Dreaming and Reality: A Comparison of Interpretive Work in Two Cultures – North American Psychoanalysis and an Indigenous Culture in the Amazon Rainforest

Charles P. Fisher M.D. and Beth Kalish-Weiss
Presentation at the 47th IPA Congress, Mexico City, August 4, 2011

Deep in the Amazon rainforest, dreaming matters. The lives of an indigenous people, the Achuar, are built around their daily dream analysis process. For hundreds of years the Achuar, living just north of the Peruvian border in Ecuador, have seen few outsiders. Their people sustain a traditional way of life in one of the few untouched areas of rainforest left in the world. This paper reports two analysts’ first-hand accounts of their own experiences with Achuar dream-interpreting practices. In keeping with the theme of the 2011 IPA Congress, Exploring Core Concepts: Sexuality, Dreams, and the Unconscious, the paper gives special emphasis to differing concepts of sexuality, the manifest dream, latent meaning in dreams, and the psychic sources of dreaming. In addition, the authors compare and contrast Achuar dream practice with techniques used in North American psychoanalysis. Members of each Achuar community awaken daily before sunrise, to participate in a cleansing ritual and to share their dreams. The dreams are interpreted by elders of the clan. Dream interpretations are then used as a basis for making group decisions for the day. In 2008 and 2009, the authors interviewed members of the Achuar Nation – shamans, village chiefs and political leaders, as well as adult men and women in various communities, about their use of dreams in daily life. In addition, they participated in predawn dream-sharing sessions on a number of occasions. Results of 25 interviews, 53 direct dream interpretations, 40 collected interpretations of Achuar typical dreams, and extended accounts of predawn dream-sharing sessions are the data on which this paper is based.

Process reports from two of these dream-sharing sessions are a central part of the paper. The authors’ own dreams were among those interpreted. Thus, they were able to make direct comparisons between Achuar interpretations of their dreams and interpretations arising from their own self-analytic work. The authors hypothesized that: 1. Achuar dreams will reflect sexual and aggressive themes, affects of shame and envy, and defenses of displacement and projection. 2. Dream reports and dream interpretations will reflect transferences to the leader and to other members of the small group in which dreams are discussed. 3. The process of dream interpretation in the group will reflect group psychology as described by Freud (1921) and others. Results supported these hypotheses. On one level, the world of the Achuar corresponds to the intraspsychic world elaborated in psychoanalytic theory. Yet the Achuar understand dreams through an entirely different conception of material and psychic reality, antithetical in several ways to a psychoanalytic view, yet also similar in surprising ways.

The authors will examine controversial aspects of their findings. These controversies include the extent to which Achuar dream interpretations: 1. Locate the psychic source of dreaming within the desires of the dreamer versus the dreamer’s beliefs and knowledge about the external world.
2. Illustrate a highly refined and nuanced form of primary process thought. 3. Are useful in predicting the future because the dream signifies a deferred action plan, representing the unconscious intentions of the dreamer, as well as the anticipated responses of others. 4. Make use of a sophisticated group process to symbolize previously unformulated knowledge. 5. Function as part of a conversation between the dreamer and the listener or listeners. In turn, the dream-interpreting dyad or group is in psychic interaction with a larger community. Psychoanalysts are members of a greater analytic community which forms a background audience for the analyst’s thoughts and interpretations.

These controversies relate to contemporary psychoanalytic thinking about the developmental progression of primary process thinking, the relationship of the dream to action- planning, and the role of the psychoanalyst’s membership in a greater analytic community as a background audience for the analyst’s thought and interpretation. The presentation will be illustrated with photographs which clarify the context of dream interpretation in Achuar communities. In conclusion, the authors consider the implications of their findings for psychoanalytic theory and practice. Dreaming is understood in new ways, relating to a psychoanalytic theory of action and to unconscious communication within a group.