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diff --git a/44085-8.txt b/44085-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6235c10..0000000 --- a/44085-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4325 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Psychoanalysis, by André Tridon - -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: Psychoanalysis - Sleep and Dreams - -Author: André Tridon - -Release Date: November 1, 2013 [EBook #44085] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PSYCHOANALYSIS *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -PSYCHOANALYSIS SLEEP and DREAMS - - - - -PSYCHOANALYSIS AND BEHAVIOR - -BY ANDRÉ TRIDON - - -"Tridon applies the psychoanalytical doctrine to a number of everyday -problems, a business that ought to be undertaken on a far more extensive -scale. His chapters on the psychology of war hysteria and of comstockery -are acute and constructive."--_H. L. Mencken._ - -"His presentation of psychoanalysis is admirable."--_New York Medical -Journal._ - -_$2.50 net at all booksellers_ - -ALFRED A. KNOPF, PUBLISHER, N.Y. - - - - - PSYCHOANALYSIS SLEEP and DREAMS - - - BY ANDRÉ TRIDON - _Author of "Psychoanalysis, its - History, Theory and Practice" and - "Psychoanalysis and Behavior"_ - - - "Nothing is more genuinely - ourselves than our dreams." - Nietzsche. - - - NEW YORK - ALFRED A. KNOPF - 1921 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY - ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - -FOR ADÈLE LEWISOHN - - - - -I wish to thank Dr. J. W. Brandeis, Dr. N. Philip Norman, and Dr. Gregory -Stragnell, for valuable data and editorial assistance, and Mr. Carl Dreher -who lent himself to many experiments. - - - - -PREFACE - - -St. Augustine was glad that God did not hold him responsible for his -dreams. From which we may infer that his dreams must have been "human, all -too human" and that he experienced a certain feeling of guilt on account -of their nature. - -His attitude is one assumed by many people, laymen and scientists, some of -them concealing it under a general scepticism as to dream interpretation. - -Few people are willing to concede as Nietzsche did, that "nothing is more -genuinely ourselves than our dreams." - -This is why the psychoanalytic pronouncement that dreams are the -fulfilment of wishes meets with so much hostility. - -The man who has a dream of gross sex or ego gratification dislikes to have -others think that the desire for such gross pleasure is a part of his -personality. He very much prefers to have others believe that some -extraneous agent, some whimsical power, such as the devil, forced such -thoughts upon him while the unconsciousness of sleep made him -irresponsible and defenceless. - -This is due in part to the absurd and barbarous idea that it is meet to -inflict punishment for mere thoughts, an idea which is probably as deeply -rooted in ignorant minds in our days as it was in the mind of the Roman -emperor who had a man killed because the poor wretch dreamed of the -ruler's death. - -We must not disclaim the responsibility for our unconscious thoughts as -they reveal themselves through dreams. They are truly a part of our -personality. But our responsibility is merely psychological; we should not -punish people for harbouring in their unconscious the lewd or murderous -cravings which the caveman probably gratified in his daily life; nor -should we be burdened with a sense of sin because we cannot drive out of -our consciousness certain cravings, biologically natural, but socially -unjustifiable. - -The first prerequisite for a normal mental life is the acceptance of all -biological facts. Biology is ignorant of all delicacy. - -The possible presence of broken glass, coupled with the fact that man -lacks hoofs, makes it imperative for man to wear shoes. - -The man who is unconsolable over the fact that his feet are too tender -in their bare state to tread roads, and the man who decides to ignore -broken glass and to walk barefoot, are courting mental and physical -suffering of the most useless type. - -He who accepts the fact that his feet are tender and broken glass -dangerous, and goes forth, shod in the proper footgear, will probably -remain whole, mentally and physically. - -When we realize that our unconscious is ours and ourselves, but not of our -own making, we shall know our limitations and our potentialities and be -free from many fears. - -No better way has been devised for probing the unconscious than the honest -and scientific study of dreams, a study which must be conducted with the -care and the freedom from bias that characterize the chemist's or the -physicist's laboratory experiments. - -Furthermore, dream study and dream study alone, can help us solve a -problem which scientists have generally disregarded or considered as -solved, the tremendous problem of sleep. - -Algebra and Latin, which are of no earthly use to 999/1000 of those -studying them, are a part of the curriculum of almost every high school. -Sleep, in which we spend one-third of our life, is not considered as of -any importance. - -How could we understand sleep unless we understood the phenomena which -take place in sleep: dreams? - -Even Freud, whose research work lifted dream study from the level of -witchcraft to that of an accurate science, seems to have been little -concerned with the enigma of sleep and sleeplessness. - -This book is an attempt at correlating sleep and dreams and at explaining -sleep through dreams. - -Briefly stated, my thesis is that we sleep in order to dream and to be for -a number of hours our simpler and unrepressed selves. Sleeplessness is due -to the fact that, in our fear of incompletely repressed cravings, we do -not dare to become, through the unconsciousness of sleep, our primitive -selves. In nightmares, repressed cravings which seek gratification under a -symbolic cloak, and are therefore unrecognizable, cause us to be tortured -by fear. - -The cure for sleeplessness and nightmares is, accordingly, the acceptance -of biological facts observable in our unconscious and our willingness to -grant, through the unconsciousness of sleep, dream gratification to -conscious and unconscious cravings of a socially objectionable kind which -we must, however, accept as a part of our personality. - -February, 1921. - - 121 Madison Avenue - New York City - - - - -TABLE OF CONTENTS - - - I. SLEEP DEFINED 1 - - II. FATIGUE AND REST 11 - - III. THE FLIGHT FROM REALITY 20 - - IV. HYPNOGOGIC AND HYPNOPOMPIC VISIONS 32 - - V. WHERE DREAMS COME FROM 36 - - VI. CONVENIENCE DREAMS 44 - - VII. DREAM LIFE 48 - - VIII. WISH FULFILMENT 58 - - IX. NIGHTMARES 67 - - X. TYPICAL DREAMS AND SLEEP WALKING 75 - - XI. PROPHETIC DREAMS 85 - - XII. ATTITUDES REFLECTED IN DREAMS 92 - - XIII. RECURRENT DREAMS 102 - - XIV. DAY DREAMS 113 - - XV. NEUROSIS AND DREAMS 118 - - XVI. SLEEPLESSNESS 127 - - XVII. DREAM INTERPRETATION 144 - - BIBLIOGRAPHY 158 - - - - -CHAPTER I: SLEEP DEFINED - - -Literary quotations and time-worn stereotypes exert a deplorable influence -on our thinking. They lead us to consider certain open questions as -settled, certain puzzling problems as solved. - -From time immemorial, the unthinking and thinking alike, have accepted the -idea of a kinship between sleep and death. Expressions like "eternal -sleep" show by the frequency with which they recur, how constantly -associated the two ideas are in the average mind. - -Not only is that association absurd but its consequences are regrettable, -at least from one point of view: if sleep is a form of death, the psychic -phenomena connected with it are bound to be misinterpreted and either -granted a dignity they do not deserve or scornfully ignored. - -The superstitious may loose all critical sense and see in sleep and sleep -thinking something mysterious and mystical. The scientist, on the other -hand, may consider such phenomena as beneath his notice. - -No sober appreciation of sleep and dreams can be expected from any one who -associates in any way the idea of sleep and the idea of death. - -Respiration seems to be the essential feature of life, and its lack, the -essential feature of death. As long as respiration takes place, the two -ferments of the body, pepsin and trypsin, break up insoluble food -molecules into soluble acid molecules which are then absorbed by the blood -and carried to the cells of the body where they are utilized to build up -new solid cell matter. - -When respiration ceases, a degree of acidity is reached which enables the -two ferments to digest the body of disintegrating each cell. This is -according to Jacques Loeb the meaning of death. - -No such chemical action is observable in any form of sleep. - -From that point of view, sleep is a form of life. - -Sleep is even a more normal form of life than the average waking states. - -In the normal waking states, the vagotonic nerves of the autonomic system -which upbuild the body and insure the continuance of the race should -dominate the organism, being checked in emergencies only by the -sympathetic nerves which constitute the human safety system. - -The vagotonic nerves contract the pupil, make saliva and gastric juice -flow, slow down the heart beats, decrease the blood pressure, promote -sexual activities, etc. - -The sympathetic nerves on the contrary, dilate the pupil, dry the mouth, -stop the gastric activities, increase the heart beats, raise the blood -pressure, decrease or arrest the sexual activities, etc. - -In peaceful sleep, we observe that the vagotonic functions hold full sway. -In sleep, our pupils are contracted. Even when they have been dilated by -atropine, they become contracted again in sleep. - -In sleep, the digestive organs continue to perform their specific work, -all the popular beliefs to the contrary notwithstanding. Infants and -animals generally go to sleep as soon as they finish feeding. Animals -digest infinitely better if allowed to sleep after being fed, than if -compelled to stay awake, walk or run. - -The activity of the sexual organs is as great in sleep as in waking life; -in certain cases, it is even greater. - -At certain times, during sleep, the pressure of the blood in the brain is -greatly reduced, and certain authors have concluded that sleep was -characterized by brain anaemia, which some of them consider as the cause -of sleep. - -Indeed, unconsciousness can be induced by producing a temporary brain -anaemia, for instance by compressing the carotid arteries of the neck for -a minute or so. Sleepiness almost always appears then and lasts as long -as the pressure is exerted. - -Special manometers show that the fall in the blood pressure invariably -precedes the appearance of sleep. In dogs whose skulls have been trephined -for purposes of observation, the brain can be seen to turn pale as soon as -the animals fall asleep. - -But we have here simply one of the vagotonic activities mentioned -previously. In the normal organism, the blood pressure should be low, -rising only in emergencies, when the organism is facing some danger and -must be prepared for fight or flight. - -And in fact, the slightest light, noise, pain or smell stimulus, is -sufficient to bring the blood back to the brain during sleep. Our -sympathetic nerves are on the watch and even if the subject does not wake -up, they rush the blood whenever it is needed for emergency action, in -this case, to the general switchboard of the organism, the brain. - -But this so-called brain anaemia is not constant during the entire period -of sleep. The pressure falls gradually before sleep sets in and only -reaches its minimum an hour after sleep has begun. Then it increases -gradually and becomes normal again about the usual waking time. We shall -see later that attention follows an identical curve. - -It has been pointed out that in sleep the respiration becomes slower and -that the amount of air inspired and consequently of oxygen assimilated is -lowered. But inaction in the waking states will show exactly the same -results. - -A smaller quantity of carbonic acid is eliminated in sleep, the decrease -being about sixteen per cent. But that condition is not due to sleep. It -is due to many other factors such as the absence of light, etc. - -The nature of the food taken before retiring has also a notable influence -on the quantity of carbonic acid eliminated by the sleeper; the quantity -varies from seventy five per cent after a meat supper to ninety per cent -after a diet of starches. - -The sweat glands of the skin secrete more actively in sleep than in waking -life, which is also a vagotonic symptom and is also due to the fact that -the sweat centre is easily affected by carbonic acid. - -This increase in the activity of the skin accounts for the decrease we -notice in the activity of the kidneys. (More urine is produced on cold -days when the perspiration is scanty than on hot summer days.) - -The lowering of the temperature in sleep is simply a result of inactivity, -not of sleep. - -We know that many pains, especially neuralgias, disappear in sleep. Many -of those ailments, however, are of a neurotic origin and constitute a -form of escape from reality. When reality has been practically abolished -by unconsciousness, they are no longer "needed." - -Experiments made on instructors of the University of Iowa who were kept -awake for ninety hours showed that the weight of the subjects increased -during the experiments, decreasing later when the subjects were allowed to -resume their natural life and to sleep. The increase was solely due to the -fact that during the experiments, the subjects were relieved of their -duties, remained idle in the psychological laboratory and hence consumed -less organic matter than if they had led an active life, preparing their -courses and teaching several hours a day. - -It has been stated many times that a form of motor paralysis sets in -during sleep. Yet we all know of the many motions performed by every -sleeper, turning from side to side, drawing or pushing away the bed -clothes, removing stimuli applied to the face, talking, not to mention, of -course, sleep walking. - -Sleep does not even mean complete muscular relaxation, for sentinels have -been observed who could sleep standing; some people sleep sitting up in -their chairs. Many animals, birds, bats, horses, sleep in positions which -make muscular relaxation impossible; when their balance is disturbed by -an observer, they re-establish it without awaking. Sleeping ducks keep on -paddling in circles to avoid drifting against dangerous shores, etc. - -In other words, there is not a part of our body which ceases in sleep to -perform its specific work. Our lungs continue to breathe, our heart to -send blood to all parts of the body, our glands secrete various chemicals; -we hear, smell and to a certain extent, see. The lowering of our eyelids -is simply a half-conscious effort to remove sight stimuli. Our nails and -hair continue to grow, although, for that matter, they do so for some time -even after death. - -Finally our mental activity does not cease during sleep. Wake up a sleeper -at any time and he will awaken _from a dream_. He may not be able to tell -that dream but he will know for sure that, not only was he dreaming, but -had been dreaming for a long while before awaking. - -Wherein, then, does sleep differ from waking life? - -Solely in the form of our mental activities. - -Sleep is not as Manacéine, the author of the most complete book on sleep, -stated: the resting time of consciousness. We do not withdraw our -attention completely from the environment in sleep. - -When we make up our minds, for instance, to wake up at a certain time, we -seldom fail to carry out our purpose. Which does not mean that we are -suddenly aroused out of our unconsciousness by something within ourselves, -but more probably that our attention has been concentrated all night on -certain stimuli indicating time, distant chimes, activities taking place -at a definite hour, and which we had noticed unconsciously, although they -may have escaped our conscious attention. It has even been suggested that -as respiration and pulse are more or less constant in rest, they are used -by the organism as unconscious time-registers. This is possibly one of the -phenomena due to the activity of the pituitary body in which may reside -the "sense of time" and which controls all the rhythms of the body. - -Jouffroy, Manacéine and Kempf have remarked that nursing mothers may sleep -soundly in spite of the disturbances which take place about them, but that -the slightest motion of their infant will awaken them. Many nurses not -only can wake up at regular intervals to administer a drug to their -patients, but, besides, can be aroused out of a sound sleep by a change in -the patient's breathing foreboding some danger. - -Our withdrawal of attention from reality follows the same curve as that -followed by the withdrawal of blood from the brain. - -Many experiments have been made to determine that curve and to sound the -depth of sleep. In one case a metallic ball was allowed to fall from -varying heights until the noise awakened the sleeper; in another case -electric currents of varying voltage were used to stimulate the subject, -etc. All experiments have yielded the same results: Sleep reaches its -lowest depth during the first two or three hours, _the average time being -shorter during the day than at night_. In the majority of subjects, the -greatest depth is reached about the end of the first hour. After the third -hour, sleep is easily disturbed, the more so as the usual awakening time -approaches. - -To conclude, we will say that sleep partakes of all the characteristics of -normal life, the only essential difference we can establish scientifically -being a greater withdrawal of attention from reality in normal sleep than -in normal waking life. - -We insist on using the terms _normal waking life_, for there are forms of -abnormal waking life in which attention is withdrawn as completely from -reality as it is in normal sleep. - -In the disease designated by psychiatrists as _dementia praecox_, the -patient may become entirely negative, some time regressing to the level -of the unborn child, and withdraw even more entirely from reality than the -sleeper who, without awaking, is conscious of certain stimuli and performs -certain actions showing a comprehension of their nature. - - - - -CHAPTER II: FATIGUE AND REST - - -What causes sleep? What causes us to withdraw partly our attention from -our environment? The answer: brain anaemia, is unsatisfactory for we may -ask in turn: what causes brain anaemia? - -A study of brain anaemia leads one to conclude that it coincides with the -usual sleeping period and that it is produced by sleep instead of -producing sleep. - -The large majority of laymen and scientists, however, give a much simpler -answer: we go to sleep because we are tired and need rest. - -Even as sleep and death have been coupled in the literature of all -nations, fatigue and sleepiness, rest and sleep have come to be generally -considered as synonymous. - -Fatigue, however, is as difficult to define scientifically as sleep. -Drawing a line between physical fatigue and mental fatigue does not -simplify the problem; on the contrary, it complicates it by positing it -wrongly. - -We know that there is no purely physical fatigue. Fatigue is only caused -in a very restricted measure by the accumulation of "fatigue" products or -the depletion of repair stocks. - -Under certain "mental" influences, our muscles can perform much more than -their usual "stint" without showing fatigue. Hypnotize a man and he will -do things he could not attempt in the waking state. He can lie rigid, -reposing on nothing but his neck and heels; he can even support in that -position the weight of a full-sized man. Men on the march can show -wonderful endurance provided their "spirits" are kept up by some form of -cheer, band music, etc. Ergograph observations show that signs of muscular -fatigue appear and disappear without any obvious "physical" reason. -Standardized motions which have been made almost automatic, tire us less -than conscious activity. - -We shall not deny that in certain cases fatigue may appear purely -"physical." When a continued expenditure of energy, walking, carrying -heavy burdens, has induced muscular soreness, the organism must cease -exerting itself for a while and recuperate. - -But relatively few people perform physical activities which actually wear -out the organism. - -Even then, if that form of exhaustion was conducive to sleep, the more -complete the exhaustion was, the deeper the sleep should be. - -Yet we know that people can be "too tired to sleep." - -This is easily explained through a consideration of a phenomenon known as -the "second wind" and which, before Cannon's observations on the chemistry -of the emotions, was rather mysterious. - -Athletes competing on the running track are often seen to falter and fall -back, apparently exhausted; after which, they suddenly seem to breathe -more freely, they overcome their limpness and start out on a fresh spurt -which may cause them to head off steadier runners. - -What happens in such a case is this: great physical exertion causes a form -of asphyxiation. Asphyxiation and the concomitant fear, liberate adrenin -which restores the tone of tired muscles and also glycogen (sugar) which -supplies the body with new fuel. - -If the exertion continues long enough to use up all these emergency -chemicals, the muscular relaxation necessary for sleep may be obtained. -Otherwise, the organism prepared for a struggle with reality, will not -lend itself to a flight from it. Although we are "worn out" we toss about -in our bed, try all possible sleeping positions and only sleep when the -energy which was supplied for a long struggle has been entirely burnt up. - -The majority of people, after all, busy themselves with tasks which do not -really deplete their stores of energy, but which prove monotonous. That -monotony is then interpreted as fatigue. - -In such cases, rest seems to be more easily attained through a change of -activity than through mere cessation of activity. - -A business man has been closeted in his office attending to many tedious -details, reading letters and answering them, etc., and by five o'clock he -feels "tired." He will then go home, change his day suit for evening wear, -attend a dinner at which he will do perhaps much talking, then watch -actors for three hours and feel "rested." - -Or at the end of a "heavy" week, he will gather up his golf outfit and -walk miles in the wake of a rubber ball. He returns to his work "rested," -although he has only exchanged one form of activity for other forms of -activity. Of actual "rest" he has had none. - -Children "tired" of sitting in a class room will romp wildly, shout at the -tops of their lungs, jostle and fight one another and return to meet their -teacher "rested." - -Undirected activity in the young, pleasurable activity in the adult do not -seem to make rest necessary, and in fact are a form of "rest." - -Egotistical gratification easily takes the place of rest. Heads of large -businesses have sometimes mentioned to me that they worked much harder -than some of their employés. Some of them kept on revolving commercial -schemes in their heads or attending business meetings long after their -office workers had left. "And yet," they added, "we are not complaining -about being tired." Nor were they as tired, after fifteen hours of "free -labor" as their employés were after six or eight hours of routine work -allowing them very little initiative and independence of action. - -Edison works eighteen hours a day and only "rests" through sleep some four -hours out of the twenty four. I wager that if he were put at work in his -own plant, under the direction of a foreman, performing regular, -monotonous tasks, he would break down under the strain of such long hours -and would have to "rest" twice as much as he does now. His work satisfies -him, and every new detail he perfects, every novelty he initiates, -vouchsafes him a powerful ego gratification. - -Napoleon, too, could perform incredible feats of muscular activity and -endurance