The dream space and countertransference

The author describes some similarities in the psychoanalytic literature between the conceptualisation of the dream space and that of the analyst's function as a container of the patient's projections. He also notes the correspondence between the creative use of a dream and the use of an analytic session to further understanding. Detailed clinical material is then presented from the analysis of two male patients, both of whom were unable to complete a dream about a particular emotional dilemma. The way in which they created severe disturbance in the countertransference at the same time is reported. The analyst's struggle to work through this difficulty and the beneficial consequences of this for the patient are described. It is argued that this demonstrates the way in which patients may project into the analyst dilemmas that they are unable to dream about in order that the analyst's functioning may transform the dilemmas into ones that can be thought and dreamt about. It is further argued that some patients have a developmental need to engage the analyst in this way.