Many people have reason to thank dreams for the restoration of the affections of their loved ones. Sometimes, when one has been out-of-sorts or angry, a half-wish is made that the one with whom there has been a quarrel be never seen again. The half-wish becomes the instigator of a dream in which the wish seems fulfilled. The dreamer is distressed by it, becomes penitent, and strives to atone, by kindness, to the person wronged in thought. Sometimes, too, a boy or girl leaves home, possibly against the parents' wishes. When far away, years after maybe, a transient thought of home incites a dream, pleasant or unpleasant, which is sufficiently impressive to cause the dreamer to return to the loved ones. Dreams so instigated may recur frequently, and even though the dreamer is not of a superstitious bent, there remains the feeling that the mind will never be at rest until the absent ones are seen again.

1 Psychology in Daily Life, 1913, pp. 142-3, D. Appleton & Co.

Dreams often produce such solace as is procurable in no other way. Often a person who has lost by death one near to him dreams of the departed one, the latter whispering words of encouragement, of hope, which comfort in the dream, and which still comfort long after the dream is over. In this connection I might mention the dream of a physician who as a boy was sensitive, retiring, and very lonely for his mother who had died and whom he always thought of as in Heaven. Once, as a boy, while discouraged, and undecided as to which course of studies he should take up, he dreamed that his mother appeared to him, saying: "No matter what you do you will always have a place here with me." The thought inspired by the dream, that he would some day be with her, was very solacing; and on many occasions in adult life when things went wrong, the same thought inspired hope, even though later knowledge removed the youthful idea that the dream was a real message from another world. Similarly, dream-visitations of persons one has cherished, in which one hears words of encouragement or which inspire it, rarely fail to have a lasting influence for good, no matter how well-versed one may be in the naturalness of dream phenomena.

Dreams help to cure our mental ills, even if indirectly. It is well known today that many fears, anxieties, obsessions, nervous troubles in general proceed from a mind that is at war with itself. There is a mental thorn some place, a fire burning of which the worries and other symptoms are only the smoke. The thorn must be plucked out, or the fire quenched if the mind is to be at rest. Usually the individual does not know why he should be the victim of so many unreasonable fears and other ills. Frequently the cause is hidden; it is some painful, repressed experience, which must be ferreted out, torn apart, and, viewed in all its aspects, thrown into the waste basket. Every thought, however secret, tends to be expressed, and it usually is, often in subtle ways. Dreams are one of the ways in which "infected minds discharge their secrets." Later we will consider how dreams are scientifically analysed for the cure of various disorders; here we will say that dream analysis has often been the means whereby the cause of certain troubles was discovered; once the cause is known cure is not long in coming.

Most people probably have happy dreams, dreams which conserve sleep. Occasionally each of us has a dream which causes anxiety, but which produces no lasting harm. There are some persons, however, who suffer frequently from distressing dreams, and whose health is thereby seriously affected. The reason may be gome physical disturbance; for example, Macnish tells of a man who had chronic gout, with acute attacks, who dreamed every night that he was in a dungeon of the Inquisition, suffering great torture. His dreams were so horrible that he feared sleep. Frequent anxiety dreams may also be occasioned by some intense fear, mental complex, etc., which by reason of its emotional tone is powerful enough to crowd other thoughts from sleeping consciousness. Whatever the cause, we know that frequent anxiety dreams not only lessen the refreshing qualities of sleep but also cause unhappiness. Sometimes vivid dreams may cause sleep-walking which may result in physical ills due to accident. Generally those who have anxiety dreams are aware of them; in some instances one has the equivalent without being conscious of it on awaking. There are dreams accompanied with sobbing, and such an outbreak of emotion affects the body in general practically as much as does an unpleasant emotion when awake. In passing, it might be said that sobbing dreams usually indicate that the dream has some meaning for us, even though we seem to be lookers-on. Moreover, when we are startled by something which is apparently unworthy of such it, too, means that the incident in question has some relation to us.

While it is possible that dissatisfying sleep may be due to poisoning from impure air, diseased teeth and gums and other physical errors, it is possible also that this be due to unpleasant dreams which the individual does not remember. The dreams may be occasioned by physical causes or by mental ones. If the first, attention directed toward improving the general health will mend matters. Though a person claims he is unable to remember his dreams, he is often able to do so by trying to recall them on awaking; if his memory is not good, and if he thinks it wise to have some mental analyst solve the problem, it is advisable that recalled dreams be written down without delay.

In some instances unhappy dreams may cause insomnia. This usually happens when the person has a recurrent dream of this nature. Either he or she may so dread the dream as to be unable to go to sleep, or, after the awakening caused by the dream the individual may find sleep gone. Janet has quoted a case of a lady who had an attack of typhoid fever four months after the death of her child. During convalescence she had an almost constant visual hallucination of her dead child; this took place mostly at night. Insomnia developed. When she came to Janet's attention she said that she had not slept for two years; observation seemed to bear out the truth of this, in part at least. Drugs and other methods failed to cause peaceful sleep. At night she would become half-drowsy, and awaken suddenly, terrified, saying she had a dream which she remembered vaguely. When questioned while somnolent, the dream was found to be concerned with her dead child. Lest some people wonder about the fate of the lady, it might be said that she was eventually cured by psychotherapy.