Dreaming and development: early-, mid-, and late-phase shifts in associative and interpretive processes.

This paper examines how dreaming and interactive processes of dream interpretation reflect progressive development of ego states. We consider the associate and interpretive amplifications of dream process in treatment, with examples from early, middle and end phases of analysis. A corollary is that while dream structure and content may vary along a developmental continuum of treatment, technically, a playfulness in the office, and eventually in dream construction is central to the interpretative process, discovering the dreamer’s truth. We build upon Erikson’s mid-century appeal to return to exhaustive dream analysis to learn about dream associations and interpretations at different eras or phases in psychoanalysis. This demonstrates a resonance: as ego structure changes, so dream structure changes, which affects ego structure. leading to new narratives linking past, present and future.