The first analytic dream: mirror of the patient's neurotic conflicts and subsequent analytic process.

The unconscious of the patient who enters analysis is mobilized to communicate his infantile wishes and conflicts. Even though the 'basic rule' confronting the patient, to tell whatever comes to mind, does not explicitly state that he has to be thorough and clear, the expectation is there, and most patients try to meet it. Because of a combination of personality factors and unconscious intent, their initial reaction can take different forms. The first analytic dream may be such a form of communication, giving an undisguised picture of the patient's neurosis, its manifest content revealing the central conflicts and fantasies of the patient. I suggest that the phenomenon is due primarily to: A combination of ego functions involving autonomous and defensive structures, specifically the tendency to visualize and symbolize fantasies and conflicts concretely, instead of expressing them verbally, and a defensive configuration of externalization, denial and isolation. The influence of real life experiences on the patient's fantasies.