States of Mind

From The Interpretation of Dreams:

"...a certain psychic preparation on the part of the patient is necessary.  A twofold effort is made, to stimulate his attentiveness in respect of his psychic perceptions, and to eliminate the critical spirit in which he is ordinarily in the habit of viewing such thoughts as come to the surface.  For the purpose of self-observation with concentrated attention it is advantageous that the patient should take up a restful position and close his eyes; he must be explicitly instructed to renounce all criticism of the thought formulations which he may perceive.  He must also be told that...success...depends upon his noting and communicating everything that passes through his mind, and that he must not allow himself to suppress one idea because it seems to him unimportant or irrelevant to the subject, or another because it seem nonsensical...."

"I have noticed...that the psychological state of a man in an attitude of reflection is entirely different from that of a man who is observing his psychic processes.  In reflection there is a greater play of psychic activity than in the most attentive self-observation; this is shown by the tense attitude and the wrinkled brow of the  man in a state of reflection, as opposed to the mimic tranquility of the man observing himself.  In both cases there must be concentrated attention, but the reflective man makes use of his critical faculties, with the result that he rejects some of his thoughts which rise into consciousness after he has become aware of them, and abruptly interrupts others, so that he does not follow the lines of thought which they would otherwise open up for him; while in respect of yet other thoughts he is able to behave in such a manner that they do not become conscious at all-that is to say they are suppressed before they are perceived.  In self-observation, on the other hand, he has but one task-that of suppressing criticism....the point is to induce a psychic state which is to some degree analogous...to the state of mind before falling asleep-and also of course, to the hypnotic state."

Just wondering out loud if what good is done in Freudian therapy (and some good does seem to come of it at times) owes something to a practice not unlike certain types of Buddhist meditation techniques.