54 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
feelings manifest themselves as interest or love, transference does not interfere with
the process of treatment but is a powerful ally to the therapeutic progress. Positive
transference permits patients to more or less relive childhood experiences within the
nonthreatening climate of the analytic treatment. However, negative transference in
the form of hostility must be recognized by the therapist and explained to patients
so that they can overcome any resistance to treatment (Freud, 1905/1953a,
1917/1963). Resistance, which refers to a variety of unconscious responses used by
patients to block their own progress in therapy, can be a positive sign because it
indicates that therapy has advanced beyond superficial material.
Freud (1933/1964) noted several limitations of psychoanalytic treatment.
First, not all old memories can or should be brought into consciousness. Second,
treatment is not as effective with psychoses or with constitutional illnesses as it is
with phobias, hysterias, and obsessions. A third limitation, by no means peculiar
to psychoanalysis, is that a patient, once cured, may later develop another psychic
problem. Recognizing these limitations, Freud felt that psychoanalysis could be
used in conjunction with other therapies. However, he repeatedly insisted that it
could not be shortened or modified in any essential way.
Ideally, when analytic treatment is successful, patients no longer suffer from
debilitating symptoms, they use their psychic energy to perform ego functions, and
they have an expanded ego that includes previously repressed experiences. They
do not experience a major personality change, but they do become what they might
have been under the most favorable conditions.Dream Analysis
Freud used dream analysis to transform the manifest content of dreams to the
more important latent content. The manifest content of a dream is the surface
meaning or the conscious description given by the dreamer, whereas the latent
content refers to its unconscious material.
The basic assumption of Freud’s dream analysis is that nearly all dreams are
wish fulfillments. Some wishes are obvious and are expressed through the manifest
content, as when a person goes to sleep hungry and dreams of eating large quanti-
ties of delicious food. Most wish fulfillments, however, are expressed in the latent
content and only dream interpretation can uncover that wish. An exception to the
rule that dreams are wish fulfillments is found in patients suffering from a traumatic
experience. Dreams of these people follow the principle of repetition compulsion
rather than wish fulfillment. These dreams are frequently found in people with
posttraumatic stress disorder who repeatedly dream of frightening or traumatic
experiences (Freud, 1920/1955a, 1933/1964).
Freud believed that dreams are formed in the unconscious but try to work their
way into the conscious. To become conscious, dreams must slip past both the primary
and the final censors (refer again to Figure 2.1). Even during sleep these guardians
maintain their vigil, forcing unconscious psychic material to adopt a disguised form.
The disguise can operate in two basic ways—condensation and displacement.
Condensation refers to the fact that the manifest dream content is not as
extensive as the latent level, indicating that the unconscious material has been
abbreviated or condensed before appearing on the manifest level. Displacement