We question the assumption that the hypnotic dream is a psychic production which duplicates, either in function or structure, the spontaneous night dream. We suggest instead that there is a wide range of response to the hypnotic suggestion to 'dream', the average production having a structure which seems intermediate between the daydream and the spontaneous night dream, in that primary processes are used more than is common in waking thought, but less than in the typical night dream. We add further the tentative suggestion that hypnotic dreams in a series may progressively clarify either the defensive aspect of a conflict or the impulse (or need) which is being defended against.