The cornerstone of Freud's argument in Beyond the Plea­ sure Principle (1920) was the observation that "dreams occur­ ring in traumatic neuroses have the characteristic of repeat­ edly bringing the patient back into the situation of his accident, a situation from which he wakes up in another fright." Of this he remarked:

Anyone who accepts it as something self-evident that their dreams should put them back at night into the situation that caused them to fall illhas misunder­ stood the nature of dreams. It would be more in harmony with their nature if they showed the patient pictures from his healthy past or of the cure for which he hopes [p. 13] .