this incongruous expression of the solicitude felt during the day, and +analysis revealed the connection. I identified my friend Otto with a +certain Baron L. and myself with a Professor R. There was only one +explanation for my being impelled to select just this substitution for +the day thought. I must have always been prepared in the Unc. to +identify myself with Professor R., as it meant the realization of one of +the immortal infantile wishes, viz. that of becoming great. Repulsive +ideas respecting my friend, that would certainly have been repudiated +in a waking state, took advantage of the opportunity to creep into the +dream, but the worry of the day likewise found some form of expression +through a substitution in the dream content. The day thought, which was +no wish in itself but rather a worry, had in some way to find a +connection with the infantile now unconscious and suppressed wish, which +then allowed it, though already properly prepared, to "originate" for +consciousness. The more dominating this worry, the stronger must be the +connection to be established; between the contents of the wish and that +of the worry there need be no connection, nor was there one in any of +our examples. + +We can now sharply define the significance of the unconscious wish for +the dream. It may be admitted that there is a whole class of dreams in +which the incitement originates preponderatingly or even exclusively +from the remnants of daily life; and I believe that even my cherished +desire to become at some future time a "professor extraordinarius" would +have allowed me to slumber undisturbed that night had not my worry about +my friend's health been still active. But this worry alone would not +have produced a dream; the motive power needed by the dream had to be +contributed by a wish, and it was the affair of the worriment to +procure for itself such wish as a motive power of the dream. To speak +figuratively, it is quite possible that a day thought plays the part of +the contractor (_entrepreneur_) in the dream. But it is known that no +matter what idea the contractor may have in mind, and how desirous he +may be of putting it into operation, he can do nothing without capital; +he must depend upon a capitalist to defray the necessary expenses, and +this capitalist, who supplies the psychic expenditure for the dream is +invariably and indisputably _a wish from the unconscious_, no matter +what the nature of the waking thought may be. + +In other cases the capitalist himself is the contractor for the dream; +this, indeed, seems to be the more usual case. An unconscious wish is +produced by the day's work, which in turn creates the dream. The dream +processes, moreover, run parallel with all the other possibilities of +the economic relationship used here as an illustration. Thus, the +entrepreneur may contribute some capital himself, or several +entrepreneurs may seek the aid of the same capitalist, or several +capitalists may jointly supply the capital required by the entrepreneur. +Thus there are dreams produced by more than one dream-wish, and many +similar variations which may readily be passed over and are of no +further interest to us. What we have left unfinished in this discussion +of the dream-wish we shall be able to develop later. + +The "tertium comparationis" in the comparisons just employed--_i.e._ the +sum placed at our free disposal in proper allotment--admits of still +finer application for the illustration of the dream structure. We can +recognize in most dreams a center especially supplied with perceptible +intensity. This is regularly the direct representation of the +wish-fulfillment; for, if we undo the displacements of the dream-work by +a process of retrogression, we find that the psychic intensity of the +elements in the dream thoughts is replaced by the perceptible intensity +of the elements in the dream content. The elements adjoining the +wish-fulfillment have frequently nothing to do with its sense, but prove +to be descendants of painful thoughts which oppose the wish. But, owing +to their frequently artificial connection with the central element, they +have acquired sufficient intensity to enable them to come to expression. +Thus, the force of expression of the wish-fulfillment is diffused over a +certain sphere of association, within which it raises to expression all +elements, including those that are in themselves impotent. In dreams +having several strong wishes we can readily separate from one another +the spheres of the individual wish-fulfillments; the gaps in the dream +likewise can often be explained as boundary zones. + +Although the foregoing remarks have considerably limited the +significance of the day remnants for the dream, it will nevertheless be +worth our while to give them some attention. For they must be a +necessary ingredient in the formation of the dream, inasmuch as +experience reveals the surprising fact that every dream shows in its +content a connection with some impression of a recent day, often of the +most indifferent kind. So far we have failed to see any necessity for +this addition to the dream mixture. This necessity appears only when we +follow closely the part played by the unconscious wish, and then seek +information in the psychology of the neuroses. We thus learn that the +unconscious idea, as such, is altogether incapable of entering into the +foreconscious, and that it can exert an influence there only by uniting +with a harmless idea already belonging to the foreconscious, to which it +transfers its intensity and under which it allows itself to be +concealed. This is the fact of transference which furnishes an +explanation for so many surprising occurrences in the psychic life of +neurotics. + +The idea from the foreconscious which thus obtains an unmerited +abundance of intensity may be left unchanged by the transference, or it +may have forced upon it a modification from the content of the +transferring idea. I trust the reader will pardon my fondness for +comparisons from daily life, but I feel tempted to say that the +relations existing for the repressed idea are similar to the situations +existing in Austria for the American dentist, who is forbidden to +practise unless he gets permission from a regular physician to use his +name on the public signboard and thus cover the legal requirements. +Moreover, just as it is naturally not the busiest physicians who form +such alliances with dental practitioners, so in the psychic life only +such foreconscious or conscious ideas are chosen to cover a repressed +idea as have not themselves attracted much of the attention which is +operative in the foreconscious. The unconscious entangles with its +connections preferentially either those impressions and ideas of the +foreconscious which have been left unnoticed as indifferent, or those +that have soon been deprived of this attention through rejection. It is +a familiar fact from the association studies confirmed by every +experience, that ideas which have formed intimate connections in one +direction assume an almost negative attitude to whole groups of new +connections. I once tried from this principle to develop a theory for +hysterical paralysis. + +If we assume that the same need for the transference of the repressed +ideas which we have learned to know from the analysis of the neuroses +makes its influence felt in the dream as well, we can at once explain +two riddles of the dream, viz. that every dream analysis shows an +interweaving of a recent impression, and that this recent element is +frequently of the most indifferent character. We may add what we have +already learned elsewhere, that these recent and indifferent elements +come so frequently into the dream content as a substitute for the most +deep-lying of the dream thoughts, for the further reason that they have +least to fear from the resisting censor. But while this freedom from +censorship explains only the preference for trivial elements, the +constant presence of recent elements points to the fact that there is a +need for transference. Both groups of impressions satisfy the demand of +the repression for material still free from associations, the +indifferent ones because they have offered no inducement for extensive +associations, and the recent ones because they have had insufficient +time to form such associations. + +We thus see that the day remnants, among which we may now include the +indifferent impressions when they participate in the dream formation, +not only borrow from the Unc. the motive power at the disposal of the +repressed wish, but also offer to the unconscious something +indispensable, namely, the attachment necessary to the transference. If +we here attempted to penetrate more deeply into the psychic processes, +we should first have to throw more light on the play of emotions between +the foreconscious and the unconscious, to which, indeed, we are urged by +the study of the psychoneuroses, whereas the dream itself offers no +assistance in this respect. + +Just one further remark about the day remnants. There is no doubt that +they are the actual disturbers of sleep, and not the dream, which, on +the contrary, strives to guard sleep. But we shall return to this point +later. + +We have so far discussed the dream-wish, we have traced it to the sphere +of the Unc., and analyzed its relations to the day remnants, which in +turn may be either wishes, psychic emotions of any other kind, or simply +recent impressions. We have thus made room for any claims that may be +made for the importance of conscious thought activity in dream +formations in all its variations. Relying upon our thought series, it +would not be at all impossible for us to explain even those extreme +cases in which the dream as a continuer of the day work brings to a +happy conclusion and unsolved problem possess an example, the analysis +of which might reveal the infantile or repressed wish source furnishing +such alliance and successful strengthening of the efforts of the +foreconscious activity. But we have not come one step nearer a solution +of the riddle: Why can the unconscious furnish the motive power for the +wish-fulfillment only during sleep? The answer to this question must +throw light on the psychic nature of wishes; and it will be given with +the aid of the diagram of the psychic apparatus. + +We do not doubt that even this apparatus attained its present perfection +through a long course of development. Let us attempt to restore it as it +existed in an early phase of its activity. From assumptions, to be +confirmed elsewhere, we know that at first the apparatus strove to keep +as free from excitement as possible, and in its first formation, +therefore, the scheme took the form of a reflex apparatus, which enabled +it promptly to discharge through the motor tracts any sensible stimulus +reaching it from without. But this simple function was disturbed by the +wants of life, which likewise furnish the impulse for the further +development of the apparatus. The wants of life first manifested +themselves to it in the form of the great physical needs. The excitement +aroused by the inner want seeks an outlet in motility, which may be +designated as "inner changes" or as an "expression of the emotions." The +hungry child cries or fidgets helplessly, but its situation remains +unchanged; for the excitation proceeding from an inner want requires, +not a momentary outbreak, but a force working continuously. A change can +occur only if in some way a feeling of gratification is +experienced--which in the case of the child must be through outside +help--in order to remove the inner excitement. An essential constituent +of this experience is the appearance of a certain perception (of food in +our example), the memory picture of which thereafter remains associated +with the memory trace of the excitation of want. + +Thanks to the established connection, there results at the next +appearance of this want a psychic feeling which revives the memory +picture of the former perception, and thus recalls the former perception +itself, _i.e._ it actually re-establishes the situation of the first +gratification. We call such a feeling a wish; the reappearance of the +perception constitutes the wish-fulfillment, and the full revival of the +perception by the want excitement constitutes the shortest road to the +wish-fulfillment. We may assume a primitive condition of the psychic +apparatus in which this road is really followed, _i.e._ where the +wishing merges into an hallucination, This first psychic activity +therefore aims at an identity of perception, _i.e._ it aims at a +repetition of that perception which is connected with the fulfillment of +the want. + +This primitive mental activity must have been modified by bitter +practical experience into a more expedient secondary activity. The +establishment of the identity perception on the short regressive road +within the apparatus does not in another respect carry with it the +result which inevitably follows the revival of the same perception from +without. The gratification does not take place, and the want continues. +In order to equalize the internal with the external sum of energy, the +former must be continually maintained, just as actually happens in the +hallucinatory psychoses and in the deliriums of hunger which exhaust +their psychic capacity in clinging to the object desired. In order to +make more appropriate use of the psychic force, it becomes necessary to +inhibit the full regression so as to prevent it from extending beyond +the image of memory, whence it can select other paths leading ultimately +to the establishment of the desired identity from the outer world. This +inhibition and consequent deviation from the excitation becomes the +task of a second system which dominates the voluntary motility, _i.e._ +through whose activity the expenditure of motility is now devoted to +previously recalled purposes. But this entire complicated mental +activity which works its way from the memory picture to the +establishment of the perception identity from the outer world merely +represents a detour which has been forced upon the wish-fulfillment by +experience.