after which four hours' sleep were sufficient to rest him. His -life was for many years a continuous round of ego gratifications, won at -the cost of great exertions, it is true, but proclaiming to him and the -world his almost unrestricted power and luck. - -One is forced to the conclusion that a desire for rest is a desire, not -for decreased activity but for increased activity. - -I shall make this point clear through a simile. The manufacturer who -"attends to business" must, in order to succeed, "concentrate" on a few -subjects and exclude all others from his mind. He may for a few hours -think of nothing but, let us say, a certain grade of woollens, certain -machinery, a certain customer and perhaps a certain engineer and some -financial problem connected with those four thoughts. He must therefore -exclude from his mind at the time, thoughts of playing golf, buying new -clothes, going to the theatre, renting an apartment, repairing his motor -car, thoughts of meals, women, card playing, and many other thoughts which -are clamouring for admission to consciousness because they all represent -human cravings. - -In his relaxed moments he will let all those other thoughts come to the -surface. Which means that, what tired him, was the fact that he had to -keep all those subjects down and allow only the other four to rise to -consciousness. - -Mental rest consists in admitting ideas pell mell into consciousness -without exercising any censorship on them. It consists in passing from a -reduced but directed mental activity to an increased but undirected mental -activity. - -In other words, rest is the free, normal, unimpeded functioning of the -vagotonic nerves which upbuild the body and assure the continuance of the -race. Ego and sex activities, mental and physical, are constantly -struggling for admission to consciousness and for their gratification. -They are held down, however, by the sympathetic nerves which play the part -of a safety device, moderating or inhibiting the vagotonic activities -whenever the latter might endanger the personality. - -Physical and mental rest, however, being easily attained through a change -of activities, cannot be entirely synonymous with sleep. Sleep takes place -mainly while we are resting, although we know of cases when sleep sets in -regardless of continued muscular activity, but sleep is not exactly -"rest." We do not sleep because we need rest. In many cases we can or -could rest very well, although in such cases sleep is an impossibility. - -What then induces sleep? The certainty that we can for a time relax our -watch on our environment; a feeling of perfect safety; the conscious or -unconscious knowledge that no danger threatens us. - -Our receptive contact with reality is attained through the action of our -vagotonic nerves which, as stated before, upbuild the body and assure the -continuance of the race. Our defensive contact, on the other hand is -attained through our sympathetic nerves which interrupt all the activities -which are not necessary for fight or flight. As long as some stimulus is -interpreted by those nerves as indicating a possible danger, we cannot -sleep, although we may, under the influence of terrifying fear, fall into -unconsciousness. - -A light flashed on our closed lids at night causes us to wake up because -sympathetic activities bid us to prepare for an emergency. A light burning -evenly in our bedroom and not too bright to cause physical pain, will, on -the other hand, allow us to sleep soundly because the constant character -of the stimulus does not cause us to expect any danger therefrom. - -A mouse rustling a bit of paper will wake us up, but trains passing in -front of our window at regular intervals, or the constant rumble of a -neighbouring power house will not prove a disturbance as soon as our -nerves have learnt to interpret those stimuli as harmless. - -Conversation with a dull, witless person, unlikely to best us in debate, -puts us to sleep. Argument with keen, sharp-minded people, who keep us on -the defensive, may lead to sleeplessness for the rest of the night. A dull -book in which nothing happens or is expected to happen, acts as a -soporific; we cannot close our eyes before we know the dénouement of a -thrilling piece of fiction. - -In other words, monotony transforms itself into a symbol of safety. Safety -does not require the muscular tension, the blood stream speed which the -organism needs in order to cope with possible emergencies. We "let go" and -no longer pay any close attention to our environment. We sleep. - - - - -CHAPTER III: THE FLIGHT FROM REALITY - - -Monotony symbolizing safety _enables_ us to withdraw our attention from -our environment, from a reality which we no longer fear, but it does not -_compel_ us to do so. There is in sleep a certain amount of compulsion -which is not accounted for by the mere monotony of environmental stimuli. -We go to sleep willingly but not entirely of our own free will. We yield -to sleep. - -A consideration of abnormal sleep states will help us considerably in -determining the actual cause of sleep. - -Abnormal states always throw a flood of light on normal states of which -they are only an exaggerated variety. The neurosis is the best magnifying -glass through which to watch normal life, provided of course that we -afterward reduce our observations to the proper scale. - -The average person sleeps from six to ten hours out of the twenty four, -some time between eight at night and ten in the morning. In abnormal -cases, on the other hand, we see the duration of sleep considerably -prolonged and the onset of sleepiness appearing at times when complete -wakefulness is usually the rule. - -The circumstances surrounding those abnormal cases are never pleasant. We -never hear of any one falling asleep while witnessing a very amusing play, -while in the company of a very interesting person or while busy with some -extremely attractive occupation. - -One incident from Napoleon's biography will make my meaning clear. During -his days of glory Napoleon never slept more than four or five hours out of -the twenty four. His physical and intellectual activities were prodigious. -He would, at times, ride on horseback for ten hours at a stretch, then -hold conferences with his staff until late into the night, then dictate -innumerable letters. Yet he did not feel tired or sleepy and a few hours -of sleep were sufficient to "relieve his fatigue." - -On the other hand, let us remember what happened after the battle of -Aspern, the first he lost after a series of seventeen victories: He fell -asleep after a long, unsuccessful struggle with drowsiness and for -thirty-six hours could not be aroused. - -His biographers also mention that when his life dream was shattered at -Waterloo and he was sent into exile on a remote island, he began to sleep -as many hours as the average, normal man. - -After Aspern and after Waterloo, reality had become such, that an escape -from it, via the unconsciousness of sleep, must have been welcome. That -the reaction of defeat must have been more keenly felt by the young man -who lost Aspern and who presented strong neurotic traits, than by the more -settled man who lost Waterloo, can be easily understood. - -Nansen in his Polar exile slept twenty hours a day. He certainly was not -in need of rest or recuperation, for his idleness was complete, but the -reality of ice and snow which kept him a prisoner, was one from which he -was glad to withdraw his attention. - -I personally observed two cases in which sudden fits of sleepiness could -be interpreted as an escape from reality. - -A gambler could go for several days and nights without sleep, _provided he -was winning_. After a heavy loss or a period during which his earnings -were offset by his losses, he would go to bed and sleep as much as four -days and four nights at a time, arising once or twice a day to partake of -some food and returning at once to his slumbers. - -A neurotic with a strong inferiority complex was overwhelmed by -sleepiness every time he encountered a defeat of a sexual or egotistic -nature. After a quarrel, or whenever a discussion in which he took part -turned to his disadvantage, he had to lie down and "sleep it off." - -This is probably the key to the enigma of Casper Hauser's case. He was -born in Germany at the beginning of the last century and brought up in -complete solitude, in a small dark room. At the age of seventeen, he had -never seen men, animals or plants, the sun, moon or stars. He then was -taken out of his cell, and abandoned on the streets of Nuremberg, dazed -and helpless. - -All the efforts made by kind Samaritans to develop his mentality proved -futile. They had only one result: to make him fall asleep. Accustomed for -years to the peace, quiet and safety of his cell, he reacted to a new, -troublesome and complicated environment as newly born infants do, who in -incredibly long periods of sleep, in no wise explainable through fatigue, -escape reality and return to the perfect happiness of the fetal state. - -In certain forms of the disturbance known as sleeping sickness, people -merge into a sleep which continues for weeks, months or even years, and -which sometimes culminates in death. (In many cases, however, the -sleepiness may be totally lacking.) - -The sleeping sickness was first observed some hundred years ago on the -West Coast of Africa and, since then, in an area of the African continent -extending from Senegal to the Congo. Negroes are almost the only -sufferers, although a few whites have been affected by this disease which, -at times, extends to large numbers of the population. - -According to various medical observers, the sleeping sickness usually -appears among slaves doing _arduous, exhausting work_. - -It is the individuals who stand lowest in intelligence who are most -severely affected. In communities where the mental development has been -retarded, imitation easily spreads the contagion and this is probably the -reason why entire villages are decimated by that curious malady. - -Whether the sleeping sickness is in certain cases induced by the bite of a -fly or appears without obvious physical cause is immaterial.[1] Paranoia -induced by syphilis is in no way different from ordinary paranoia. - -Hence we are justified in linking together certain aspects of the African -sleeping sickness and the lethargic ailment which affects the white races -in Europe and America. - -Both have the appearance of normal sleep, the only striking difference, -barring certain physical syndromes, being the unusual length of the -sleeping period or its onset at unusual and unexpected times. - -In white subjects, narcolepsy is seldom fatal but has been known to last -for years. - -The most famous case on record is probably that of Karoline Ollson -reported in a Salpétrière publication for 1912. - -Karoline Ollson was born in 1861 in a small town of Sweden. At the age of -14, at the onset of her menstruation, she once came home complaining of -toothache, went to bed and remained bedridden till 1908. For thirty-two -years she slept all day and all night, waking up now and then for a few -minutes, taking dim notice of happenings in her environment and speaking a -few words. Two glasses of milk a day seemed to be sufficient to sustain -her. She was kept for a fortnight in a hospital from which she was -discharged when her ailment was diagnosed as "hysteria." - -When her mother died in 1905 she woke up and wept as long as the corpse -remained in the house. Then she became quiet again and resumed her -slumbers. In April, 1908, when her menstruation stopped, she woke up, left -her bed and has led a normal life since. - -Dr. Toedenström who describes the case states that she looked incredibly -young. Two weeks after she left her bed she had become strong enough to -take charge of the household. - -Stekel, discussing this strange case in one of his lectures, said: "This -woman spent the entire time of her womanhood in sleep, for she fell asleep -at the time of her first menstruation period and her awakening coincided -with her climacteric. She was a child and wished to remain a child. The -first question she asked on arising, 'Where is mama?' shows that she was -suffering from psychic infantilism. It is probable that dreams of -childhood filled her thirty-year sleep and she may even have dreamt that -she was still an unborn child for whom life had not yet begun." - -Medical literature contains many reports of freakish cases in which the -subject falls asleep suddenly, while attending to duties of an -uninteresting character; a young waiter, for instance, falling asleep -while waiting on a table, remaining absolutely motionless for a whole -minute and then waking up and resuming his work. Manacéine mentions two -similar cases she observed personally. Both patients were illiterate and -of slow intellect. One of them, a housemaid of nineteen, was a sound -sleeper at night and yet, in the day time, one could never be sure of her -remaining awake. She fell asleep once in the act of announcing a visitor -and while bringing in a tray loaded with cups of coffee. The other was a -woman of fifty, who was employed as a nurse until one day, falling asleep -suddenly, she dropped an infant on the floor and almost killed him. In -both the pulse was remarkably slow (a vagotonic symptom): in the girl it -varied from 50 to 70 when awake, in the older woman from 40 to 60. - -An epidemic of sleeping fits, lasting only a few minutes at a time, raged -for several years in a small German town near Würzburg. The attacks took -place at any moment and were liable to leave the patient immobilized in -some curious position. It was the weaker part of the population, -physically and mentally, which was affected by that curious trouble, -apparently transmitted from parents to children, probably, as all neurotic -complaints are, through imitation. - -Stekel considers hysterical and epileptic fits as forms of morbid sleep -during which hysterics gratify sexual cravings and epileptics sadistic -cravings. - -This is how Dr. Isador Abrahamson describes, from recent cases observed at -Mount Sinai Hospital, the course of lethargic encephalitis which is one of -the scientific names coined to designate the sleeping sickness: - -"At the onset of the disease, there is a period of variable duration in -which the patient experiences increasing difficulty in attending to his -work. Next a time of yawning ensues, in which there may be also the -_irritability of the overtired_. Then the eyes close, _chiefly from lack -of interest_.... (The patient's) pulse, temperature, and respiration may -all be of a normal character.... From the depth of this seeming slumber, -he may respond immediately when questioned and his _short but coherent -answers_ show _no loss either of memory or of orientation_.... His answer -given, he straightway resumes his seeming sleep.... _His attitude -expresses a desire to be let alone_, a desire which is sometimes -articulate in him.... The somnolence may deepen into a stupor from which -the patient is not easily aroused to conscious repose.... In the night -watches ... a restless delirium of inconstant severity often appears. -Spontaneous movements and sounds are made. The movements are purposeful -graspings and pointings at unseen things, tossings and turnings...." - -The author adds in another part of his article that "The depth of the -somnolence and also its duration are unrelated to the severity of the -cerebral lesions.... _The extent of the mental disturbance bears no -correspondence to the extent of the lesions_, the amount of fever or the -blood picture...." [Italics mine.] - -We have a perfect picture of a flight from reality into a somnolence into -which the unconscious complexes force at times a terrifying presentation -of the dreaded reality through nightmares. - -The few cases of sleeping sickness reported in recent medical literature -show a decided neurotic trend in the subjects affected and reveal -circumstances in the patient's life which would make a flight from reality -highly desirable. - -One typical case reported to me by a Boston physician who personally -considers the sleeping sickness as being "unquestionably an acute organic -disease of the cerebro-spinal system" has all the earmarks of a neurotic -affection: - -"The patient, a middle aged woman lost a child she loved dearly one year -and a half before the onset of the disease. The circumstances of the -child's death were particularly sad as the mother was not allowed to visit -the little sufferer at the hospital on account of the contagious character -of his disease. She also felt disturbing doubts as to the competence of -the first physician who attended her child. - -"She had been 'nervous and run down' since the child's death. She is -married to a cripple twenty years her senior. She had to go to work in -order to help support the household and to live with relatives of her -husband's who did not contribute to the pleasantness of her home life." - -Have we not here all the environmental conditions which would drive a -neurotic to withdraw his attention from reality through a protracted -period of sleep? - -From the fact that I have instituted a comparison between sleep and the -sleeping sickness, the reader should not draw the conclusion that I -attribute to sleep any neurotic character. - -Sleep is a compromise, as I shall show later, when discussing dream life, -between what the human animal was meant to do and what it can do in -reality. - -The neurosis, also is a compromise, but it is a compromise that fails, -while sleep is a compromise which is successful, beneficial and acceptable -to all. - - - - -CHAPTER IV: HYPNOGOGIC AND HYPNOPOMPIC VISIONS - - -The curve of sleep depth shows that our withdrawal from reality is not -sudden but gradual. The transition from wakefulness to sleep is -characterized at first by blurred visions, colours, shapes, moving objects -with a scarcely defined outline, and immediately after by curiously -symbolical visions, known as hypnogogic visions. - -Those phenomena are difficult to study for they are forgotten by the end -of the night. The observer has to train himself to wake up after a few -minutes of unconsciousness, a result which is achieved without difficulty -after a few trials. - -The first visions of the night are in every subject I have asked and in -myself, symbolical of the passage from one state to another. One -hypnogogic vision I have had many times is of wading slowly into a lake or -the sea, until the water reaches to the middle of my body after which I -start swimming.[2] - -One night when I had a little difficulty in falling asleep my hypnogogic -vision represented a truckman looking like myself whipping a team of -horses hitched to a big load who were crossing a very high bridge leading -from the city into the open. - -Another night, after seeing the "Follies," I dreamt that the police was -trying vainly to quell a disturbance and that the rioters succeeded in -placing their own police in charge of the disturbance. The newcomers were -attired like the front row girls of the Follies. No more symbolical -picture of the whole nervous situation could be found. The day's -repressions being gradually replaced by the "follies" of dreamland. - -Not only is the passage from reality into dreamland thus symbolized by -appropriate representation but the mental work of reality gradually merges -with the mental work of the sleeping state. - -Thoughts of the day merge directly with the dream thoughts. There is no -gap between waking thoughts and sleeping thoughts. This has been -demonstrated by Silberer's experiments. - -"The very first dream," Silberer says, "visualizes, dramatises and -interprets the very last waking thought." - -1st EXAMPLE: "I applied some boric ointment to the mucous of my nose -before retiring to relieve a painful dryness." - -DREAM: "I see some one offering money to some one else. Only I notice that -it is my right hand which is putting money into my left hand." - -INTERPRETATION: "I have often thought that this medication did not help my -nose trouble but simply concealed it. The action is therefore presented as -illusory help." - -2nd EXAMPLE: "I am thinking of a dramatic scene in which a character would -intimate a certain fact to another character without putting the thought -into words." - -DREAM: "One man is offering to another man a hot metallic cup." - -INTERPRETATION: "The cup transmits an impression of heat which has not to -be expressed through spoken words." - -3rd EXAMPLE: "I try to remember something which in my sleepy state eludes -me." - -DREAM: "I apply for information to a grouchy clerk who refuses to impart -it to me. The interpretation is obvious." - -4th EXAMPLE: "I think that many simple arguments could be brought forth to -prove some thesis of mine." - -DREAM: "A drove of white horses moves downward through my field of vision. -Interpretation obvious." - -Likewise sleeping thoughts gradually merge with waking thoughts in the -moments preceding awakening. - -The last dreams of the night or hypnopompic visions generally dramatize -our awakening in picturesque, symbolical fashion. - -Here are several examples collected by Silberer from observations on -himself: - -"I return to my home with a party of people, take leave of them at the -door and enter." - -"After visiting some place, I drive home along the same road which lead me -there." - -"One morning I woke up and decided to doze off for another half hour: I -dreamt then that I was locked up in a house and I woke up saying: 'I must -have the lock broken open.'" - -In hypnopompic visions we generally enter a house, a forest, a dark valley -or take a train or a boat, or we fall (see typical dreams). - - - - -CHAPTER V: WHERE DREAMS COME FROM - - -To sleep does not mean "perchance to dream," but to dream from the very -second when we close our eyes to the time when we open them again. - -"But I never dream," some one will surely say. - -To which I will answer: Make experiments on yourself or some one else. -Have some one wake you up fifty times or a hundred times in one night. -Repeat the experiment as many nights as your constitution will allow and -every time you wake up, you will wake up with the clear or confused memory -of some dream. - -Most people forget their dreams as they forget their waking thoughts. -Unless some very striking idea came to my mind yesterday afternoon, I am -likely to be embarrassed if some one asks me: "What were you thinking of -yesterday afternoon?" - -We shall see in another chapter that our dream thoughts are not in any way -different from our waking thoughts, and that unless they have a special -meaning there is no reason why they should obsess us more than our waking -thoughts do. - -In fact, a remembered dream is as important as an obsessive idea and has -the same meaning. Thousands of futile dreams dreamt in one night may not -leave a deeper impression on our "mind" than thousands of futile thoughts -which flit through our consciousness in one day. - -Before considering the origin of dreams I must restate briefly a -proposition which I have discussed at length in _Psychoanalysis and -Behaviour_, the indivisibility of the human organism. - -The words physical and mental are lacking in any real meaning and there is -no physical manifestation which it not inseparably linked with some -psychic phenomenon. Emotions, secretions and attitudes may be studied -separately for the sake of convenience, but in reality there cannot be any -emotion which is not unavoidably accompanied by a secretion and betrayed -by some attitude, nor can there be any attitude which is not accompanied -by a secretion and interpreted by some emotion. - -This must be constantly borne in mind when we attempt to answer the -question: Where do dreams come from? - -If dreams "come from the stomach" why should distressed minds seek refuge -in them? If they are purely psychic phenomena, what relief can they afford -to our dissatisfied body? - -We shall not deny that a full bladder may at times induce urination -dreams, that a full stomach may at times conjure up anxiety visions in -which heavy masses oppress us, or that long continence