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The psychoanalytic literature contains a few reports of mirror dreams but no references, to my knowledge, of rearview-mirror dreams. In this paper I consider a group of manifest dreams containing rearview mirrors along with some rearview mirror associations. These data suggest that certain meanings are frequently represented and expressed through the use of the rearview mirror, and that these meanings differ from those usually attributed to the face-on or vis-à-vis mirror dream. One must be careful about attributing too specific a meaning to any dream element, especially with limited data and, therefore, the hypotheses presented herein must be considered tentative. I hope they will stimulate further discussion and the sharing of clinical data.
A review of the literature on mirror dreams shows general agreement as to their narcissistic implications: to preserve narcissistic integrity and to defend against fears of object loss. Elkisch (1957) described mirroring phenomena in psychotic and borderline patients attempting to retrieve their lost sense of self. Miller (1948) believed mirror dreams occur in narcissistic patients and reflect the ego's struggle to acknowledge an unconscious conflict being mobilized in the analysis. Eisnitz (1961) considered the mirror dream an attempt to defend against narcissistic mortification, the threatening part of the superego having been split off and projected to the mirror. Kohut (1971) described mirror dreams as a reflection of the mirror