The Interpretation of Dreams like Freud's other works it posits a "semantics of desire". The mythologist Joseph Campbell described the book as an "epochal work", noting that it was "based on insights derived from years devoted to the fantasies of neurotics". Max Schur, Freud's physician and friend, has provided evidence that the first dream that Freud analyzed, his so-called "Irma dream" was not very disguised, but actually closely portrayed a medical disaster of Emma Steinbeck, one of Freud's patients. The psychologist Hans Eysenck, writing in "Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire" (1985), argued that the dreams Freud cites not only do not support
Psychoanalytic dream interpretation recreational interests, and relationships at work. Within the context of the emphasis on personal concerns, there are sometimes distortions in settings, sudden scene changes, or unusual aspects to familiar characters, but dreams are in general a reasonable simulation of the dreamer's conception of his waking reality in terms of characters, social interactions, activities and settings. Clinical observation has revealed the importance of using dream interpretation in psychotherapy. In particular, three types of gains are described as a result of dream interpretation. Insight is the first asset gained by the clinical use of dreams for both the therapist and the client.