[Dream and initial phases of analysis: history, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic remarks]

The authors underline the importance of dreams in the initial phases of psychoanalysis as an instrument of diagnosis and prognosis. In these first phases of explorative analysis or of consultation the dreams will show the structures and the deep mental dynamics of the patient, they will also show the expectations that the patient has with regard to the therapeutic prospects, and also the effectiveness of the encounter between patient and therapist. The authors underline the significance of the moment in which the dreams are told to the analyst: it is possible, therefore, to speak about anamnestic dreams, about dreams that are a consequence of the decision to start an analysis, about dreams that referred to the first contact between the patient and the analyst, about dreams that concern the consultation phase broadly. The authors, moreover, describe several examples of patients' dreams in the first phases of explorative analysis and they supply them with an interpretation and with a diagnostic and prognostic use, and they also propose indications on how and in what way and if it is the case to continue the therapy.