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This book has much to recommend it, but it is also disappointing, and invites criticism. The author has gathered together, in a careful and methodical way, everything Jung has said about dreams and their analysis. This is valuable for reference purposes, and could certainly be used by trainees.
The major steps that Jung stressed in approaching dream interpretations are presented chapter by chapter. The consideration of the structure of the dream, and its context, the personal and archetypal amplifications, the identification of interlinking themes, the objective and subjective characterisation of dream images, and the differentiation of the compensatory or non-compensatory value of the material, are all headlined. Finally, methods are discussed of formulating, presenting and verifying interpretations. An appendix gives nineteen dreams analysed by Jung himself.
The book is offered, however, not only as an historical account, but as a contribution to modern psychotherapy. Questions then need consideration as to what changes in Jungian theory and practice may have developed since Jung's time. Do we handle dreams in a different way, and have our interpretations changed? Fordham noted in his recent book, Jungian psychotherapy, that analysis of dreams occurs less frequently in the literature, but then went on to say, ‘dreams are just as important and remain an essential component in therapy. What then has taken place? As it has become known how to bring unconscious processes into the analytical session these have become more a living experience between therapist and patient. Thus their significance has been enriched by the contents being brought more effectively into relation with the rest of the patient's life, within the transference. It is this that makes it look as if dreams have become less central to analytical psychotherapists’ (p. 34)