FIERZ, H. K. (Zürich). ‘Die Bedeutung des Traumes in der Analytichen Psychologie C. G. Jung.’ (The meaning of the dream in Analytical Psychology), in Der Trau maus der Sicht verschiedener psychotherapeutischer Schulen (The dream as viewed by different schools of psychotherapy). R. Battegay and A. Trenkel (Eds.). Bern,  Hans Huber (1976). Pp.  35-45.

This is a contribution to a book on the meaning of dreams as seen by various schools of psychotherapy. Fierz, Director of the Zürichberg Clinic, states what he considers to be the significance of dreams in analytical psychology.

The author gives a learned and lucid exposition of the nature of dreams as he sees it and the way in which he interprets them. He stresses the importance of studying Freud's ‘Interpretation of dreams’ but bases his own views mainly on Jung's ideas. With the help of a dream from Samuel Pepys's diary and of dreams from training analysands Fierz develops the idea that the dream is a spontaneous fantasy which creates new aspects of experience often compensatory to the conscious attitude of the dreamer. Fierz also mentions the healing power of dreams already known to the ancient Greeks. The author interprets the dream material on the level of external reality, on the symbolic and on the mythological level. He stresses the subjective and objective meaning of the dramatis personae and shows the structure of the ‘dream drama’: exposition, culmination and lysis. He indicates that Schopenhauer anticipated Jung's concept of synchronicity and illustrates this concept by a dream of J. W. Dunne quoted by Jung. Although few analytical psychologists would disagree with the views expressed in this article I would like to add that the author's exposition leaves out the important aspect of the transference meaning of some dream material.