The New York herald., 1921-04-24

Romans. Then people used to be thought
ignorant and irreiigious when they con-
suited wise woman" to learn the mean
ing of their dreams.
We have changed all that We trust our
dreams and follow what advice they give US.
The wise woman" has been superseded
by the psychologist who is now called at
least experimentally scientific. He listens
to our dreams, traces them TO their source,
interprets and prescribes by what he learns
from them. In a subconscious state we
become the Doctors best collaboration.
Psychoanalysis sleep and dreams have
furnished subject matter recently for great
literature. meaning numerous volumes. 1t
ls not all Freudian, and indeed goodly half
of 1t may be called an effort to refute this
first discoverer. AS many dreams present
painful or distressing contents, fears and
other unpleasant things among their antici-
pations. reflecting the "subconscious' as
Freud says, or the tendency of normal wax
ing thought. as other psychologists say,
who are not willing to go the limit, it has
been found necessary to invent something
entirely new and quite at variance with
usual conscious thought processes to ex-
plain our dreams
Dr. Peterson Gives Views
From the Opposing Side
In an effort to explain Freudism in easy
terms THE NEW York HERALD not long ago
interviewed several of Freuds prominent
disciples in New York and published their
y,1op poffn lie nn1ty foir IN cixY thn
other side chance to talk about their ways
of handling anticipation" And by 'the
other side is meant the neurologists who
proceed antagonistically to the psychoan-
alysts
Instances Of desire to confute Freud
which he gives in his book" said DR.. Fred
erick Peterson, "are easily placed in the
category of concealed wishes to do that very
thing. But they may be honest endeavor
to learn the truth for all that.
"A fear dream. following the reading OF
Sgmund Freud's Elements of Psychoanaly-
Sis Is always so classed by him. When the
wish is not as manifest this use Is made
of the latent dream content with such dis
tortion and displacement that only Freud
and his followers can interpret II properly.
What the Freudists do is to evoke
dream censor with his unpleasant faculty
OF disfigurng or Disgusting the dream con-
tents in order to conceal the real wish of
the dreamer from any but the analyst
Thus fear and anxiety dreams, which
common sense tells merely reflect in a
measure such fears and anxieties as we often
have in our conscious life. are interpreted by
Freud as the disguised fulflment of a sup
pressed or repressed wish the content OF
fear and anxiety dreams being OF sexual
nature whose ibido has been transformed
into fear
The extraordinary symbolism ascribed to
dream life by the new psychology is chiefly
the invention of the psychoanalysts.
There Is probably little in the subcon-
scious or unconscious mind of any individual
that has not at some time been conscious,
and there can be no symbols in sleep
thought which have not been at some time
symbols in waking thought.
Most OF the symbolism described by the
new interpreters of dreams reflects the sym
bosm Of the analysts themselves In fact
there is more to be learned from the in
terpretations published OF the psychology OF
the analyst than of the psychology of the
dreamer.
Freud Criticised for Holding
To a Single Driving Idea
The analyst revealsE himself in his
analysis his anticipations. his intelligence,
his learning, his logic. If there is any wish
brought clearly to light in the work of the
interpreter.
The theoretical distortion displacement
and Disagreement ascrfbed to dreams In the
new psychology become actualities in the
analytic story"
leading objection to the system OF Sig
mund Freud and ono which repels a good
many who would be otherwise receptive Of
II is its acknowledged tendency TO carry
every subconscious impulse to one drive the
sexual.
DR. Peterson described frequently recur-
ring dream OF neurotic young woman
which is fear dream She dreams that
she is awakened by an alarm Of fire and she
runs from her room and the house In a
panic. scantily attired. The Freudian in
terpretation. said DR.. Peterson, would be a
repressed sex motivatcd desire. He asserted
that this explanation Is far from the fact
for on two occasions the country houses
where this young woman was living did
actually catch on fire In the night and burn
10 the ground. Each time she saved her
life by fleeing from the burning building
In her night garments. The dream that now
distracts her comes from real conscious and
fearful experience.
Freud has but one driving impulse" re-
peated the neurologist "and that Ia the
sexual To him all the arts and accomplish
ments Of civilization bark back 10 sex and
Of sex they are the sublimation This II
what renders Freud and his theories pecu-
larry abnoxious 20 many persons.
1T likewise discredits many OF his expert
ments. In reality there are many sub
conscious influences besides that of sex
Among them may be instanced fear. disgust
curiosity. anger, self-asserton the gre
garlous instinct. the instincts OF construction
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