Studying The Interpretation of Dreams in the Company of Analytic Candidates

Abstract

Seminars serve as an important, though undervalued, component of psychoanalytic education. The focus of this paper is on the teaching of Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams through a series of seminars presented to analytic candidates at the Toronto Psychoanalytic Institutes. This has been an essential book for introducing generations of candidates to the psychoanalytic concept of the mind and for shaping candidates' understanding and attitudes toward working with their patients' dreams. Four of Freud's basic dream concepts-(1) the method and its application to the exploration of the relationship between manifest and latent dream content, (2) the sources of dreams (day residues), (3) the dream-work, and (4) wish fulfillment-are critically studied in the seminars. Detailed discussion of these basic dream concepts among the candidates and with the teacher, as well as the candidates' feedback at the conclusion of the seminars, are summarized and discussed. Through the teaching and study within the seminar framework of the fundamentals of Freud's dream theory, a shared growth experience results for both teacher and candidates.

Response to Commentaries

“…Briefly, the model of dream analysis that informed this analytic process involved an integration of both Freud's early model centering on the dreamwork, which he considered "the essence of dreaming" (Freud 1900, p. 650), and his later model of traumatic dreams as lacking dreamwork (Freud 1920; for further discussion of these two models, see Levy 2009Levy , 2011. Briefly, the model of dream analysis that informed this analytic process involved an integration of both Freud's early model centering on the dreamwork, which he considered "the essence of dreaming" (Freud 1900, p. 650), and his later model of traumatic dreams as lacking dreamwork (Freud 1920; for further discussion of these two models, see Levy 2009Levy , 2011.…”

“I May Allow Myself to do This”: Conflict in Freud’s Writing of The Interpretation of Dreams

“…The Interpretation of Dreams is viewed by many as the seminal text of psychoanalysis. Typically it is read as a primer on how to think about dreams in psychoanalysis (Khan 1962; Blum 1976; Levy 2009). Others have seen it as a manifesto on the nature of unconscious processes (Laplanche 1981, 2007).…”