Cajal’s Psyche and His Readings of Freud

Cajal’s interest in hypnosis and suggestion extended into the realm of dreams. After one promising paper, he did not address the subject for the next decade. At sixty-six years of age Cajal started to record a personal dream diary. Although framed as an intellectual project aimed at disproving Freud’s theory, Cajal’s dream diary was deeply personal, as its writing spans a period during which he was acutely depressed, continuing intermittently until his death. In his diary, Cajal notes the interruption of many of his dreams due to intense attacks of emotional anguish. However, Cajal never inquires into the cause of these disturbances; in fact, any traumatic events suggested in his dreams are treated as lacking emotional significance. Cajal treats his dreams as though they were scientific propositions, beholden to the same rules of logic. He claims to see no evidence of repressed desire.