Dreams, A Portal to the Source

Edward C. Whitmont, Sylvia Brinton Perera

Acknowledgements; 1 INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL DREAM INTERPRETATION; 2 WORKING WITH THE DREAM IN CLINICAL PRACTICE; 3 THE SITUATION AS IT IS; The dream-ego; Developmental possibilities through dream work; 4 THE LANGUAGE OF DREAMS; Image; Allegory; Symbols; Rebus; 5 ASSOCIATION, EXPLANATION, AMPLIFICATION: THE DREAM FIELD; Associations; Explanation; Emotions and bodily reactions; ‘Trivial’ dreams; Fantasy, imagination, and enactment; Affect and feeling quality; Amplification; The therapist’s responses; 6 COMPENSATION AND COMPLEMENTATION: OBJECT AND SUBJECT LEVELS; Compensation and complementation; Object and subject levels in dreams; Dramatization; Application of the compensation and complementation principle in dreamers with undeveloped or fragmented egos; 7 THE DRAMATIC STRUCTURE OF THE DREAM; General overview of the dream drama; Dramatic structure; 8 MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIFS; Recognizing mythological motifs; The interplay of archetypal and personal material; Dealing with mythological motifs; Some special motifs; The life play; Birth; Chapter ildren; Animals; Interpreting mythological material; 9 TECHNICAL POINTS; Time sequence; The re-evaluating function of the dream; The day residue; Dream series; Variations on a theme; Nightmares; 10 PROGNOSIS FROM DREAMS; Dreams of death or illness; 11 BODY IMAGERY; Sexuality; Imagery of body orifices; 12 DREAMS OF THERAPY AND THE FIGURE OF THE THERAPIST; The actual reality of the therapist; Transference reactions; The inner therapist; Countertransference dynamics; Induction by the therapist; Dreams of the process of therapy; Variations on the theme of the therapy process; Images of alternative therapists; The archetypal transference in dreams; Dreams of therapy for the therapist only; Therapist’s dreams about the client; 13 CONCLUSION; Notes; Bibliography; List of dreams; Index;