The literature on the examination dream is reviewed and the analysis of several examination dreams presented to support the thesis that ego participation

in the dream has been neglected; id and superego determinants have been emphasized. The 'higher' adaptational strivings of the ego, including attempts to master transference conflicts, are as characteristic of the examination dream as instinctual gratification and self-punishment. The author recommends more consideration of the manifest content, the current transference situation, and the dreamer's handling of reality problems. In regard to dreaming in general, he conceives of it as a 'continuum for the depth of ego participation in dream thinking'. This would begin with the undistorted problem-solving dream at the most conscious level, then the traumatic neurosis dream, and finally the 'integration-attempting dream which has the ego participating in the actual dream formation and correctively modifying a recurrent trauma in the process'.