ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a truly interactive model where neither innate nor environmental factors are seen as supravalent but rather where there are important interactions given the infant’s biological tendencies, its environment, and the social environment that surrounds the mother– infant pair. Sigmund Freud theorises about how different systems communicate and it is this communication that he labels as transference. It is via the dream that Freud gives theoretical definition to this concept that will gradually change the way he conceptualises the treatment situation. The dreamer has a dream where he/she can only envision an outcome that would result in injury or death. Traumatic dreams are ones that are frequently repeated: unfortunately they express a threat of survival that the dreamer feels they cannot avoid. In good enough development the dream state is seen as adaptive rather than regressive.
