Notes

Meeting of the NEW YORK PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIETY, October 26, 1948, Dr. Henry A. Bunker, presiding:

Inferences From the Dream Screen. By Bertram D. Lewin, M.D. (New York). Dr. Lewin first restated the concept of a dream screen as a constant, though usually unperceived, element in dreams. He believes it to represent the breast perceived by the nursling. It thus represents the dreamer's wish to sleep. By enlarging the concept 'breast' to include 'whatever the (nursing) infant experiences at the lips or mouth', account is taken of the fact that many babies are bottle fed. Numerous new dreams were cited and the following inferences drawn: 1, Forgetting or remembering dreams is a consequence of the dreamer's attitude toward his wish to sleep and consequently toward his oral wishes, since sleep is considered (psychologically) chiefly as an expression or consequence of oral wishes. 2, Repetitions of or in dreams may represent latent thoughts of multiple or interrupted feedings. 3, The frequency of oral elements in primal scene dreams is adduced as substantiating the hypothesis that the wish to sleep is psychologically an oral wish. 4, The preponderance of visual (as opposed to other forms of sensory) elements in dreams may express a general wish to be awake.

Dr. G. Róheim suggested that the dream's background may represent the dreamer's body fused with mother's breast, and observed that inference 4 corresponds with the idea of primitives that dreams are due to the life principle.

Dr. P. Federn commented that though Silberer's work was instigated by his opposition to Freud, it produced discoveries of permanent value. He added that the dream screen fulfils the wish to remain a baby with a new (and better) life before one.

Dr. I. P. Glauber cited dreams of patients confirming the concept of a dream screen and its identification with the breast. He added that the function of the screen might be illuminated by a study of dreams in which only one part of the dream is proj