The Clinical Use of Daydreams in Analysis

This paper focuses on a particular kind of daydream occurring during analysis, which I call a transference daydream because it involves a patient's thoughts and feelings about the analyst. Such daydreams can be created outside analytic sessions, or might be newly elaborated during an analytic hour. When they happen during an hour, one has a special opportunity to observe in detail an individual's defenses at work. Daydreams, just like night dreams, can be studied as compromise formations. My emphasis is on one aspect of the compromise, the defense aspect, which automatically involves superego functions as well. The self-critic and editor is importantly motivated by superego demands.

Here I am borrowing from the subtitle of one of Martin Stein's papers: “Critic, Editor, and Plagiarizer” (1989). He used those words to refer to the process of secondary revision in dreams, but in a way they apply even better to daydreams. Naturally, people edit their daydreams in any case, but when they have to be spoken out loud in the presence of the analyst, the transference spin is likely to be stronger, even if the content of the daydream does not actually include the analyst.

Clinical illustrations of daydreams occurring during analysis will demonstrate how they can enhance our understanding of the patient's defenses. The defenses on which I will focus are the criticisms and editing that go on as the daydream is being created. Since daydreams are much more under the author's conscious control than are dreams during sleep, the process of the ego's editing is more accessible. At the same time, all clinicians are aware that patients are