Implications of Certain Dreams Reported by Patients in a Bulimic Phase of Anorexia Nervosa

Abstract

An attempt is made to demonstrate the interrelationship between the phenomena which occur in repetitive dreams and the processes which are involved in the creation of symptoms in several patients with the anorexia nervosa syndrome who were studied during a prolonged bulimic phase. The outstanding feature of the repetitive dreams was the undisguised and unrestricted instinctual expression which they contained. The dreams were divided into three main categories: dreams of violence in which the dreamer is depicted as the aggressor; dreams of violence in which the dreamer is described as victim; and finally, sexual dreams which are frankly incestuous. The failure of the dreaming ego to repress the powerful aggressive and sexual drives is accompanied by a concomitant failure of the waking ego in various manifestations of defensive processes. This failure operates within the intrapsychic realm and is accompanied by the utilization of a supplementary process such as bulimia involving the mobilization of resources from the outside world.