Studies on the Nature of Suggestion—Part II the Transference Meaning of Giving Suggestions1

In Part I of this investigation (10) it was shown that patients under analysis accepted suggestions to dream in 68% of 95 experiments, and that the content of the suggestion influenced the content of the dream produced. Even when a dream was not produced the influence of the suggestion could be demonstrated in other behavioral manifestations. The various categories of result, such as acting out and symptom formation as substitutes for dreaming, were discussed in terms of compromise formations between unconscious impulses activated by the dream suggestions and defensive functions of the ego. The failure to dream was related to the development of overt or latent hostility, with special stress on the possible role of the arousal of oral sadism. It was demonstrated that patients in analysis show a capacity for accepting dream suggestions, which approaches that of hypnotic subjects, and that when given suggestions their behavior resembles that of hypnotic subjects. Increased suggestibility was discussed as one of the properties of states of induced regression, among which are to be included the hypnotic and analytic relationships. It was concluded that "hypnotic" phenomena are brought about as a result of the interaction of constellations of psychic attitudes of the subject toward the physician, and the activity of the latter in the