and the consequent -accumulation of sexual products may be at times responsible for sexual -dreams. - -What the physical theory of dreams, most scientifically and -conscientiously expounded by the Scandinavian Mourly Vold, will not -explain, however, is that, in one subject, a urination dream may be a -pleasurable visualization of relief, leading to continued sleep and, in -another, an anxiety episode, picturing frustrated gratification and ending -in an unpleasant awakening. A heavy dinner may people one sleeper's -visions with large animals treading his stomach, and cause another to -dream of vomiting fits which relieve the pressure of food. - -In one sleeper, sexual desire evokes libidinous visions, in another, -terrifying scenes of violence. - -On the other hand, the very close relation observed in thousands of cases -between the sleeper's dreams and his physical condition, invalidates any -theory which would revert more or less literally to the belief held in -ancient times that dreams were purely psychic phenomena, visions sent by -the gods. - -Maury whose book, "Sleep and Dreams," published in 1865, was probably the -first serious attempt at deciphering the enigma of dream thoughts, had -various experiments performed on himself to determine what dreams would be -brought forth by physical stimuli. - -He was tickled with a feather on the lips and nostrils. He dreamt that a -mask of pitch was applied to his face and then pulled off, tearing the -skin. - -A pair of tweezers was held close to his ear and struck with a metallic -object. He heard the tolling of bells and thought of the revolutionary -days of 1848. - -A bottle of perfume was held to his nose. He dreamt of the East and of a -trip to Egypt. - -A lighted match was held close to his nostrils. He dreamt that he was on a -ship whose magazine had exploded. - -A pinch on the back of the neck suggested the application of a blister and -evoked the memory of a family physician. - -A sensation of heat made him dream that robbers had entered the house and -were compelling the inmates to reveal where their money was hidden by -scorching the soles of their feet. - -Words were pronounced aloud. He attributed them to some people with whom -he had been talking in his dreams. - -A drop of water was allowed to fall on his forehead. He dreamt that he was -in Italy, feeling very hot and drinking wine. - -A red light suggested to him a storm at sea. - -Struck on the neck, he dreamt that he was a revolutionist, arrested, -tried, sentenced to death and guillotined. - -I have had some of Maury's experiments repeated on myself and the -connection between the physical stimulus and the content of the dream -leaves no doubt as to the direct relation between the two. On the other -hand, the reader will notice that the same stimuli applied to Maury and to -me produced absolutely different results. Compare my first and second -experiments with his first and third. - -1. I was tickled on the nose with a feather. I dreamt that I was entering -a forest and that branches and leaves were brushing against my face. I -made an effort to push them away with my hand. (I had taken a ride through -Central Park that very day). - -2. A bottle of perfume was held open under my nose. - -I dreamt of a landscape with thick clouds and mist to the left. Two dark -figures carrying grips were hurrying toward the right where there seemed -to be open fields, flowers, and sunlight. (The day preceding the dream had -been cloudy.) - -3. My nose was stroked with a piece of paper. - -I dreamt I met a certain writer who asked me whether another writer had -seen a certain lady and her daughter. I answered rather indifferently and -went on my way. Then I saw either the other writer or myself seated before -a window and showing a tall gaunt woman and another indistinct figure, -either Japanese prints or some manuscript, and I woke up. - -(The day preceding the dream I had revised a manuscript for a woman and -also spoken of one of the two writers.) - -4. Cold steel was applied to my throat. - -I dreamt that a cold wind was blowing; I tried to turn up my overcoat -collar and woke myself up. - -Carl Dreher has devised an apparatus which can be set to throw flashes of -light at a given time during the night and then wakes him up by means of a -buzzer. The flashes have translated themselves in many cases into -interesting visions: In one dream the last picture seen before the alarm -went off was that of a building in front of which stood very white marble -columns standing on a background of intense black. On another occasion -extremely bright green snakes hung from trees, the space between the -snakes being very dark. On another occasion he was talking to a girl who -declares herself to be "intermittently in love." In another dream, he saw -himself operating a moving picture machine which threw flashes on the -screen regardless of whether he opened or closed the switch. After many -such experiments, he saw his apparatus in a dream and woke up without -having been directly affected by the light. - -In this last dream we have a case of dream insight, the dreamer refusing -to pay any attention to a stimulus which has become familiar. This -explains the phenomenon of adaptation to stimuli. People whose bedroom is -near some source of regular constant noise can sleep in spite of that -stimulus for their nervous system no longer translates it into fear; nor -has it to interpret it lest it might create fear. - -Every one of the dreams thus produced artificially were closely related to -experiences of the day before and to some of the dreamer's memories and -complexes. - -The dreamer's unconscious was merely stimulated by the light flashes to -express itself through images including an allusion to those flashes. - -In other words, the physical stimulus, be it an impression made upon one -of the sense organs or an inner secretion, is interpreted by the sleeper -according to the ideas which dominate the sleeper's mind at the time, -memories of recent experiences or obsessive ideas. - -Which means that the personality of the dreamer expresses itself through -his dreams. We need not heed Pythagoras' warning against eating beans. It -is not the stimulus that counts; it is the end result. And the end result -seems to depend from the memories which have accumulated in our autonomic -nerves. - -Freud compares the dream work to a promoter who could never carry out his -brilliant ideas if he could not draw upon funds accumulated elsewhere (in -the unconscious). - -Silberer says that the appearance of a dream is like the outbreak of a -war. There is a popular tendency among the ignorant to attribute a war to -some superficial, visible cause, disagreement, insult, invasion. The real -causes, however, are much deeper and lie not only in the present but in -the past as well. - - - - -CHAPTER VI: CONVENIENCE DREAMS - - -Some of the hypnogogic visions and experimental dreams I have mentioned -contradict the wide-spread belief that sound sleep is untroubled by -dreams. - -The hypnagogic vision I have so often, that I wade into a body of water -and finally start swimming, only adds one more pleasant feature to my -escape from reality. Swimming is really my favourite sport. - -When my nose was tickled and I interpreted the stimulus as foliage -brushing my face on entering a forest, that vision was not meant to awaken -me, but on the contrary to keep me asleep by explaining away the tickling -sensation and removing any sense of fear which would have compelled me to -take notice once more of reality and protect myself. - -Such dreams have been designated as convenience dreams. - -Dreams of urination can be considered as typical convenience dreams. In -the morning, when the pressure of urine on the walls of the bladder -becomes stronger, dreams build up a convenient explanation around that -unpleasant stimulus. Our wish to urinate is either represented as -gratified or we are shown the impossibility of gratifying it (no toilet, -doors locked, people looking, etc.). Unless the pressure is absolutely -unbearable, we generally sleep on, satisfied or discouraged by such -convenience dreams. - -Freud tells in his "Interpretation of Dreams" of a striking convenience -dream of his and of a variation it underwent on one occasion: "If in the -evening I eat anchovies, olives or any other strongly salted food, I -become thirsty at night, whereupon I awaken. The awakening, however, is -preceded by a dream, which, each time has the same content, namely that I -am drinking. The dream serves a function, the nature of which I soon -guess. If I succeed in assuaging my thirst by means of a dream that I am -drinking, I need not wake up in order to satisfy that need. The dream -substitutes itself for action, as elsewhere in life. This same dream -recently appeared in modified form. On this occasion I became thirsty -before going to bed and emptied the glass of water which stood on a chest -near my bed. Several hours later in the night, came a new attack of -thirst, accompanied by discomfort. In order to obtain water I would have -had to get up and fetch the glass which stood on a chest near my wife's -bed. I appropriately dreamt that my wife was giving me to drink from a -vase, an Etruscan cinerary urn. But the water in it tasted so salty, -apparently from the ashes, that I had to wake up." - -On a chilly summer night a woman patient had the following dream: - -"A man took me in a canoe to the middle of a lake and upset the canoe, -saying: 'Now you belong to me.'" - -She woke up shivering. - -The lake, the canoe upset and the man in the dream were associated with -many conscious thoughts and memories of hers. But this was mainly a -convenience dream, which endeavoured to explain away the chilliness of the -night through an appropriate scene. When the unavoidable awakening took -place it was dramatized, as it is in so many cases of awakening, through a -fall accompanied by a certain fear of death. - -The few examples I have given and which could be multiplied, tend to show -that the dream, far from being a disturber of sleep, is sleep's best -protector. - -It seeks to explain away physical stimuli which might cause the sleeper to -awake and it visualizes many reasons for not experiencing the fear -usually connected with a certain stimulus. - -In every convenience dream which I have analysed, I have found a close -connection between the image conjured up by the dream work and the ideas -generally occupying the dreamer's mind in his waking states. - -In almost every case it could also be noticed that the convenience dream -made use of some experience or observation of the previous waking state, -which increases the plausibility of the dream's visualization. - - - - -CHAPTER VII: DREAM LIFE - - -The life we lead in our dreams, especially in healthy, pleasant dreams, is -simpler and easier than our waking life. - -We obliterate distance and transport ourselves wherever our fancy chooses; -our strength is herculean; we defy the law of gravitation and rise or soar -with or without wings; we brave law and custom; we abandon all modesty and -make ourselves the centre of the world, which is OUR world, not any one -else's world. - -The simplification of life is attained in dreams through three processes, -visualization, condensation and symbolization. - -The dream is always a vision. Other sensations than visual ones may be -experienced in dreams but they are only secondary elements. - -In other words, we may now and then hear sounds, perceive odours, etc., -but the dream is based primarily on a scene which is perceived visually, -not on sounds, odours, etc., now and then accompanied by a visual -perception. - -In fact we seldom hear sounds in our dreams, unless they are actual -sounds produced in our immediate environment; the people who address us in -dreams do not actually emit sounds but seem to communicate their thought -to us directly without any auditory medium. Seldom do we taste or smell -things in dreams. - -On the other hand, we translate every stimulus reaching our senses in -sleep, be it sound, taste, smell, touch, into a visual presentation. This -process is to be compared to the gesticulation of primitive individuals -who attempt to visualize everything they describe, indicating the length, -height, bulk of objects through more or less appropriate mimic and who -convey the idea of a bad odour by holding their nose, of pleasing food, by -rubbing their stomach, etc. - -The dramatization of every thought and every problem follows the line of -least effort. And this explains the popularity of the movies, the -enjoyment of which does not presuppose on the part of the audience any -capacity to conceive abstract ideas. - -Movie audiences are undoubtedly the least intelligent aggregations of -people. They are not _told_ that a crime has been committed, they are -_shown_ the crime while it is being committed. Captions warn them of what -they are going to see, that they may not misunderstand the meaning of any -scene. The movie, like our unconscious, translates every thought into a -visual sensation, and when a psychological change cannot very well be -visualized, for instance when the villain decides not to kill the ingenue, -the fact is flashed on the screen in large type. - -Pleasures of the eye are probably stronger and simpler than those -vouchsafed by other sensory organs.[3] The most uninteresting parade will -attract thousands of people, many more for instance, than free concerts in -the open. Illustrated lectures appeal to more people than lectures without -illustrations. Displays in shop windows, picturesque signs, possess a -greater selling power than the best advertising copy. - -In our waking life, we express our thoughts to ourselves and others -through the algebra of abstract concepts. We speak of length, height, -volume, weight, hardness, coldness, etc. It is doubtful, however, whether -we can imagine length without thinking specifically of something long. In -our dreams, the concept length disappears and is always replaced by -something long. - -We notice that abstract thinking is more tiresome than descriptive -thinking, that abstract facts demand more exertion in order to be grasped, -than concrete facts. A philosopher expounding his theories to an audience -tires himself and the audience quicker than an explorer would, describing -his travels and possibly illustrating his talk by means of lantern slides. - -Dream life is further simplified through condensation. This process is the -one through which, in waking life, we reach generalizations. When we think -of a house we select the essential characteristics of the various houses -we have seen, the properties wherein a house essentially differs from, let -us say, a bird or a river. In our dreams, condensation is less subtle and -more directly based upon our experience. - -We combine several persons into one, selecting as a rule the most striking -features of every one of them. We may see a dream character with the eyes -of one person, the nose of another and the beard of a third one. - -Freud having made one proposal to two different men, Dr. M. and his -brother, the former having a beard and the latter being clean shaven and -suffering from hip trouble, combined them in a dream in a figure which -looked like Dr. M., but was beardless and limped. - -One of Ferenczi's patients dreamt of a monster with the head of a -physician, the body of a horse and draped in a nightgown. - -Silberer dreamt of an animal which had the head of a tiger and the body of -a horse. - -This is a process similar to the one which in the infancy of the race gave -birth to strange composite gods and mythological creatures like the -Assyrian bull a combination of man's intelligence, the bull's strength and -the bird's power of flight, the various Egyptian deities in whom the -process was reversed, for so many had the heads of animals and the bodies -of men, the satyrs and syrens, combining respectively man and goat, woman -and fish, Pegasus, the winged horse, etc. - -Finally, dream life is simplified through the symbolic representation of -human beings or inanimate things. - -In symbolization, one striking characteristic of some complicated object -is isolated from the others and some other object with only one -characteristic substituted for it. Slang is made up of such -symbolizations. Think of the expression "bats in the belfry," in which the -complicated human head is replaced by an architectural detail much simpler -in character and occupying in an edifice the same position which the head -occupies in human anatomy. Then, instead of describing absurd ideas, of a -sinister colouring, without definite direction, we simply visualize queer -creatures, half bird and half mouse, flitting about blindly. - -Instead of explaining that the central figure of the christian religion is -a godlike creature who died crucified, we select the most striking detail -of the Passion, the cross, which to the initiated and uninitiated alike -signifies christianity. In many cases we do not even represent the cross -as that instrument of torture really looked but we simplify it, we -symbolize it, by using a conventional design in which the proportion -between the cross pieces has been entirely disregarded. - -Symbolization is a reduction of an object to one essential detail which -has struck us as more important than the others. - -A child will designate a watch as a "tick-tick," a dog as a "bow-wow," -because to his simple mind, ticking and barking are the essential -characteristics of a watch and a dog. - -In dreams, we simplify the concept of the body and often represent it by a -house. The authority vested in the father and mother causes them often to -be symbolized by important personages, etc. - -Without any more explanation, I shall sum up the various dream symbols -whose selection is easily understood. - -Birth is often symbolized by a plunge into water or some one climbing out -of it or rescuing some one from the water. - -Death is represented by taking a journey, being dead, by darksome -suggestions. - -A great many symbols in dreams are sexual symbols. The figure 3, all -elongated or sharp objects, such as sticks, umbrellas, knifes, daggers, -revolvers, plowshares, pencils, files, objects from which water flows, -faucets, fountains, animals such as reptiles and fishes, in certain cases -hats and cloaks are used to represent the male sex. - -The female sex is symbolized on the contrary by hollow objects, pits, -caves, boxes, trunks, pockets, ships. - -The breasts are represented by apples, peaches and fruits in general, -balconies, etc. - -Fertility is symbolized by ploughed fields, gardens, etc. - -I have shown in another book, "Psychoanalysis, Its History, Theory and -Practice," that symbols are absolutely universal and that the folklore of -the various races and of the various centuries draws upon the same -material for the purpose of simplified representation. Differences in -climate, fauna and flora are purely superficial. Dwellers of the Polar -regions are not likely to compare anything to a palm tree which they have -never seen, nor will tropical races symbolize coldness through snowfields. - -Experiments made by Dr. Karl Schrötter have confirmed Freud's and Jung's -theories of symbolization in dreams. To the uninitiated and sceptical, -dream symbols generally appear rather ludicrous fancies and not a few -opponents of psychoanalysis hold that symbols were resorted to by analysts -unable to read an obvious wish fulfilment in every dream. - -Schrötter hypnotized his patients, then suggested to them a dream outline, -ordering them also to indicate through an appropriate gesture when the -dream would begin and end. This enabled him, by the way, to record the -duration of every dream.[4] - -He then awakened the subject and made him tell his dream. - -One of his patients, a woman drawing toward middle age, who had been -greatly upset when she learnt that the man she loved was suffering from -syphilis, was asked to have a dream symbolizing her state of mind. Here is -the vision she had: - -"I am walking through a forest on an autumn day. The path is steep and I -feel chilly. Some one whom I cannot distinguish is near me. I only feel -the touch of a hand. I am very thirsty. I would like to slake my thirst at -a spring but there is a sign on the spring that means poison: a skull and -cross bones." - -The fancy is rather poetical and this example is quite typical of the -symbolization of our life's incidents by the dream work. - -A patient with a strong resistance to the analytic method saw me in a -dream "carrying a fake refrigerator full of make-believe meats, vegetables -and fruits." - -The interpretation is obvious. I am carrying in a deceptive way an -assortment of ideas which can be of no use to any one. - -The refrigerator implies that the ideas are not even new but old and -stale. - -The patient's repressions were such that, although the dream struck him as -strange and he remembered it several months, he was unable to puzzle out -its meaning. It expressed his mental state at the time and yet having made -up his mind not to doubt me or the analytic treatment, he become unable -to accept any disparaging thought consciously. - -Unconsciously, however, he expressed his doubts in most striking symbolism -which he did not himself understand. - -This should be borne in mind if we wish to understand the psychology of -nightmares. For in nightmares we may express a wish through a symbol which -expresses it fittingly, but which we do not understand and which, on that -account, may frighten us. - -Let those who sneer at the study of symbols watch some of the attitudes -assumed by insane people[5] who have reached the lowest level of -deterioration. Let them see a picture published in the issue of the -_Journal of Mental and Nervous Disease_ for January, 1920, and which -represents a hospital patient who has reached the lowest degree of -infantilism. The patient hung herself in a blanket attached to a nail in -front of a window. There she spent her days in the characteristic attitude -of the unborn child in the womb. - -Everything in that attitude was symbolical of her regression to, not only -infancy, but the prenatal condition. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII: WISH FULFILMENT - - -An evening paper published recently a cartoon showing a kiddie in bed who -asks his mother: "What makes me dream?"