The dream, communication, and attunement.

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Abstract
The significant yet evolving function of the dream in Psychoanalytic modes of treatment is considered with a particular focus on its communicative role. A clinical vignette is used to illustrate the way in which a patient may use a shift of discourse, to the level of the dream, in order to communicate vital, yet previously under recognized information about the patient-therapist relationship. A reconsideration of this case, from a self-psychological rather than the original object relations perspective, highlights the self restorative and preservative as well as the communicative elements of the dream. Implications of these alternate listening approaches and the potentially curative aspects of treatment are discussed.