[2] Thinking is indeed nothing but the equivalent of the +hallucinatory wish; and if the dream be called a wish-fulfillment this +becomes self-evident, as nothing but a wish can impel our psychic +apparatus to activity. The dream, which in fulfilling its wishes follows +the short regressive path, thereby preserves for us only an example of +the primary form of the psychic apparatus which has been abandoned as +inexpedient. What once ruled in the waking state when the psychic life +was still young and unfit seems to have been banished into the sleeping +state, just as we see again in the nursery the bow and arrow, the +discarded primitive weapons of grown-up humanity. _The dream is a +fragment of the abandoned psychic life of the child._ In the psychoses +these modes of operation of the psychic apparatus, which are normally +suppressed in the waking state, reassert themselves, and then betray +their inability to satisfy our wants in the outer world. + +The unconscious wish-feelings evidently strive to assert themselves +during the day also, and the fact of transference and the psychoses +teach us that they endeavor to penetrate to consciousness and dominate +motility by the road leading through the system of the foreconscious. It +is, therefore, the censor lying between the Unc. and the Forec., the +assumption of which is forced upon us by the dream, that we have to +recognize and honor as the guardian of our psychic health. But is it not +carelessness on the part of this guardian to diminish its vigilance +during the night and to allow the suppressed emotions of the Unc. to +come to expression, thus again making possible the hallucinatory +regression? I think not, for when the critical guardian goes to +rest--and we have proof that his slumber is not profound--he takes care +to close the gate to motility. No matter what feelings from the +otherwise inhibited Unc. may roam about on the scene, they need not be +interfered with; they remain harmless because they are unable to put in +motion the motor apparatus which alone can exert a modifying influence +upon the outer world. Sleep guarantees the security of the fortress +which is under guard. Conditions are less harmless when a displacement +of forces is produced, not through a nocturnal diminution in the +operation of the critical censor, but through pathological enfeeblement +of the latter or through pathological reinforcement of the unconscious +excitations, and this while the foreconscious is charged with energy and +the avenues to motility are open. The guardian is then overpowered, the +unconscious excitations subdue the Forec.; through it they dominate our +speech and actions, or they enforce the hallucinatory regression, thus +governing an apparatus not designed for them by virtue of the attraction +exerted by the perceptions on the distribution of our psychic energy. We +call this condition a psychosis. + +We are now in the best position to complete our psychological +construction, which has been interrupted by the introduction of the two +systems, Unc. and Forec. We have still, however, ample reason for giving +further consideration to the wish as the sole psychic motive power in +the dream. We have explained that the reason why the dream is in every +case a wish realization is because it is a product of the Unc., which +knows no other aim in its activity but the fulfillment of wishes, and +which has no other forces at its disposal but wish-feelings. If we +avail ourselves for a moment longer of the right to elaborate from the +dream interpretation such far-reaching psychological speculations, we +are in duty bound to demonstrate that we are thereby bringing the dream +into a relationship which may also comprise other psychic structures. If +there exists a system of the Unc.--or something sufficiently analogous +to it for the purpose of our discussion--the dream cannot be its sole +manifestation; every dream may be a wish-fulfillment, but there must be +other forms of abnormal wish-fulfillment beside this of dreams. Indeed, +the theory of all psychoneurotic symptoms culminates in the proposition +_that they too must be taken as wish-fulfillments of the unconscious_. +Our explanation makes the dream only the first member of a group most +important for the psychiatrist, an understanding of which means the +solution of the purely psychological part of the psychiatric problem. +But other members of this group of wish-fulfillments, _e.g._, the +hysterical symptoms, evince one essential quality which I have so far +failed to find in the dream. Thus, from the investigations frequently +referred to in this treatise, I know that the formation of an hysterical +symptom necessitates the combination of both streams of our psychic +life. The symptom is not merely the expression of a realized +unconscious wish, but it must be joined by another wish from the +foreconscious which is fulfilled by the same symptom; so that the +symptom is at least doubly determined, once by each one of the +conflicting systems. Just as in the dream, there is no limit to further +over-determination. The determination not derived from the Unc. is, as +far as I can see, invariably a stream of thought in reaction against the +unconscious wish, _e.g._, a self-punishment. Hence I may say, in +general, that _an hysterical symptom originates only where two +contrasting wish-fulfillments, having their source in different psychic +systems, are able to combine in one expression_. (Compare my latest +formulation of the origin of the hysterical symptoms in a treatise +published by the _Zeitschrift fuer Sexualwissenschaft_, by Hirschfeld and +others, 1908). Examples on this point would prove of little value, as +nothing but a complete unveiling of the complication in question would +carry conviction. I therefore content myself with the mere assertion, +and will cite an example, not for conviction but for explication. The +hysterical vomiting of a female patient proved, on the one hand, to be +the realization of an unconscious fancy from the time of puberty, that +she might be continuously pregnant and have a multitude of children, +and this was subsequently united with the wish that she might have them +from as many men as possible. Against this immoderate wish there arose a +powerful defensive impulse. But as the vomiting might spoil the +patient's figure and beauty, so that she would not find favor in the +eyes of mankind, the symptom was therefore in keeping with her punitive +trend of thought, and, being thus admissible from both sides, it was +allowed to become a reality. This is the same manner of consenting to a +wish-fulfillment which the queen of the Parthians chose for the triumvir +Crassus. Believing that he had undertaken the campaign out of greed for +gold, she caused molten gold to be poured into the throat of the corpse. +"Now hast thou what thou hast longed for." As yet we know of the dream +only that it expresses a wish-fulfillment of the unconscious; and +apparently the dominating foreconscious permits this only after it has +subjected the wish to some distortions. We are really in no position to +demonstrate regularly a stream of thought antagonistic to the dream-wish +which is realized in the dream as in its counterpart. Only now and then +have we found in the dream traces of reaction formations, as, for +instance, the tenderness toward friend R. in the "uncle dream." But the +contribution from the foreconscious, which is missing here, may be +found in another place. While the dominating system has withdrawn on +the wish to sleep, the dream may bring to expression with manifold +distortions a wish from the Unc., and realize this wish by producing the +necessary changes of energy in the psychic apparatus, and may finally +retain it through the entire duration of sleep.[3] + +This persistent wish to sleep on the part of the foreconscious in +general facilitates the formation of the dream. Let us refer to the +dream of the father who, by the gleam of light from the death chamber, +was brought to the conclusion that the body has been set on fire. We +have shown that one of the psychic forces decisive in causing the father +to form this conclusion, instead of being awakened by the gleam of +light, was the wish to prolong the life of the child seen in the dream +by one moment. Other wishes proceeding from the repression probably +escape us, because we are unable to analyze this dream. But as a second +motive power of the dream we may mention the father's desire to sleep, +for, like the life of the child, the sleep of the father is prolonged +for a moment by the dream. The underlying motive is: "Let the dream go +on, otherwise I must wake up." As in this dream so also in all other +dreams, the wish to sleep lends its support to the unconscious wish. We +reported dreams which were apparently dreams of convenience. But, +properly speaking, all dreams may claim this designation. The efficacy +of the wish to continue to sleep is the most easily recognized in the +waking dreams, which so transform the objective sensory stimulus as to +render it compatible with the continuance of sleep; they interweave this +stimulus with the dream in order to rob it of any claims it might make +as a warning to the outer world. But this wish to continue to sleep must +also participate in the formation of all other dreams which may disturb +the sleeping state from within only. "Now, then, sleep on; why, it's but +a dream"; this is in many cases the suggestion of the Forec. to +consciousness when the dream goes too far; and this also describes in a +general way the attitude of our dominating psychic activity toward +dreaming, though the thought remains tacit. I must draw the conclusion +that _throughout our entire sleeping state we are just as certain that +we are dreaming as we are certain that we are sleeping_. We are +compelled to disregard the objection urged against this conclusion that +our consciousness is never directed to a knowledge of the former, and +that it is directed to a knowledge of the latter only on special +occasions when the censor is unexpectedly surprised. Against this +objection we may say that there are persons who are entirely conscious +of their sleeping and dreaming, and who are apparently endowed with the +conscious faculty of guiding their dream life. Such a dreamer, when +dissatisfied with the course taken by the dream, breaks it off without +awakening, and begins it anew in order to continue it with a different +turn, like the popular author who, on request, gives a happier ending to +his play. Or, at another time, if placed by the dream in a sexually +exciting situation, he thinks in his sleep: "I do not care to continue +this dream and exhaust myself by a pollution; I prefer to defer it in +favor of a real situation." + +[1] They share this character of indestructibility with all psychic acts +that are really unconscious--that is, with psychic acts belonging to the +system of the unconscious only. These paths are constantly open and +never fall into disuse; they conduct the discharge of the exciting +process as often as it becomes endowed with unconscious excitement To +speak metaphorically they suffer the same form of annihilation as the +shades of the lower region in the _Odyssey_, who awoke to new life the +moment they drank blood. The processes depending on the foreconscious +system are destructible in a different way. The psychotherapy of the +neuroses is based on this difference. + +[2] Le Lorrain justly extols the wish-fulfilment of the dream: "Sans +fatigue serieuse, sans etre oblige de recourir a cette lutte opinatre et +longue qui use et corrode les jouissances poursuivies." + +[3] This idea has been borrowed from _The Theory of Sleep_ by Liebault, +who revived hypnotic investigation in our days. (_Du Sommeil provoque_, +etc.; Paris, 1889.) + + + + +VII + +THE FUNCTION OF THE DREAM + + +Since we know that the foreconscious is suspended during the night by +the wish to sleep, we can proceed to an intelligent investigation of the +dream process. But let us first sum up the knowledge of this process +already gained. We have shown that the waking activity leaves day +remnants from which the sum of energy cannot be entirely removed; or the +waking activity revives during the day one of the unconscious wishes; or +both conditions occur simultaneously; we have already discovered the +many variations that may take place. The unconscious wish has already +made its way to the day remnants, either during the day or at any rate +with the beginning of sleep, and has effected a transference to it. This +produces a wish transferred to the recent material, or the suppressed +recent wish comes to life again through a reinforcement from the +unconscious. This wish now endeavors to make its way to consciousness on +the normal path of the mental processes through the foreconscious, to +which indeed it belongs through one of its constituent elements. It is +confronted, however, by the censor, which is still active, and to the +influence of which it now succumbs. It now takes on the distortion for +which the way has already been paved by its transference to the recent +material. Thus far it is in the way of becoming something resembling an +obsession, delusion, or the like, _i.e._ a thought reinforced by a +transference and distorted in expression by the censor. But its further +progress is now checked through the dormant state of the foreconscious; +this system has apparently protected itself against invasion by +diminishing its excitements. The dream process, therefore, takes the +regressive course, which has just been opened by the peculiarity of the +sleeping state, and thereby follows the attraction exerted on it by the +memory groups, which themselves exist in part only as visual energy not +yet translated into terms of the later systems. On its way to regression +the dream takes on the form of dramatization. The subject of compression +will be discussed later. The dream process has now terminated the second +part of its repeatedly impeded course. The first part expended itself +progressively from the unconscious scenes or phantasies to the +foreconscious, while the second part gravitates from the advent of the +censor back to the perceptions. But when the dream process becomes a +content of perception it has, so to speak, eluded the obstacle set up in +the Forec. by the censor and by the sleeping state. It succeeds in +drawing attention to itself and in being noticed by consciousness. For +consciousness, which means to us a sensory organ for the reception of +psychic qualities, may receive stimuli from two sources--first, from the +periphery of the entire apparatus, viz. from the perception system, and, +secondly, from the pleasure and pain stimuli, which constitute the sole +psychic quality produced in the transformation of energy within the +apparatus. All other processes in the system, even those in the +foreconscious, are devoid of any psychic quality, and are therefore not +objects of consciousness inasmuch as they do not furnish pleasure or +pain for perception. We shall have to assume that those liberations of +pleasure and pain automatically regulate the outlet of the occupation +processes. But in order to make possible more delicate functions, it was +later found necessary to render the course of the presentations more +independent of the manifestations of pain. To accomplish this the Forec. +system needed some qualities of its own which could attract +consciousness, and most probably received them through the connection of +the foreconscious processes with the memory system of the signs of +speech, which is not devoid of qualities. Through the qualities of this +system, consciousness, which had hitherto been a sensory organ only for +the perceptions, now becomes also a sensory organ for a part of our +mental processes. Thus we have now, as it were, two sensory surfaces, +one directed to perceptions and the other to the foreconscious mental +processes. + +I must assume that the sensory surface of consciousness devoted to the +Forec. is rendered less excitable by sleep than that directed to the +P-systems. The giving up of interest for the nocturnal mental processes +is indeed purposeful. Nothing is to disturb the mind; the Forec. wants +to sleep. But once the dream becomes a perception, it is then capable of +exciting consciousness through the qualities thus gained. The sensory +stimulus accomplishes what it was really destined for, namely, it +directs a part of the energy at the disposal of the Forec. in the form +of attention upon the stimulant. We must, therefore, admit that the +dream invariably awakens us, that is, it puts into activity a part of +the dormant force of the Forec. This force imparts to the dream that +influence which we have designated as secondary elaboration for the sake +of connection and comprehensibility. This means that the dream is +treated by it like any other content of perception; it is subjected to +the same ideas of expectation, as far at least as the