--"You eat too much meat," the -mother answers. The next scene is laid in the kitchen where the mother -finds her child ransacking the ice box for meat. - -Parents could testify to the illustrator's knowledge of the childish soul. -Children like to dream and Freud's statement that every dream contains the -fulfilment of some wish is confirmed by the dreams of healthy children. - -Children attain in their sleep visions the simple pleasures which are -denied them in their waking states. - -Freud's little daughter, three and a half years old, being kept one day on -a rather strict diet, owing to some gastric disturbance, was heard to call -excitedly in her sleep: "Anna Freud, strawberry, huckleberry, omelette, -pap." - -On one occasion she was taken across a lake and enjoyed the trip so much -that she cried bitterly at the landing when compelled to leave the boat. -The next morning she told the family a dream in which she had been -sailing on the lake. - -Freud's little nephew, Hermann, aged twenty-one months, was once given the -task of offering his uncle, as a birthday present, a little basket full of -cherries. He performed that duty rather reluctantly. The following day he -awakened joyously with the information which could only have been derived -from a dream: "Hermann ate all the cherries." - -The _London Times_ of Nov. 8, 1919, had a report of a lecture by Dr. C. W. -Kimmins, chief inspector of the London Education Committee, on the -significance of children's dreams. He based his statements on the written -records of the dreams of 500 children between the ages of eight and -sixteen years. - -Up to the age of ten, dreams of eating predominated, but their number fell -off after ten, when dreams of visits to the country began to increase. -Dreams of presents and eating at all ages from eight to fourteen, were -much more frequent with children of the poorer classes that with those -from well-to-do districts and there was an appreciable increase of their -number about Christmas time. Retrospective dreams were very uncommon among -all children. - -Obvious wish fulfilment dreams were less common among boys than among -girls, the proportion being respectively twenty-eight and forty-two per -cent. - -Boys below ten had more fear dreams than girls of the same age. In both -sexes it was some "old man" who terrified the dreamers. Both sexes -suffered equally from the fear of animals, lions, tigers and bulls in the -case of the boys, dogs, rats, snakes and mice in the case of the girls. - -From ten to fifteen a falling off in the number of fear dreams was very -noticeable among boys, whereas among girls it rather increased. - -That increase was especially striking among girls of 16 and over, who were -generally frightened by animals and strange men and women. - -When school life played a part in children's dreams it was more frequently -the playgrounds than the classrooms which were visualized. - -The war affected boys' more than girls' dreams. The dreaming boy was a -valorous fighter, mentioned in dispatches, rewarded with the Victoria -Cross, thanked personally by the King; or he returned home wildly cheered -by crowds. - -Girls, thirteen or over, saw themselves as Red Cross nurses, but no such -dreams were observed in girls below ten. - -Normal, healthy children delighted in dreaming and telling their dreams -with a wealth of detail. - -Dr. Kimmins mentioned that, while the dreams of school children were -generally easy to interpret, the dreams of students from 18 to 22 "were so -heavily camouflaged that it would be impossible for any one who was not a -trained expert in psychoanalysis to deal with them satisfactorily." - -We can see how the repression made necessary by life conditions in modern -communities slowly but surely transforms the obvious wish-fulfilment -dreams of children into the symbolical and often distressing visions of -the adult. The development of sexuality in boys and girls and the -repression to which it is submitted explains easily the proportion of fear -dreams in girls and boys. - -Sexual talk and sexual curiosity are more common among boys than girls and -therefore occupy the boys' minds more constantly than the girls' minds. On -the other hand, many of the boys above sixteen find forms of sexual -satisfaction of which the girls of the same age are deprived. Fear dreams -are therefore more frequent among growing girls, being simply a symbolical -form of sexual gratification. - -The dreams of adults are far from being as uniformly pleasurable as those -of young and healthy children. - -A few of them are frankly pleasant; most of them are apparently -indifferent and a few of them frankly unpleasant. - -The pleasant dreams of the adults require as little interpretation as -those of children and are obviously the fulfilment of conscious or -unconscious wishes. - -A patient of mine, camping in the woods alone, dreamt during a rainy night -that some of his friends were camping with him, that one of them had gone -to a neighbouring inn to secure better accommodations and finally that he -was in his own bed at home. - -Nordenskjold in his book "The Antarctic," published in 1904, mentions that -during the winter which he spent in the polar wilderness, his dreams and -those of his men "were more frequent and more vivid than they had ever -been before. They all referred to the outer world which was so far from -us.... Eating and drinking formed the central point around which most of -our dreams were grouped. One of us, who was fond of going to big dinner -parties, was exceedingly glad when he could report in the morning that he -had had a three course dinner. Another dreamed of tobacco, mountains of -it; still another dreamed of a ship approaching on the open sea under full -sail. Still another dream deserves mention: the postman brought the mail -and gave a long explanation of why he had to wait so long.... One can -readily understand why we longed for sleep. IT ALONE COULD GIVE US ALL THE -THINGS WHICH WE MOST ARDENTLY DESIRED." [Capitals mine.] - -Other dreams of wish-fulfilment appear at first glance either indifferent -or absurd. Interpreted according to the technique outlined in Chapter -XVII, however, they soon yield a meaning which is rather convincing. - -The following dream, recorded by a patient, would not lead the -inexperienced interpreter to suspect the sinister death wish which it is -meant to express in an indirect way. - -"I was visiting a factory and saw Charles working as a glassblower." - -Charles was the first name of a wealthy man who seduced a girl with whom -the dreamer was in love. The wealthy man is reduced to the condition of a -working man. The patient's unconscious association to _glass blower_ -proved to be _consumption_. The patient had once read statistics showing -that a large number of glassblowers died from that disease. A very neatly -concealed death wish. - -In other cases the death wish, while obvious in the manifest dream -content, appears absurd and may cause the patient some anxiety. One of -Ferenczi's patients, who was extremely fond of dogs, dreamt that she was -choking a little white dog to death. - -Word associations brought out the memory of a relative with an unusually -_pallid_ face whom she had recently ordered out of her house, saying later -that she would not have such a snarling _dog_ about her. It was that -white-faced woman, not a white dog, whose neck she wished to wring. - -Here is another example in which the wish fulfilment is cleverly -concealed. - -"I am standing on a hill with Albert and somebody else. Bombs are falling -about us. One of them strikes his car which is destroyed."[6] - -The patient, a woman, is in love with Albert and enjoys greatly riding -with him in his car. Why should she wish to see it wrecked? - -The key to the enigma was given by the associations to the "somebody -else." The somebody else was another woman whom Albert had taken to ride -on several occasions and of whom my patient was very jealous. By -destroying the car, the jealous woman was putting an end to the rides -which had especially aroused her jealousy. - -The following dream seems rather unpleasant without being however an -actual nightmare. - -DREAM: I heard a noise downstairs and went to investigate. Upon reaching -the bottom of the stairs, I found a man lying on the floor with his coat -off and drunk. Later he was hiding from me and running about the house. -The man was captured and brought back by another man who cross-examined -him. The other man made excuses for the thief and said he probably -intended to steal but as he had a toothache he had sought the cellar and -drunk to deaden the pain. To prove his explanations he opened the thief's -mouth and pointed to a large cavity in one tooth. - -INTERPRETATION: The patient who brought me the dream was a young woman -who, at the time, was worrying lest her husband should discover an -indiscretion she had committed in her own house. The thief in the dream -turned out to be her lover and the man who captures him, her husband. -Everything is made simple and pleasant by the fact that the husband takes -it upon himself to make excuses for the man he has captured. The excuse -of the cavity was an allusion to alleged visits to a dentist's office -which supplied her with alibis on various occasions. - -We spend a part of the night, if not the entire night, seeking solutions -for the problems of the day. Patients who have been trained to remember -and record their dreams accurately, sometimes bring a series of visions, -apparently unrelated, but which after interpretation, prove to be -successive presentations of one and the same problem from different -angles. - - - - -CHAPTER IX: NIGHTMARES - - -The Freudian theory of wish-fulfilment easily accepted by the layman as -solving the problem of pleasant or indifferent dreams, meets with a most -sceptical reception when it is applied to unpleasant dreams, to -nightmares, which are characterized by a varying degree of anxiety. - -What I said in a previous chapter on the subject of symbols explains why -certain wish-fulfilment dreams are perceived and remembered as nightmares. -A woman may dream that she is surrounded by snakes, bitten by a dog, -pursued by a bull, trampled down by a horse. A man may dream that he is -stabbed in the back or that he is sinking slowly into water. In the first -case we have a symbolic expression of the woman's desire for sexual -intercourse, in the second a symbolic expression of the man's desire for -homosexual gratification or for regression to the fetal stage (assuming of -course that those various symbols have not a personal significance for the -subject). - -The anxiety connected with those visions is due to the subject's -inability or unwillingness to recognize as his the unconscious desires -expressed by symbols. - -In not a few cases, the sleeper creates a dream situation which is -distressing, full of danger, but which leads to a triumphal climax in -which his ego reaps a rich reward of glory. - -Stekel in "The Language of the Dream," records a fine dream of his in -which his egotism is vouchsafed all forms of gratification. - -DREAM: "I am in a great hall. On the stage there is a composite, -centaurlike creature, half horse and half wolf or tiger. I am standing -near the door, fearing that the beast might get out of bounds. In fact the -tiger tears himself loose from the horse and leaps toward the door. I slam -it shut and lock it up. After a while, I re-enter the hall. I behold a -wild panic. Krafft-Ebing, the lion tamer, is rushing here and there. A man -with two children is shaking with fear. Trumpet calls are heard coming -from the tower." - -INTERPRETATION: "The dream was connected with a heated discussion in which -I had taken part, about Zola's 'The Human Beast.' I contended that in -every man there is a pathological strain and that no one is in absolute -control of the beast. I see myself under two different aspects. I am the -wolf or tiger and I lock the door in order that the wild cravings may not -get loose. How great I am in this dream! Krafft-Ebing, the famous expert -in sexual pathology, runs about helpless, while I hold the beasts in my -power. The fear-stricken fellow with the two children is myself, an -obviously tragic figure, symbolizing another side of my nature. The -trumpet calls are from Beethoven's Fidelio. My marital faithfulness -triumphs over my wildest urges. I am a model for all to imitate and I -sound loud warnings." - -In a dream reported by a patient who was unconsciously trying to break his -appointment with me, the anxiety is purely hypocritical, for each new -obstacle placed in the dreamer's path is a new excuse for not reaching my -office on time. - -"I was on Riverside Drive, strolling north. Mr. Tridon came along in the -same direction, bare-headed and riding on a bicycle. He came near running -into a boy, also on a bicycle, but swerved sharply and avoided a -collision. - -"I was hurrying to keep the appointment with Mr. Tridon which I had for -5.30 P. M. (I really had an appointment for 11.30 in the morning) but felt -that I could not be there on time. My watch had stopped and the clocks I -saw in stores had stopped likewise. The location was the slope of -Morningside Heights and my direction still seemed to be northerly. - -"Another transition and I was climbing a hill near what looked like the -99th Street station of the 3rd Avenue L. Near the summit the going became -very steep and I was unable to go on, although I tried to scramble up on -my hands and knees. I turned to the left, however, and climbed stairs -leading through a white house, which I understood to be a school. There -was a woman there with a few children. I then issued into a wide avenue -running east and west which looked like Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn. A -trolley came along but as I ran for it, it seemed as though I had lost my -coat. I turned back anxiously to find it but discovered that I was -carrying it on my arm. I woke up before the next car came along." - -After attempting to ridicule me, the dreamer rehearsed all the excuses he -might offer me for missing an appointment: Mistake about the hour, clocks -stopped, going to the wrong direction (north instead of south), finally -landing in Brooklyn, far from my office and missing several cars, etc.... - -A young woman who had been invited several times by a friend to come and -visit her and who had exhausted all the possible excuses for refusing such -an invitation had the following dream after receiving one more letter -renewing the invitation: - -"My friend's abode was a new apartment and I spent a night there. Upon -awaking in the morning I discovered something crawling on my bed which -looked like a caterpillar. I was disgusted and frightened. I went into the -bathroom and there too found insects of the same species but very small in -size. They reminded me of spiders and the ceiling and the walls were -entirely 'decorated' with them. - -"I then decided to tell my friend to call this to the attention of the -landlady and as I entered my friend's room I found her and the landlady -cleaning my friend's bed. - -"I told the landlady how unpleasant it is to have such creatures in one's -apartment and she said: 'The rooms were left unpainted for some time and -this is the cause of it.'" - -An unpleasant dream, containing a little anxiety and some disgust and yet, -a solution offered for the young woman's problem, a reason for not -accepting the invitation. The place is not clean. - -The next dream is also an effort at finding a solution for a distressing -problem: - -DREAM: "I was at home; some one looking like a nurse said: 'Come up -stairs. You are going to have a baby.' I was neither surprised nor -worried. The nurse added: 'When you have had the baby, you can select a -husband for yourself.' I followed her and lay on a bed waiting for pains. -Feeling nothing I grew impatient and went downstairs. Suddenly I became -frightened and decided I must not have the child. I started to think how I -could find a doctor to perform an abortion. I awoke suddenly with a -tremendous sense of relief." - -INTERPRETATION: The patient is a southern girl living in New York. Home -for her means the small town where her family resides. She has had a -liaison and has often worried about possible consequences. The first part -of the dream is a solution offered by the dream. She is at home, pregnant, -but it seems natural to every one and the nurse (a nurse girl of her -childhood days) is not only taking the matter as natural but shows her the -advantages of her condition. On the other hand, the girl is frigid in love -and used to associate pregnancy with orgasm. The pregnancy means here the -fulfilment of her wish for an orgasm. Also it reveals her secret desire -that her lover might be compelled to marry her. The lack of labor pains is -another form of wish-fulfilment. The end of the dream indicates the mental -processes of the patient, and her struggle against a regression. She first -attempts to solve the problem by running back to "home and nurse" but -insight enables her to analyse her dream and return to real life. - -There is no doubt but some painful dreams are, without any symbolism or -distortion of any kind, dreams of obvious wish-fulfilment. - -There is a human type which enjoys pain, be it inflicted by others or -self-torture, and to which fear and anxiety vouchsafe a good deal of -gratification. - -When we remember the workings of our autonomic nerves we may not wonder at -that fact. Pain, anxiety or fear pour into our blood stream fuel which -gives us for a few minutes or a few hours a feeling of energy and power we -may lack, and secretions which cause an arterial tension translated easily -into "excitement," "exhilaration," etc. - -Children of the masochistic type like to have some one tell them stories -of the most nightmarish variety which fill them with terror. We have all -met the child who at some time or other makes the strange request: "Scare -me." - -Anxiety dreams may play the part of a bracer and tonic in subjects of that -type. The strange ritual of some primitive races, ancient and modern, in -which mourners slash themselves or pull their hair or beards, corresponds -closely from the endocrine point of view to the craving for terrible -fairy tales or the frequency of certain anxiety dreams. The secretions -brought forth by that self-inflicted pain may combat successfully the -depression due to the loss of a dearly beloved person. - - - - -CHAPTER X: TYPICAL DREAMS AND SLEEP WALKING - - -Thousands of explanations have been offered for typical dreams which -almost every one has had at least once, such as dreams of falling or -flying, but none of them should be accepted as covering all cases. - -The human mind is compelled to do its thinking along certain lines and to -use certain categories like time, space, etc. - -Naturally, dreams, which are in no way different from waking thoughts, -must move along certain definite grooves too; but we must remember that no -symbol has an absolute meaning. Every symbol is likely to have a slightly -different meaning for every individual. - -We shall see in the chapter on "Attitudes in Dreams" that it is the type -of dreams rather than their content which is important psychologically. -And it is the type of man who dreams which is important to bear in mind -when we try to ferret out the meaning of a typical dream. - -Generally speaking, flying dreams seem to correspond to one of the most -universal cravings of mankind: to liberate itself from the tyranny of the -law of gravity and enjoy the freedom which winged creatures enjoy. All -races have wished to fly and that desire, never gratified in waking life -until recently, was bound to express itself in the dreams of all races at -all periods of history. - -Freud has suggested that such dreams repeat memories of childhood games, -rocking, see-sawing; Federn has seen in them a symbol of sexual -excitement, both of which explanations sound unconvincing. - -There may be a symbolism of a different sort about flying dreams. - -If for some reason or other, our sleep becomes suddenly much deeper, we -may represent our "flight" from reality through a flight through the air. -We soar to the dream level which we feel to be higher than the waking -level, to which on awakening, we fall painfully. Variations in the sleep -depth would thus account for the frequent relation of sequence which is -observable between flying and falling dreams. Flying dreams are never -connected with any fear of anxiety, while falling dreams are almost always -nightmares of usually short duration. - -The Freudians see in many falling dreams memories of falls in childhood. -"Nearly all children," Freud writes, "have fallen occasionally and then -been picked up and fondled; if they fell out of bed at night, they were -picked up by their nurse and taken into her bed." - -This explanation fits only an insignificant number of cases. - -The symbolism of the falling dream is found upon analysis to be much -richer. - -In women, dreams of falling are very often symbolical of sexual surrender. -Anxiety or pleasure connected with falling dreams reveals the fear or -pleasure connected with such a thought in the dreamer's mind. Not a few -falling dreams transform themselves after a slight period of anxiety into -flying dreams, thus indicating that the feeling of inferiority connected -with the idea of surrender was very slight and easily replaced by a -feeling of power, freedom and superiority to environment and conventions. - -Dreams of falling are sometimes "followed" by a terrified awakening. In -reality it is the awakening due to some physical stimulus, noise, light, -pain, etc., _which is followed by a falling dream_. The dream in that case -is symbolical of the act of awaking. - -The anxiety is the natural displeasure felt by the dreamer when suddenly -compelled to pass from dreamland into reality. This symbolism is rather -apt, for the awakening lowers us from the free and irresponsible estate of -the dream creature to the slavery entailed by leading a real life. We fall -from the heights of our dreams to the depths of reality. - -At times, the dreamer has the impression of being mangled or killed as a -result of that fall. - -Death is again a powerful symbol indicative of the dreamer's attitude. He -feels he is dying when compelled to return to reality. Such a type is more -dangerously attached to his fiction than the one who only resents awaking -as a diminution of his ego and power. - -Dreams of falling teeth may be symbolical of unconscious onanistic -tendencies. The slang of many languages has established a connection which -cannot be casual between the pulling of teeth and sexual -self-gratification. - -In dreams in which teeth grow again in the dreamer's mouth we may see a -return to childish attitudes and memories of the years when the first -teeth fell out and were replaced by stronger ones. An optimistic attitude, -if somewhat regressive. - -When a certain tooth or group of teeth keeps on recurring in dream -pictures, an X-ray examination of the entire denture should be made. I -have observed several cases in which such dreams revealed the presence of -root abscesses causing absolutely no conscious irritation and only felt -unconsciously. Those dreams were both a warning and a wish-fulfilment -(painless extraction). - -Dreams of nakedness, like dreams of flying, seem to express one of -mankind's cravings, freedom from clothes. In the Earthly Paradise, Adam -and Eve were naked and unashamed; all the gods and goddesses of the -ancient religions were unclothed; even in our days academic sculptors -represent modern heroes naked. Painters and sculptors of all epochs have -been inclined to glorify the nude in their works. - -It is quite unnecessary to construct such dreams as a return to -infantilism, as a regression, as the Freudians generally do. - -The attitude of the onlookers in those dreams contains a very obvious form -of wish-fulfilment: whether we sit at a banquet or walk across a drawing -room or appear on a street naked or half unclothed, no one seems to notice -us. We generally try to hide or to drape ourselves in as dignified a -manner as possible in whatever scanty garments we retain, but the anxiety -is all on our side. - -Such dreams cannot be dreams of exhibitionism for they are never -accompanied by the wish that people should see us, nor do we ever derive -any pleasure from our exposure. I would be inclined to consider them in -almost every case as symbolic dreams of attitudes. We are labouring under -the burden of some secret which we are afraid of revealing. In spite of -our anxiety, we are comforted by the fact that our secret (our total or -partial nakedness) escapes the beholders. Our danger and our escape are -simply visualized and symbolized. - -The symbolism of our exposure is quite obvious. The upper part of our body -is usually covered up and it is the "lower" part of it which is exposed, -and which we awkwardly try to wrap up in our shirt tails or to conceal -under a table cloth or behind furniture or bushes. We are concealing -something shameful, "low." Everybody knows the symbolism of high and low, -right and left, which is expressed by the language of all races. - -One form of anxiety dream in which we grope our way through endless narrow -passages, room after room, up and down flights of stairs, has been -considered by some analysts as a memory of the first event of our life, -when we were forced violently, painfully, through a narrow passage and -finally reached the light of day. When the detail of those dreams is -closely analysed it will prove much more valuable and important than a -mere regression to the infantile. - -They will generally turn out to be the sort of dreams that coincide with -the solution of a crisis and indicate that an adaptation to life has been -reached, that the subject has been "reborn." - -Sleep walking is one variety of typical dream characterized