“From the Dream of Irma to the Dream of Mira: ¿Professional Dreams?”
by Juan Campos Avillar
Published by Plexus Editor(e)s of Grup d’Anàlisi Barcelona in 1991
Introductory Comments by Hanne Campos
This little book by Juan Campos, in my opinion, without doubt not very objective, is a jewel. Based on years of investigation (1976-1991), the author describes in an exciting manner the pathways he followed in presenting to his colleagues two of his principal preoccupations: history, this is to say the history of psychoanalysis and groupanalysis, and the royal path to the unconscious of dreams, together with groupanalysis, as a bridge between the one and the other.
Juan warns us that when we speak of dreams, we often lose sight of the fact that with this term we can refer to a series of thoughts, images and emotions coming up during the dream as well as, figuratively and by extension, refer to vain imagination of impossible things or which we believe to be impossible, and the hope of projects which seem not to have any possibility of being realized. I am afraid that this work tells us about dreams and proposals of his, the realization of which was impossible during his lifetime. But, as hope is the last thing we give up on, we once again present this piece of writing to the consideration of colleagues and interested people, the ones it is addressed to, hoping that some day it is meaningful to somebody and that it may serve to promote changes which make of this world a better place. The history in question is the one of Psychoanalysis in Catalonia and its relationship to these histories of other latitudes. The dreamers are Bernat Metge (1340-1413), whose dream could well be the “specimen dream” of that country, and Emili Mira y López (1896-1964), the first psychiatrist and psychologist introducing Freud in the clinic of our country and presenting the dream method to the medical academy. The great master of the dreams is Freud and the interpreter and visionary of the future is the author. We present the work in its original bilingual Catalan and Castilian version, and we add a translation into English, just in case there was interest in the Anglo-Saxon world always so present and related to the professional pathway of the author.
Juan Campos has been given the nickname of Xenofont of groupanalysis, and the majority of his writings, although on different subjects, share this historical perception, this view of the world “from the historical helicopter” as he used to say. Between all the writings, there is one which appears to be particularly complementary to “From the Dream of Irma…”, which is “Memories, omissions and reminiscences” (1991). The latter is about how the history of Psychoanalysis in Catalonia and Spain influenced the development of groupanalysis and group work in these countries, and the protagonists —Garma, Molina, Marti-Tusquets, Ruiz-Ogara, Otaola and Grañén, Foulkes, Moreno, between others— and their place in history follow the protagonists and ideas presented in “From the Dream of Irma…” According to Juan, a dream is an attempt of communication, with oneself, with the ones who listen to it and with the world. It has a function of cultural diffusion which permits the articulation of conscious and unconscious, of past, present and future, and of the individual and the social. Following the hopes of Freud, we wish that the readers and visitors of this Blog be “good dreamers and not very abnormal”. ¡Good and fruitful dreams!