material admits. +As far as the direction is concerned in this third part of the dream, it +may be said that here again the movement is progressive. + +To avoid misunderstanding, it will not be amiss to say a few words about +the temporal peculiarities of these dream processes. In a very +interesting discussion, apparently suggested by Maury's puzzling +guillotine dream, Goblet tries to demonstrate that the dream requires no +other time than the transition period between sleeping and awakening. +The awakening requires time, as the dream takes place during that +period. One is inclined to believe that the final picture of the dream +is so strong that it forces the dreamer to awaken; but, as a matter of +fact, this picture is strong only because the dreamer is already very +near awakening when it appears. "Un reve c'est un reveil qui commence." + +It has already been emphasized by Dugas that Goblet was forced to +repudiate many facts in order to generalize his theory. There are, +moreover, dreams from which we do not awaken, _e.g._, some dreams in +which we dream that we dream. From our knowledge of the dream-work, we +can by no means admit that it extends only over the period of awakening. +On the contrary, we must consider it probable that the first part of +the dream-work begins during the day when we are still under the +domination of the foreconscious. The second phase of the dream-work, +viz. the modification through the censor, the attraction by the +unconscious scenes, and the penetration to perception must continue +throughout the night. And we are probably always right when we assert +that we feel as though we had been dreaming the whole night, although we +cannot say what. I do not, however, think it necessary to assume that, +up to the time of becoming conscious, the dream processes really follow +the temporal sequence which we have described, viz. that there is first +the transferred dream-wish, then the distortion of the censor, and +consequently the change of direction to regression, and so on. We were +forced to form such a succession for the sake of _description_; in +reality, however, it is much rather a matter of simultaneously trying +this path and that, and of emotions fluctuating to and fro, until +finally, owing to the most expedient distribution, one particular +grouping is secured which remains. From certain personal experiences, I +am myself inclined to believe that the dream-work often requires more +than one day and one night to produce its result; if this be true, the +extraordinary art manifested in the construction of the dream loses all +its marvels. In my opinion, even the regard for comprehensibility as an +occurrence of perception may take effect before the dream attracts +consciousness to itself. To be sure, from now on the process is +accelerated, as the dream is henceforth subjected to the same treatment +as any other perception. It is like fireworks, which require hours of +preparation and only a moment for ignition. + +Through the dream-work the dream process now gains either sufficient +intensity to attract consciousness to itself and arouse the +foreconscious, which is quite independent of the time or profundity of +sleep, or, its intensity being insufficient it must wait until it meets +the attention which is set in motion immediately before awakening. Most +dreams seem to operate with relatively slight psychic intensities, for +they wait for the awakening. This, however, explains the fact that we +regularly perceive something dreamt on being suddenly aroused from a +sound sleep. Here, as well as in spontaneous awakening, the first glance +strikes the perception content created by the dream-work, while the next +strikes the one produced from without. + +But of greater theoretical interest are those dreams which are capable +of waking us in the midst of sleep. We must bear in mind the expediency +elsewhere universally demonstrated, and ask ourselves why the dream or +the unconscious wish has the power to disturb sleep, _i.e._ the +fulfillment of the foreconscious wish. This is probably due to certain +relations of energy into which we have no insight. If we possessed such +insight we should probably find that the freedom given to the dream and +the expenditure of a certain amount of detached attention represent for +the dream an economy in energy, keeping in view the fact that the +unconscious must be held in check at night just as during the day. We +know from experience that the dream, even if it interrupts sleep, +repeatedly during the same night, still remains compatible with sleep. +We wake up for an instant, and immediately resume our sleep. It is like +driving off a fly during sleep, we awake _ad hoc_, and when we resume +our sleep we have removed the disturbance. As demonstrated by familiar +examples from the sleep of wet nurses, &c., the fulfillment of the wish +to sleep is quite compatible with the retention of a certain amount of +attention in a given direction. + +But we must here take cognizance of an objection that is based on a +better knowledge of the unconscious processes. Although we have +ourselves described the unconscious wishes as always active, we have, +nevertheless, asserted that they are not sufficiently strong during the +day to make themselves perceptible. But when we sleep, and the +unconscious wish has shown its power to form a dream, and with it to +awaken the foreconscious, why, then, does this power become exhausted +after the dream has been taken cognizance of? Would it not seem more +probable that the dream should continually renew itself, like the +troublesome fly which, when driven away, takes pleasure in returning +again and again? What justifies our assertion that the dream removes the +disturbance of sleep? + +That the unconscious wishes always remain active is quite true. They +represent paths which are passable whenever a sum of excitement makes +use of them. Moreover, a remarkable peculiarity of the unconscious +processes is the fact that they remain indestructible. Nothing can be +brought to an end in the unconscious; nothing can cease or be forgotten. +This impression is most strongly gained in the study of the neuroses, +especially of hysteria. The unconscious stream of thought which leads to +the discharge through an attack becomes passable again as soon as there +is an accumulation of a sufficient amount of excitement. The +mortification brought on thirty years ago, after having gained access to +the unconscious affective source, operates during all these thirty years +like a recent one. Whenever its memory is touched, it is revived and +shows itself to be supplied with the excitement which is discharged in +a motor attack. It is just here that the office of psychotherapy begins, +its task being to bring about adjustment and forgetfulness for the +unconscious processes. Indeed, the fading of memories and the flagging +of affects, which we are apt to take as self-evident and to explain as a +primary influence of time on the psychic memories, are in reality +secondary changes brought about by painstaking work. It is the +foreconscious that accomplishes this work; and the only course to be +pursued by psychotherapy is the subjugate the Unc, to the domination of +the Forec. + +There are, therefore, two exits for the individual unconscious emotional +process. It is either left to itself, in which case it ultimately breaks +through somewhere and secures for once a discharge for its excitation +into motility; or it succumbs to the influence of the foreconscious, and +its excitation becomes confined through this influence instead of being +discharged. It is the latter process that occurs in the dream. Owing to +the fact that it is directed by the conscious excitement, the energy +from the Forec., which confronts the dream when grown to perception, +restricts the unconscious excitement of the dream and renders it +harmless as a disturbing factor. When the dreamer wakes up for a moment, +he has actually chased away the fly that has threatened to disturb his +sleep. We can now understand that it is really more expedient and +economical to give full sway to the unconscious wish, and clear its way +to regression so that it may form a dream, and then restrict and adjust +this dream by means of a small expenditure of foreconscious labor, than +to curb the unconscious throughout the entire period of sleep. We +should, indeed, expect that the dream, even if it was not originally an +expedient process, would have acquired some function in the play of +forces of the psychic life. We now see what this function is. The dream +has taken it upon itself to bring the liberated excitement of the Unc. +back under the domination of the foreconscious; it thus affords relief +for the excitement of the Unc. and acts as a safety-valve for the +latter, and at the same time it insures the sleep of the foreconscious +at a slight expenditure of the waking state. Like the other psychic +formations of its group, the dream offers itself as a compromise serving +simultaneously both systems by fulfilling both wishes in so far as they +are compatible with each other. A glance at Robert's "elimination +theory," will show that we must agree with this author in his main +point, viz. in the determination of the function of the dream, though we +differ from him in our hypotheses and in our treatment of the dream +process. + +The above qualification--in so far as the two wishes are compatible with +each other--contains a suggestion that there may be cases in which the +function of the dream suffers shipwreck. The dream process is in the +first instance admitted as a wish-fulfillment of the unconscious, but if +this tentative wish-fulfillment disturbs the foreconscious to such an +extent that the latter can no longer maintain its rest, the dream then +breaks the compromise and fails to perform the second part of its task. +It is then at once broken off, and replaced by complete wakefulness. +Here, too, it is not really the fault of the dream, if, while ordinarily +the guardian of sleep, it is here compelled to appear as the disturber +of sleep, nor should this cause us to entertain any doubts as to its +efficacy. This is not the only case in the organism in which an +otherwise efficacious arrangement became inefficacious and disturbing as +soon as some element is changed in the conditions of its origin; the +disturbance then serves at least the new purpose of announcing the +change, and calling into play against it the means of adjustment of the +organism. In this connection, I naturally bear in mind the case of the +anxiety dream, and in order not to have the appearance of trying to +exclude this testimony against the theory of wish-fulfillment wherever +I encounter it, I will attempt an explanation of the anxiety dream, at +least offering some suggestions. + +That a psychic process developing anxiety may still be a +wish-fulfillment has long ceased to impress us as a contradiction. We +may explain this occurrence by the fact that the wish belongs to one +system (the Unc.), while by the other system (the Forec.), this wish has +been rejected and suppressed. The subjection of the Unc. by the Forec. +is not complete even in perfect psychic health; the amount of this +suppression shows the degree of our psychic normality. Neurotic symptoms +show that there is a conflict between the two systems; the symptoms are +the results of a compromise of this conflict, and they temporarily put +an end to it. On the one hand, they afford the Unc. an outlet for the +discharge of its excitement, and serve it as a sally port, while, on the +other hand, they give the Forec. the capability of dominating the Unc. +to some extent. It is highly instructive to consider, _e.g._, the +significance of any hysterical phobia or of an agoraphobia. Suppose a +neurotic incapable of crossing the street alone, which we would justly +call a "symptom." We attempt to remove this symptom by urging him to the +action which he deems himself incapable of. The result will be an +attack of anxiety, just as an attack of anxiety in the street has often +been the cause of establishing an agoraphobia. We thus learn that the +symptom has been constituted in order to guard against the outbreak of +the anxiety. The phobia is thrown before the anxiety like a fortress on +the frontier. + +Unless we enter into the part played by the affects in these processes, +which can be done here only imperfectly, we cannot continue our +discussion. Let us therefore advance the proposition that the reason why +the suppression of the unconscious becomes absolutely necessary is +because, if the discharge of presentation should be left to itself, it +would develop an affect in the Unc. which originally bore the character +of pleasure, but which, since the appearance of the repression, bears +the character of pain. The aim, as well as the result, of the +suppression is to stop the development of this pain. The suppression +extends over the unconscious ideation, because the liberation of pain +might emanate from the ideation. The foundation is here laid for a very +definite assumption concerning the nature of the affective development. +It is regarded as a motor or secondary activity, the key to the +innervation of which is located in the presentations of the Unc. Through +the domination of the Forec. these presentations become, as it were, +throttled and inhibited at the exit of the emotion-developing impulses. +The danger, which is due to the fact that the Forec. ceases to occupy +the energy, therefore consists in the fact that the unconscious +excitations liberate such an affect as--in consequence of the repression +that has previously taken place--can only be perceived as pain or +anxiety. + +This danger is released through the full sway of the dream process. The +determinations for its realization consist in the fact that repressions +have taken place, and that the suppressed emotional wishes shall become +sufficiently strong. They thus stand entirely without the psychological +realm of the dream structure. Were it not for the fact that our subject +is connected through just one factor, namely, the freeing of the Unc. +during sleep, with the subject of the development of anxiety, I could +dispense with discussion of the anxiety dream, and thus avoid all +obscurities connected with it. + +As I have often repeated, the theory of the anxiety belongs to the +psychology of the neuroses. I would say that the anxiety in the dream is +an anxiety problem and not a dream problem. We have nothing further to +do with it after having once demonstrated its point of contact with the +subject of the dream process. There is only one thing left for me to do. +As I have asserted that the neurotic anxiety originates from sexual +sources, I can subject anxiety dreams to analysis in order to +demonstrate the sexual material in their dream thoughts. + +For good reasons I refrain from citing here any of the numerous examples +placed at my disposal by neurotic patients, but prefer to give anxiety +dreams from young persons. + +Personally, I have had no real anxiety dream for decades, but I recall +one from my seventh or eighth year which I subjected to interpretation +about thirty years later. The dream was very vivid, and showed me _my +beloved mother, with peculiarly calm sleeping countenance, carried into +the room and laid on the bed by two (or three) persons with birds' +beaks_. I awoke crying and screaming, and disturbed my parents. The very +tall figures--draped in a peculiar manner--with beaks, I had taken from +the illustrations of Philippson's bible; I believe