by a greater -motor activity than the usual dream in which we either lie still or only -perform incomplete motions. Sleep walkers, like ordinary dreamers, -performed in their somnambulistic states actions which they have refrained -from performing in their waking states. While the sense of direction and -of orientation seems unimpaired in sleep walkers, their perception of -reality is very rudimentary. - -Two cases reported by the Encyclopédie Française and by Krafft-Ebing, -respectively, illustrate that point. - -A young man used to get up at night, go to his study and write. - -Observers would now and then substitute a sheet of blank paper for the -sheet which he had covered with writing. When he had finished, he would -read over his manuscript aloud and repeat correctly, while holding the -blank sheet before his eyes, the words written on the sheet which had -been taken from him. - -One night the prior of a monastery was seated at his desk. A monk entered, -a knife in his hand. He took no notice of the prior but went to the bed -and plunged his knife into it several times; after which he returned to -his cell. The next morning the monk told the prior of a terrible dream he -had had. The prior had killed the monk's mother and the monk had avenged -her by stabbing the prior to death. Thereupon he had awakened, horrified, -and thanking God that the whole affair had only been a dream. - -In sleep walking dreams there is an accuracy, a singleness of purpose, a -concentration of attention which has always struck all observers. - -The sleeper often wakes up when called by name, but he generally obeys -without waking, all commands of a sensible character, such as to go back -to bed. - -The sleeper often finds his way and locates the objects he may need for -the purposes of his dream with his eyes closed, but noises and collisions -with objects often fail to bring him back to waking consciousness. - -Sadger has attempted to point a connection between moonlight and sleep -walking, which he calls at times "moon walking." - -The conclusions which he reaches at the end of his book on the subject are -as follows: - -"Sleep walking, under or without the influence of the moon, represents a -motor outbreak of the unconscious and serves, like the dream, the -fulfilment of secret, forbidden wishes, first of the present, behind -which, however, infantile wishes regularly hide. Both prove themselves _in -all the cases analysed_ more or less completely as of a sexual erotic -nature. - -"Also those wishes which present themselves without disguise, are mostly -of the same nature. The leading wish may be claimed to be that the -sleepwalker, male or female, would climb into bed with the loved object as -in childhood. The love object need not belong necessarily to the present; -it can much more likely be one of earliest childhood. - -"Not infrequently the sleep walker identifies himself with the beloved -person, sometimes even puts on his clothes, linen or outer garments, or -imitates his manner. - -"Sleep walking can also have an infantile prototype, when the child -pretends to be asleep, that it may be able without fear or punishment to -experience all sorts of forbidden things, because it cannot be held -accountable for what it does 'unconsciously in its sleep.' The same cause -works also psychically, when sleep walking occurs mostly in the deepest -sleep, even if organic causes are likewise responsible for it. - -"The motor outbreak during sleep, which drives one from rest in bed and -results in sleep walking and wandering under the light of the moon, may be -referred to this, that all sleep walkers exhibit a heightened muscular -irritability and muscle erotic, the endogenous excitement of which can -compensate for the giving up of the rest in bed. In accordance with this, -these phenomena are especially frequent in the offspring of alcoholics, -epileptics, sadists and hysterics, with preponderating involvement of the -motor apparatus. - -"Sleep walking and moon walking are in themselves as little symptoms of -hysteria as of epilepsy; yet they are found frequently in conjunction with -the former. - -"The moon's light is reminiscent of the light in the hand of a beloved -parent. Fixed gazing upon the planet also has probably an erotic -colouring. - -"It seems possible that sleep walking and moon walking may be permanently -cured through the psychoanalytic method." - - - - -CHAPTER XI: PROPHETIC DREAMS - - -Every one has heard relations of prophetic dreams which seem to imply a -sense of unconscious sight going far beyond the limits of our conscious -visual perceptions. It may be that, even as certain vibrations can be sent -and received without any transmitting medium except the atmosphere, by -wireless, certain visual information can be received, at times, under -certain conditions, without any perception of such phenomena reaching the -consciousness. - -At the same time, this is a field on which one must tread most carefully, -for telepathy has never been studied very scientifically and the -telepathic dreams which have been related to me or which I have read about -had been recorded rather carelessly and the circumstances surrounding them -had not been noted with the regard for accuracy which must characterize -scientific research. - -A few times in my life, I have had the infinite surprise when lifting the -telephone receiver, of hearing the voice of the very person I was going to -call up and who had called me up at the same minute. On the other hand, I -have endeavoured with the help of very intimate friends to effect -synchronic transmission of thought and have failed dismally on every -occasion. - -While I have never had prophetic dreams I have recorded one dream of mine -which might be characterized as a "second sight" dream. - -One day I mislaid some documents which once belonged to my father. - -That night my father appeared to me and pointed to a desk drawer where the -papers would be found. The next morning I looked in that drawer and found -the documents. - -I certainly placed the documents myself in that drawer the day before and -forgot the fact. But the unconscious memory of that action was retained -and came up at night while my mind was at work solving the problem of the -lost documents. - -If that explanation should meet with scepticism I would remind the reader -that the wealth of information with which our unconscious is filled -permits of unconscious mental operations of which in our conscious states -we would be incapable. Janet's subject, Lucie, who was lacking in -mathematical ability, could, in her unconscious states, perform -calculations of an extreme complication. He would give her under hypnosis -the following order: "When the figures which I am going to read off to -you, leave six when subtracted one from the other, make a gesture of the -hand." Then he would wake her up, and ask several people to talk to her -and to make her talk. Standing at a certain distance from her, he would -then read rapidly in a low voice a list of figures, but when the -appropriate figures were read, Lucie never failed to make the gesture -agreed upon. - -We notice thousands of things unconsciously, which means simply that every -sensorial impression causes a modification of our autonomic system and -probably of our sensory-motor system which is never completely effaced. - -During our waking hours only those memory impressions which are needed -rise to consciousness. The many observations we have made, consciously or -otherwise, enable us to calculate the distance between us and an -automobile, the speed of that automobile, the width of the street, the -dryness or the slippery conditions of the pavement, and to select the time -for crossing as well as the speed at which we shall cross. - -In our sleep, when we are revolving the day's problems and searching for -solutions, many other facts, stored up in our nervous systems, rise to -consciousness and are used in solving the problem. - -In the personal case I cited, my unconscious applied its searchlight to -recent events; in other cases reported in the literature of the subject -the unconscious is shown bringing back events which seemed to have been -entirely forgotten. - -Our organism never forgets. - -Forgotten incidents which suddenly rise to consciousness in dreams are -sometimes responsible for visions which on superficial observation appear -truly prophetic. Maury cites the following in his book on "Sleep and -Dreams": - -"Mr. F. decided once to visit the house where he had been brought up in -Montbrison and which he had not seen in twenty-five years. The night -before he started on his trip, he dreamt that he was in Montbrison and -that he met a man who told him he was a friend of his father. Several days -later, while in Montbrison he actually met the man he had seen in his -dream and who turned out to be some one he really knew in his childhood, -but had forgotten in the intervening years. The real person was much older -than the one in the dream, which is quite natural." - -One finds in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research many -remarkable examples of dreams which, to the uninitiated, appear truly -miraculous. Remembering, however, the wonders accomplished by Lucie under -the influence of a hypnotic command, we may realize that the book-keepers -who suddenly find in a dream the mistakes which have prevented them from -balancing their books, or the various people who locate missing objects, -are simply continuing in their sleep the day's work, drawing no longer -upon their limited store of conscious memories and impressions, but upon -all the wealth of information which is contained in their unconscious. - -Even the famous dream of Professor Hilprecht loses much of its glamour -when viewed from this angle. Hilprecht had spent quite some time trying to -decipher two small fragments of agate which were supposed to belong to the -finger rings of some Babylonian god. He had given up the task and -classified the fragments as undecipherable in a book on the subject. One -night he had put his "o. k." on the final proofs of that book, feeling, -however, rather dissatisfied at his inability to account for the -inscriptions found on those ancient stones. He went to bed, weary and -exhausted and had a remarkable dream: A tall, thin priest of Nippur -appeared to him, led him to the treasure chamber of the temple of Bel and -told him that the two fragments in question should be put together, as -they were, not finger rings, but earrings made for a god by cutting a -votive cylinder into three parts. The next morning he did as the dream -priest had told him to do, and was able to read the inscription without -any difficulty. - -I have received many letters from persons relating that they had dreamt of -the San Francisco earthquake, of the sinking of the _Lusitania_, of the -death of some friend or relative the very night preceding the event. - -I show in another chapter how treacherous and unreliable our memory of -dreams can be at times. - -Happenings following quickly the awakening are likely to become -"parasites" on the night's dreams and to appear as a component part of -them. - -Time and over again, the newspaper one reads at breakfast adds details to -the night's remembered dreams. Reading about some accident in the early -morning may cause us to believe that we dreamt of the accident in the -course of the night. - -When the German submarines began to sink passenger ships, thousands of -dreamers who either wished unconsciously for such sinkings or feared them -(which is generally the same thing) and many also who craved the -excitement such catastrophes would bring them, must have had dreams in -which large ships were sunk. And those thousands must have impressed -themselves and their family circle by announcing, when the morning -newspaper came out, that they had seen the tragedy enacted in a dream. - -Here again we are groping our way over uncharted fields and not until -thousands of scientific observations made with the care characteristic of -the chemical laboratory have been made, all explanations will only be -tentative and all positive statements misleading. - -Those mentioning such dreams to me have at times been rather annoyed when -I made them confess the wish lurking in them. - -One man told me that he had three brothers at the front during the war and -that in a dream he saw one of them killed by the Germans. Soon afterward, -news of his death reached the family. - -I asked him point blank why he wanted to get rid of that brother. He -avoided giving me a direct answer but admitted that if one of the three -was to die, the one whose death he saw in his dream would be least missed -by his family as he had always made trouble and was the "black sheep."... - -Even in such cases the wish fulfilment theory holds good. - - - - -CHAPTER XII: ATTITUDES REFLECTED IN DREAMS - - -Dreams reveal to us what our unconscious cravings are and this is of -course valuable information. But cravings are only symptoms of something -more important and less easily dealt with: the subject's attitude to life. - -The neurosis is merely a wrong attitude to life and its problems. A fear -of darkness, an incestuous desire, an abnormal craving for a certain food -are no more important in themselves than a small sore appearing on one's -lip. But as the sore may mean that the organism is infected with the -spirochaeta of syphilis, the "psychic" phenomena I mentioned may mean that -the organism has adopted toward reality a negative attitude leading to -death instead of life. - -Owing to its visualizing powers, the dream makes attitudes extremely -obvious at the very first glance. - -We are as we see ourselves in our dreams. - -Positive, energetic dreams, full of action, indicate strength either in -resolve or in resistance. - -Vague dreams, full of moods rather than of action, indicate stagnation, -aimlessness. - -Dreams of adulthood, dealing with the present or the future, indicate -progression. Dreams of childhood or dealing mainly with the past, indicate -attempts at a regression. - -In his latest book, "Introduction to Psychoanalysis," Freud states that -"the unconscious in our psychic life is the infantile." - -This is one of the great Freudian exaggerations. Such a statement is true -of the neurotic and explains why he is a neurotic. In fact the more -infantile the unconscious appears to be, the more severe the neurosis -generally is, until in certain forms of malignant regression, the patient -acts like a helpless newly born infant. The predominance of infantile -material in dreams indicates a fixation on infantile gratifications which -makes the subject especially ill adapted to adult life. But in the normal -individual the amount of infantile material is very small indeed. - -We start gathering unconscious material at the very minutes of our birth, -if not before birth, but we keep on accumulating experiences, most of them -unconscious and only rising to consciousness when needed, and conscious -experiences which become unconscious when not needed. - -It is the proportion of material from the various periods of our life -which enables us to gauge the level a human being has reached through his -intelligent, positive acceptance of present day reality. I say acceptance -of reality rather than adaptation to reality, for adaptation implies a -certain suppression, and suppression may mean neurosis. - -It is the human being who satisfies all his infantile cravings within a -sphere of activity beneficial to himself and the world, who remains -healthy. He who tries to satisfy them through infantile or childish ways -merges into a neurosis. - -We have seen that the dreams of children and of simple, normal people are -obvious and devoid of any symbolic disfigurement. Children dream of the -food or the pleasures they had to forego in the previous waking state. -Nordenskjold and his sailors, icebound in the Antarctic, dreamt of fine -meals, of tobacco, of ships sailing the open sea, of mail from home, in -other words of the things of which they had been deprived for months. - -The use of symbols in dreams, on the other hand, indicates a lack of -freedom of expression due to some fear or repression. A repressed vision -appears on the screen of our mind in symbolized form. - -A highly symbolical dream is almost always a pathological dream. It means -that we do not dare, even in our dreams, to visualize directly the thing -we are thinking of. - -The phenomenon which Freud has designated as "displacement" also indicates -an attempt at repressing certain important facts by harping on other facts -of lesser importance. - -A child surprised in a part of the house where his presence is suspicious -is not likely to reveal abruptly his plans. He will in all likelihood tell -some story from which the real reason for his presence is carefully -excluded. A young pie fiend found in the pantry would never mention the -word pie but make great ado over the "fact" that his ball has rolled under -the cupboard. - -And likewise it is very often the part of a dream which a patient has not -told which holds the key to the enigma of the patient's mental -disturbance. - -One of my hypnagogic visions which I have already mentioned, simple as it -is, reveals my entire attitude, not only to sleep, but to life in general. - -I do not feel overwhelmed by sleep. I give myself up to sleep as -voluntarily as I wade into the sea or plunge into a swimming pool. Sleep -will refresh me as a swim would. When the proper depth is reached I swim -out, conscious of my ability and experiencing no fear. - -I use sleep as a means to exercise my mental activities as I enjoy the -muscular exertion necessary for swimming. - -Finally there is no one in the picture but myself. I am the central figure -of the dream. - -To go into more details, I may confide to the reader that I have never -enjoyed any form of sport, indoor or outdoors in which I do not play an -important, if not the leading part, or which prevents me from indulging my -own whims. Witnessing some one else's athletic performances bores me to -extinction and games such as cards, checkers or golf which are surrounded -with iron clad regulations appear to me not as a relaxation but as a -useless form of hard work. - -Readers may think that these self-revelations are prompted by egotism, but -an analyst should analyse himself as ruthlessly as he analyses others and -egotism happens to be the dominant feature of my attitude to life. - -The following dream draws a remarkable picture of uncertainty, indecision -and gloom: - -DREAM. "I am standing at the foot of marble stairs. I expect some danger -from the left where a person clothed in authority, with tyrannical -appearance, is approaching. I ask a female figure standing at the top of -the steps, and who seems to be some acquaintance, relative, mother or -sister, for help. I try to run up the steps but cannot. The figure extends -me a helping hand but that hand is so weak, lifeless, that I feel -helpless. I wake up in deep anxiety." - -ATTITUDE. We have in this case a "flight to the mother" coupled with fear -of the powerful father. The patient had always suffered from some fear, -fear of examinations as a school child, fear of competition in all life -matters, fear of marriage, fear of decisions. He lived with his mother and -sister and had an affair with a woman considerably older than himself whom -he called "mother" and who called him her "boy." - -We shall now see a dreamer wrestling with a sentimental problem, seeking a -solution for it and refusing to accept the solution suggested by an -outsider. - -DREAM. "I was in a car with Albert, sitting in my usual seat but the -steering gear had been moved so that I could steer from my seat. I was -very inexperienced and felt anxiety. I was going down a steep city street -and at the bottom, saw a house before which I wished to park; there were -red lanterns and signs, however, which prevented me from stopping there. -I went on and Albert disappeared, then I was in the open country climbing -a hill and a man (A.T.) stood there and I asked him which way to go. The -machinery bothered me, I didn't know what button to push but trusted my -intuition and went all right. Finally I reached a desert stretch where -there was nothing and in great anxiety awoke." - -ATTITUDE. The subject in love with a married man, had long hoped that he -would secure a divorce and marry her. She often went motoring with him. -Their affair was not satisfactory, however, and she had often considered -the possibility of a separation. - -The situation is handled in the dream as follows. She has had her way and -is running the car from her usual seat (he has come to her point of view) -but she has misgivings about the experiment (unconsciously, she is not -very keen any more to marry him); she tries to park in front of a house -(their future home); red lanterns (danger signs, obstacles, law, custom) -prevent her from doing so. She then starts out without him and asks her -analyst for advice. He encourages her to go on her way but she reaches a -deserted place and feels so forlorn, so hungry for human company that she -escapes from the nightmare through awaking. - -Even when no change is observable in a patient's condition in the course -of an analysis, constant attention to his dreams will enable the analyst -to notice unconscious changes which very soon afterward translate -themselves into a conscious modification of attitude. - -The following dreams illustrate that point: - -At the beginning of the analysis a patient, following in his dreams as -well as in his neurosis, the line of least effort, dreamt he had solved a -mechanical problem by means of a very simple apparatus consisting in a -rocking chair, two thumb tacks and an old rubber coat. Later when he -resumed closer contact with life, the machinery of his dreams became real -machinery and he continued in his sleeping thoughts the calculations which -had occupied him during the day and which to him were a constant source of -pleasure. - -A patient whose ambition was to become a singer but whose husband was -decidedly hostile to her plans, first brought me the following dream in -which she frankly relied on me for advice: - -"I am on the stage, singing. I forget my part. A foreign looking conductor -prompts me. In the wings, a man is looking at me, weeping. He falls in a -faint. I rush to him. He looks like my husband. A foreign looking doctor -picks him up and says to me: 'He will sleep now, after which he will feel -better.' I go back to the stage and sing beautifully." - -Later, having acquired more self-confidence she visualized the situation -as follows: - -"I see a man leading a Jersey cow on a rope. The cow is trying to get -under the fence but cannot. Then the cow is changed into a yellow bird -which flies away, perches on top of a barn and sings joyfully." - -In the first dream, I am, of course the conductor and the doctor. In the -second dream, the cow is an allusion to the patient's tendency to gain -weight. The song-bird is a very obvious symbol. - -A series of dreams reported by a stammering patient not only presented the -Freudian feature of wish-fulfilment but indicated clearly the patient's -changing attitude and his growing self-confidence, which finally -culminated in his complete cure. - -One of the first dreams he brought me at the beginning of the treatment -read as follows: - -"A congressman called Max Sternberg, who looks like me, is on the -platform, making a speech. A gang of little Irish boys in the rear starts -a disturbance. The audience, unable to hear the speaker, leaves the hall." - -On numberless occasions, small boys prevented him in his dreams from -accomplishing his object, and in particular, disturbed him when he was -speaking. Later the small boys became less and less aggressive. On one -occasion he lead a group of them through a museum and they listened to his -explanations without interrupting him. - -One night he had the following dream. - -"I am near Grand Central and thousands of children are lined on both sides -of the avenue to welcome a school principal who is landing from the train. -He arrives and they all cheer wildly and I have a