Hypnotically Recalling Dreams During Analysis

Recalling or remembering dreams hypnotically during the course of an analysis can be a risky procedure, especially if one wishes to maintain the integrity of the classical procedure. It means introducing a treatment-parameter which may be difficult, if not impossible upon occasion, to interpret (Eissler, 1953; Calogeras, 1967). Aside from this reservation, the procedure nevertheless has some merit and bears investigating, particularly if one is faced with the resistance of a “dreamless analysis” which needs to be confronted.

The purpose of this communication is to discuss the theoretical rationale, the technique and the therapeutic outcome of the hypnotic recall of dreams during certain periods of analytic therapy. Since Freud first abandoned hypnosis for the free association method, hypnosis as a therapeutic procedure has fallen, in the general routine sense, into disuse in terms of analytic therapy. However, there have been instances of the wedding of the two procedures so that the dynamic points of each procedure can be used to reinforce the other. In this regard, a comparison of both hypnosis and the free-association methods is germane.

It has been pointed out (Wolberg, 1972) that Freud did not so much “abandon hypnosis” but rather he substituted another therapeutic procedure — the free-association method — which he held was gready superior to the “old hypnotic procedures.” Freud never repudiated hypnosis as such; he simply put it aside for what he thought was a much more effective method of working with the neurosis. In fact he noted that it had a place in medicine which could be of great value