TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

SINCE the appearance of the author's Selected Papers on
Hysteria and other Psychoneuroses, and Three Contributions to
the Sexual Theory,% much has been said and written about
Freud's works. Some of our readers have made an honest
endeavour to test and utilise the author's theories, but they
have been handicapped by their inability to read fluently
very difficult German, for only two of Freud's works have
hitherto been accessible to English readers. For them this
work will be of invaluable assistance. To be sure, numerous"
articles on the Freudian psychology have of late made their
appearance in our literature; but these scattered papers,
read by those unacquainted with the original work, often serve
to confuse rather than enlighten. For Freud cannot be
mastered from the reading of a few pamphlets, or even one or
two of his original works. Let me repeat what I have so often
said: No one is really qualified to use or to judge Freud's |
psychoanalytic method who has not thoroughly mastered
his theory of the neuroses—The Interpretation of Dreams,
Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory, The Psychopathology
of Everyday Life, and Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious,
and who has not had considerable experience in analysing
the dreams and psychopathological actions of himself and
others. That there is required also a thorough training in
normal and abnormal psychology goes without saying.

The Interpretation of Dreams is the author's greatest and
most important work ; it is here that he develops his psycho-
analytic technique, a thorough knowledge of which is abso-
lutely indispensable for every worker in this field. The difficult
task of making a translation of this work has, therefore, been

* Translated by A. A. Brill (Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Company)

† Cf. the works of Ernest Jones, James J. Putnam, the present writer,
and others.

xi

xii THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS

undertaken primarily for the purpose of assisting those who
are actively engaged in treating patients by Freud’s psycho-
analytic method. Considered apart from its practical aim,
the book presents much that is of interest to the psychologist
and the general reader. For, notwithstanding the fact that
dreams have of late years been the subject of investigation
at the hands of many competent observers, only few have
contributed anything tangible towards their solution ; it was
Freud who divested the dream of its mystery, and solved its
riddles. He not only showed us that the dream is full of
meaning, but amply demonstrated that it is intimately con-
nected with normal and abnormal mental life. It is in the
treatment of the abnormal mental states that we must re-
cognise the most important value of dream interpretation.
The dream does not only reveal to us the cryptic mechanisms
of hallucinations, delusions, phobias, obsessions, and other
psychopathological conditions, but it is also the most potent
instrument in the removal of these.*

I take this opportunity of expressing my indebtedness to
Professor F. C. Prescott for reading the manuscript and for
helping me overcome the almost insurmountable difficulties

in the translation.
A. A. BRILL.

New York CITY.
* For examples demonstrating these facts, of. my work, Psychoanalysis ;

dts Theories and Practical Application, W. B. Saunders’ Publishing Company,
Philadelphia & London.