188 THK XKKYnl s S1STKM AM) ITS COXSKHVATION 



figured the need that existed and the desirable inhibition 

 that postponed its satisfaction, but the facts were made 

 in appear as external to the dreamer's person. Thus \ve 

 are constantly detaching portions of the self and treating 

 them as separate objects of attention. Ellis has discern- 

 ingly pointed out that this tendency is not entirely absent 

 from the waking mind and that it may become a con- 

 spicuous one at times. This is particularly true when the 

 temperament verges toward the neurasthenic. 



The unfortunate person who is mentally depressed is 

 prone to charge upon others the faults which are his own. 

 When he is quick tempered, he is convinced that they are 

 impatient. Precisely as the dreamer does, he fails to recog- 

 nize that the matter which offends and outrages him is 

 part of himself. If he feels better for a while, he concludes 

 that his housemates have become more thoughtful and 

 kind. It is harden' for him to recognize his own respon- 

 sibility than it is for any of us to realize that the rising and 

 setting of the sun are illusions due to the movement of 

 our planet. It may be added that it is even more im- 

 portant to conquer the tendency to self-deception in the 

 first instance than in the second. The man who can 

 make the correct allowance for his own tips and downs 

 while he sits in judgment on others best deserves to be 

 considered airake. 



\Ve are told by certain writers of the present time that 

 dreams nre reliable sources of information for the special- 

 ist regarding many facts of personal history and exist- 

 ing tendencies which the patient would prefer to hide. 

 Dreams form a large share of the mate-rial used for diag- 

 nosis by the psychanalysts. 1 It would be presumptuous 

 for a lay writer to criticize their principles, which have 

 often been justified by the success of their work. Never- 

 theless, it may be said that one who reads their exposi- 

 tions without special training is likely to conclude that 

 p-ychanalysis is the art of putting the worst possible 

 construction upon all that the subject thinks or dreams. 



1 Brill, "I'syrhaiKilvMs," \Y. B. Saiiml.-r- Cn ., Philadelphia, HI12. 



