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January 27, 1976. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COLORS BLACK AND WHITE IN THE DREAMS OF BLACK AND WHITE PATIENTS. Wayne A. Myers, M.D.
Material from the analyses of three black patients and three white patients included examination of approximately three hundred dreams from each
group. Dreams in which the colors black and white were mentioned were of higher-than-average frequency in both groups studied, while the incidence of reports of other colors was lower than average. Dr. Myers, following H. Blum, suggested that color in dreams was an indicator of conflict around self- and object representations and the development of the sense of identity. He felt that the colors black and white in his patients' dreams related to their transference wishes and affects. The use of black to express degradation and white to convey idealization was impressive in a patient of biracial parentage, while in another case it served to express aspects of the prominent transference resistance which, according to Dr. Myers, was based on the color difference between patient and analyst. Other studies of interracial analyses have shown dream material in which conflicts of self- and object differentiation were correlated with skin color. In conclusion, Dr. Myers mentioned the possibility that the frequency of his white patients' color references may have been influenced by their awarness that he also had black patients.