Alexander's study is a variation of a theme of Freud: 'The voice of the intellect is a soft one but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing'. According to Alexander, this sentence contains the essence of psychoanalytic therapy which is based on the victory of reasonable insight over old patterns of highly emotional significance. If the insight that these old patterns are unsuitable for the aims of the mature personality is gained, the cure will make progress. The force of infantile desires works as resistance against the voice of the intellect and therefore against the therapeutic process. The relative increase of reason during the successful analytic process can be demonstrated in dreams which become clearer, franker and express the content of the neurotic conflict with little disguise. The patient is, according to Alexander, not even in his dreams able to avoid the confrontation of his ego with his unconscious difficulties and