ABSTRACT
As an analysand tells us a nighttime dream or describes a dream scene or passes from one scene to another, he might make a verbal slip. He might say that he saw a certain scene in a “movie”, instead of calling it a “dream”. Observing these situations, it is not hard to note that the analysand “watches” a “movie” as a subject at the same time that he might see himself in a “dream-movie” in a clear or deformed way. The presence of a subject who is distinct from the characters in a dream indicates to us that we are observing a part of the mind where the self and the object are seen as separate. This kind of dream takes place when oedipal triangulation is possible. Being able to discriminate between outside reality and psychic reality occurs at the same time that the capacity to symbolise is developed. Another description leads us to say that the dream occurs in an experiential, depressive mode. This expression refers to the depressive position from Kleinian theory as studied by Ogden (1994c) or in a non-psychotic part of the personality (Bion, 1957). These occur not only when the patient relates the dream-movie, but also while he is dreaming it.
