The author argues that after puberty dreams and action are indicators of the capacity of the psychic apparatus to perform the work of binding drive energy. He notes that the development of adult sexuality always involves risk and that effective dream activity affords a definitive solution to the problem of incestuous and parricidal temptations, which attain an unprecedented pitch of intensity with the onset of sexual and procreative potency in adolescence. The author illustrates his thesis by the case of an adolescent patient with particular sexual pathology who broke down at the age of 17 and who, once he became able to dream in the course of analysis, had less need to act out. A ‘work of the negative’ is presented as a paradoxical but important element in psychic development. Dreaming and action are stated to be inseparable and to constitute an essential safety valve that facilitates the developmental process. A discussion of the connections between dreams and initiation leads to some ethnological considerations on sexuality and society, and the paper ends with a plea not to overlook the death drive.