ABSTRACT
Freud discussed a number of apparent exceptions to the theory that all dreams are fulfilment of wishes, dreams in which the manifest content is distressing or unpleasant: Punishment dreams, counter-wish dreams, anxiety dreams and dreams in the traumatic neuroses. Anxiety dreams are those dreams which are accompanied by anxiety, leading to the awakening of the dreamer, were discussed at length by Freud since they presented the greatest apparent contradiction to the wish-fulfilment theory. Interpretation of the dream in the usual way will reveal an underlying wish, namely, a masochistic one, which is gratified by the apparent frustration. The anxiety is a sign that the repressed wish has shown itself stronger than the censorship, that it has put through, or is on the point of putting through, its wish-fulfilment in spite of the censorship. The apparent exceptions are only examples of the dream's failure to fulfil its function.
