Fusion of the Isakower Phenomenon with the Dream Screen

While Dr. Bertram D. Lewin read his paper, The Forgetting of Dreams (1), calling attention to his conception of the dream screen (2) and the Isakower phenomenon (3), I became suddenly aware of my own past experience with both these phenomena.1 I felt compelled to relate my memories to Dr. Lewin who urged me to write them as a scientific contribution to a new and important subject.

The Isakower phenomenon was characterized in my experience by the typical amorphous mass which, accompanied by moderate but ominous roaring, moved rapidly toward me from an immense distance. The mass was grayish or light tan in color. My attention was anxiously and inevitably forced upon its center which was either somewhat elevated, depressed, or whirl-shaped. My anxiety would rise as the round mass, now of gigantic proportions, rushed toward my face with the threat of annihilation. I would get up in my bed and scream for mother, my eyes wide with consuming terror, but I could not for some time recognize my surroundings nor my parents who, being alarmed, tried to waken me fully by soothing, petting, and talking. Somehow connected with the nightmare was a