Freud's Interpretation of Dreams Sigmund Freud's 1908 Term Paper

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Freud's Interpretation Of Dreams

Sigmund Freud's 1908 work, The Interpretation of Dreams, is his attempt to place apply the psychological analysis to the study of dreams. The work relies heavily upon Freud's understanding of how the unconscious and conscious mind control both the meaning and interpretation of dreams. To Freud, the dream is often a means of wish-fulfillment, where the content of dreams represents the unconscious desires (wishes) of the dreamer. Dream content can be understood in terms of both the "manifest" (literal and conscious) meaning, and the "latent" (unconscious and symbolic) meaning. Freud argued that ultimately dreams act as an important window into the unconscious workings of the human mind.

Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams is an important attempt to reconcile the distorted, surreal world of dreams with our conscious lives and scientific understanding. The world of dreams is often distorted and disturbing, and difficult to understand with our rational, conscious selves. Fontana notes, "We live in two worlds, the waking world with its laws of science, logic and social behavior, and the elusive, mysterious world of dreaming. In the dream world, fantastic happenings, images and transformations are normal currency. Such dream experiences are often suffused with a depth of emotion or visionary insight that can surpass waking experience" (11).

Freud's analysis of dreams marked an important milestone in the scientific and psychological analysis of dreams, and marked the beginning of modern dream study. Fontana notes that historically dreams were seen as spiritual or religious in nature. Most cultures "believed that dreams come from an outside source and are visitations from the gods" and that "horrifying apparitions that emerge in nightmares were interpreted as demons intent on seducing the innocent" (Fontana, 11). Freud himself notes that importance of dreams in traditional cultures as socially significant and as revealers of personal problems or prophecy.

In this work, Freud investigates the nature of dreams in the context of his understanding of psychoanalysis and the unconscious mind. He incorporates ideas about childhood experiences, the "hieroglyphic" nature of dreams, and the use of psychoanalysis in interpreting and bringing meaning to dreams.

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In The Interpretation of Dreams, one of Freud's aims is to apply psychological analysis to the study of dreams. In the beginning of chapter one, Freud promises to "demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state."

Freud's understanding of dreams lies heavily in an understanding of the distinction between the conscious and unconscious mind. He argued that the unconscious mind was the under the surface working of the psyche, while the conscious mind is represented by intellect and reason. Freud saw dreams as originating in the subconscious mind, where "repressed instincts and desires dwell" (Fontana, 12).

To Freud, there are two levels of meaning in dreams that are closely related to his understanding of the conscious and unconscious mind. The first is the manifest, or surface level of dream content. This level of dream content can be easily described by the dreamer upon waking. The second level of dream content is the latent or unconscious meaning of the dream. This unconscious level of dreaming was expressed through the special language of dreaming. The latent meaning can only be revealed after analysis of the subconscious meaning of the dream.

Freud puts forward the ideas of condensation and displacement are put forth as crucial to understanding the hidden or latent content of the dream. To Freud, condensation is the fusing of two or more symbols into a single symbol of latent content. A complex desire to have a child may be condensed into the simplistic latent image of a baby….....

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