they represented +deities with heads of sparrowhawks from an Egyptian tomb relief. The +analysis also introduced the reminiscence of a naughty janitor's boy, +who used to play with us children on the meadow in front of the house; I +would add that his name was Philip. I feel that I first heard from this +boy the vulgar word signifying sexual intercourse, which is replaced +among the educated by the Latin "coitus," but to which the dream +distinctly alludes by the selection of the birds' heads. I must have +suspected the sexual significance of the word from the facial expression +of my worldly-wise teacher. My mother's features in the dream were +copied from the countenance of my grandfather, whom I had seen a few +days before his death snoring in the state of coma. The interpretation +of the secondary elaboration in the dream must therefore have been that +my mother was dying; the tomb relief, too, agrees with this. In this +anxiety I awoke, and could not calm myself until I had awakened my +parents. I remember that I suddenly became calm on coming face to face +with my mother, as if I needed the assurance that my mother was not +dead. But this secondary interpretation of the dream had been effected +only under the influence of the developed anxiety. I was not frightened +because I dreamed that my mother was dying, but I interpreted the dream +in this manner in the foreconscious elaboration because I was already +under the domination of the anxiety. The latter, however, could be +traced by means of the repression to an obscure obviously sexual desire, +which had found its satisfying expression in the visual content of the +dream. + +A man twenty-seven years old who had been severely ill for a year had +had many terrifying dreams between the ages of eleven and thirteen. He +thought that a man with an ax was running after him; he wished to run, +but felt paralyzed and could not move from the spot. This may be taken +as a good example of a very common, and apparently sexually indifferent, +anxiety dream. In the analysis the dreamer first thought of a story told +him by his uncle, which chronologically was later than the dream, viz. +that he was attacked at night by a suspicious-looking individual. This +occurrence led him to believe that he himself might have already heard +of a similar episode at the time of the dream. In connection with the ax +he recalled that during that period of his life he once hurt his hand +with an ax while chopping wood. This immediately led to his relations +with his younger brother, whom he used to maltreat and knock down. In +particular, he recalled an occasion when he struck his brother on the +head with his boot until he bled, whereupon his mother remarked: "I fear +he will kill him some day." While he was seemingly thinking of the +subject of violence, a reminiscence from his ninth year suddenly +occurred to him. His parents came home late and went to bed while he was +feigning sleep. He soon heard panting and other noises that appeared +strange to him, and he could also make out the position of his parents +in bed. His further associations showed that he had established an +analogy between this relation between his parents and his own relation +toward his younger brother. He subsumed what occurred between his +parents under the conception "violence and wrestling," and thus reached +a sadistic conception of the coitus act, as often happens among +children. The fact that he often noticed blood on his mother's bed +corroborated his conception. + +That the sexual intercourse of adults appears strange to children who +observe it, and arouses fear in them, I dare say is a fact of daily +experience. I have explained this fear by the fact that sexual +excitement is not mastered by their understanding, and is probably also +inacceptable to them because their parents are involved in it. For the +same son this excitement is converted into fear. At a still earlier +period of life sexual emotion directed toward the parent of opposite sex +does not meet with repression but finds free expression, as we have seen +before. + +For the night terrors with hallucinations (_pavor nocturnus_) frequently +found in children, I would unhesitatingly give the same explanation. +Here, too, we are certainly dealing with the incomprehensible and +rejected sexual feelings, which, if noted, would probably show a +temporal periodicity, for an enhancement of the sexual _libido_ may +just as well be produced accidentally through emotional impressions as +through the spontaneous and gradual processes of development. + +I lack the necessary material to sustain these explanations from +observation. On the other hand, the pediatrists seem to lack the point +of view which alone makes comprehensible the whole series of phenomena, +on the somatic as well as on the psychic side. To illustrate by a +comical example how one wearing the blinders of medical mythology may +miss the understanding of such cases I will relate a case which I found +in a thesis on _pavor nocturnus_ by _Debacker_, 1881. A +thirteen-year-old boy of delicate health began to become anxious and +dreamy; his sleep became restless, and about once a week it was +interrupted by an acute attack of anxiety with hallucinations. The +memory of these dreams was invariably very distinct. Thus, he related +that the _devil_ shouted at him: "Now we have you, now we have you," and +this was followed by an odor of sulphur; the fire burned his skin. This +dream aroused him, terror-stricken. He was unable to scream at first; +then his voice returned, and he was heard to say distinctly: "No, no, +not me; why, I have done nothing," or, "Please don't, I shall never do +it again." Occasionally, also, he said: "Albert has not done that." +Later he avoided undressing, because, as he said, the fire attacked him +only when he was undressed. From amid these evil dreams, which menaced +his health, he was sent into the country, where he recovered within a +year and a half, but at the age of fifteen he once confessed: "Je +n'osais pas l'avouer, mais j'eprouvais continuellement des picotements +et des surexcitations aux _parties_; a la fin, cela m'enervait tant que +plusieurs fois, j'ai pense me jeter par la fenetre au dortoir." + +It is certainly not difficult to suspect: 1, that the boy had practiced +masturbation in former years, that he probably denied it, and was +threatened with severe punishment for his wrongdoing (his confession: Je +ne le ferai plus; his denial: Albert n'a jamais fait ca). 2, That under +the pressure of puberty the temptation to self-abuse through the +tickling of the genitals was reawakened. 3, That now, however, a +struggle of repression arose in him, suppressing the _libido_ and +changing it into fear, which subsequently took the form of the +punishments with which he was then threatened. + +Let us, however, quote the conclusions drawn by our author. This +observation shows: 1, That the influence of puberty may produce in a +boy of delicate health a condition of extreme weakness, and that it may +lead to a _very marked cerebral anaemia_. + +2. This cerebral anaemia produces a transformation of character, +demonomaniacal hallucinations, and very violent nocturnal, perhaps also +diurnal, states of anxiety. + +3. Demonomania and the self-reproaches of the day can be traced to the +influences of religious education which the subject underwent as a +child. + +4. All manifestations disappeared as a result of a lengthy sojourn in +the country, bodily exercise, and the return of physical strength after +the termination of the period of puberty. + +5. A predisposing influence for the origin of the cerebral condition of +the boy may be attributed to heredity and to the father's chronic +syphilitic state. + +The concluding remarks of the author read: "Nous avons fait entrer cette +observation dans le cadre des delires apyretiques d'inanition, car c'est +a l'ischemie cerebrale que nous rattachons cet etat particulier." + + + + +VIII + +THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PROCESS--REGRESSION + + +In venturing to attempt to penetrate more deeply into the psychology of +the dream processes, I have undertaken a difficult task, to which, +indeed, my power of description is hardly equal. To reproduce in +description by a succession of words the simultaneousness of so complex +a chain of events, and in doing so to appear unbiassed throughout the +exposition, goes fairly beyond my powers. I have now to atone for the +fact that I have been unable in my description of the dream psychology +to follow the historic development of my views. The view-points for my +conception of the dream were reached through earlier investigations in +the psychology of the neuroses, to which I am not supposed to refer +here, but to which I am repeatedly forced to refer, whereas I should +prefer to proceed in the opposite direction, and, starting from the +dream, to establish a connection with the psychology of the neuroses. I +am well aware of all the inconveniences arising for the reader from this +difficulty, but I know of no way to avoid them. + +As I am dissatisfied with this state of affairs, I am glad to dwell +upon another view-point which seems to raise the value of my efforts. As +has been shown in the introduction to the first chapter, I found myself +confronted with a theme which had been marked by the sharpest +contradictions on the part of the authorities. After our elaboration of +the dream problems we found room for most of these contradictions. We +have been forced, however, to take decided exception to two of the views +pronounced, viz. that the dream is a senseless and that it is a somatic +process; apart from these cases we have had to accept all the +contradictory views in one place or another of the complicated argument, +and we have been able to demonstrate that they had discovered something +that was correct. That the dream continues the impulses and interests of +the waking state has been quite generally confirmed through the +discovery of the latent thoughts of the dream. These thoughts concern +themselves only with things that seem important and of momentous +interest to us. The dream never occupies itself with trifles. But we +have also concurred with the contrary view, viz., that the dream gathers +up the indifferent remnants from the day, and that not until it has in +some measure withdrawn itself from the waking activity can an important +event of the day be taken up by the dream. We found this holding true +for the dream content, which gives the dream thought its changed +expression by means of disfigurement. We have said that from the nature +of the association mechanism the dream process more easily takes +possession of recent or indifferent material which has not yet been +seized by the waking mental activity; and by reason of the censor it +transfers the psychic intensity from the important but also disagreeable +to the indifferent material. The hypermnesia of the dream and the resort +to infantile material have become main supports in our theory. In our +theory of the dream we have attributed to the wish originating from the +infantile the part of an indispensable motor for the formation of the +dream. We naturally could not think of doubting the experimentally +demonstrated significance of the objective sensory stimuli during sleep; +but we have brought this material into the same relation to the +dream-wish as the thought remnants from the waking activity. There was +no need of disputing the fact that the dream interprets the objective +sensory stimuli after the manner of an illusion; but we have supplied +the motive for this interpretation which has been left undecided by the +authorities. The interpretation follows in such a manner that the +perceived object is rendered harmless as a sleep disturber and becomes +available for the wish-fulfillment. Though we do not admit as special +sources of the dream the subjective state of excitement of the sensory +organs during sleep, which seems to have been demonstrated by Trumbull +Ladd, we are nevertheless able to explain this excitement through the +regressive revival of active memories behind the dream. A modest part in +our conception has also been assigned to the inner organic sensations +which are wont to be taken as the cardinal point in the explanation of +the dream. These--the sensation of falling, flying, or inhibition--stand +as an ever ready material to be used by the dream-work to express the +dream thought as often as need arises. + +That the dream process is a rapid and momentary one seems to be true for +the perception through consciousness of the already prepared dream +content; the preceding parts of the dream process probably take a slow, +fluctuating course. We have solved the riddle of the superabundant dream +content compressed within the briefest moment by explaining that this is +due to the appropriation of almost fully formed structures from the +psychic life. That the dream is disfigured and distorted by memory we +found to be correct, but not troublesome, as this is only the last +manifest operation in the work of disfigurement which has been active +from the beginning of the dream-work. In the bitter and seemingly +irreconcilable controversy as to whether the psychic life sleeps at +night or can make the same use of all its capabilities as during the +day, we have been able to agree with both sides, though not fully with +either. We have found proof that the dream thoughts represent a most +complicated intellectual activity, employing almost every means +furnished by the psychic apparatus; still it cannot be denied that these +dream thoughts have originated during the day, and it is indispensable +to assume that there is a sleeping state of the psychic life. Thus, even +the theory of partial sleep has come into play; but the characteristics +of the sleeping state have been found not in the dilapidation of the +psychic connections but in the cessation of the psychic system +dominating the day, arising from its desire to sleep. The withdrawal +from the outer world retains its significance also for our conception; +though not the only factor, it nevertheless helps the regression to make +possible the representation of the dream. That we should reject the +voluntary guidance of the presentation course is uncontestable; but the +psychic life does not thereby become aimless, for we have seen that +after the abandonment of the desired end-presentation undesired ones +gain the mastery. The loose associative connection in the dream we have +not only recognized, but we have placed under its control a far greater +territory than could have been supposed; we have, however, found it +merely the feigned substitute for another correct and senseful one. To +be sure we, too, have called the dream absurd; but we have been able to +learn from examples how wise the dream really is when it simulates +absurdity. We do not deny any of the functions that have been attributed +to the dream. That the dream relieves the mind like a valve, and that, +according to Robert's assertion, all kinds of harmful material are +rendered harmless through representation in the dream, not only exactly +coincides with our theory of the twofold wish-fulfillment in the dream, +but, in his own wording, becomes even more comprehensible for us than +for Robert himself. The free indulgence of the psychic in the play of +its faculties finds expression with us in the non-interference with the +dream on the part of the foreconscious activity. The "return to the +embryonal state of psychic life in the dream" and the observation of +Havelock