403: Dreams in Clinical Practice
Instructor(s)
Philip Herschenfeld, M.D.
Carlos Alberto Sanchez, M.D.
September 11 – November 20, 2024
Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:20 pm
No class: 10/2
Co-requisites
Candidates must have at least two cases in supervised psychoanalysis to be eligible for upper level courses.
Course Description
The dream, as Freud and others after him have appreciated, offers a “royal road” into the unconscious processes of our patients. This course reviews the technique of dream interpretation and considers the meaning of dreams in the context of analysis and psychotherapy.
Senior candidates will take turns presenting a dream from one of their current cases along with some relevant history and discussion of the transference. The group will consider the dream images in light of the clinical history, and each candidate will be given a chance to think about how he or she might have carried the work forward. The candidate presenting the dream will then discuss how s/he worked with it in the context of the analysis. The course goal, while reminding senior candidates of the special richness which dreams afford, is intended to help them feel increasingly confident integrating dream work in their professional skill set.
Course Objectives
After attending this course, students will be able to:
1. describe the mechanisms that are active in creating a dream.
2. Explain how dream interpretation enhances understanding of unconscious mental activity of the analysand
Evaluation Method
Each student’s participation in class discussion and his or her demonstration of understanding of the course objectives and reading material is assessed in a written evaluation by the instructor(s).
These articles are protected under relevant copyright regulations. They are available in the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute Electronic Reserve for your convenience, and for your personal use.
READINGS ARE CONFIRMED.
I. Introduction
CLASS 1: September 11, 2024
REQUIRED READINGS
Freud, S. “Dream of the Botanical Monograph” IOD, S.E., Vol. IV, Part I, pp. 169 -176.
II. The Patient’s First Dream
CLASS 2: September 18, 2024
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Gilmore, M. and Nersessian, E. (1999). Freud’s Model of the Mind in Sleep and Dreaming. Neuropsychoanalysis, 1(2):225-232.
Balter, L. (2018). Spatial Translation and Regression in Dreams: The Nicholas Young Phenomenon. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 66(4):619-645.
III. Dreams and Neuropsychoanalysis
CLASS 3: September 25, 2024
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Givrad, S. (2016). Dream Theory and Science: A Review. Psychoanal. Inq., 36(3):199-213.
Levin, F.M. (2015). What Neuropsychoanalysis Teaches Us about Dreaming. Ann. Psychoanal., 38:131-141.
IV. The Dream Within the Dream
CLASS 4: October 9, 2024
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Balter, L. (2005). Nested Ideation and the Problem of Reality: Dreams and Works of Art in Dreams. Psychoanal Q., 74(3):661-701.
Freud, S. The Manifest Content of Dreams and Latent Dream Thoughts. S.E. XV Lecture VII pp. 113-115.
Freud, S. Archaic Features and Infantilism of Dreams. S.E. XV Lecture XIII pp. 198-212.
V. Is a Dream the Royal Road to the Unconscious?
CLASS 5: October 16, 2024
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Greenson, R.R. (1970). The Exceptional Position of the Dream in Psychoanalytic Practice. Psychoanal Q., 39:519-549.
VI. Orality and Dreaming
CLASS 6: October 23, 2024
REQUIRED READINGS
Lewin, B. (1952) “A Reconsideration of the Dream Screen” Psychoanal. Q. 22: 174-199.
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Esman, A.H. (1962). The Dream Screen in an Adolescent. Psychoanal Q., 31:250-251.
VII. Defense Work with Dreams
CLASS 7: October 30, 2024
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Goldberger, M. (1989). On the Analysis of Defenses in Dreams. Psychoanal Q., 58:396-417.
VIII. Self Psychological Perspective on Dreams
CLASS 8: November 6, 2024
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Aron, L. (1989). Dreams, Narrative and the Psychoanalytic Method. Contemp. Psychoanal., 25:108-126.
IX. Kleinian Views of Dreaming
CLASS 9: November 13, 2024
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Segal, Hannah. (1980) The Function of Dreams. In: New York: The Dream Discourse Today, ed. S. Flanders, 1993, New York: Routledge, pp. 122-126.
Sodre, I. (2015). Non-Vixit. In: Imaginary Existences. New York: Routledge, pp. 24-40.