We also know that we are approaching an area of Cathexis – and the focal conflict – when one of two defensive maneuvers that are identified by French and Fromm are in operation. These maneuvers are substitution and delay. It should be noted that these defenses also operate when we are awake and are vaguely aware that we are about to step in some very “nasty” stuff (memories, fear, shame – perhaps an unsettled gut).
Substitution: A focal conflict is inevitably very difficult to confront. As a result, we often avoid addressing it while we are awake. We “wait” until we are asleep and can engage the creative and (at-times) problem-solving abilities of our dreams to address the focal conflict. French and Fromm identify several ways in our dreams that allow us to work at least indirectly with our focal conflict. First, we can engage in substituting (French and Fromm, 1964, pp.65-68). In our dreams we can substitute one problem for another that is easier to solve. When we substitute, our defense mechanisms are at least partially by-passed. It seems that the solution of problems associated with our focal conflict problem is more important than the fearful psychic content against which we are defending. One might even suggest that French and Fromm’s focal conflict takes precedence over Freud’s repressed passions and fears.
For K, substitution during her dream occurs when she is finding a way to take all the tricks without trump as a substitute for the much greater threat of being unable to relate to other people. Played out in the dream, this theme may relate directly to the daytime strategy of substituting the artificiality of playing cards for the reality of genuine (often unpredictable) interpersonal relationships.
At an even deeper level, we might speculate that confrontation of the dreamer with viewing her ugly beak in the mirror is K’s substitute for addressing the much deeper problem of confronting her morality and ultimately her death.
Delaying: French and Fromm identify a related strategy for avoiding direct confrontation with the focal conflict. They identify the process of delaying (p. 69). We delay addressing the focal conflict by first focusing on a related matter. K delayed addressing the inability to relate to other people in a genuine way by playing cards with them (an artificial, controlling, competitive way of relating to other people). Furthermore, she delayed dealing with death by focusing on injury and physical appearance (the “death” of pleasing physical appearance).
Dynamics of Polarity: There may be a very good reason to substitute and delay when confronted with a region of Cathexis. There is a pull in two directions. For instance, French and Fromm (1964, p. 31) describes a pull back and forth in one of their patients between “the conscious purpose to continue with his psychanalytic treatment” and “fear of reactivating disturbing conflicts from his “prehistoric” past.” For this patient, the pull was found not only in their daytime psychoanalytic sessions but also in their dreams. French and Fromm suggest that this pull relates directly to this patient’s focal conflict.
