The significance of certain dreams reported by psychosomatic patients.

Several types of dreams reported by psychosomatic patients with alexithymic characteristics are presented. Two special features of the dreams are noted: (1) the dreams contain events which are very traumatic and (2) the protagonists of the dreams failed to fully perceive their own feelings. It is postulated that the failure of the protagonists to fully perceive their own feelings played an important role in fostering the development of the traumatic events. Feelings such as anxiety and sadness are key signals which incite the ego of the dreamer to set protective operations into motion. The diminution of awareness of these feelings may, therefore, delay the implementation of protective operations to a point which allows the traumatic events to progress dangerously far. It is interesting to note that the few psychosomatic patients without alexithymic characteristics who were included in my series reported a type of dream which was identical to one of the types of dreams reported by patients with alexithymic characteristics. This concurrence suggests the possibility that the dreams form a link between the psychologies of these two sub-groups of psychosomatic patients.