Ellis, "an archaic world of vast emotions and imperfect +thoughts," appear to us as happy anticipations of our deductions to the +effect that _primitive_ modes of work suppressed during the day +participate in the formation of the dream; and with us, as with Delage, +the _suppressed_ material becomes the mainspring of the dreaming. + +We have fully recognized the role which Scherner ascribes to the dream +phantasy, and even his interpretation; but we have been obliged, so to +speak, to conduct them to another department in the problem. It is not +the dream that produces the phantasy but the unconscious phantasy that +takes the greatest part in the formation of the dream thoughts. We are +indebted to Scherner for his clew to the source of the dream thoughts, +but almost everything that he ascribes to the dream-work is attributable +to the activity of the unconscious, which is at work during the day, and +which supplies incitements not only for dreams but for neurotic symptoms +as well. We have had to separate the dream-work from this activity as +being something entirely different and far more restricted. Finally, we +have by no means abandoned the relation of the dream to mental +disturbances, but, on the contrary, we have given it a more solid +foundation on new ground. + +Thus held together by the new material of our theory as by a superior +unity, we find the most varied and most contradictory conclusions of the +authorities fitting into our structure; some of them are differently +disposed, only a few of them are entirely rejected. But our own +structure is still unfinished. For, disregarding the many obscurities +which we have necessarily encountered in our advance into the darkness +of psychology, we are now apparently embarrassed by a new contradiction. +On the one hand, we have allowed the dream thoughts to proceed from +perfectly normal mental operations, while, on the other hand, we have +found among the dream thoughts a number of entirely abnormal mental +processes which extend likewise to the dream contents. These, +consequently, we have repeated in the interpretation of the dream. All +that we have termed the "dream-work" seems so remote from the psychic +processes recognized by us as correct, that the severest judgments of +the authors as to the low psychic activity of dreaming seem to us well +founded. + +Perhaps only through still further advance can enlightenment and +improvement be brought about. I shall pick out one of the constellations +leading to the formation of dreams. + +We have learned that the dream replaces a number of thoughts derived +from daily life which are perfectly formed logically. We cannot +therefore doubt that these thoughts originate from our normal mental +life. All the qualities which we esteem in our mental operations, and +which distinguish these as complicated activities of a high order, we +find repeated in the dream thoughts. There is, however, no need of +assuming that this mental work is performed during sleep, as this would +materially impair the conception of the psychic state of sleep we have +hitherto adhered to. These thoughts may just as well have originated +from the day, and, unnoticed by our consciousness from their inception, +they may have continued to develop until they stood complete at the +onset of sleep. If we are to conclude anything from this state of +affairs, it will at most prove _that the most complex mental operations +are possible without the cooeperation of consciousness_, which we have +already learned independently from every psychoanalysis of persons +suffering from hysteria or obsessions. These dream thoughts are in +themselves surely not incapable of consciousness; if they have not +become conscious to us during the day, this may have various reasons. +The state of becoming conscious depends on the exercise of a certain +psychic function, viz. attention, which seems to be extended only in a +definite quantity, and which may have been withdrawn from the stream of +thought in Question by other aims. Another way in which such mental +streams are kept from consciousness is the following:--Our conscious +reflection teaches us that when exercising attention we pursue a +definite course. But if that course leads us to an idea which does not +hold its own with the critic, we discontinue and cease to apply our +attention. Now, apparently, the stream of thought thus started and +abandoned may spin on without regaining attention unless it reaches a +spot of especially marked intensity which forces the return of +attention. An initial rejection, perhaps consciously brought about by +the judgment on the ground of incorrectness or unfitness for the actual +purpose of the mental act, may therefore account for the fact that a +mental process continues until the onset of sleep unnoticed by +consciousness. + +Let us recapitulate by saying that we call such a stream of thought a +foreconscious one, that we believe it to be perfectly correct, and that +it may just as well be a more neglected one or an interrupted and +suppressed one. Let us also state frankly in what manner we conceive +this presentation course. We believe that a certain sum of excitement, +which we call occupation energy, is displaced from an end-presentation +along the association paths selected by that end-presentation. A +"neglected" stream of thought has received no such occupation, and from +a "suppressed" or "rejected" one this occupation has been withdrawn; +both have thus been left to their own emotions. The end-stream of +thought stocked with energy is under certain conditions able to draw to +itself the attention of consciousness, through which means it then +receives a "surplus of energy." We shall be obliged somewhat later to +elucidate our assumption concerning the nature and activity of +consciousness. + +A train of thought thus incited in the Forec. may either disappear +spontaneously or continue. The former issue we conceive as follows: It +diffuses its energy through all the association paths emanating from it, +and throws the entire chain of ideas into a state of excitement which, +after lasting for a while, subsides through the transformation of the +excitement requiring an outlet into dormant energy.[1] If this first +issue is brought about the process has no further significance for the +dream formation. But other end-presentations are lurking in our +foreconscious that originate from the sources of our unconscious and +from the ever active wishes. These may take possession of the +excitations in the circle of thought thus left to itself, establish a +connection between it and the unconscious wish, and transfer to it the +energy inherent in the unconscious wish. Henceforth the neglected or +suppressed train of thought is in a position to maintain itself, +although this reinforcement does not help it to gain access to +consciousness. We may say that the hitherto foreconscious train of +thought has been drawn into the unconscious. + +Other constellations for the dream formation would result if the +foreconscious train of thought had from the beginning been connected +with the unconscious wish, and for that reason met with rejection by the +dominating end-occupation; or if an unconscious wish were made active +for other--possibly somatic--reasons and of its own accord sought a +transference to the psychic remnants not occupied by the Forec. All +three cases finally combine in one issue, so that there is established +in the foreconscious a stream of thought which, having been abandoned by +the foreconscious occupation, receives occupation from the unconscious +wish. + +The stream of thought is henceforth subjected to a series of +transformations which we no longer recognize as normal psychic processes +and which give us a surprising result, viz. a psychopathological +formation. Let us emphasize and group the same. + +1. The intensities of the individual ideas become capable of discharge +in their entirety, and, proceeding from one conception to the other, +they thus form single presentations endowed with marked intensity. +Through the repeated recurrence of this process the intensity of an +entire train of ideas may ultimately be gathered in a single +presentation element. This is the principle of _compression or +condensation_. It is condensation that is mainly responsible for the +strange impression of the dream, for we know of nothing analogous to it +in the normal psychic life accessible to consciousness. We find here, +also, presentations which possess great psychic significance as +junctions or as end-results of whole chains of thought; but this +validity does not manifest itself in any character conspicuous enough +for internal perception; hence, what has been presented in it does not +become in any way more intensive. In the process of condensation the +entire psychic connection becomes transformed into the intensity of the +presentation content. It is the same as in a book where we space or +print in heavy type any word upon which particular stress is laid for +the understanding of the text. In speech the same word would be +pronounced loudly and deliberately and with emphasis. The first +comparison leads us at once to an example taken from the chapter on "The +Dream-Work" (trimethylamine in the dream of Irma's injection). +Historians of art call our attention to the fact that the most ancient +historical sculptures follow a similar principle in expressing the rank +of the persons represented by the size of the statue. The king is made +two or three times as large as his retinue or the vanquished enemy. A +piece of art, however, from the Roman period makes use of more subtle +means to accomplish the same purpose. The figure of the emperor is +placed in the center in a firmly erect posture; special care is bestowed +on the proper modelling of his figure; his enemies are seen cowering at +his feet; but he is no longer represented a giant among dwarfs. However, +the bowing of the subordinate to his superior in our own days is only an +echo of that ancient principle of representation. + +The direction taken by the condensations of the dream is prescribed on +the one hand by the true foreconscious relations of the dream thoughts, +an the other hand by the attraction of the visual reminiscences in the +unconscious. The success of the condensation work produces those +intensities which are required for penetration into the perception +systems. + +2. Through this free transferability of the intensities, moreover, and +in the service of condensation, _intermediary +presentations_--compromises, as it were--are formed (_cf._ the numerous +examples). This, likewise, is something unheard of in the normal +presentation course, where it is above all a question of selection and +retention of the "proper" presentation element. On the other hand, +composite and compromise formations occur with extraordinary frequency +when we are trying to find the linguistic expression for foreconscious +thoughts; these are considered "slips of the tongue." + +3. The presentations which transfer their intensities to one another are +_very loosely connected_, and are joined together by such forms of +association as are spurned in our serious thought and are utilized in +the production of the effect of wit only. Among these we particularly +find associations of the sound and consonance types. + +4. Contradictory thoughts do not strive to eliminate one another, but +remain side by side. They often unite to produce condensation _as if no +contradiction_ existed, or they form compromises for which we should +never forgive our thoughts, but which we frequently approve of in our +actions. + +These are some of the most conspicuous abnormal processes to which the +thoughts which have previously been rationally formed are subjected in +the course of the dream-work. As the main feature of these processes we +recognize the high importance attached to the fact of rendering the +occupation energy mobile and capable of discharge; the content and the +actual significance of the psychic elements, to which these energies +adhere, become a matter of secondary importance. One might possibly +think that the condensation and compromise formation is effected only in +the service of regression, when occasion arises for changing thoughts +into pictures. But the analysis and--still more distinctly--the +synthesis of dreams which lack regression toward pictures, _e.g._ the +dream "Autodidasker--Conversation with Court-Councilor N.," present the +same processes of displacement and condensation as the others. + +Hence we cannot refuse to acknowledge that the two kinds of essentially +different psychic processes participate in the formation of the dream; +one forms perfectly correct dream thoughts which are equivalent to +normal thoughts, while the other treats these ideas in a highly +surprising and incorrect manner. The latter process we have already set +apart as the dream-work proper. What have we now to advance concerning +this latter psychic process? + +We should be unable to answer this question here if we had not +penetrated considerably into the psychology of the neuroses and +especially of hysteria. From this we learn that the same incorrect +psychic processes--as well as others that have not been +enumerated--control the formation of hysterical symptoms. In hysteria, +too, we at once find a series of perfectly correct thoughts equivalent +to our conscious thoughts, of whose existence, however, in this form we +can learn nothing and which we can only subsequently reconstruct. If +they have forced their way anywhere to our perception, we discover from +the analysis of the symptom formed that these normal thoughts have been +subjected to abnormal treatment and _have been transformed into the +symptom by means of condensation and compromise formation, through +superficial associations, under cover of contradictions, and eventually +over the road of regression_. In view of the complete identity found +between the peculiarities of the dream-work and of the psychic activity +forming the psychoneurotic symptoms, we shall feel justified in +transferring to the dream the conclusions urged upon us by hysteria. + +From the theory of hysteria we borrow the proposition that _such an +abnormal psychic elaboration of a normal train of thought takes place +only when the latter has been used for the transference of an +unconscious wish which dates from the infantile life and is in a state +of repression_. In accordance with this proposition we have construed +the theory of the dream on the assumption that the actuating dream-wish +invariably originates in the unconscious, which, as we ourselves have +admitted, cannot be universally demonstrated though it cannot be +refuted. But in order to explain the real meaning of the term +_repression_, which we have employed so freely, we shall be obliged to +make some further addition to our psychological construction. + +We have above elaborated the fiction of a primitive psychic apparatus, +whose work is regulated by the efforts to avoid accumulation of +excitement and as far as possible to maintain itself free from +excitement. For this reason it was constructed after the plan of a +reflex apparatus; the motility, originally the path for the inner bodily +change, formed a discharging path standing at its disposal. We +subsequently discussed the psychic results of a feeling of +gratification, and we might at the same time have introduced the second +assumption, viz. that accumulation of excitement--following certain +modalities that do not concern us--is perceived as pain and sets the +apparatus