Éléments d’introduction à la question du rêve dans la psychose

Abstract

Many psychotic patients bring into psychotherapy or into psychoanalytic treatment some elements of dreams. Sometimes, psychoanalysts or psychologists are quite embarrassed by these elements: should we interpret them? Should we encourage these patients to associate? For beginning, the author proposes few Freudian references concerning relations between dreams and psychosis. Then, we’ll see how many authors consider the role of dream into psychosis. Therefore, we’ll show the difference between dream and delirium, and we’ll insist on which utilization of his dream the psychotic patient can make. At last, we’ll consider three psychoanalytic concepts: the “umbilicus of dream”, the Real (Réel, in French), and the “semblant” (these two last concepts are lacanian concepts). With these concepts, we’ll apprehend the structure of psychotic dream, his statute, his function, and how it could help us in our profession.