ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the damage that early trauma can inflict on dream states. For some severely traumatized patients, there can be an ongoing failure of dream work. The affect from both the past and the present can fail to even be mobilized and, psychic energy is withdrawn from the dream machine. The process of trauma and its attack on the mind can lead to a process of what S. Ferenczi first described as "atomization" that can affect psychopathology in several directions. The chapter explores daydreams and dreams across consecutive sessions of a neurotic patient and a schizophrenic patient. The daydream reveals an unusual moment of connectedness and the concern from her father residing unconsciously beneath the surface. The chapter provides material from dreams and daydreams in the context of transference to understand and find pathways to rediscover lost affect.
