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This is a substantial book on the technique of dream analysis and is the fruit of Dr Sloane's experiences with analytic candidates in seminars and supervision, even though half of the numerous illustrations derive from his own clinical practice. It is a book very much in the classical Freudian mould, with dreams given a central place in the analytic work and attention paid to the analysis and understanding of the latent meaning of all the elements that make up the manifest dream content. To quote:
When the analyst decides that the time is ripe to start analyzing dreams, he may offer some initial instructions. The patient may be asked what happened on the previous day that could have instigated the dream (day residue) … The analysand should then be advised to break the dream into fragments, to associate to each detail separately, and to proceed to the next detail when the associations to the first are exhausted; so on until the entire dream has been covered.
(pp. 22–3).
Being primarily aimed at candidates to teach them the art of dream interpretation, it is written in a lucid style which is easy to follow, emphasizing observational data rather than metapsychological issues. However, in so far as it also describes a method of teaching dream interpretation, it is also a useful tool for anyone engaged in the teaching of psychoanalytic theory and practice.
One of the book's chief merits is the wealth of dream examples (some 50 of them), each of which is followed by a detailed analysis and interpretation, illustrating how the latent meaning is arrived at from the patient's associations and from previous knowledge of the patient's psychopathology and major conflicts. In this, Dr Sloane firmly adheres to Freud's view that the dream is the 'royal road to the unconscious' and that there is no other clinical material which provides both analyst and patient with as much conviction and insight into the unconscious forces at work in a patient. 'Dreams often yield knowledge abo