The development of the concept of dreams in interwar Polish psychiatry and psychology was shaped by Western European ideas and the sociocultural context of the newly independent state. Few Polish psychiatrists addressed dreams, and they were influenced mainly by Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic concept, along with Alfred Adler's, Carl Gustav Jung's, and Wilhelm Stekel's ideas, though they approached psychoanalysis critically. The most comprehensive concept was Tadeusz Bilikiewicz's oneiroanalysis, a method based on psychoanalysis that rejected free association and challenged psychoanalytic dream symbol interpretation. Polish psychologists showed even less interest; Stefan Szuman's work critiqued psychoanalysis harshly. The neglect of dreams reflected opposition from conservative, nationalistic, and anti-Semitic scholars, and from biologically oriented psychiatrists. The Lvov-Warsaw School promoted Brentanian intentionalism and consciousness, discouraging exploration of unconscious states.
The development of concepts of psychosis at the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw evolved through several phases from 1898 to 1943, shaped by European psychiatric ideas and local social and historical changes. Initially, first chief physician Adam Wizel focused on hysteria, while Maurycy Bornsztajn later introduced psychoanalytic perspectives. In the second decade, classification of psychoses became central; after Poland regained independence, psychosis became the main focus. Gustaw Bychowski and Władysław Matecki advanced psychoanalytic understanding, Bornsztajn developed his concept of psychosis, and Władysław Sterling contributed to biological views of schizophrenia. In the final period, economic crisis and staff departures reduced publications, but Bornsztajn refined his concept of somatopsychic schizophrenia and Matecki introduced pseudo-neurotic schizophrenia. The psychoanalytic approach was supplemented by phenomenology, and several physicians advocated psychoanalytic psychotherapy for psychotic patients.