Physical Illnesses and Dream Symbolism
It is only in exceptional cases that somatic stimuli are the determining factor.
Usually they coalesce completely with the symbolical expression of the unconscious dream content; in other words, they are used as a means of expression.
Not infrequently the dreams show that there is a remarkable inner symbolical connection between an undoubted
physical illness and a definite psychic problem, so that the physical disorder appears as a direct mimetic expression of the psychic situation.
“General Aspects of Psychology” (1916). In CW 8: The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche. pg. 502
