Hypnotically recalling dreams during analysis

This study described the procedure, the theoretical rationale, and clinical material relating to the hypnotic recalling of dreams during periods of protracted "dreamless" analyses. Two clinical examples were used to demonstrate the efficacy of using a special hypnotic procedure close to the analytic free-association method for the remembering or recalling the dreams. Discussion of the clinical material found: 1. the main factors contributing to a "dreamless" analysis were to be found in the transference-countertransference resistances of the analysis; 2. the justification for introducing the special hypnotic procedure as a parameter in the analysis was discussed and confirmed; 3. the remembering-recalling of the first dream--following the hypnotic intervention--lead to the recovery of a critical childhood memory; and 4. the parameter of using hypnosis as a method of breaking the intractable resistance of a "dreamless" analysis did not become an alien force which intervened whenever strong resistances appeared. On the contrary, it seemed to serve as a temporary therapeutic mechanism for allowing an energy shift to occur in the all-or-none defensive state of a "dreamless" analysis.