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the theme of marriage, wedding, or even couples. Mary said
that she recognized in the dreams little that related to her
understanding of the cause of the breakup. For example, she
was reminded of her ex-fiance by the dream of the "Jewish
Mother," for he had once been quite ill and his mother
continued to treat him as if he were still sick. On the other hand,
Mary said that there was much in the dreams that related to
several other problems that had been concerning her recently.
About the theme of water and health, Mary explained that she had a chronic illness, something she hadn't ever told anyone about. It involved an epileptic-type condition, with seizure-like episodes. Prior to a seizure, she would feel "flooded," and underwater imagery was quite often on her mind. During a recent stay in the hospital, she developed a temporary paralysis in her sleep, as a side-effect to some medication she received for her condition. She couldn't swallow her saliva and it would fill her throat and choke her when she was asleep on her back. A couple of times she almost died of suffocation before awakening suddenly. She said that my dream of slowly drowning was a graphic description of what had happened to her. But even so, I wondered, how could my dream be of any help to her? There was perhaps some help in one of the other underwater dreams, where the dreamer heard the doctor's voice comment on Mary's condition. Mary explained that water retention was an important aspect of her condition, because a build-up of fluids in her body somehow made her more prone to seizures. Her doctors were not satisfied with their attempts to diagnose her condition and had been trying a variety of approaches to treatment. But diet had not been explored. Mary was anxious to reduce medication and perhaps diet would prove to be a helpful alternative. Mary noted some other areas of resemblance between the dreams and her life. She said that she had been thinking about libraries a lot recently, for she had been wondering if instead of going back to school, which would financially burden her parents, she might learn what she needed by reading books from a library. My personal library, the one that appeared in my dream, was started during a time when I couldn't go back to school, so there seemed to be some correspondence. About the theme of music, Mary said that everyone in her family except her played some musical instrument and performed in recitals. So one helper's dream was an exact description of this situation. Mary's mother played the piano and often found, as suggested in my dream, that the responsibilities of the home disrupted her practice. 109
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