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There seems to be no doubt that the moment the association word is heard there rises into consciousness the fantasy which belongs to it from the unconscious. Pfister believes that the fantasy is fully formed
in the unconscious and has been there from such time as the mental picture which goes to form it was first seen. This is a possible explanation of why certain things we see — pictures, plays, views — make a deep impression on us; they are used by our repressed complexes as materials in both our day and night dreams. It is also possible that the picture later becomes the carrier of gruesome thoughts and for that reason it sticks fast in memory. The complex which is in the unconscious takes the picture and hides itself within it so disguised that it can come into consciousness in response to the stimulus word. Without this disguise it would probably have been difficult, if not impossible, because of its painful character, for it to have come into consciousness. In elucidation Pfister quotes incidents in Max's life which the latter uses to clothe his unconscious wishes.
He says: “In certain persons repressed hate forms out of suitable personal experiences, or imagined experiences, fantasies according to the laws of dream work. It is by means of these fantasies that the individual satisfies his hate; a satisfaction effected by making the injury to the hated one, either patent or disguised, the content of a day dream which shows that injury as already accomplished. The sexual components of hate appear in the form of sadism and masochism.”
He does not know how true this may be in others, but although his casual observation of the process has shown that many do not produce such fantasies, he thinks this does not preclude the possibility of their presence in the unconscious. He looks upon these day dreams of Max's as having the significance of safety valves for his psychic life.
Before the fifth session the reconciliation between Max and his brother wa