Dream analysis in the treatment of an eleven-year-old boy

The treatment of an eleven-year-old boy with severe enuresis, facial tic, marked social maladjustment, passivity, and effeminacy was guided by the following principles: (1) Personality development was set in motion by encouraging age- and gender-appropriate behavior, by providing and identification model, and by upholding values which reflect normal male behavior. (2) Unconscious pathogenic forces were mobilized, analyzed, and resolved. (3) Environmental factors which facilitated growth were added and those which inhibited growth were removed. (4) The doctor took a clear stand for health and against sickness. (5) Responsibility for the conduct, progress and outcome of treatment rested with the doctor. The treatment was therefore guided by a synthesis of three conceptual models: developmental, analytic, and medical. The patient was seen for one hundred hours over a two-and-one-half-year period. Dream analysis provided the primary means by which unconscious conflicts were brought into consciousness.