in motion in order to reproduce a feeling of gratification in +which the diminution of the excitement is perceived as pleasure. Such a +current in the apparatus which emanates from pain and strives for +pleasure we call a wish. We have said that nothing but a wish is capable +of setting the apparatus in motion, and that the discharge of excitement +in the apparatus is regulated automatically by the perception of +pleasure and pain. The first wish must have been an hallucinatory +occupation of the memory for gratification. But this hallucination, +unless it were maintained to the point of exhaustion, proved incapable +of bringing about a cessation of the desire and consequently of securing +the pleasure connected with gratification. + +Thus there was required a second activity--in our terminology the +activity of a second system--which should not permit the memory +occupation to advance to perception and therefrom to restrict the +psychic forces, but should lead the excitement emanating from the +craving stimulus by a devious path over the spontaneous motility which +ultimately should so change the outer world as to allow the real +perception of the object of gratification to take place. Thus far we +have elaborated the plan of the psychic apparatus; these two systems are +the germ of the Unc. and Forec, which we include in the fully developed +apparatus. + +In order to be in a position successfully to change the outer world +through the motility, there is required the accumulation of a large sum +of experiences in the memory systems as well as a manifold fixation of +the relations which are evoked in this memory material by different +end-presentations. We now proceed further with our assumption. The +manifold activity of the second system, tentatively sending forth and +retracting energy, must on the one hand have full command over all +memory material, but on the other hand it would be a superfluous +expenditure for it to send to the individual mental paths large +quantities of energy which would thus flow off to no purpose, +diminishing the quantity available for the transformation of the outer +world. In the interests of expediency I therefore postulate that the +second system succeeds in maintaining the greater part of the occupation +energy in a dormant state and in using but a small portion for the +purposes of displacement. The mechanism of these processes is entirely +unknown to me; any one who wishes to follow up these ideas must try to +find the physical analogies and prepare the way for a demonstration of +the process of motion in the stimulation of the neuron. I merely hold to +the idea that the activity of the first [Greek: Psi]-system is directed +_to the free outflow of the quantities of excitement_, and that the +second system brings about an inhibition of this outflow through the +energies emanating from it, _i.e._ it produces a _transformation into +dormant energy, probably by raising the level_. I therefore assume that +under the control of the second system as compared with the first, the +course of the excitement is bound to entirely different mechanical +conditions. After the second system has finished its tentative mental +work, it removes the inhibition and congestion of the excitements and +allows these excitements to flow off to the motility. + +An interesting train of thought now presents itself if we consider the +relations of this inhibition of discharge by the second system to the +regulation through the principle of pain. Let us now seek the +counterpart of the primary feeling of gratification, namely, the +objective feeling of fear. A perceptive stimulus acts on the primitive +apparatus, becoming the source of a painful emotion. This will then be +followed by irregular motor manifestations until one of these withdraws +the apparatus from perception and at the same time from pain, but on the +reappearance of the perception this manifestation will immediately +repeat itself (perhaps as a movement of flight) until the perception has +again disappeared. But there will here remain no tendency again to +occupy the perception of the source of pain in the form of an +hallucination or in any other form. On the contrary, there will be a +tendency in the primary apparatus to abandon the painful memory picture +as soon as it is in any way awakened, as the overflow of its excitement +would surely produce (more precisely, begin to produce) pain. The +deviation from memory, which is but a repetition of the former flight +from perception, is facilitated also by the fact that, unlike +perception, memory does not possess sufficient quality to excite +consciousness and thereby to attract to itself new energy. This easy and +regularly occurring deviation of the psychic process from the former +painful memory presents to us the model and the first example of +_psychic repression_. As is generally known, much of this deviation from +the painful, much of the behavior of the ostrich, can be readily +demonstrated even in the normal psychic life of adults. + +By virtue of the principle of pain the first system is therefore +altogether incapable of introducing anything unpleasant into the mental +associations. The system cannot do anything but wish. If this remained +so the mental activity of the second system, which should have at its +disposal all the memories stored up by experiences, would be hindered. +But two ways are now opened: the work of the second system either frees +itself completely from the principle of pain and continues its course, +paying no heed to the painful reminiscence, or it contrives to occupy +the painful memory in such a manner as to preclude the liberation of +pain. We may reject the first possibility, as the principle of pain also +manifests itself as a regulator for the emotional discharge of the +second system; we are, therefore, directed to the second possibility, +namely, that this system occupies a reminiscence in such a manner as to +inhibit its discharge and hence, also, to inhibit the discharge +comparable to a motor innervation for the development of pain. Thus from +two starting points we are led to the hypothesis that occupation through +the second system is at the same time an inhibition for the emotional +discharge, viz. from a consideration of the principle of pain and from +the principle of the smallest expenditure of innervation. Let us, +however, keep to the fact--this is the key to the theory of +repression--that the second system is capable of occupying an idea only +when it is in position to check the development of pain emanating from +it. Whatever withdraws itself from this inhibition also remains +inaccessible for the second system and would soon be abandoned by virtue +of the principle of pain. The inhibition of pain, however, need not be +complete; it must be permitted to begin, as it indicates to the second +system the nature of the memory and possibly its defective adaptation +for the purpose sought by the mind. + +The psychic process which is admitted by the first system only I shall +now call the _primary_ process; and the one resulting from the +inhibition of the second system I shall call the _secondary_ process. I +show by another point for what purpose the second system is obliged to +correct the primary process. The primary process strives for a discharge +of the excitement in order to establish a _perception_ identity with the +sum of excitement thus gathered; the secondary process has abandoned +this intention and undertaken instead the task of bringing about a +_thought identity_. All thinking is only a circuitous path from the +memory of gratification taken as an end-presentation to the identical +occupation of the same memory, which is again to be attained on the +track of the motor experiences. The state of thinking must take an +interest in the connecting paths between the presentations without +allowing itself to be misled by their intensities. But it is obvious +that condensations and intermediate or compromise formations occurring +in the presentations impede the attainment of this end-identity; by +substituting one idea for the other they deviate from the path which +otherwise would have been continued from the original idea. Such +processes are therefore carefully avoided in the secondary thinking. Nor +is it difficult to understand that the principle of pain also impedes +the progress of the mental stream in its pursuit of the thought +identity, though, indeed, it offers to the mental stream the most +important points of departure. Hence the tendency of the thinking +process must be to free itself more and more from exclusive adjustment +by the principle of pain, and through the working of the mind to +restrict the affective development to that minimum which is necessary as +a signal. This refinement of the activity must have been attained +through a recent over-occupation of energy brought about by +consciousness. But we are aware that this refinement is seldom +completely successful even in the most normal psychic life and that our +thoughts ever remain accessible to falsification through the +interference of the principle of pain. + +This, however, is not the breach in the functional efficiency of our +psychic apparatus through which the thoughts forming the material of the +secondary mental work are enabled to make their way into the primary +psychic process--with which formula we may now describe the work leading +to the dream and to the hysterical symptoms. This case of insufficiency +results from the union of the two factors from the history of our +evolution; one of which belongs solely to the psychic apparatus and has +exerted a determining influence on the relation of the two systems, +while the other operates fluctuatingly and introduces motive forces of +organic origin into the psychic life. Both originate in the infantile +life and result from the transformation which our psychic and somatic +organism has undergone since the infantile period. + +When I termed one of the psychic processes in the psychic apparatus the +primary process, I did so not only in consideration of the order of +precedence and capability, but also as admitting the temporal relations +to a share in the nomenclature. As far as our knowledge goes there is no +psychic apparatus possessing only the primary process, and in so far it +is a theoretic fiction; but so much is based on fact that the primary +processes are present in the apparatus from the beginning, while the +secondary processes develop gradually in the course of life, inhibiting +and covering the primary ones, and gaining complete mastery over them +perhaps only at the height of life. Owing to this retarded appearance of +the secondary processes, the essence of our being, consisting in +unconscious wish feelings, can neither be seized nor inhibited by the +foreconscious, whose part is once for all restricted to the indication +of the most suitable paths for the wish feelings originating in the +unconscious. These unconscious wishes establish for all subsequent +psychic efforts a compulsion to which they have to submit and which +they must strive if possible to divert from its course and direct to +higher aims. In consequence of this retardation of the foreconscious +occupation a large sphere of the memory material remains inaccessible. + +Among these indestructible and unincumbered wish feelings originating +from the infantile life, there are also some, the fulfillments of which +have entered into a relation of contradiction to the end-presentation of +the secondary thinking. The fulfillment of these wishes would no longer +produce an affect of pleasure but one of pain; _and it is just this +transformation of affect that constitutes the nature of what we +designate as "repression," in which we recognize the infantile first +step of passing adverse sentence or of rejecting through reason_. To +investigate in what way and through what motive forces such a +transformation can be produced constitutes the problem of repression, +which we need here only skim over. It will suffice to remark that such a +transformation of affect occurs in the course of development (one may +think of the appearance in infantile life of disgust which was +originally absent), and that it is connected with the activity of the +secondary system. The memories from which the unconscious wish brings +about the emotional discharge have never been accessible to the Forec., +and for that reason their emotional discharge cannot be inhibited. It +is just on account of this affective development that these ideas are +not even now accessible to the foreconscious thoughts to which they have +transferred their wishing power. On the contrary, the principle of pain +comes into play, and causes the Forec. to deviate from these thoughts of +transference. The latter, left to themselves, are "repressed," and thus +the existence of a store of infantile memories, from the very beginning +withdrawn from the Forec., becomes the preliminary condition of +repression. + +In the most favorable case the development of pain terminates as soon as +the energy has been withdrawn from the thoughts of transference in the +Forec., and this effect characterizes the intervention of the principle +of pain as expedient. It is different, however, if the repressed +unconscious wish receives an organic enforcement which it can lend to +its thoughts of transference and through which it can enable them to +make an effort towards penetration with their excitement, even after +they have been abandoned by the occupation of the Forec. A defensive +struggle then ensues, inasmuch as the Forec. reinforces the antagonism +against the repressed ideas, and subsequently this leads to a +penetration by the thoughts of transference (the carriers of the +unconscious wish) in some form of compromise through symptom formation. +But from the moment that the suppressed thoughts are powerfully occupied +by the unconscious wish-feeling and abandoned by the foreconscious +occupation, they succumb to the primary psychic process and strive only +for motor discharge; or, if the path be free, for hallucinatory revival +of the desired perception identity. We have previously found, +empirically, that the incorrect processes described are enacted only +with thoughts that exist in the repression. We now grasp another part of +the connection. These incorrect processes are those that are primary in +the psychic apparatus; _they appear wherever thoughts abandoned by the +foreconscious occupation are left to themselves, and can fill themselves +with the uninhibited energy, striving for discharge from the +unconscious_. We may add a few further observations to support the view +that these processes designated "incorrect" are really not +falsifications of the normal defective thinking, but the modes of +activity of the psychic apparatus when freed from inhibition. Thus we +see that the transference of the foreconscious excitement to the +motility takes place according to the same processes, and that the +connection of the foreconscious presentations with words readily +manifest the same displacements and mixtures which are ascribed to +inattention. Finally, I should like to adduce proof that an increase of +work necessarily results from the inhibition of these primary courses +from the fact that we gain a _comical effect_, a surplus to be +discharged through laughter, _if we allow these streams of thought to +come to consciousness_. + +The theory of the psychoneuroses asserts with complete certainty that +only sexual wish-feelings from the infantile life experience repression +(emotional transformation) during the developmental period of childhood. +These are capable of returning to activity at a later period of +development, and then have the faculty of being revived, either as a +consequence of the sexual constitution, which is really formed from the +original bisexuality, or in consequence of unfavorable influences of the +sexual life; and they thus supply the motive power for all +psychoneurotic symptom formations. It is only by the introduction of +these sexual forces that the gaps still demonstrable in the theory of +repression can be filled. I will leave it undecided whether the +postulate of the sexual and infantile may also be asserted for the +theory of the dream; I leave this here unfinished because I have already +passed a step beyond the demonstrable in assuming that the dream-wish +invariably originates from the unconscious.