(i)
The literature on the creative process is based largely on reconstructions of gifted people’s lives and work or writing by artists (Sessions, 1941; Hindemith, 1952; Kris, 1952; Greenacre, 1957; Kohut, 1957; Eissler, 1967), to mention but some of the oustanding contributions. We seldon have the opportunity to observe the process in statu nascendi. When one of my musically gifted patients began to compose during his analysis, I kept detailed notes in the hope of glimpsing some insight into the complexities of creativity. The nature of the creative process seemed to be illuminated by the patient’s particular style of free association, by his unusual use of dreams as key themes, which he treated the same way musical ideas are treated, and finally by the alternation of dream and musical productions….
(ii)
The patient, who I shall call Karl, was a slight, balding man in his early thirties. He opened the first interview by stating that he functioned ‘in a low key’. He complained of mild depression, anxiety in situations that required self-assertion, hesitation in involving himself with women, and an almost crippling uncertainty about the choice of meaningful work…
(iii)
After two and a half years of analysis, when he had started to compose seriously, there was an obvious alternation between dream production and musical production. Dream production would go down as musical production increased, a pattern that became more and more pronounced as time went on. The more seriously he worked on his compositions, the less was he interested in dreams. When he later returned to one of the key dreams he did so with a sense of detachment, as though he were reffering to a museum visit.
J Am Psychoanal Assoc April 1980 28: 439-459,
Colloquium: Contemporary Brazilian Music and Thought 