In her thought, this kind of 'play activity inside the person is known as "unconscious fantasy".

He concluded, in opposition to received psychoanalytic dogma of the day, that childhood experience was far more important than unconscious fantasy.

At a particular time in the therapy, I may under- stand a good bit more than the patient about his or her unconscious fantasies.

Interpretive interventions are aimed at deepening the patient's understanding of unconscious fantasies and feel- ings.

He stiffened and sat rigid, momentarily frightened, feeling like a fool trapped by his own unconscious fantasy.

Is that what your unconscious fantasies consist of?

Freud tells us that each of us is steered through life by a different mechanism, a unique set of quirky, largely unconscious fantasies.

"Such an object," he wrote, "provokes, like nothing else, conscious and unconscious fantasies."

"That boulder is a marvelous embodiment of the unconscious fantasy people have," Dr. Gabbard said.

The analyst, he advised, should strive to remain anonymous, a blank slate upon which people could project their unconscious fantasies, conflicts and desires.