ABSTRACT
In a short paper entitled 'The Handling of Dream Interpretation in Psycho-analysis' Sigmund Freud briefly considered the question whether or not it was of advantage to let patients write down their dreams immediately on waking. He came to the conclusion that a procedure was superfluous. 'Even if the text of a dream is thus laboriously preserved instead of being swallowed by oblivion one is convinced that the patient gains nothing by it. The patient remained unconvinced by the experience, and renewed the attempt once more. The Dictaphone, which had in the meantime been repaired, gave on the morning after the dream a clearly audible reproduction. But, as the patient himself admitted, the content was so confused that he had difficulty in putting it into proper sequence. Many patients showing marked narcissism are actually in love with the beauty of their dreams. They preserve them from oblivion because they consider them precious.