feeling that I am that -school principal." - -Little boys never disturbed the dreamer after that. He had conquered his -regressive tendencies and his speech was improving. - -His self-confidence grew to such a point that he had the following dream: - -"I was in a room with John and Lionel Barrymore and I rehearsed them for a -Shakespearian play. Lionel forgot his part and stopped. I prompted him and -declaimed a few lines myself very eloquently. This was accompanied by the -thought: Very egotistical-good." - - - - -CHAPTER XIII: RECURRENT DREAMS - - -Whenever one and the same motive, with perhaps slight variations, recurs -frequently in dreams we may assume that it is the leading motive of the -dreamer's waking life. Whenever a person plays a dominant part in our -dreaming, we can rest assured that that person dominates and directs our -behaviour directly or indirectly. - -A man of forty-five, suffering from dizziness, was sent to me by his -family physician after numberless tests had failed to attribute his -illness to a "physical" cause. The patient had been troubled for two years -with vertigo, which he insisted on attributing to arteriosclerosis -(against the advice of several physicians). His legs had become very weak -and unsteady. He had developed a deep sense of worthlessness and was -haunted by suicidal ideas. - -My query as to his most frequent dream elicited the answer: - -"I dream very frequently of my father." - -His father had died two years before, from arteriosclerosis, and his main -complaint had been dizziness, weakness of the legs and depression. To -any one but the patient, the psychological connection between his illness -and his father's illness would have been obvious. He, too, saw some -connection between the two, only he placed upon that fact a more sinister -construction. The heredity bogey was terrifying him. His father had -bequeathed his illness to him, and he was to die as his father had died. - -It came out in the course of the analysis that he had been from infancy -his father's constant companion, working for him till he was over forty -years of age. Although he had always been fond of women, he had never -thought of marrying until his father died. After reciting the usual -arguments of the average bachelor directed against matrimony, he confessed -that he had never had the courage to bring to his home any young woman he -liked and who might have become his wife. Fear of his father's sarcastic -remarks set to nought any plans he might have made for a home of his own. - -After his father's death, he went half-heartedly into various business -ventures of which his father would have disapproved and he naturally lost -his investment. Every time he met with a reverse, he would be tortured by -remorse. "This is my father's money which I have been squandering." "My -father would be furious if he knew what I have done." - -He would then dream that his father stalked past him, cold, indifferent, -stern, and he "knew" his father had "come back" to show him his -resentment. - -The superficial symptoms of the patient's trouble were easily removed when -he acquired enough insight to realize that he had been imitating all of -his father's attitudes and repressing his own ego. - -Physical exercise soon restored to his legs the steadiness which they had -lost while the patient, imitating his father's helplessness, would sit in -his father's chair day after day, never taking a walk. A more critical -attitude of mind toward the father whom he worshipped, removed gradually -the sense of worthlessness which had almost lead him to suicide. - -Suicide to him was the road that led back to his father, upon whom he -wished to shift his responsibilities, and for whom he wished to work (as a -younger man), etc. - -The case was much more complicated but the few details of it which I have -presented are sufficient to show the close connection which existed -between the patient's most frequent dream and his imaginary neurotic goal. - -A homosexual patient always dreamt of her stepmother whom her father -married when she, the patient, was only twelve years of age. That marriage -was the culmination of a complicated family tragedy, double divorce, -unsavoury publicity, bitterness and hostility, puritanical gossip about -sex, passion, etc., which made on the child an indelible impression. - -She felt obscurely then that relations between sexes were something -unutterably filthy and while she liked a few boys in her flapper days, she -could not master a feeling of disgust whenever their attitude reminded her -of the "nasty" things which had wrecked her family. - -On the other hand, the pretty young woman whom her father introduced into -his home, personified in her thoughts sexual attraction in its most -irresistible form, a symbol of sin and bliss. To this day she has love -affair after love affair with women, every affair followed by a "nervous -breakdown" in which she repents her immorality and experiences terrible -remorse. At every stay in a sanitarium, however, dreams of her stepmother, -representing veiled and symbolized homosexual situations, obsess her -night after night. In one of those dreams she took the place of her father -and married the young woman, after which the hostility of the family, -manifesting itself in various forms, transformed the pleasant fancy into a -painful anxiety dream. - -Another patient, tyrannized over by an aunt who had brought her up, would, -whenever an emergency arose and she had to take a decision, dream of the -severe, forbidding aunt and feel so depressed the next day that she could -not accomplish anything and thus postponed the solution of her -difficulties. - -In certain cases, a recurring dream may bear a strange likeness to a -splitting of the personality such as we observed in cases of dual -personalities. - -The famous Rosegger dream, analysed by Freud and Maeder, should be -reanalysed in the light of the statements made in the previous chapters. -Rosegger went through a hard mental struggle from which he emerged -victorious, but the recurring dream he relates in his book "Waldheimat" -tells us much about the trials of a little tailor who managed to make a -place for himself in the artistic world but for a long while felt out of -place in his new environment. - -"I usually enjoy a sound sleep," Rosegger writes, "but many a night I have -no rest. I lead side by side with my life as student and littérateur, the -shadow life of a tailor's apprentice. This I have dragged with me through -long years, like a ghost, without being able to get rid of it.... Whenever -I dreamed, I was the tailor's apprentice, ... working without compensation -in my master's workshop.... I felt I did not belong there any more ... and -regretted the loss of time in which I could have employed myself more -usefully.... How happy I was to wake up after such tedious hours! I -resolved that if this insistent dream should come again, I would throw it -off and shout: 'This is only a make believe. I am in bed and wish to -sleep.' Yet the next time I was again in the tailor's workshop. One night, -at last, the master said to me: 'You have no talent for tailoring. You can -go, you are dismissed.' I was so frightened by this that I awoke." - -Freud compares this dream with a similar dream which pestered him for -years and in which he saw himself as a young physician, working in a -laboratory, making analyses and unable as yet to earn a regular living. -This is his interpretation of it: - -"I had as yet no standing and did not know how to make ends meet; but just -then it was clear to me that I might have the choice of several women whom -I could have married. I was young again in the dream and she was young -too, the wife who had shared with me all those years of hardship. - -"This betrayed the unconscious dream agent as being one of the insistent -gnawing wishes of the aging man. The fight between vanity and -self-criticism, waged in other psychic layers, had decided the dream -content, but only the deeper rooted wish for youth had made it possible as -a dream. Often, awake, we say to ourselves: Everything is all right as it -is today and those were hard times, but it was fine at that time. You are -still young." - -Maeder, of Zurich, refuses to accept such a simple explanation and offers -a more complicated one, burdened, like many psychological interpretations -of the Swiss school, with ethical considerations. - -"By his own efforts," Maeder writes, "Rosegger had worked himself up to a -high position in life. This has made him proud and vain, two faults which -easily disturb mankind, for they cause a man to suffer in the presence of -superiors and place him in a parvenu position among the lowly.... Deep -down, there takes place, in the sensitive poet, a gradual elaboration, a -development of the moral personality.... The long series of tormenting -dreams shows us the development of the psychic process which ends in a -deep but effective humiliation of the dreamer.... His being sent away, -dismissed, symbolizes in my opinion, the overcoming of the pride and -vanity of the upstart." - -I agree with Freud on the wish for youth expressed by Rosegger's dream and -fulfilled by way of a regression. But neither Freud, bent on introducing a -sexual element into his interpretation, nor Maeder, overfond of -moralizing, seem to have realized the tremendous meaning of such a series -of dreams, culminating as they did in a changed attitude to life. - -I have shown in another book, "Psychoanalysis and Behavior," that in cases -of dual personalities, the second personality is always one that leads a -simpler, less arduous life, fraught with lesser responsibilities, than the -normal life led by the first personality. The Rev. Ansel Bourne, being -tired and needing rest, was transformed for several weeks into A. Brown, a -fruit dealer in a small town far away from his home. Miss Beauchamp, prim, -overconsciencious, repressed, became the irresponsible Sallie, devoid of -manners or taste. The Rev. Thomas Carson Hanna, overworked and a spiritual -disciplinarian, woke up from a fit of unconsciousness a newborn baby, -helpless and in-organized. - -Rosegger, rising from manual to intellectual labour, compelled to adapt -himself to the mannerisms of a different world, and to adopt a new set of -social habits and customs for which his bringing up in a proletarian home -had not prepared him, compelled also to ransack his brain constantly for -new ideas to express or for new forms in which to clothe old ideas, may -have at times regretted unconsciously the simpler life of a tailor, less -rich in egotistical satisfactions but more comfortable intellectually and -requiring infinitely less ingenuity. - -And some of the remarks which he appends to his dream, confirm my -suspicions. - -What does he say of his awakening? "I felt as if I had just newly -recovered this idylically sweet life of mine, peaceful, poetical, -spiritualized, in which so often I had realized human happiness to the -uttermost." - -Undoubtedly he had for a long while failed to enjoy it and unconsciously -planned to escape from it through a regression to his former estate. - -Several lines further down the page we find this statement which is, I -think, absolutely conclusive proof of what his mental attitude had been -and of the crisis he had lived through. - -"I no longer dream of my tailoring days _which in their way were so jolly -in their simplicity and without demands_." - -Rosegger's dream is one of those morbid manifestations which enable us to -follow a neurotic struggle going on within the organism, a struggle for -adaptation to life, a struggle of which the subject is consciously -ignorant, because he has burnt his bridges and has repressed the most -fleeting thought of a possible change. - -Rosegger must have smarted under the _demands_ of his new life, but it was -out of the question for him to do anything else. The conflict, however, -played itself off in his dreams, offering a solution of a regressive type. -When, years later, the tailor's adaptation to the life of a writer was -completed, his master dismissed him. The dream solution was no longer -needed. - -Recurring dreams often give us valuable indications of physical trouble -which should be investigated and remedied at once. Even in ancient times, -the relation between recurring dreams of physical disability and some -physical disability setting in at a later date had been noticed. In those -days, however, the interpretation of such dreams was that the vision was a -warning sent by the gods, or that the vision was responsible for the -subsequent trouble. We read for instance of a man who dreamt that he had a -stone leg. A few days later paralysis set in. - -In discussing dental dreams I have pointed out the importance of having -the denture examined for possible pus pockets. - -Dreams of animals gnawing at some organ may indicate a cancer developing -in that region. Dreams of exhaustion from climbing hills often denote -heart disease. - -H. Addington Bruce had for several months had the same dream: a cat was -clawing at his throat. Examination of the throat revealed a small growth -which required immediate surgical intervention. The cat never came back. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV: DAY DREAMS - - -We do not always need to sleep in order to escape _normally_ from reality. -Some of us manage to do it with their eyes open. - -Day dreams are not essentially different from night dreams and would not -be mentioned separately but for the fact that they at times verge on a -neurosis and that in certain cases they are not easily distinguished from -delusions and hallucinations. - -Whatever was said of night dreams in the preceding chapters holds true of -day dreams. There are pleasant day dreams, unpleasant day dreams and even -day "nightmares" or anxiety day dreams. - -Like the sleep walker, the day dreamer manages at times to take just -enough notice of reality to direct himself through his house or along the -streets, while his mind is elaborating stories of varying complication. - -A day dreamer who consulted me during the war would imagine himself, while -walking along the streets, enlisting, taking a tearful farewell from his -relatives and friends and accomplishing deeds of valour which made him -famous; after which he would be so affected by his greatness that tears -would roll down his cheeks. Or the dream would end tragically and he would -die and then again a cascade of tears would be let loose at the thought of -all the grief his demise would cause. The result was that day after day he -would suddenly "wake up" in some public place, his face wet with tears, -annoyed and embarrassed by the attention which his appearance would -attract. - -Those day dreams constituted in spite of their sad cast a fulfilment of -his egotistical cravings. Even death was not too high a price to pay for -the importance he acquired in his dream, a psychological fancy which is -often found at the bottom of some sensational forms of suicide. - -The anxiety day dream is the form of compensation sought by many -neurotics, weak in body and frequently taken advantage of by more vigorous -and ruthless persons. - -It also plays at times the same part as masochistic nightmares, filling as -it does, the body with glycogen and a sense of power. - -I have heard patients suffering from a sense of real or imaginary -inferiority tell me of their obsessive anger finding relief in scenes -which they made, while walking along the streets or when sleepless of -nights, to some absent person whom they held responsible for their -troubles. - -They would then rehearse some annoying or humiliating incident provoked by -the offensive person and let loose a torrent of abuse leading unavoidably -to a fight in which they would beat, scratch or murder their enemy. - -The sound of their own voice or the remarks of passers by would generally -wake them up at the climax; their hearts then would beat wildly, they -would be out of breath, if not bathed in perspiration, but they would -experience withal a certain amount of satisfaction from the victory they -had won and they would feel full of what a patient of mine termed "almost -murderous energy." - -This form of "abreaction," when it does not assume the form of a constant -indulgence taking the place of positive action, is rather desirable. The -psychoanalytic treatment consists, in part at least, in the production of -day dreams based on memories which free in the patient a certain amount of -repressed energy. Thus a great deal of unrelated and unconscious material -is made conscious and related. Day dreams, without any definite direction -and unchecked, are likely, however, to be very dangerous and to exert a -paralysing influence on the dreamer. - -The concentration and meditation recommended by some Hindoo philosophers -can accomplish valuable results if the subject has a clear, analytical -mind and knows how to correlate the scraps of thoughts which are thus -allowed to rise to consciousness. - -For childish people, which are easily caught in the meshes of their -fancies and let their imagination run away with them, that indulgence is -deadly and it has led millions of Orientals into a nirvana-like idleness -and weakness, destructive of energy and life, a negative escape from -reality. - -This is one of the reasons why, in many forms of neurosis, a rest cure is -the most dangerous form of treatment. The neurotic's attention is -generally directed away from reality. His energy is too often deflected -toward fictitious goals located outside of the real world. The neurotic -has to be brought back into contact with life and human beings; he has to -be trained to accept them _as they are_ and to enjoy them _for what they -are_, instead of imagining _what they might be_. The idleness and -seclusion of the rest cure may negative all efforts in that direction. - -The rest cure from which day dreams cannot be excluded, is simply an -abnormal flight from reality sanctioned and abetted by a physician -ignorant of psychology. - -The day dreams which produce happiness, which promote creation, scientific -or artistic, and which lead the individual into the stream of life, are -sound and healthy dreams. Those which only lead to more dreaming and away -from life, are neurotic phenomena, devoid of any redeeming grace. - - - - -CHAPTER XV: NEUROSIS AND DREAMS - - -Not infrequently neuroses and psychoses are ushered in by a dream and -their termination is announced by a dream. - -This should not be understood to mean that the dream either "causes" the -neurosis or "cures" it. That mistake has often been made by psychologists -of the old school. Taine, among others, cites the case of a policeman who -once attended a capital execution. - -This spectacle made such an impression on him that he often dreamt of his -own execution and finally committed suicide. - -It would be absurd to believe that the sight of the execution "put the -idea of suicide into his head." He undoubtedly had been consciously or -unconsciously revolving death thoughts in his mind. - -The sight of the execution made those ideas more concrete and more -obsessive. The recurrence of a death dream simply showed that the -obsession was gradually overpowering his personality and seeking -realization. The dream work, endeavouring to solve the problem of how to -end his life, offered an easy solution: he did not have to commit suicide; -he was being put to death. Finally the death wishes overthrew his -personality and he killed himself. - -An epileptic was tortured every night by a dream in which a group of boys -playing Wild West (he personifying the Indian) were pursuing him, throwing -sticks and stones at him and finally cornering him. At the very minute -where they were laying hands on him, he would experience a "dying" feeling -and wake up in great discomfort. One night he turned round to face the -gang which dwindled down to one small urchin whom he spanked. That night -he slept soundly and the next day his fears of having a new fit -disappeared. Neither that dream nor his fits have returned. It was not the -dream that gave him fits, nor was it the last dream which cured him. The -obsessive dreams were wish-fulfilment dreams, showing him how to dodge -life's duties through his sickness which was a convenient, though painful, -unconscious excuse and how to solve his life problems by getting out of -reality. - -The last dream revealed a change in his mental attitude. He was not to -seek any longer a neurotic escape from reality but face reality and fight -his own battles. - -A patient suffering from delusions had the following dream: - -"A woman appeared to me and told me that it was all a dream and that all -my troubles would soon end." - -Associations to that dream showed that the woman who appeared to my -patient was a midwife who had helped her in a confinement some thirty -years before (rebirth symbolism). At that time she almost died from -puerperal fever and was also "saved" by a dream in which her grandparents -appeared to her and told her that she would recover. - -Her dreams, in which she placed in the mouth of other people the -expression of her own wish for health, corresponded well in their -mechanism with her delusions in which she heard people berating her for -her imaginary sins. - -At the time of the dreams, her delusions had lost their terrifying -character and were only a mild annoyance to her. She had acquired enough -insight to doubt their reality and to refer them to her unconscious -thoughts. - -The woman who imagines that in every voice she hears she can distinguish -the voice of the man she unconsciously loves builds up a "story" like the -dreamer who, perceiving coldness in her feet at night, saw herself falling -into a lake. - -The technique is exactly the same in both cases. - -Actual sensations are transformed into delusions closely associated with -the dreamer's or the neurotic's complexes. - -People subject to hallucinations project outside of their body symbolic -figures representing wishes they have endeavoured to repress and which -they refuse to recognize as a part of their personality. - -They hear voices which say certain things they are trying not to think of, -for they consider such thoughts as obscene, criminal or otherwise -unjustifiable. - -Dreamers likewise represent their disabilities as something entirely -separate from their bodies and their personality. - -The stammering patient dreaming that he was delivering a very eloquent -speech but was interrupted by howling hoodlums, repressed out of -consciousness the idea of his speech disturbance and gratified his ego by -saying: "But for those hoodlums I could speak very well." - -Trumbull Ladd suffering from inflammation of the eyelids dreamt that he -was trying to decipher a book in microscopic type: An attempt at shifting -upon the book the responsibility for his difficulties in reading. The -dream said: "There is nothing wrong with your eyes, but the type is too -small." - -A young woman struggling with an unjustifiable attachment for a married -man told me the following dream: - -"I was surrounded by little devils carrying pitchforks. I was afraid of -them at first, but I finally grabbed them all in a bunch and dropped them -into the fireplace. A pit opened under them and closed again and I felt -free." - -Her psychology was the same psychology which in the Middle Ages caused -religious people to invent the devil. Her desires which she refused to -recognize as hers were little devils endeavouring to tempt her. We deal -more easily with a stranger than with ourselves and "the devil tempted me" -sounds more forgivable than "I did what I had always wanted to do." - -What makes it difficult for neurotics at times to tell the difference -between their dreams and reality is that the emotions felt in dreams are -accompanied by the same inner secretions as when felt in the waking life. -A fear dream releases adrenin and a vivid sexual dream is followed by a -pollution. The bodily sensations following certain dreams are evidential -facts which some neurotics do not know how to controvert. - -The hallucinations of _delirium tremens_ patients which are generally -accompanied