[2] Nor will I further +investigate the difference in the play of the psychic forces in the +dream formation and in the formation of the hysterical symptoms, for to +do this we ought to possess a more explicit knowledge of one of the +members to be compared. But I regard another point as important, and +will here confess that it was on account of this very point that I have +just undertaken this entire discussion concerning the two psychic +systems, their modes of operation, and the repression. For it is now +immaterial whether I have conceived the psychological relations in +question with approximate correctness, or, as is easily possible in such +a difficult matter, in an erroneous and fragmentary manner. Whatever +changes may be made in the interpretation of the psychic censor and of +the correct and of the abnormal elaboration of the dream content, the +fact nevertheless remains that such processes are active in dream +formation, and that essentially they show the closest analogy to the +processes observed in the formation of the hysterical symptoms. The +dream is not a pathological phenomenon, and it does not leave behind an +enfeeblement of the mental faculties. The objection that no deduction +can be drawn regarding the dreams of healthy persons from my own dreams +and from those of neurotic patients may be rejected without comment. +Hence, when we draw conclusions from the phenomena as to their motive +forces, we recognize that the psychic mechanism made use of by the +neuroses is not created by a morbid disturbance of the psychic life, but +is found ready in the normal structure of the psychic apparatus. The two +psychic systems, the censor crossing between them, the inhibition and +the covering of the one activity by the other, the relations of both to +consciousness--or whatever may offer a more correct interpretation of +the actual conditions in their stead--all these belong to the normal +structure of our psychic instrument, and the dream points out for us one +of the roads leading to a knowledge of this structure. If, in addition +to our knowledge, we wish to be contented with a minimum perfectly +established, we shall say that the dream gives us proof that the +_suppressed, material continues to exist even in the normal person and +remains capable of psychic activity_. The dream itself is one of the +manifestations of this suppressed material; theoretically, this is true +in _all_ cases; according to substantial experience it is true in at +least a great number of such as most conspicuously display the prominent +characteristics of dream life. The suppressed psychic material, which in +the waking state has been prevented from expression and cut off from +internal perception _by the antagonistic adjustment of the +contradictions_, finds ways and means of obtruding itself on +consciousness during the night under the domination of the compromise +formations. + + _"Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo."_ + +At any rate the interpretation of dreams is the _via regia_ to a +knowledge of the unconscious in the psychic life. + +In following the analysis of the dream we have made some progress toward +an understanding of the composition of this most marvelous and most +mysterious of instruments; to be sure, we have not gone very far, but +enough of a beginning has been made to allow us to advance from other +so-called pathological formations further into the analysis of the +unconscious. Disease--at least that which is justly termed +functional--is not due to the destruction of this apparatus, and the +establishment of new splittings in its interior; it is rather to be +explained dynamically through the strengthening and weakening of the +components in the play of forces by which so many activities are +concealed during the normal function. We have been able to show in +another place how the composition of the apparatus from the two systems +permits a subtilization even of the normal activity which would be +impossible for a single system. + +[1] _Cf._ the significant observations by J. Bueuer in our _Studies on +Hysteria_, 1895, and 2nd ed. 1909. + +[2] Here, as in other places, there are gaps in the treatment of the +subject, which I have left intentionally, because to fill them up would +require on the one hand too great effort, and on the other hand an +extensive reference to material that is foreign to the dream. Thus I +have avoided stating whether I connect with the word "suppressed" +another sense than with the word "repressed." It has been made clear +only that the latter emphasizes more than the former the relation to the +unconscious. I have not entered into the cognate problem why the dream +thoughts also experience distortion by the censor when they abandon the +progressive continuation to consciousness and choose the path of +regression. I have been above all anxious to awaken an interest in the +problems to which the further analysis of the dreamwork leads and to +indicate the other themes which meet these on the way. It was not always +easy to decide just where the pursuit should be discontinued. That I +have not treated exhaustively the part played in the dream by the +psychosexual life and have avoided the interpretation of dreams of an +obvious sexual content is due to a special reason which may not come up +to the reader's expectation. To be sure, it is very far from my ideas +and the principles expressed by me in neuropathology to regard the +sexual life as a "pudendum" which should be left unconsidered by the +physician and the scientific investigator. I also consider ludicrous the +moral indignation which prompted the translator of Artemidoros of Daldis +to keep from the reader's knowledge the chapter on sexual dreams +contained in the _Symbolism of the Dreams_. As for myself, I have been +actuated solely by the conviction that in the explanation of sexual +dreams I should be bound to entangle myself deeply in the still +unexplained problems of perversion and bisexuality; and for that reason +I have reserved this material for another connection. + + + + +IX + +THE UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUSNESS--REALITY + + +On closer inspection we find that it is not the existence of two systems +near the motor end of the apparatus but of two kinds of processes or +modes of emotional discharge, the assumption of which was explained in +the psychological discussions of the previous chapter. This can make no +difference for us, for we must always be ready to drop our auxiliary +ideas whenever we deem ourselves in position to replace them by +something else approaching more closely to the unknown reality. Let us +now try to correct some views which might be erroneously formed as long +as we regarded the two systems in the crudest and most obvious sense as +two localities within the psychic apparatus, views which have left their +traces in the terms "repression" and "penetration." Thus, when we say +that an unconscious idea strives for transference into the foreconscious +in order later to penetrate consciousness, we do not mean that a second +idea is to be formed situated in a new locality like an interlineation +near which the original continues to remain; also, when we speak of +penetration into consciousness, we wish carefully to avoid any idea of +change of locality. When we say that a foreconscious idea is repressed +and subsequently taken up by the unconscious, we might be tempted by +these figures, borrowed from the idea of a struggle over a territory, to +assume that an arrangement is really broken up in one psychic locality +and replaced by a new one in the other locality. For these comparisons +we substitute what would seem to correspond better with the real state +of affairs by saying that an energy occupation is displaced to or +withdrawn from a certain arrangement so that the psychic formation falls +under the domination of a system or is withdrawn from the same. Here +again we replace a topical mode of presentation by a dynamic; it is not +the psychic formation that appears to us as the moving factor but the +innervation of the same. + +I deem it appropriate and justifiable, however, to apply ourselves still +further to the illustrative conception of the two systems. We shall +avoid any misapplication of this manner of representation if we remember +that presentations, thoughts, and psychic formations should generally +not be localized in the organic elements of the nervous system, but, so +to speak, between them, where resistances and paths form the correlate +corresponding to them. Everything that can become an object of our +internal perception is virtual, like the image in the telescope produced +by the passage of the rays of light. But we are justified in assuming +the existence of the systems, which have nothing psychic in themselves +and which never become accessible to our psychic perception, +corresponding to the lenses of the telescope which design the image. If +we continue this comparison, we may say that the censor between two +systems corresponds to the refraction of rays during their passage into +a new medium. + +Thus far we have made psychology on our own responsibility; it is now +time to examine the theoretical opinions governing present-day +psychology and to test their relation to our theories. The question of +the unconscious, in psychology is, according to the authoritative words +of Lipps, less a psychological question than the question of psychology. +As long as psychology settled this question with the verbal explanation +that the "psychic" is the "conscious" and that "unconscious psychic +occurrences" are an obvious contradiction, a psychological estimate of +the observations gained by the physician from abnormal mental states was +precluded. The physician and the philosopher agree only when both +acknowledge that unconscious psychic processes are "the appropriate and +well-justified expression for an established fact." The physician cannot +but reject with a shrug of his shoulders the assertion that +"consciousness is the indispensable quality of the psychic"; he may +assume, if his respect for the utterings of the philosophers still be +strong enough, that he and they do not treat the same subject and do not +pursue the same science. For a single intelligent observation of the +psychic life of a neurotic, a single analysis of a dream must force upon +him the unalterable conviction that the most complicated and correct +mental operations, to which no one will refuse the name of psychic +occurrences, may take place without exciting the consciousness of the +person. It is true that the physician does not learn of these +unconscious processes until they have exerted such an effect on +consciousness as to admit communication or observation. But this effect +of consciousness may show a psychic character widely differing from the +unconscious process, so that the internal perception cannot possibly +recognize the one as a substitute for the other. The physician must +reserve for himself the right to penetrate, by a process of deduction, +from the effect on consciousness to the unconscious psychic process; he +learns in this way that the effect on consciousness is only a remote +psychic product of the unconscious process and that the latter has not +become conscious as such; that it has been in existence and operative +without betraying itself in any way to consciousness. + +A reaction from the over-estimation of the quality of consciousness +becomes the indispensable preliminary condition for any correct insight +into the behavior of the psychic. In the words of Lipps, the unconscious +must be accepted as the general basis of the psychic life. The +unconscious is the larger circle which includes within itself the +smaller circle of the conscious; everything conscious has its +preliminary step in the unconscious, whereas the unconscious may stop +with this step and still claim full value as a psychic activity. +Properly speaking, the unconscious is the real psychic; _its inner +nature is just as unknown to us as the reality of the external world, +and it is just as imperfectly reported to us through the data of +consciousness as is the external world through the indications of our +sensory organs_. + +A series of dream problems which have intensely occupied older authors +will be laid aside when the old opposition between conscious life and +dream life is abandoned and the unconscious psychic assigned to its +proper place. Thus many of the activities whose performances in the +dream have excited our admiration are now no longer to be attributed to +the dream but to unconscious thinking, which is also active during the +day. If, according to Scherner, the dream seems to play with a symboling +representation of the body, we know that this is the work of certain +unconscious phantasies which have probably given in to sexual emotions, +and that these phantasies come to expression not only in dreams but also +in hysterical phobias and in other symptoms. If the dream continues and +settles activities of the day and even brings to light valuable +inspirations, we have only to subtract from it the dream disguise as a +feat of dream-work and a mark of assistance from obscure forces in the +depth of the mind (_cf._ the devil in Tartini's sonata dream). The +intellectual task as such must be attributed to the same psychic forces +which perform all such tasks during the day. We are probably far too +much inclined to over-estimate the conscious character even of +intellectual and artistic productions. From the communications of some +of the most highly productive persons, such as Goethe and Helmholtz, we +learn, indeed, that the most essential and original parts in their +creations came to them in the form of inspirations and reached their +perceptions almost finished. There is nothing strange about the +assistance of the conscious activity in other cases where there was a +concerted effort of all the psychic forces. But it is a much abused +privilege of the conscious activity that it is allowed to hide from us +all other activities wherever it participates. + +It will hardly be worth while to take up the historical significance of +dreams as a special subject. Where, for instance, a chieftain has been +urged through a dream to engage in a bold undertaking the success of +which has had the effect of changing history, a new problem results only +so long as the dream, regarded as a strange power, is contrasted with +other more familiar psychic forces; the problem, however, disappears +when we regard the dream as a form of expression for feelings which are +burdened with resistance during the day and which can receive +reinforcements at night from deep emotional sources. But the great +respect shown by the