You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
I am prefacing this review with a caveat emptor concerning myself and to a lesser extent, the book. Although this book is intended by the authors to be “an introductory guidebook for psychoanalysts and therapists who seek to integrate a basic approach to dream interpretation into their clinical practice” and as “a practical primer for the analyst-in-training” (p. 1), their basic approach is a Jungian one. Indeed every chapter is introduced by at least one quote from Jung's Collected Works, and no other analytic theorist or clinician is so honored. As an analyst who was not trained within and who does not practice within a Jungian frame, I have a knowledge of Jungian practice far too scant for me to ascertain or attempt to comment on this book's place within the body of Jungian literature on theory or practice. Such terms as “animus” and “shadow” are not part of my working conceptual framework. Therefore, I will restrict my commentary to those issues raised by the authors' presentation itself.
A dream needs to be apprehended from many vantage points. Structure, context, past, present, and intra- and interpersonal dynamics constitute only a few of the perspectives to be considered. To neglect or isolate any element lessens our ability to appreciate fully the dream and the dreamer and to utilize judiciously what continues to be a very potent tool for comprehending the patient/client and the bipersonal field upon which we attempt to operate. Yet it is difficult to teach each element and still adequately convey