by anxiety, illustrate the fact that we can be terrified and -tortured by a dream which is a symbolized fulfilment of our conscious or -unconscious wishes. - -It is admitted by all but the very ignorant that immoderate drinking is -not induced by a taste for drink but by a desire to escape reality, in the -majority of cases, to drown the consciousness of financial or sexual -difficulties. - -The most common hallucinations of drunkards are those of snakes and lice. -Snakes are almost without exception symbolical of the male sex. To the -majority of neurotics, lice are symbolical of money and American slang -recognizes that association in the expression _lousy with money_. - -The "DT" patient has his wishes fulfilled. He is covered with vermin and -snakes crawl about his bed. He has all the symbolical wealth and the -symbolical potency or homosexual love he could wish for. But curiously -enough he does not understand those symbols and is terrified by the -manifest content of his morbid dream. - -The story of Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel is a fine illustration -of the relation between dreams and insanity. - -The king began to lose his sleep which was disturbed by nightmares. In the -morning, however, the memory of those nightmares seemed to be entirely -gone. Daniel contrived to reconstruct a forgotten anxiety dream in which -the king saw a gigantic figure with head of gold, breast and arms of -silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay -and which toppled down when struck by a stone. - -Here we have a morbid attitude to reality, the king visualizing his -position (which unconsciously appeared to him precarious), through that -unstable figure, and also expressing a neurotic wish to be delivered from -his anxiety through the final catastrophe. - -Later the king had another dream visualizing his fears and death wishes -through a different image: A mighty tree grew till its head reached the -heavens. Then an angel cried: "Hew down the tree, leave the stump and -roots in the earth, in the tender grass of the field; let it be wet with -the dew and let his portion be with the beasts." - -Fear of defeat and a neurotic desire to escape reality via a regression to -the animal level are clearly indicated in this dream and in Daniel's -interpretation of it. - -Very soon after, auditory hallucinations began to appear. "A voice fell -from heaven," speaking out the unconscious wishes which the king craved to -gratify. - -In a siege of _dementia praecox_, Nebuchadnezzar ate grass like oxen and -his body was wet with the dew from heaven; his hair grew like eagle's -feathers and his nails like birds' claws. - -After a period during which he, like all cases of changed personality, led -an easier, simpler, more primitive life, without any responsibilities, -Nebuchadnezzar recovered and related thus his return to reality: - -"My reason returned unto me; for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and -brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and lords sought unto me; -I was established in my kingdom and excellent majesty was added unto me." - -In the meantime he had become reconciled with reality and had given up his -paranoid attempts at being the mightiest factor in the world. - -By accepting as a possibility the existence of a mightier power, he -protected himself against the ignominy of a possible defeat. Against an -omnipotent God, even he could not prevail. - -Freud writes: "The overestimation of one's mental capacity, which appears -absurd to sober judgment, is found alike in insanity and in dreams, and -the rapid course of ideas in the dream corresponds to the flight of ideas -in the psychosis. Both are devoid of any measure of time. - -"The dissociation of personality in the dream, which, for instance, -distributes one's own knowledge between two persons, one of whom, the -strange one, corrects in the dream one's own ego, fully corresponds to the -well-known splitting of the personality in hallucinatory paranoia; the -dreamer, too, hears his own thoughts expressed by strange voices. - -"Even the constant delusions find their analogy in the stereotyped -recurring pathological dreams. - -"After recovering from a delirium, patients not infrequently declare that -the disease appeared to them like an uncomfortable dream; indeed, they -inform us that occasionally, even during the course of their sickness, -they have felt that they were only dreaming, just as it frequently happens -in the sleeping dreams." - - - - -CHAPTER XVI: SLEEPLESSNESS - - -I have given in the previous chapters many reasons why human beings are -compelled to seek at regular intervals an escape from reality which is -made possible by the unconsciousness of sleep. - -Why is it then, that many people suffer from insomnia? - -Many physical factors are generally mentioned as the direct causes of -sleep disturbances. None of them should be dismissed as unimportant; nor -should any one of them, however, be accepted as an exclusive and -all-sufficient explanation of sleeplessness. - -Coffee, tea and cocoa (the latter even in the shape of chocolate candy) -taken in large quantities, particularly before retiring, affect our -sympathetic or safety nerves. They make us, therefore, more sensitive to -slight sound, light, pressure, smell, etc., stimuli, which under ordinary -circumstances we would not notice consciously. - -In other words, they create imaginary "emergencies" which require the -usual preparation for fight or flight, that is, keen observation of our -environment, arterial tension, etc., all conditions which make sleep -impossible. - -Yet we cannot say that coffee, tea or cocoa, without some other -contributing cause would always bring about sleep disturbances. - -Bleuler writes: "I had been in the habit of drinking every night several -cups of very strong tea which never prevented me from sleeping. Since I -have had the influenza, things have been very different. I must be careful -not to partake of such stimulants before going to bed. But even then, -their effect depends on my mental condition. They affect me more at -certain times than they do at others. If I am the least bit excited their -effect is increased. When I am perfectly relaxed, I may not feel any bad -effects." - -A bedroom into whose windows flashes of light or waves of sound may pour, -is the not ideal place in which to seek escape from reality. Yet thousands -of people sleep soundly in Pullman berths or even in day coaches, -unmindful of the noise, light and bustle. - -We must keep in mind an observation made by Bleuler at the Zürich clinic: - -"When many people sleep in the same room, as in an insane asylum, some -complain that they cannot sleep because their neighbour is snoring. -Whoever tries to prevent the snoring or to move the snorer to another bed -will have an endless task. The trouble is with the patient who is -disturbed by snoring. It is not the noise itself but the attention he pays -to it which disturbs him. One can see in wards for agitated patients most -of the patients sleeping peacefully while some one disturbs the ward with -the most savage howling. - -"The trouble lies, not in a special sensitiveness of the nervous system, -but in the attitude we take toward a certain noise." - -Lack of exercise during the day will often cause us to toss and turn many -times in our bed after retiring. There seems to be in every living being a -craving for activity without any positive aim, activity which accomplishes -nothing besides using up unused energy or relieving certain inhibitions. - -Children and all young animals seem to be unable to remain motionless for -any length of time. In children and puppies, for example, the gleeful -shouts and barking which accompany that display of muscular activity show -unmistakably that it vouchsafes them a great amount of gratification. - -The satisfaction of the free activity urge which is one of the aspects of -the ego-power urge is probably submitted to a strong repression in men and -animals at a rather early age by the safety urge; frightened children and -animals stop playing and become at times paralysed by fear. - -On the other hand there are many sluggish individuals who lead an most -inactive life and yet sleep long hours without any interruption. - -Indigestion causes insomnia and so does hunger but it is also a fact that -many indiscreet eaters are made drowsy by their very indiscretion and -sleep soundly after a meal which would distress many other people. Also we -find in the sayings of many races statements to the effect that sleep -assuages hunger; the average prisoner sleeps in spite of the insufficient -meal served at night in the majority of jails. - -Constipation seems at times to bear the guilt for restless nights and so -do cathartics which, with some subjects, produce intestinal tension -several times during the night but whose effect is not noticeable in other -subjects until they wake up in the morning at the regular time. - -Toothache will keep some people awake while others will go to sleep in -order to forget their toothache. - -Examples of that sort could be cited ad infinitum. - -In case of sleeplessness, the first thing to do is to remove all the -possible physical causes which can be reached directly or with the help of -a physician. - -Thyroid irritation for instance may at times make one more sensitive to -even faint noises and a thorough medical examination should be undergone. - -The dentature should be examined with the help of X-ray photography in -order that pus pockets, impaction, and other defects, not observable with -the naked eye, may be revealed and remedied. - -The diet should be regulated so as to exclude indigestible foods while -assuring, especially at night, sufficient nourishment. - -All stimulants should be avoided. - -A walk before retiring is very beneficial in all cases, not because it -"tires" the subject, but because it absorbs the chemical products thrown -into the blood for emergencies which did not arise in the course of the -day. A long walk or any arduous exercise, on the other hand, might do more -harm than good if they brought about the phenomenon of the second wind. - -Any form of physical or mental exercise involving rivalry or competition -is to be avoided at night. The excitement caused by the "fear of losing" -would again fill the blood with "fight or flight" products. Heated -discussions, the witnessing of exciting films or plays, drives with a -daredevil chauffeur, etc., are not conducive to peaceful sleep. - -When all those means fail, many devices have been offered to insomnia -sufferers, such as prayer or counting sheep, reading, listening to some -monotonous stimulus like the buzzing of a faradic inductor, or of an -electric fan. - -A distinction must be made between stereotyped prayer (such as the Lord's -Prayer) and personal prayer rehearsing one's worries and asking for help. -The latter kind is not unlikely to revive all the day's problems and to -set the would-be-sleeper solving them over again at the very time when he -should forget them. - -The repetition of some passage which was memorized in childhood and which, -from long familiarity has become perfectly impersonal, may go a long way -toward creating the monotony, and hence the feeling of safety, without -which there cannot be any sleep. - -After following all the rules I have laid down a number of people will -still be unable to sleep. When the physico-psychic causes have been -removed without improving the condition of the subject, the -psychico-physical factors should then receive attention. - -As I said before, normal people can sleep under almost any conditions -because their vagotonic activities function regularly, while neurotics -cannot sleep well even under ideal conditions because their -sympathicotonic activities are constantly raising a signal danger and -imagining emergencies amidst the safest surroundings, mental and physical. - -The insomnia sufferer is suffering from some fear. That fear has to be -determined and uprooted by psychoanalysis. - -Some people cannot sleep because they have gone through a period of -sleeplessness and expect it to endure for ever. The men of the Emmanuel -movement often had the following experience: a subject would explain that -he could not sleep under any circumstances. The Emmanuel healer would ask -him to sit in a chair in which, he said, many people had fallen asleep, -and after a few minutes of soothing conversation or concentration, the -insomniac would doze off peacefully. In certain cases, such a cure may be -permanent; in other cases, when the results are obtained through -transference and suggestion, the help of the psychological adviser or -hypnotist may be too frequently required. - -Other subjects are prevented from sleeping by "worry." Telling a careworn -insomniac not to worry is as silly and useless as telling a lovelorn -person to stop being in love. - -Discussing a patient's worries with him, however, often accomplishes much -good, for it compels him to sift all his evidence, which may be -convincing to him but to no one else. The worried person who is beginning -to experience doubts as to the magnitude of his trouble, is like the -patient suffering from delusions who has lost faith in his delusions. - -The parasitic fears and cravings which attach themselves to some small -worry and, at times, magnify it out of proportion, may in such a way be -disintegrated and dissociated from the actual, justified fear. - -Giving the patient "good reasons" why he should not worry, is again a sort -of suggestion of the most futile and least durable type. - -Obsessive fear which is at the bottom of every worry is due to certain -complexes, at times apparently unrelated to the actual disturbance, and -which cannot be unearthed and uprooted except by a thoroughgoing -psychological analysis. - -This is especially true of certain cases of insomnia which the patient -reports as follows. "I fall asleep with difficulty and with a certain -apprehension. I sleep an hour or two during which I have awful dreams -which I cannot remember. After which I hardly dare to close my eyes -again." - -This is what I would call the fear of the unknown nightmare, and the -anxiety dreams responsible for it must be patiently reconstituted from -the scraps which invariably linger in the subject's memory, even when he -imagines that he cannot remember any dreams. The procedure will be -explained in the next chapter. - -While the psychoanalytic treatment is being applied, however, the patient -must be made aware of a fact which will comfort him to a certain extent. - -Patients often fear that if their sleeplessness is not relieved "at once" -they will "loose their minds." Thereupon they beg to be given some -narcotic. - -We must remember that the results of sleeplessness depend mostly upon the -attitude which we assume toward that condition. It may seem paradoxical to -state that its bad results are mainly due to our fear of them but it is -true nevertheless. - -We assume that we shall be exhausted by a sleepless night. We go to bed in -fear and trembling, wondering whether we will or will not sleep. That -anxiety is sufficient to liberate secretions which produce an unpleasant -muscular tension and a desire for activity. This keeps us awake until the -chemical contained in those secretions have been eliminated. In the -meantime, we develop a fit of anger which releases some more of the -identical chemicals. After which we are doomed to many hours of unrest and -agitation. - -During those restless hours we toss about angrily and exhaust ourselves -physically. About dawn, when sleepiness generally overtakes even the most -restless, we finally doze off and are awakened by our alarm clock or some -other familiar disturbance and once more relapse into anger at the waste -of our sleeping hours and the disability which we feel is sure to result -from it. - -We naturally feel worn out. If, on the other hand, we would resign -ourselves to our sleeplessness, realize that rest, even in the waking -state, will relieve our organism of all its "fatigue" and that, by -complete relaxation in the waking state, we can liberate almost as many of -our unconscious cravings as in the unconsciousness of sleep; if we were as -careful not to waste uselessly our inner secretions as we are not to touch -live wires, we would lie down as motionlessly as possible, and would -consign to the scrap heap all the absurd notions as to the dire results of -a sleepless night; we would then awaken in the morning as refreshed by the -two or three hours of sleep that would finally be vouchsafed us as by the -usual eight or ten. - -The amount of sleep one needs varies with every individual and increases -or decreases according to unconscious requirements. Hence, statements to -the effect that one needs eight or ten hours' sleep are absurd and -dangerous. - -Many people are worried over the fact that their sleep is irregular, that -is, that they sleep six hours one night and ten the next night and -possibly only four hours the third night. - -This is probably as it should be. Our requirements vary with varying -conditions. After eating salt fish one may need several glasses of water -to slake one's thirst, while one may not need to drink a drop of any -liquid after partaking of juicy fruit. - -One should also dismiss as an idle superstition the dictum according to -which sleep before midnight is more beneficial than sleep after midnight. -Hundreds of newspapermen, watchmen, policemen, printers, railroadmen, -etc., work nights and sleep in the day time and do not contribute more -heavily than other professions to the ranks of the mentally deranged. - -Older people, whose urges are at low ebb and do not require the -satisfaction vouchsafed by dream life should become reconciled to the fact -that they need few hours sleep; they should refrain from taking narcotics -and go to bed later than they do, so as not to "lay awake all night," -which generally means that after dozing an hour or two in an armchair and -retiring at ten they wake up normally about one or two in the morning. - -Sleep is important in health but even more so in mental disturbances. The -solution for the complicated problems of the neurotic's life depends upon -the wealth of facts contained in the unconscious rising freely to the -surface in dreams and relieving the uncertainty. The tragedy is that -except in cases of sleeping sickness, the neurotic who needs more sleep -than the healthy subject, generally gets much less. - -The neurotic should sleep preferably at night and avoid day sleep. This -for two reasons. He should keep in touch with reality when reality is -active and obvious, as during the day. With the falling of the shadows, -reality acquires a tinge of indefiniteness which lends itself to many -misinterpretations and to fancies of the morbid type. - -Sleeplessness in the ghostly hours of the night is a poison for the -neurotic, for everything at such times is exaggerated, distorted and the -slightest worry is transformed into a terrible danger. Many children could -be spared fits of "night terrors" if they were not forced to go to bed -very early, after which they are likely to wake up in the middle of the -night, disoriented and fearful. - -It has been said that insomnia was the cause of insanity and experiments -such as those made at the University of Iowa show that men kept awake for -a prolonged period of time begin to have delusions and hallucinations -similar to those of dementia praecox. But it must be remembered that the -men who submitted to those experiments were not allowed to "_rest_." - -The contrary proposition, that is, that insomnia is induced by insanity is -more plausible psychologically. - -And indeed every psychiatrist has made the observation that some insane -people sleep very little, so little in fact that such protracted periods -of sleeplessness would kill the average normal person. That observation -has been confirmed by Bleuler, who as the head of the Zurich psychiatric -clinic and one of the most tireless psychological experimenters in the -world, is in a position to speak with authority. - -Neurotics sleep very little, and the more severe their case is, the less -they sleep. Return of normal sleep generally coincides with a cure and has -been by many credited with bringing about the cure. Hence the many "rest -cures" suggested for the mentally disturbed patient. - -The truth of the matter is that the absolutely insane person who lives all -his absurd dreams in his waking life no longer needs the unconsciousness -which the normal individual requires in order to escape from reality. The -insane man who knows he is a combination of a Don Juan, a millionaire and -a powerful ruler, need not dream of becoming all those characters. He has -attained his goal and it is only the continued conflicts with reality -which may reach his consciousness in his lucid moments which necessitate -the unconsciousness of a few minutes or hours of sleep in which reality no -longer intrudes into his absurd world. - -Since insomniacs can rest without sleep and insomnia does not lead to -insanity, there is no reason why narcotics should be administered. There -is a very good reason on the other hand why they should never be -administered except in case some harrowing pain has to be relieved and -shock avoided. - -For one thing, their effect is problematic and depends also to a great -extent from the subject's mental condition. - -Kraepelin noticed that large doses of alcohol failed to produce the usual -muscular lameness in subjects who were agitated. Bleuler makes the -interesting suggestion that our central nervous system only "accepts" -narcotics when they are "wanted" and keeps drugs, carried about in the -blood stream, from being assimilated by the organism when the organism is -not "willing" to submit to their influence. - -But the most cogent reason why narcotics should never be resorted to in -"nervous" sleeplessness is that they do not relax the organism but -paralyse it by killing it partly. If they only dulled consciousness and -freed the unconscious, they would accomplish some good but we do not know -of any agent besides sleep, which accomplishes that successfully. - -Narcotics partly kill both consciousness and unconscious. While their -effect lasts, the very phenomenon which makes the neurotic a neurotic is -exaggerated. In the neurotic's waking state, unconscious complexes manage -to free themselves, somewhat indirectly. In the stupor of drugged sleep, -the repression is complete. Hence the horrible feeling which is often -experienced when awakening from drug-induced sleep. Normal sleep is -brother to life, but drug induced sleep is indeed akin to death. - -Neither can hypnotic suggestion be recommended as a cure for -sleeplessness, except of course, in emergencies. - -About the end of the nineteenth century, a Swedish physician, -Wetterstrand, inaugurated a method of treatment which was founded on a -just estimate of the value of sleep, although Wetterstrand himself could -not at the time have understood the psychology of it. - -He had in Upsala a "house of sleep" furnished with innumerable divans and -couches on which his patients were allowed to rest for hours in hypnotic -sleep. - -Of course this procedure had two glaring defects: hypnotism is a neurotic -phenomenon which should not be applied to the treatment of a neurosis and, -secondly, sleep in the daytime is generally enjoyed at the expense of the -night's sleep. - -At the same time, the sleep which patients enjoyed in Wetterstrand's -"Grotto of Sleep," as it was called at the time, must have been of a -somewhat curative kind; for the house was as silent as a grave. Thick -carpets deadened all sounds and all the lights were dimmed. No stimuli -were allowed to produce in the sleepers any fear reactions. - -What Wetterstrand really supplied to his patients was an ideal bedroom and -an opportunity for an absolutely uninterrupted sleep of several hours. We -do not know, however, how many of them were robbed of the effect of such -an ideal environment by the anxiety dreams which the quietest bedroom -cannot exclude. - -The conclusion to be drawn from what has been said in the preceding -chapters is that the real mission of sleep is to free the unconscious, to -relieve the tension due to repressions and to give absolutely free play to -the organic activities which build up the individual. - -Hence the goal is sleep of sufficient duration, sleep undisturbed by -physical stimuli, sleep FULL OF DREAMS but FREE FROM NIGHTMARES. - -No more potent curative agent could be found than that kind of sleep, -whether the ills to be remedied are of a "mental" or of a "physical" -nature. Not until all the fear-creating complexes have been disintegrated -by psychoanalysis, however, can the insomniac hope to enjoy that perfect -form of "rest." