The manifest dream in psychoanalysis: a clarification

Controversies about the value of the manifest dream in psychoanalysis are usually a matter of semantics. The author concludes that two clinically meaningful questions about the manifest dream can be asked: Is the patient's report of a dream useful in formulating an interpretation if no formal associations to the dream elements are given? Inasmuch as such reports always include some kind of associations, and the analyst always possesses considerable knowledge about the patient, the answer to this question would seem to be "Yes, at least at times." In what ways can the manifest dream contribute to our understanding of the dream and the dreamer? Both the literature and clinical experience indicate that there are many ways; these are summarized in an appendix. One approach, the direct decoding of manifest dream elements, is discussed in some detail. Several examples of the undisguised appearance of memories of childhood traumatic experiences in the manifest dream are presented.     

Configurational approach to manifest dream analysis: Possible acceleration of the patient's communication in psychoanalytic psychotherapy

This paper presents an approach to dream analysis utilizing the manifest content of a number of consecutive dreams from the same patient. Following a review of the literature, it is noted that in once-a-week psychotherapy there is often very little time for exhaustive dream analysis to unravel the buried meanings within the latent dream content. Twenty categories have been established for the configurational analysis, which is applied to the analysis of the first eleven dreams of a patient in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The authors independently analyzed the patient's dreams using each of the 20 categories with high reliability, then combined their contributions. This data was then compared with the treating analyst's independent clinical observations about the twenty categories.     

The problem of dream length in analysis of content.

The present study investigated the linear as well as nonlinear relationships between scores on selected dream content scales and dream length. Analysis indicated that biases due to control solely for the linear components are almost negligible.     

Mediated Exhibitionism: The Naked Body in Performance and Virtual Space

Mediated exhibitionism is the phenomenon of amateur performers exposing their nude bodies on the Internet, and includes the exchange of nude images by email, text message, webcam, electronic bulletin board, and other means of digital communication. Although mediated exhibitionism has its foundation in live performance and traditional media forms, its potential as a means for broadening the aesthetics of the body and offering a form of resistance to social control is magnified by the interactive quality of the Internet. Conversely, new aesthetic ideals have been established and resistance to social control has been challenged by the very technology which made resistance possible. A series of websites catering to mediated exhibitionism were investigated.     

The conceptualisation of the psychical in psychoanalysis

This article aims to clarify the psychoanalytic conceptualisation of the psychical, which includes a discussion of the relationship between consciousness and the unconscious. The unconscious is conceived of as being on the border between the so-called 'ego's conscious intending' and a rudimentary body-ego experiencing. Phenomenological ideas on the essence of consciousness are used in order to help delineate the crucial differences between consciousness and the unconscious. Only consciousness is characterised by an awareness of itself, that is; self-consciousness. Furthermore, consciousness is characterised by an intentional, synthesising capacity, whereas the functioning of the unconscious, in its most radical form, is the opposite ofthe intentionality of consciousness. It is argued that the unconscious pre-supposes certain pre-sexual processes, in the form of a body-ego's formation of continuity, coherence and wholeness. The body-ego belongs to the sphere of consciousness/self-consciousness, even if self-consciousness is only given implicitly in the body-ego and not as a fully fledged ego cogito . Attention is drawn to neglected issues in psychoanalytic theorising, namely self-consciousness and the constitution of existence. The importance of this neglected area for the psychoanalytic process is illustrated with clinical examples.     

Seeking patterns in dream content: A systematic approach to word searches

This paper systematizes the word search potential of DreamBank.net (Domhoff and Schneider, 2008a, Domhoff and Schneider, 2008b) by formulating and testing a set of word strings that can be used as default analytic categories in future investigations. The word strings are applied to the 981 dream reports of college students gathered by Hall and Van de Castle (1966) and the 136 dream reports of an 80-year old male gathered by Bulkeley (2008a). The results show a basic compatibility with the frequencies identified by Hall and Van de Castle’s labor-intensive method of content analysis employing teams of human coders. These findings support the expanded use of word search technologies for the scientific study of dream content and its relation to forms of waking consciousness.     

Methodological issues in the quantitative analysis of dream content

Reviews measurement approaches applied to dream reports and proposes some methodological cautions that may result in more effective utilization of the dream report in research and assessment. Standardization of dream collection techniques and controls for variability in the length of dream reports are suggested. Further investigation of the intraindividual consistency of dream report measures is seen as necessary for a discussion of their validity. Though there are indications that a variety of dream report measures are potentially valid for psychological assessment, measures based on general dream report characteristics show greater promise than specific content analysis. Research on the differences between normal and disturbed subjects highlights the potential, and the problems, inherent in the use of dream reports as tools of psychological inquiry.     

The concept of psychical trauma: A bridge in interdisciplinary space1

The concept of trauma currently occupies a central position in interdisciplinary dialogue. Using the concept of psychical trauma as a bridge, the author attempts an interdisciplinary dialogue with psychiatry, biology and neuroscience. Beginning with the concept of psychical trauma in Freud, the author reviews the evolution of Freud's thinking, and links it with the ideas of Ferenczi and post‐Freudian psychoanalytical authors. From a different framework, he considers the present state of research on post‐traumatic stress disorder in current psychiatric nosography and attempts an interdisciplinary approximation to the concept of psychical trauma. Interesting ideas like the traumatic situation, trauma spectrum and psychopathological spectrum emerge, which enable a better understanding of the concept of psychical trauma through its relatedness, as a bridge connecting a broad psychopathological range extending from normality to psychosis. The ensuing possible relative loss of nosographical rigour is more than compensated by the resulting increased understanding and enlarged therapeutic possibilities. In the second part of the paper, the author attempts a dialogue with neuroscience, taking into account new advances in current research on emotion and memory, and making them compatible with the psychoanalytical concept of trauma. In this sense, the paper underlines the importance of emotion and crucially of memory, regarded as a fundamental axis of the subject explored in this paper. Here a substantial distinction which is pertinent for analytical work appears: declarative memories versus non‐declarative or procedural memories. In a concluding discussion the author argues that, taking into account the implications of these current notions regarding a number of theoretical and technical aspects, psychoanalysis currently holds a privileged position, both in its potential for prevention and regarding the treatment of patients, in so far as, through interdisciplinary dialogue, psychoanalysis can be receptive to and be enriched by the contributions of other disciplines, just as it enriches them with its own contributions.