ABSTRACT
An analysis of wish-fulfilment dreams in young children reveals that despite having in common the clear fulfilment of a wish, these dreams differ from one another because they intercept three different situations of the child’s daytime experience and respond to these in a characteristic and distinctive way. If we observe the relationship between the wish fulfilment in the dream and the diurnal experience (affective state or event) that the dream refers to, we may notice that wish-fulfilment dreams differ from one another as expressions of different demands. Three types of dreams were identified expressing three modi operandi of infantile dreaming processes: compensation dreams, continuation dreams and anticipation dreams. Compensation dreams derive from a clearly negative affective state and/or experience, such as, for example, the loss of a loved one—that person is still alive in the dream—or another negative situation. In continuation dreams, the fulfilment of a wish consists of the continuation of a generally pleasant daytime experience that was only partially satisfied. Anticipation dreams represent the fulfilment of a wish that has, as its background, a daytime experience of eagerness for a pleasant event that is supposed to occur in the future. The classification of wish-fulfilment dreams into these three types is useful for the evaluation of the wish-fulling demand that instigates the dream.
