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WHAT ARE WE DOING WHEN we try to interpret a dream? How do we use our thoughts, our fantasies; how do we interpret? Can we communicate the art of dream interpretation to each other?
The guidelines concerned with aiding the therapist in the art of dream interpretation were laid down by Freud. Over the years other contributors have offered additional suggestions as to how the work might be enhanced. However the formal construction of testing hypotheses in this domain has not been strikingly fruitful, as far as I can see. This is due, in large measure, to the many claims that we make on the dream. We expect that the dream will illuminate psychodynamics, character makeup, prognosis, therapeutic implications, and so on. It should also improve our therapeutic usefulness. I am sure there are other demands we make on the dream. Nor have we made any impressive break-through in our understanding of dreams in the last-75 years, since the monumental contributions of Freud. I am not, by any means, discarding the advances made in the field, nor those advances reflected in the cognate field of sleep research. These more recent studies are exciting and valuable. Yet, are they really radical contributions? Please don't misunderstand me. I consider the dream and our efforts with it to be a most valuable asset in the therapeutic transaction. However, its value is a correlate of the therapeutic authenticity of the doctor—patient relationship. When this relationship is productive the dream material becomes productive and informative; otherwise the dream loses its mutual nurturance. One can draw inferences, if one is skilled, but then all that comes