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII: DREAM INTERPRETATION - - -Dream interpretation is not an idle pastime or a mysterious performance. -Carried out in accordance with certain scientific rules based on common -sense and not on mere theory, it has a positive value in health as well as -in sickness. - -A nightmare whose meaning has been interpreted rightly ceases to be a -nightmare. It disappears, or rather, is replaced by an obvious -wish-fulfilment dream of the same import, which does not disturb sleep. - -The same modification is observable in recurrent dreams which, while not -burdened with anxiety, may have puzzled us and created a certain -apprehension. - -Insight into our own dreams enables us to release more completely the -unconscious cravings which it is the mission of sleep to free from the -repressions of waking life. - -The technique of dream interpretation is unfortunately, like every detail -of the psychoanalytic technique, very slow and at times discouraging. The -layman trained by quack literature to expect quick results, is apt to -appear scornful when a conscientious analyst, asked to interpret offhand -an apparently simple dream, refuses to perform that task and confesses -that he does not know the meaning of it. - -When little Anna Freud dreamt that she was feasting on all sorts of -dainties, no elaborate technique was needed to ferret out the enigma of -such a vision. When Ferenczi's patient, however, saw herself strangling a -white dog, the wish-fulfilment formula, applied indiscriminately, would -have given poor results. - -_To the patient_, the white dog symbolized a snarling woman with a very -pale face. - -Dream interpretation must never be attempted without the dreamer's -assistance. - -Snakes are _almost always_ sexual symbols, but if on the day preceding the -dream the subject was frightened by a snake or killed one or played with -one, we should require a good deal of other evidence before we could -safely assert that a snake dream on that night indicated fear, desire or -repression of sexual cravings. - -A tooth pulling dream related by a subject who expects to go through the -ordeal of dental extraction should not be hastily admitted to be a -symbolical dream. - -Even apparently obvious dreams may assume an entirely different complexion -when we inquire into the associations which every detail of them conjures -up from the subject's unconscious. - -A year ago or so a Chicago woman sued her husband for divorce because he -had been, while talking in his sleep, saying endearing things to his -stenographer. That woman was both right and wrong. - -The fact that her husband dreamt of his stenographer was evidence that the -girl was "on his mind," consciously or unconsciously. But we could not, -without examining the husband's unconscious reactions decide to what -extent the stenographer herself, as a distinct personality, obsessed him. - -Every man is more or less of a fetichist, irresistibly attracted by -certain details of the feminine body, for ever seeking those -characteristics and appreciating them above all others wherever found. -When only one such characteristic and no other attracts a man, the man is -known as a perverse fetichist. - -When the various fetiches which attract a man are found in one woman, let -us say red hair, dark eyes and a slender build, we have the foundation for -a passionate and durable love. - -When only one of those characteristics is found in a woman, that -characteristic is bound to attract the man's attention regardless of the -interest or lack of interest the woman may present for him. A red haired -woman, while otherwise totally unattractive, might, to a red hair -fetichist, symbolize the beauty he seeks and intrude into his dream -pictures, _although she personally could not attract him sexually in his -waking state_. - -Every one has had the experience of embracing in dreams some person who in -the waking state would not inspire the dreamer with any desire. If we -analyse carefully the appearance of the "ghostly love" we will in every -case notice that he or she is endowed with a certain characteristic which -is one of the constituting elements of our "love image." - -The Chicago woman should have taken her troubles to an analyst, not to a -judge. - -I have dwelt at length on that example to show a few of the pitfalls which -threaten the careless interpreter of dreams. - -The second rule I would formulate is this: Do not try to interpret one -dream. Wait until you have collected a large number of dreams, let us say, -twenty or thirty of them. - -Then classify them according to their character as follows: - -Pleasant and unpleasant dreams. Healthy and morbid. Masochistic and -sadistic. Childish or adult. Regressive, static or progressive. Positive -or negative. Varied or recurrent. Personal or typical. Hypnogogic and -hypnapagogic visions, etc. - -Care must be taken then to note all the words and thoughts which appear -most frequently in many dreams and which are likely to refer to important -complexes. - -Whenever possible two versions of each dream should be studied. - -The subject should write down his dreams as soon as he wakes up, either in -the morning or right after an anxiety dream which may have disturbed him -in the course of the night. - -The version of almost any important dream which the subject tells the -analyst will be found quite at variance with the version written -immediately after awakening. - -Here is a dream reported orally to me by a patient. - -"I saw you through a restaurant window, having lunch with your wife." - -Here is the same dream as I found it in the patient notes: - -"You were to deliver a lecture in a park. There was a number of good -looking girls there. One especially attracted my attention. As there was -quite a little mud in the park she wore rubber boots. You were late in -appearing and I went to look for you. I saw you sitting at a table in a -restaurant with your wife, waving to some acquaintance on the side walk." - -The discrepancy between the two versions is quite amusing. - -After that preparatory work of classification and comparison, the actual -work of interpretation can begin. - -Hebbel once wrote: "If a man could make up his mind TO WRITE DOWN ALL HIS -DREAMS, WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS OR RESERVATIONS, TRUTHFULLY AND WITHOUT -OMITTING ANY DETAILS, TOGETHER WITH A RUNNING COMMENTARY CONTAINING ALL -THE EXPLANATIONS OF HIS DREAMS WHICH HE COULD DERIVE FROM HIS LIFE -MEMORIES AND FROM HIS READING, he would make to mankind a present of -inestimable value. But as long as mankind is what it is, no one is likely -to do that." - -The technique of dream interpretation could not have been described more -accurately nor more aptly. - -The person whose dreams are to be analysed should relax completely, -stretched out on a couch in a quiet room, listening for a while to some -monotonous noise such as the buzzing of a fan or of an inductor, his mind -concentrated on the story of the dream. - -Then he should tell in a rambling way, without trying to edit the things -that rise to his consciousness, all the associations of ideas connected -with every word of the dream. While we can interpret our own dreams and -jot down our own ideas, the assistance of some sympathetic, discreet -person makes the process much simpler. Jotting down notes detracts one's -attention from the images rising to consciousness. - -The assistant, however, should confine himself to mentioning the next word -or the next part of the dream as soon as the subject seems to have -exhausted the associations brought forth by one part of it. - -The most surprising results are often obtained in that simple way. Facts -which the subject had entirely forgotten, connections he had never been -aware of, will suddenly jump into consciousness; the dream will gradually -assume a meaning and its interpretation may at times reach an unexpected -length. A dream of one line may suggest associations covering five or six -pages. - -It may happen that in spite of the subject's efforts to remember his -dreams and of devices such as being awakened in the course of the night, -etc., the only memories preserved of the night's visions will be scraps -such as "going somewhere," "talking to somebody," "something unpleasant," -etc. - -In such cases, the subject should be allowed to sink into what Boris Sidis -calls "hypnoidal sleep" by being made to listen to some continuous noise -in a partly darkened room, all the while thinking of the "dream scrap." - -"While in this hypnoidal state," Sidis writes, "the patient hovers between -the conscious and the subconscious, somewhat in the same way as in the -drowsy condition, one hovers between wakefulness and sleep. The patient -keeps on fluctuating from moment to moment, now falling more deeply into a -subconscious condition in which outlived experiences are easily aroused, -and again rising to the level of the waking state. Experiences long -submerged and forgotten rise to the full height of consciousness. They -come in bits, in chips, in fragments, which may gradually coalesce and -form a connected series of interrelated systems of experiences apparently -long dead and buried. The resurrected experiences then stand out clear and -distinct in the patient's mind. The recognition is fresh, vivid, and -instinct with life, as if the experiences had occurred the day before." - -Through this procedure, patients are often enabled to recollect forgotten -dreams and nightmares. - -Certain patients do not forget their dreams but refuse to report them. In -such cases the simplest procedure consists in asking the patient to make -up a dream while in the analyst's office, that is to put himself in the -hypnoidal state described above and to tell the images and thoughts that -come to his mind. Or if the analyst suspects the existence of a certain -complex, he may ask the patient to build up a dream on a topic so selected -that it will touch that complex. - -A question which audiences have asked me hundreds of times is: "Cannot the -patient make up something that will deceive you entirely and throw you on -the wrong trail?" - -My answer to such a question is emphatically negative. - -A study of the literary and artistic productions of all races has shown -that in every "story" and in every work of art, the writer or artist was -solely bringing to consciousness his own preoccupations, in a form which -may have deceived him but which does not deceive the psychologist slightly -familiar with the author's biography. - -Brill tells somewhere how his attention was first drawn to the value of -artificial dreams and of so called "fake dreams." - -In 1908, he was treating an out of town physician, suffering from severe -anxiety hysteria. The patient was very sceptical, did not co-operate with -Brill, never talked freely and pretended he never had dreams. One morning, -however, he came for his appointment bringing at last one dream. "He had -given birth to a child and felt severe labour pains. X., a gynecologist -who assisted him, was unusually rough and stuck the forceps into him more -like a butcher than a physician." - -It was a homosexual fancy. Asked who X. was, the patient said he was a -friend with whom he had had some unpleasantness. - -Then he interrupted the conversation, saying: "There is no use fooling you -any longer. What I told you was not a dream. I just made it up to show you -how ridiculous your dream theories are." - -Further examination, however, proved that the patient was homosexual and -that his anxiety states were due to the cessation of his perverse -relations with X. The lie he had made up was simply a distorted wish -closely connected with the cause of his neurosis. - -As Brill states very justly, "everything which necessitates lying must be -of importance to the individual concerned." - -Personally, I have found that, with certain patients, the artificial dream -method is productive of better results than the free association method. -With the docile patient who has much insight and a positive desire to rid -himself of his troubles, the association method reveals quickly the -darkest corners of the unconscious. The patient who, on the other hand, -constantly answers: "I cannot think of anything," and is always on his -guard, the association method wastes much valuable time and is very -discouraging to patient and analyst. - -It is not always advisable for the analyst to reveal to his subjects the -import of their dreams. It is especially when the meaning of their dreams -is frankly sexual that discretion and tact are necessary. In cases of a -severe repression of sexual cravings extending over many years, when, for -instance, one has to deal with a woman, no longer young and whose attitude -to life has been rather puritanical, a good deal of educational work has -to be undertaken before the subject can be enlightened. - -She must be gradually led to consider sex as a "natural" phenomenon before -she can be made to accept the sexual components revealed by her dreams as -a part of her personality. - -Repressed homosexualism is perhaps even harder to reveal to the subject. - -I have found my task infinitely simpler when the subject had done a good -deal of reading along psychoanalytic lines or had attended many lectures -on the subject. In fact it is my conviction that when psychoanalytic books -are read by a larger proportion of the population, thousands of "sex" -cases will disappear, together with the absurd fears based on ignorance -which are responsible for many a mental upset. - -Interpreting a subject's dreams is the best known means of probing and -sounding his unconscious, but in the majority of cases it only helps -indirectly in treating the case. When we deal with nightmares, however, -the results are more direct and more rapidly attained. A nightmare -interpreted rightly will never recur, or if it does, WILL NOT FRIGHTEN OR -AWAKEN THE SUBJECT. - -Insight will develop which, even in the sleeping state, will enable the -subject to recognize that his dream is only a dream and to sleep on -undisturbed. A patient who was often terrorized by a dream in which some -man stabbed him in the back, gradually came to recognize his unconscious -homosexual leanings and analysed the nightmare in his sleep when it -occurred again with excellent results. It did not frighten him and -gradually disappeared, being replaced by grosser dreams devoid of anxiety. - -A patient was bothered by dreams in which he was repelling onslaughts of -large beasts with a walking stick or an umbrella which invariably broke -and which he was always trying to tip with iron rods or tacks. - -He finally gained insight into his unconscious fear of impotence which was -dispelled by a visit at a specialist's office. - -Not only did that nightmare disappear but very soon after, his dreams -changed to visions of successful sex-gratification. - -Dream insight based upon the personality of the analyst should not be -considered as real insight. When a patient reports, "I dreamt that I was a -baby but remembered that Mr. Tridon would call that a regression dream and -I awoke," or, "I felt that Mr. Tridon would characterize the whole thing -as a masochistic performance and awoke," much work remains to be done. - -The dreamer must _know_ that his nightmare is a symbol and not merely know -that his analyst would call it a symbol. - -When the dreamer has acquired the technical skill which enables him, after -a little concentration and meditation, to interpret his own sleep visions, -he is no longer at the mercy of the annoyance called nightmare. When he -can see at a glance where the repression seems unbearable, he may devise -ways and means to satisfy his cravings more completely if they are -justifiable and lawful; if they are unjustifiable or socially taboo, he -may seek substitutes for them and, especially as I have explained in -another book, free them from the parasitic cravings which make them unduly -obsessive. - -He who can read the indications of his own dreams, has at his disposal an -instrument of great precision which indicates to him the slightest -fluctuations of his personality and, besides, points out various solutions -for the problems of adaptation which the normal, progressive human being -must solve every day of his life. - -Oneiromancy is the algebra which enables us to perform rapidly complicated -calculations in the mathematics of psychology. - - - - -BIBLIOGRAPHY - - -ABRAHAMSON, I.--Mental disturbances in lethargic encephalitis. _Journal of -Nervous and Mental Disease._ September 1920. - - A study of the sleeping sickness based mainly upon cases observed at - Mt. Sinai Hospital. - -ABRAHAM, K.--Dreams and Myths. _Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph -Series._ No. 28. - - A monograph proving that legends and myths are in reality the day - dreams of the human race. - -ADLER, A.--Traum and Traumdeutung. _Zentralblatt f. Ps. A. III_, p. 574. - - A short essay on dream interpretation from the point of view of the - ego urge. - -ASCHAFFENBURG, G.--Der Schlaf in Kindesalter und seine Störungen. -Bergmann, Wiesbaden. - - Observations on the disturbances of the sleep of children. - -BRUCE, H. A.--Sleep and Sleeplessness. Little Brown. - - A popular exposé of the problem of sleeplessness from a modern point - of view. - -CORIAT, I.--The Meaning of Dreams. Little Brown. - - A small book containing the analyses of many dreams according to the - Freudian technique. - -CORIAT, I.--The Nature of Sleep. _Journal of Abnormal Psycho._ VI. No. 5. - -CORIAT, I.--The Evolution of Sleep and Hypnosis. - - Ibidem, VII. No. 2. - -DELAGE, Y.--La nature des images hypnagogiques. _Bulletin de l' Inst. Gen. -Psycho._ 1903, p. 235. - -DU PREL, CARL.--Künstliche Träume. _Sphinx_, July 1889. - - A study of artificial dreams. - -FREUD, S.--The Interpretation of Dreams. Macmillan. - -FREUD, S.--Dream Psychology, with an introduction by André Tridon. McCann. - - The most important books on Dream Interpretation. - -FRÖMNER, E.--Das Problem des Schlafs. - - Bergmann, Wiesbaden. - -HENNING, H.--Der Traum ein assoziativer Kurzschluss. - - Bergmann, Wiesbaden. - -MAURY, A.--Le Sommeil et les Rêves. Paris 1878. - - The first attempt at a methodical study of dreams and at correlating - them to physical stimuli. - -MAEDER, A. E.--The Dream Problem. _Nervous and Mental Disease monograph -series._ No. 22. - - A presentation of the subject from the point of view of the Swiss - School. - -HALL, B.--The Psychology of sleep. Moffat Yard. - - A review of the various sleep theories from the academic point of - view. - -KAPLAN, L.--Ueber wiederkehrende Traumsymbole. _Zentrablatt f. Ps. A._ IV, -p. 284. - - An essay on dream symbolism. - -MANACÉINE, M. DE.--Sleep, its physiology, pathology, hygiene and -psychology. Scribner. - - The most complete study of sleep from every possible point of view, - placing the emphasis, however, on the physical aspects of sleep. - -SACHS, H.--Traumdeutung und Menschenkenntniss. _Jahrb. d. Ps. A._ III, p. -121. - -SCHROTTER, K.--Experimentelle Träume. _Zentralblatt f. Psy. A._ II, p. -638. - - A record of very interesting experiments in the production of - artificial dreams through hypnotism. - -SILBERER, H.--Der Traum Enke. Stuttgart. - - A very clear primer in dream study, epitomizing the latest hypotheses - in interpretation. - -SILBERER, H.--Ueber die Symbolbildung. _Jahrbuch d. Psy-A._ III, p. 661. - -SILBERER, H.--Zur Symbolbildung. _Jahrbuch d. Psy-A._ IV, p. 607. - -SILBERER, H.--Bericht über eine methode Hallucinationserscheinungen -herbeizurefen. _Jahrbuch d. Psy.-A._ I, p. 513. - -STEKEL, W.--Die Sprache des Traumes. Wiesbaden, 1911. - -STEKEL, W.--Die Traüme der Dichter. Wiesbaden, 1912. - -STEKEL, W.--Fortschritte in der Traumdeutung. _Zentralblatt f. Psy-A._ -III, pp. 154, 426. - -STEKEL, W.--Individuelle Traumsymbole. _Zentralblatt f. Psy-A._ IV, p. -289. - - Stekel is essentially a Freudian but his books contain hundreds of - illustrations and case histories, making his books more understandable - to laymen than Freud's writings. - - "Die Sprache des Traumes" is the most useful text book of Symbol - Study. - -TRIDON, A.--Psychoanalysis, Its History, Theory and Practice. Huebsch. - - See Chapter V: Symbols, the language of the dreams, and Chapter VI: - The dreams of the human race. - -TRIDON, A.--Psychoanalysis and Behaviour. Knopf. - - See part IV, chapter II: Self-knowledge through dream study. - -TRIDON, A.--Introduction to Freud's "Dream Psychology." McCann. - -VOLD, J. M.--Ueber den Traum. Leipzig 1910-1912. - - Void holds that every dream is caused by a physical stimulus. - -VASCHIDE, N.--Le Sommeil et les Rêves. Paris, 1911. - - A physical explanation of sleep and dreams. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Readers unfamiliar with my previous works might accuse me of placing -undue emphasis upon "mental" causes and ignoring the influence of bacilli, -toxins, etc., in disease. I refer them to the chapter: Mind and Body, an -indivisible unit, in my book, "Psychoanalysis and Behaviour." It is a -truism that in tuberculosis for instance the prognosis depends greatly -from the "mental" condition of the patient and on his will to live. We are -protected against disease germs by the various secretions of the mouth, -stomach, intestine, etc. Whenever a "mental" cause, such as fear, intense -sorrow, etc., translates itself into an action of the sympathetic system -which stops the flow of saliva and gastric juice and the intestinal -peristalsis, we can see how the organism is then predisposed to an -invasion of pathogenic bacteria. The depressed, the stupid and the -ignorant are the first victims in any epidemic, the depressed because -their protective vagotonism is too low, the stupid and the ignorant -because they are more frequently than the intelligent and well informed a -prey to fear. - -[2] The orthodox Freudian would of course interpret such a vision as a -symbol of an attempted regression to the fetal condition, return to the -mother's womb, etc. As a matter of fact, sleep is to a certain extent a -return to the period of the fetus' almost complete omnipotence of thought. -I have noticed, however, that I never dream of swimming except on days -when I have been prevented from indulging in my favourite sport at the -shore or in the swimming pool. - -This is to my mind a perfectly obvious dream needing no far fetched -interpretation, symbolical only in so far as it expresses my attitude to -sleep (See chapter on Attitudes reflected in dreams). - -[3] Dr. Percy Fridenberg has shown the exaggerated shock reactions felt by -the organism after the eye suffers an injury or is operated on, and -recalls Crile's saying that our activation patterns come from sight. - -[4] The duration of a dream is not as short as some of Maury's experiments -would lead us to believe. Some of the experimental dreams timed by -Schroetter lasted almost as long as it takes to relate them. - -[5] Insanity is simply a day dream from which we cannot awake at will. - -[6] All the dreams cited in this book are reported in the patient's own -words. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Psychoanalysis, by André Tridon - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PSYCHOANALYSIS *** - -***** This file should be named 44085-8.txt or 44085-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/0/8/44085/ - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - -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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