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In a short introduction by the Curatorium of the C. G. Jung Institute, Zürich, it is stated that an attempt has been made in this volume to meet the general interest in the practical work of the analytical psychologist. It appears that the six papers are addressed mainly to the general reader: J. Jacobi expressly states that she hopes her contribution may be of interest to a wider public.
Gerhard Adler's paper is concerned with the search for meaning (die Sinnfrage) in psychotherapy. Conceived on a broad basis, the paper contains a great number of stimulating ideas. Since it provides little in the way of clinical material, it appears that it has to be regarded as an introduction to the subsequent papers. There can be little doubt of the author's involvement in the subject matter so that his own characterization of his paper as a ‘personal confession’ seems fully justified.
Common to all papers is the importance given to dreams, ‘the world of archetypal images’. This is particularly pronounced in Marie-Louise von Franz's contribution ‘Religious or magical attitude towards the unconscious’ in which numerous dreams are reported at great length. The reader will be impressed by the author's profound knowledge of material used for amplification. However, when the ‘practical work’ with the patient is touched upon we do not feel taken into the analyst's confidence. For instance, von Franz tells us that the patient could accept only ‘halfheartedly’ (p. 49) interpretations referring to her conflicts in external life, but we do not get to know how the analyst dealt with this difficulty. One dream is used to advise the patient to stay in bed except for her analytic sessions. Neither this method nor the interpretation of the dream content can be discussed here but von Franz tells us that from the beginning she was concerned about the patient's state of exhaustion, which resulted from being tormented by dreams and visions, and that she hoped ‘the dreams themselves would point to a