The concept of narcissism, starting from Freud, includes a temporal dimension and not only a structural one; there is oscillation between positions of a healthy retreat from the relationship with the other and a return toward objects. In some narcissistic pathologies there is an imprisonment in a relationship with the primary object, which doesn't function as an «open and useful space to the mental objectivation of transient desires» (Bollas), but instead blocks the subject in a static position and restricts unconscious freedom. The analyst's function is described as a living mirror that can oscillate between otherness and identity, in reference to three clinical case. The dream is shown as a model of this oscillation, where escape from object investments and attraction toward characters and emotions of the not-me world are proposed.