Shame Conflicts as Dream Instigators: Wish Fulfillment and the Ego Ideal in Dream Dynamics

Understanding of the instigatory dynamics of the dream is essential to the understanding of the dream as a fulfilled wish. Both the meaning and the function of the dream can be understood only in relation to the instigating disruption that drives the dream into being. It is the instigator of the dream that connects the working of the inner world with events in the external world. The literature on the process of dream instigation is scant, still deriving from Freud's metaphor of “capitalist and entrepreneur.” Hidden shame conflicts that react to the dreamer's anticipation of danger of exposure and shame are significant factors in the instigation of the dream. Clinical material in support of this view is presented in the form of a verbatim session that included a dream.