First reported dreams in psychoanalytic group psychotherapy

Analysis of dreams is often used in group psychotherapy to explore common group tensions and individual internal conflicts. The author pays special attention to the first dream which a patient reports in the course of group psychotherapy. These first reported dreams clearly and accurately reveal the patient's basic conflicts and also reflect the progressive stages of group-as-a-whole tension from issues of dependency, advice-giving, and universality to explorative resolution of conflicts.