Dream Treatment of Urinary Retention

Abstract

Urinary retention without apparent organic causation is infrequently commented upon in the psychiatric literature. Cooper (1965) described the use of conditioning therapy in the treatment of a patient with hysterical retention of urine. In our experience urinary retention without organic causation is more frequently seen as a post-operative complication, lengthening considerably the period of stay in hospital. Two such cases were successfully treated by a new psychodynamic technique which we have recently developed. This technique makes use of dream suggestion to the patient in clear consciousness, in that respect differing from other techniques of dream suggestion such as Stoyva's (1965) dream instructions to patients in the hypnotic state.