ancients for the dream is based on a correct +psychological surmise. It is a homage paid to the unsubdued and +indestructible in the human mind, and to the demoniacal which furnishes +the dream-wish and which we find again in our unconscious. + +Not inadvisedly do I use the expression "in our unconscious," for what +we so designate does not coincide with the unconscious of the +philosophers, nor with the unconscious of Lipps. In the latter uses it +is intended to designate only the opposite of conscious. That there are +also unconscious psychic processes beside the conscious ones is the +hotly contested and energetically defended issue. Lipps gives us the +more far-reaching theory that everything psychic exists as unconscious, +but that some of it may exist also as conscious. But it was not to prove +this theory that we have adduced the phenomena of the dream and of the +hysterical symptom formation; the observation of normal life alone +suffices to establish its correctness beyond any doubt. The new fact +that we have learned from the analysis of the psychopathological +formations, and indeed from their first member, viz. dreams, is that the +unconscious--hence the psychic--occurs as a function of two separate +systems and that it occurs as such even in normal psychic life. +Consequently there are two kinds of unconscious, which we do not as yet +find distinguished by the psychologists. Both are unconscious in the +psychological sense; but in our sense the first, which we call Unc., is +likewise incapable of consciousness, whereas the second we term "Forec." +because its emotions, after the observance of certain rules, can reach +consciousness, perhaps not before they have again undergone censorship, +but still regardless of the Unc. system. The fact that in order to +attain consciousness the emotions must traverse an unalterable series of +events or succession of instances, as is betrayed through their +alteration by the censor, has helped us to draw a comparison from +spatiality. We described the relations of the two systems to each other +and to consciousness by saying that the system Forec. is like a screen +between the system Unc. and consciousness. The system Forec. not only +bars access to consciousness, but also controls the entrance to +voluntary motility and is capable of sending out a sum of mobile energy, +a portion of which is familiar to us as attention. + +We must also steer clear of the distinctions superconscious and +subconscious which have found so much favor in the more recent +literature on the psychoneuroses, for just such a distinction seems to +emphasize the equivalence of the psychic and the conscious. + +What part now remains in our description of the once all-powerful and +all-overshadowing consciousness? None other than that of a sensory organ +for the perception of psychic qualities. According to the fundamental +idea of schematic undertaking we can conceive the conscious perception +only as the particular activity of an independent system for which the +abbreviated designation "Cons." commends itself. This system we conceive +to be similar in its mechanical characteristics to the perception system +P, hence excitable by qualities and incapable of retaining the trace of +changes, _i.e._ it is devoid of memory. The psychic apparatus which, +with the sensory organs of the P-system, is turned to the outer world, +is itself the outer world for the sensory organ of Cons.; the +teleological justification of which rests on this relationship. We are +here once more confronted with the principle of the succession of +instances which seems to dominate the structure of the apparatus. The +material under excitement flows to the Cons, sensory organ from two +sides, firstly from the P-system whose excitement, qualitatively +determined, probably experiences a new elaboration until it comes to +conscious perception; and, secondly, from the interior of the apparatus +itself, the quantitative processes of which are perceived as a +qualitative series of pleasure and pain as soon as they have undergone +certain changes. + +The philosophers, who have learned that correct and highly complicated +thought structures are possible even without the cooeperation of +consciousness, have found it difficult to attribute any function to +consciousness; it has appeared to them a superfluous mirroring of the +perfected psychic process. The analogy of our Cons. system with the +systems of perception relieves us of this embarrassment. We see that +perception through our sensory organs results in directing the +occupation of attention to those paths on which the incoming sensory +excitement is diffused; the qualitative excitement of the P-system +serves the mobile quantity of the psychic apparatus as a regulator for +its discharge. We may claim the same function for the overlying sensory +organ of the Cons. system. By assuming new qualities, it furnishes a new +contribution toward the guidance and suitable distribution of the mobile +occupation quantities. By means of the perceptions of pleasure and pain, +it influences the course of the occupations within the psychic +apparatus, which normally operates unconsciously and through the +displacement of quantities. It is probable that the principle of pain +first regulates the displacements of occupation automatically, but it is +quite possible that the consciousness of these qualities adds a second +and more subtle regulation which may even oppose the first and perfect +the working capacity of the apparatus by placing it in a position +contrary to its original design for occupying and developing even that +which is connected with the liberation of pain. We learn from +neuropsychology that an important part in the functional activity of the +apparatus is attributed to such regulations through the qualitative +excitation of the sensory organs. The automatic control of the primary +principle of pain and the restriction of mental capacity connected with +it are broken by the sensible regulations, which in their turn are again +automatisms. We learn that the repression which, though originally +expedient, terminates nevertheless in a harmful rejection of inhibition +and of psychic domination, is so much more easily accomplished with +reminiscences than with perceptions, because in the former there is no +increase in occupation through the excitement of the psychic sensory +organs. When an idea to be rejected has once failed to become conscious +because it has succumbed to repression, it can be repressed on other +occasions only because it has been withdrawn from conscious perception +on other grounds. These are hints employed by therapy in order to bring +about a retrogression of accomplished repressions. + +The value of the over-occupation which is produced by the regulating +influence of the Cons. sensory organ on the mobile quantity, is +demonstrated in the teleological connection by nothing more clearly than +by the creation of a new series of qualities and consequently a new +regulation which constitutes the precedence of man over the animals. For +the mental processes are in themselves devoid of quality except for the +excitements of pleasure and pain accompanying them, which, as we know, +are to be held in check as possible disturbances of thought. In order to +endow them with a quality, they are associated in man with verbal +memories, the qualitative remnants of which suffice to draw upon them +the attention of consciousness which in turn endows thought with a new +mobile energy. + +The manifold problems of consciousness in their entirety can be examined +only through an analysis of the hysterical mental process. From this +analysis we receive the impression that the transition from the +foreconscious to the occupation of consciousness is also connected with +a censorship similar to the one between the Unc. and the Forec. This +censorship, too, begins to act only with the reaching of a certain +quantitative degree, so that few intense thought formations escape it. +Every possible case of detention from consciousness, as well as of +penetration to consciousness, under restriction is found included within +the picture of the psychoneurotic phenomena; every case points to the +intimate and twofold connection between the censor and consciousness. I +shall conclude these psychological discussions with the report of two +such occurrences. + +On the occasion of a consultation a few years ago the subject was an +intelligent and innocent-looking girl. Her attire was strange; whereas a +woman's garb is usually groomed to the last fold, she had one of her +stockings hanging down and two of her waist buttons opened. She +complained of pains in one of her legs, and exposed her leg unrequested. +Her chief complaint, however, was in her own words as follows: She had a +feeling in her body as if something was stuck into it which moved to and +fro and made her tremble through and through. This sometimes made her +whole body stiff. On hearing this, my colleague in consultation looked +at me; the complaint was quite plain to him. To both of us it seemed +peculiar that the patient's mother thought nothing of the matter; of +course she herself must have been repeatedly in the situation described +by her child. As for the girl, she had no idea of the import of her +words or she would never have allowed them to pass her lips. Here the +censor had been deceived so successfully that under the mask of an +innocent complaint a phantasy was admitted to consciousness which +otherwise would have remained in the foreconscious. + +Another example: I began the psychoanalytic treatment of a boy of +fourteen years who was suffering from _tic convulsif_, hysterical +vomiting, headache, &c., by assuring him that, after closing his eyes, +he would see pictures or have ideas, which I requested him to +communicate to me. He answered by describing pictures. The last +impression he had received before coming to me was visually revived in +his memory. He had played a game of checkers with his uncle, and now saw +the checkerboard before him. He commented on various positions that were +favorable or unfavorable, on moves that were not safe to make. He then +saw a dagger lying on the checker-board, an object belonging to his +father, but transferred to the checker-board by his phantasy. Then a +sickle was lying on the board; next a scythe was added; and, finally, he +beheld the likeness of an old peasant mowing the grass in front of the +boy's distant parental home. A few days later I discovered the meaning +of this series of pictures. Disagreeable family relations had made the +boy nervous. It was the case of a strict and crabbed father who lived +unhappily with his mother, and whose educational methods consisted in +threats; of the separation of his father from his tender and delicate +mother, and the remarrying of his father, who one day brought home a +young woman as his new mamma. The illness of the fourteen-year-old boy +broke out a few days later. It was the suppressed anger against his +father that had composed these pictures into intelligible allusions. The +material was furnished by a reminiscence from mythology, The sickle was +the one with which Zeus castrated his father; the scythe and the +likeness of the peasant represented Kronos, the violent old man who eats +his children and upon whom Zeus wreaks vengeance in so unfilial a +manner. The marriage of the father gave the boy an opportunity to return +the reproaches and threats of his father--which had previously been made +because the child played with his genitals (the checkerboard; the +prohibitive moves; the dagger with which a person may be killed). We +have here long repressed memories and their unconscious remnants which, +under the guise of senseless pictures have slipped into consciousness by +devious paths left open to them. + +I should then expect to find the theoretical value of the study of +dreams in its contribution to psychological knowledge and in its +preparation for an understanding of neuroses. Who can foresee the +importance of a thorough knowledge of the structure and activities of +the psychic apparatus when even our present state of knowledge produces +a happy therapeutic influence in the curable forms of the +psychoneuroses? What about the practical value of such study some one +may ask, for psychic knowledge and for the discovering of the secret +peculiarities of individual character? Have not the unconscious feelings +revealed by the dream the value of real forces in the psychic life? +Should we take lightly the ethical significance of the suppressed wishes +which, as they now create dreams, may some day create other things? + +I do not feel justified in answering these questions. I have not thought +further upon this side of the dream problem. I believe, however, that at +all events the Roman Emperor was in the wrong who ordered one of his +subjects executed because the latter dreamt that he had killed the +Emperor. He should first have endeavored to discover the significance of +the dream; most probably it was not what it seemed to be. And even if a +dream of different content had the significance of this offense against +majesty, it would still have been in place to remember the words of +Plato, that the virtuous man contents himself with dreaming that which +the wicked man does in actual life. I am therefore of the opinion that +it is best to accord freedom to dreams. Whether any reality is to be +attributed to the unconscious wishes, and in what sense, I am not +prepared to say offhand. Reality must naturally be denied to all +transition--and intermediate thoughts. If we had before us the +unconscious wishes, brought to their last and truest expression, we +should still do well to remember that more than one single form of +existence must be ascribed to the psychic reality. Action and the +conscious expression of thought mostly suffice for the practical need +of judging a man's character. Action, above all, merits to be placed in +the first rank; for many of the impulses penetrating consciousness are +neutralized by real forces of the psychic life before they are converted +into action; indeed, the reason why they frequently do not encounter any +psychic obstacle on their way is because the unconscious is certain of +their meeting with resistances later. In any case it is instructive to +become familiar with the much raked-up soil from which our virtues +proudly arise. For the complication of human character moving +dynamically in all directions very rarely accommodates itself to +adjustment through a simple alternative, as our antiquated moral +philosophy would have it. + +And how about the value of the dream for a knowledge of the future? +That, of course, we cannot consider. One feels inclined to substitute: +"for a knowledge of the past." For the dream originates from the past in +every sense. To be sure the ancient belief that the dream reveals the +future is not entirely devoid of truth. By representing to us a wish as +fulfilled the dream certainly leads us into the future; but this future, +taken by the dreamer as present, has been formed into the likeness of +that past by the indestructible wish. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dream Psychology, by Sigmund Freud + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DREAM PSYCHOLOGY *** + +***** This file should be named 15489.txt or 15489.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/4/8/15489/ + +Produced by David Newman, Joel Schlosberg and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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