Conflict and Dream

Volume XXV of a collection on Psychoanalysis

Originally published in 1932, the aim of this book is to give a sane interpretation of the significance of dreams based upon a thorough investigation of the incidents of each dream recorded and of the circumstances under which it occurred. Dr Rivers especially calls attention a to the inadequacy of Freud's theory of wish-fulfilment as an explanation of dreams; b to the exaggerated importance assigned by the psycho-analytic school to incidents in the dreamer's early life to the neglect of recent conflicts, which he regards as more important as causal agents; and c especially to the fallacies of Freudian interpretations of symbolism, and particularly of sexual motives and symbols, which have been responsible for most of the opposition to Freud's teaching.