The Interpretation of Dreams

am puzzled by the morbid symptoms of which Irma
complains in the dream, for they are not the symptoms for which I
treated her. I smile at the nonsensical idea of an injection of
propionic acid, and at Dr. M's attempt at consolation. Towards the end
the dream seems more obscure and quicker in tempo than at the
beginning. In order to learn the significance of all these details I
resolve to undertake an exhaustive analysis.
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Analysis
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{II ^paragraph 50}
The hall- a number of guests, whom we are receiving. We were
living that summer at Bellevue, an isolated house on one of the
hills adjoining the Kahlenberg. This house was originally built as a
place of entertainment, and therefore has unusually lofty, hall-like
rooms. The dream was dreamed in Bellevue, a few days before my
wife's birthday. During the day my wife had mentioned that she
expected several friends, and among them Irma, to come to us as guests
for her birthday. My dream, then, anticipates this situation: It is my
wife's birthday, and we are receiving a number of people, among them
Irma, as guests in the large hall of Bellevue.
I reproach Irma for not having accepted the "solution." I say, "If
you still have pains, it is really your own fault." I might even
have said this while awake; I may have actually said it. At that
time I was of the opinion (recognized later to be incorrect) that my
task was limited to informing patients of the hidden meaning of
their symptoms. Whether they then accepted or did not accept the
solution upon which success depended- for that I was not
responsible. I am grateful to this error, which, fortunately, has
now been overcome, since it made life easier for me at a time when,
with all my unavoidable ignorance, I was expected to effect successful
cures. But I note that, in the speech which I make to Irma in the
dream, I am above all anxious that I shall not be blamed for the pains
which she still suffers. If it is Irma's own fault, it cannot be mine.
Should the purpose of the dream be looked for in this quarter?
Irma's complaints- pains in the neck, abdomen, and stomach; she is
choked by them. Pains in the stomach belonged to the symptom-complex
of my patient, but they were not very prominent; she complained rather
of qualms and a feeling of nausea. Pains in the neck and abdomen and
constriction of the throat played hardly any part in her case. I
wonder why I have decided upon this choice of symptoms in the dream;
for the moment I cannot discover the reason.
She looks pale and puffy. My patient had always a rosy complexion. I
suspect that here another person is being substituted for her.
I am startled at the idea that I may have overlooked some organic
affection. This, as the reader will readily believe, is a constant
fear with the