ABSTRACT
Repressed wishes find their fulfillment in the dream by means of indirect representation, displacement and condensation, and by the use of symbols. Freud put these symbols in a slightly different category from other means of indirect presentation. Dream-work is the psychic work put into this process. By means of dream-work a compromise is achieved between the repressing forces and the repressed, and the forbidden wish can find fulfillment without disturbing the repressing agencies. Freud did not revise the theory of dreams in the light of his further work. For instance, he did not tell us how his views on dreams were affected by his formulation of the duality of instincts and the conflict between libidinal and destructive phantasies. He also, at the time of his basic formulations about the dream, did not yet have available to him the concept of working through. I feel rather uneasy about the dream being conceived of as nothing but a compromise: the dream is not just an equivalent of a neurotic symptom. Dream-work is also part of the psychic work of working through. This accounts for the analyst's satisfaction when, in the course of analysis, 'good' dreams appear.
