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Should Dement's hypothesis prove correct, it is beside the point. The unconscious uses dreams for symbolic expression of conflicts in an attempt to solve them. Psychoanalysis of patients with vestigial remnants (such as supernumary nipples, cloaca, etc.) has shown how these remnants are seized upon by the unconscious and used for projection and introjection.
The idea (of the operation) did not undergo the disguises typical of dream work because it was used as day-residue. We do not have the dream's latent meanings and in the dream-action example, one unconscious wish was to have something come to consciousness bypassing responsibility. Dr. Siegel's patient having learned from two years of analysis that he was responsible for his dreams, could not dream of the formula, but instead, “found it.”
About the last point, many dreams which have been categorized as premonitory may be seen as examples of dream-action. Perhaps, the anxiety which people feel about premonitory dreams is due to their inner awareness and experience with dream-action. I have collected several clinical illustrations for a subsequent paper on dream-action and premonitory dreams and would appreciate examples readers might send.
John A. Lindon, M.D.