In Ferenczi's view, dreams have a traumatolytic function that is anterior to and more primary than the wish-fulfilment function considered by Freud. This view is influenced by a number of metapsychological conceptions that occasionally are quite different from Freud's approach, especially as regards the economical and topical points of view, which Ferenczi clearly set apart in posthumous works. In these conceptions, he >dismisses< pondering a so-called death instinct and advancing towards the notion of an unconscious other than repressed. Otherwise, as Ferenczi considers that in dreams there is an >optimistic counterfeit,< the present article reflects on how to overcome this hypomanic solution in order to turn the traumatolytic potential of dream into a fully therapeutic function. A dream taken from a film is used to illustrate Ferenczi's point of view.
The Swiss member societies of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies, namely the two existential analytic societies and the Institute of Psychoanalysis in Kreuzlingen, have always stressed the philosophical foundation of psychoanalysis as psychoanalytic approaches with severely disturbed and psychotic patients. The colleagues working in these institutes have often cooperated very closely with analysts from the International Psychoanalytical Association. This paper stresses the important contributions for inpatient psychoanalytic approaches.