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Freud's youth had been animated by a Dream of great scientific discovery. By the onset of middle age, he had not yet succeeded in realizing it, and his efforts to do so intensified. Between the ages of 39 and 44, Freud first tried to create a neuronal psychology, then focused his efforts on finding the origins of neurosis. With the seduction theory, Freud thought he had resolved the problem of etiology, as well as secured the means for the realization of his Dream. However, he was unable to suppress recurring doubts about the theory, and his inability to do so precipitated a mid-life developmental crisis. Unable either to settle his mind about seduction or to solve the problem of neurosis along other lines, he reluctantly turned to The Interpretation of Dreams in order to pull himself out of the crisis.
Reshaping his Dream from a narrowly masculine, ‘hard’ science to a broader, more feminine, ‘soft’ science version required considerable mid-life individuation, including further integration of his own femininity. As Freud grew comfortable with a more feminine subject matter and a more feminine way of working, he was able to see that his work on The Interpretation of Dreams would also illuminate the problem of neurosis, albeit in purely psychodynamic terms. By the conclusion of his work on the book, Freud had created a new version of his Dream suitable for middle age; he would discover the relations, not between neuron and neurosis, but between conflict and life—clinical psychology, as he called it.