Correspondence

I appreciated Owen Renik's article in the April 1999 issue of  JAP ( ‘Getting real in analysis’, pp.  167-87). It was both well thought out and readable, a rare combination. I liked the case of Margaret presented before the theoretical discussion. His discussion of reality testing and analyst self-disclosure was excellent

However, Renik did not develop the point that most interested me - the dream of the bull, which usefully was taken as analogous to her fear (1) of the therapist and (2) of her father. Without the entire dream, one can only say that there is a complex appropriately imaged as a bull. The move to ‘father’ is one among many possible meanings. Also, as Winnicott might say, ‘There's no such thing as a baby or a bull, only bulls in a context’. Is it a ranch, a bullfight, a china shop, etc.? We are told only that she is in a four-sided pasture with the bull and is afraid it will attack her. The bull is a motif in the dream but we are not told what the dream is doing with the bull. One might dream of a gun and say it was ‘because’ one went to a gun show that day. But knowing that a gun appears in a dream tells nothing about whether it is used by the dream-ego or against him/her, whether it is loaded, what type of gun it is, etc. Not being a Jungian, the therapist was perhaps predisposed to see the dream in an analogical way (as referring to T/CT or the dreamer's past or present relationships) rather than as true symbol.

Does the bull show actual aggression toward the dream-ego or is it grazing peacefully, uninterested in the dream-ego? Is it a Ferdinand? What is the shape of the pasture? If it is square, with the bull in its centre, the form suggests a mandala, raising further questions of interpretation. What is the distance between the dream ego and the bull? Is it such that the dream-ego could easily leave the pasture safely even if the bull is aggressive? There is no hint on archetypal amplification, even if only in the analyst's mind. Whether to