Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis III 1922 1.djvu/44

 36 MICHAEL JOSEF EISLER

time to time without any subsequent memory of them. ' She slipped oflF her night-dress during the night in her sleep and found her- self lying naked in the morning ; she got out of bed and urinated without waking, and never used the chamber clumsily ; finally while asleep ehe emptied the glass of water put ready for her without letting it fall or knocking it as she put it back. It even happened that she drank two glasses which had been left on her table. I should say that in this case the actions signified automatic sleep activities, not dream activities, the latter being more com- plicated processes which convert psychical material into action. ^ In this case there was no question of the elaboration of a phan- " tasy, because the patient never produced further associations to - ^ the subject

Nevertheless, the case, by reason of its relative simplicity, seems suited to furnish the starting point for the explanation of more complicated cases. vThe meaning of the first sleep action, which like the others must be regarded as an expression of her auto- :

erotic strivings, is quite clear if we take Freud's hypothesis of =

the sleep state. It may then be said, she sleeps 'naked as in her mother's womb'. The two other activities are reminiscent of foetal actions. We know that the foetus makes swallowing movements, for amniotic fluid is found in its stomach. It also empties its bladder, for the amniotic fluid often contains the chemical con- _ stituents of urine.' ;

I do not consider it arbitrary to interpret the sleep actions of, ■

the patient in this way. We seem to have here a slight indication that the oral phase of the libido is not the first, but that it at- taches itself to a preceding phase which might be termed the ; lethargic or apnoeic* In the present case the regression had at- ] tained the oral stage, which in consequence of its intimate con- X nections had simultaneously activated elements of the primary, > sleep state. As for the rest, I see no difficulty theoretically in

' It was only from the effect remaining after waking that she concluded she had done something during her sleep.

' These are the same two functions which almost all children can be trained to perform automatically, so that they carry them out in their sleep.

' The second term is the more appropriate one, as will be shown by my remarks at the end of this paper.