In the process of interpretation of dreams, the therapist translates manifest content in latent content using special technique. It is exactly the opposite process of that when dream arises: we need to discover initial internal stimulus. The therapist directs patient at particular elements of dream, which are unknown to him, to discover residua of the day.2 In connection with residua of the day and other patient's associations regarding manifest content (which are determined), the therapist gradually completes his/her suggestions and discovers the latent content of dream. There are some problems with this though. The manifest content is more or less confined to visual answer on internal stimulus and can thus be quite distant and difficult to connect with latent motive. It is also common that parts of dream are missing and patient cannot or does not want to remember them. This is the work of so called resistance, which serves the same purpose as ego in the rise of dream; it just does not allow morally inadmissible instinctive aspirations to become conscious. The more patient's associations needed to discover latent content of dream, the greater resistance. The blanks in recall of dream are as a rule latent content itself or without exception they prove to be crucial for discovering it. With the analysis of dreams it is usually possible to overcome the resistance, which also means we are well on the way towards healing or removal of conflict (e.g. hysteria, nevrosis). The same resistance can occur when the therapist explains the latent content to the patient. The presentation of latent motives "seems alarming rather than pleasant, and the acknowledgement of them, even as mere dream-wishes, is not entirely easy." (Watkins 1997) In this case, the patient will not accept the interpretation, deny it as nonsense or will even become aggressive toward the therapist. In Freud's opinion, this reaction can be regarded as a direct hit: "the resistan...
