AS we have seen, the cures of various kinds of nervous disease, such as paralysis, morbid obsessions and unreasonable fears, have been found to follow the recall of forgotten experiences and the release of repressions. We are now to consider how these lost memories are revived, and in what way they must be re-associated if relief is to be given.

At first Freud brought about the recall of forgotten memories by putting his patients under the influence of hypnotism, and some of the neo-Freudians have made considerable use of hypnotism both as a means of discovery and of cure. The patient was hypnotised, and then told that he would recall all the events that caused his breakdown, and that he would live over again the forgotten experiences. At times, patients suffering from shell-shock would show, when hypnotised, extraordinary signs of emotion, crying out, trembling and giving other signs that they were re-living intensely unpleasant experiences. In many cases recalls were of a much quieter type.

It has been found, however, that hypnosis is often unnecessary, and some raise objection to it. Freud and those who have been influenced by him have more generally used the now famous method of psycho-analysis, including the analysis of dreams.

Some psychologists lay great stress upon the importance of the emotional experience being relived in its full intensity (not necessarily under hypnotic influence), as an essential element in the cure. They argue that the re-living of the emotional experience is a means of working off excessive emotion - a kind of catharsis of the emotions.* Others maintain that, in many cases, a re-living of the emotional elements of the forgotten experience is not essential to cure; and that even when it takes place, it works rather as a help towards the recall of the forgotten memories than as a means of letting off repressed emotion. It seems probable that if, as is widely agreed, the recall of the forgotten experiences is the important factor, together with its re-association with the main current of the mind's life, then some recall of the emotional aspect is at least likely to be useful as making the revival more complete.

* See Symposium on The Revival of Emotional Memories and its Therapeutic Value, by Drs. Wm. Brown, C. S. Myers and W. McDougal: "British Journal of Psychology," Medical Section Vol. i. Part i.

To return to the hypnotic method, it is interesting to note that the mere recall under hypnosis is inadequate: even the addition of an emotional revival under hypnosis does not seem to cure. The events must be remembered by the patient in ordinary waking life. This is secured by telling the patient that, after he wakes, he will recall the forgotten experiences. This necessity for the recall of the experience in normal waking life is suggestive in a further sense. It exemplifies clearly the idea to which all the relevant evidence points, namely, that the unifying of the mind (if possible) is the way of health. The ideas and feelings which occur under hypnotism are dissociated from the main current of the mind's activity: the forgotten ideas and impulses must be re-associated with their fellows. The splitting up of the mind means weakness. A comprehensive unified grasp of a difficult mental situation, full of the elements of conflict, is the healthy one. To see life steadily, and sanely, we must "see it whole."

We have now a new light upon the curious fact, shown in such mild cases as that of my friend who suffered from occasional paroxysms of fear, that the mere retaining in memory of experiences which caused the trouble is not enough. The person concerned had never really forgotten the worries about sex in early life. But for any relief to come it was necessary for them to be directly connected in thought with the mental troubles from which the individual was suffering, and for him to assume a new attitude towards them, and to realise that these fears, originally attached to a single group of ideas, have "spread" in an absurd manner.*

Hypnotism is not, however, the usual method employed to revive lost memories. The method of psycho-analysis may proceed simply by talking over symptoms and their origins with the patient, trying to get him to probe his past for possible clues, and in some cases suggesting possible explanations - a method obviously full of danger if not used most cautiously and by a wise and skilled examiner.

Another method of inquiry is the method of "free association," in which the patient is encouraged, after relaxing body and mind, to let his ideas wander at will, and without any guidance from the doctor, and to note the thoughts to which these wandering ideas lead. True, even these free wanderings are likely to be partially guided (though the patient may not be aware of it) by the knowledge of the situation in which the patient finds himself; but this influence of the thought of his ailment seems frequently to be just enough to lead to forgotten memories which are connected with the origin of the trouble, or to some unconscious conflict due to past circumstances.

* With the possibility that suggestion is really the means of cure in these cases of recall, I shall deal later. There is little doubt that in many cases it is a contributory cause.

The method of inquiry with which we shall deal especially in this chapter is the recording and analysing of dreams as a clue to lost memories and to unconscious and disturbing influences. In this analysis of dreams it is not the most obvious meaning of the dream (or lack of meaning) which is treated as significant. The most evident dream material, which is called the "manifest content" of the dream, is only used as a means of getting below the surface to what the manifest content symbolises and signifies - to what is called the "latent content." This is often best gained by taking the various elements of the dream separately, and by asking the patient to give the ideas and associations suggested to him by each element. This process sometimes puts an entirely different complexion upon the dream. Take, for example, the following dream: A patient of Dr. Ernest Jones, a man aged thirty-seven, dreamed that he was being attacked by a man who was armed with a number of sharp weapons; the assailant wore a dark moustache. The dreamer struggled and succeeded in inflicting a skin wound on his opponent's left hand. The name Charles seemed to be related to the man, though not so definitely as if it were his name. The man then changed into a fierce dog, which the dreamer succeeded in vanquishing by forcibly tearing his jaws apart so as to split his head in two.