Interpretation of Dreams by Freud Essay

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Freud

Sigmund Freud's publication The Interpretation of Dreams is one of the psychologists seminal works. In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud outlines his fundamental theories of the human mind including the existence of conscious and unconscious layers of mind, and the existence of the Oedipus Complex. As the title suggests, the book also delves deeply into the realm of dreaming. Freud offers theories explaining why people dream, and how learning how to interpret dreams can help reduce or eliminate neuroses.

The Interpretation of Dreams is divided into seven chapters, plus the addition of an index. The first chapter is on the scientific literature on the "problems of the dream." Freud asserts the possibility of interpreting dreams scientifically, and claims that he possesses insight into the proper methods of dream interpretation. This chapter provides a sort of review of literature, combined with background information on the subject. Freud refers first to primary sources from ancient Greece to establish a historical trend of thought and intellectual inquiry on how to interpret dreams. Aristotle's Concerning Dreams and their Interpretation is the first piece of literature Freud mentions in The Interpretation of Dreams. Thus linking his own theories to Greek philosophy, Freud dutifully sets the stage for the development later of the Oedipux Complex. Here, in Chapter One, Freud notes that Aristotle viewed dreaming as a product of man's "demonical nature," or otherwise signifying spiritual messages from a divine dimension. Freud refers to this point-of-view as being "pre-scientific" but does not refer to it in derogatory terms. The author simply states that the point-of-view of the philosopher is linked with historical context.

Freud then skips to a modern point-of-view, which is rooted in the budding social sciences. The author outlines some of the prevailing trends in modern dream research. The relation of the dream to the waking state is the first trend in research. One view posits that the dreamer actually goes to another world with the human consciousness in a form of time or mental travel. Freud criticizes this view as "naive." The other view is that dreams are a "continuation of the waking state." Citing ample literature, Freud shows that research highlights demographic differences in dream content. Demographic differences in dream content mean that individuals are somehow incorporating aspects of their daily lives into dreams, rather than actually traveling somewhere. Basically, the material for dreams comes from daily life.

Another topic of discussion in scientific literature is the material of the dream and the memory of the dream. The dream content is that which the dreamer remembers upon awakening. Freud deepens his discussion on the nature of dreaming by alluding to a publication by the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, which suggests, "the dream gives proof of knowing and recollecting matters unknown to the waking person." Freud espouses this idea, which is the foundation of his theory of the unconscious mind. A dream will contain memories from waking life that the person could not have recalled in daily life. These are repressed or suppressed memories, and some of them are memories that are painful. There is also an emotional component of dreams that cannot be ignored, claims Freud.

Dream stimuli and dream sources is another area of research in the scientific literature. This research focuses on the mundane physical stimuli that give rise to dreams, such as noises in the room, or a full stomach. The internal organs, which do not "speak" during the day, might "speak" through dreams. Other areas of research that are addressed include the psychological strangeness of dreams. Dreams have an eerie quality to them. The dream world is much different, qualitatively, than our waking life. The dream is highly visual in content, and hallucinatory in quality at times. Freud concludes the chapter by condensing the literature and presenting a summary of the theories that have emerged. First, dreams are full psychic activities of the brain. Second, dreams are, on the contrary, a suppression of psychic activities. Dreams may also be a form of mental elimination or discharge. Finally, Freud claims that dreams can offer clues for addressing mental illnesses.

Chapter Two of The Interpretation of Dreams provides a sample analysis of a dream for Freud's proposed method of dream interpretation. Freud here distances himself from the previous researchers on dreams and dreaming by claiming that no scientist has proposed a comprehensive method of dream interpretation. Prior literature takes a dim view of the value of dreams, whereas Freud claims that dreams do have inherent value and that paying attention to their manifest and latent content, the psychotherapist and the client can work together on a path to healing.

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However, Freud carefully points out that dream interpretation is not about ascribing meaning to the symbols of the dream. This is a common "lay" method of dream interpretation, but it is ultimately ineffective. Freud aims for a scientific approach. It is impossible, according to Freud, to have a universal lexicon of dream symbols.

Freud states his purpose here in Chapter Two as being the use of dream interpretation for helping people with "certain psychopathological structures in hysterical phobias, compulsive ideas, and the like," (section 6). Freud describes the process by which he tries to help people. The person closes his or her eyes and essentially enters a state of meditation in which self-awareness is the goal. From this point of meditation, it is possible for the individual to interpret both dreams and the root cause of neuroses: "He must maintain impartiality towards his ideas; for it would be owing to just this critique if he were unsuccessful in finding the desired solution of the dream, the obsession, or the like," (II.7). The person suspends any self-criticism and analysis, instead just allowing thoughts and images to arise.

Freud guides the client to investigate some of the core elements of the dreams in a search for its meaning. Instead of using one of his client's dreams for the first case study, Freud selects one of his own. He believes that he is "healthy," and that it is unfair to provide a preliminary example of a dream from someone who is unhealthy because there may be mitigating factors in the interpretation. After presenting his dream as he recorded it, he proceeds to analyze it. He breaks down the narrative of the dream into its constituent parts and analyzes each component with rich detail.

Chapter Three of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams explicates the author's theory of wish-fulfillment, which is a major component of Freud's theory of mind. The dream is the fulfillment of a wish, claims Freud. We act out in our dreams what we cannot do in daily life due to social norms, ethics and other restrictions. Freud then examines the question of whether all dreams are wish fulfillment dreams or whether only some dreams are wish fulfillment dreams. n particular, the simpler and more straightforward the dream, the more likely it will obviously be a wish fulfillment dream. "Perhaps this selection will suffice to prove that often and under the most complex conditions dreams are found which can be understood only as fulfilments of wishes, and which present their contents without concealment," (III.7). Children, according to Freud, have wish fulfillment dreams.

Chapter Four of The Interpretation of Dreams is about distortion. Freud extends the wish fulfillment thesis by saying that even anxiety dreams contain some wish fulfillment when they are ascertained according to their manifest and latent content. Freud refers to example of his own dreams to show how distorted dreams disguise wish fulfillment, especially wishes that are judged as being taboo. The person represses the wish, and it emerges in the dream in a distorted manner. A person has an inner censor, according to Freud. This censor prevents the taboo wish from reaching the domain of the conscious mind, but not the unconscious. Freud offers several case study analyses of dreams in this chapter.

Chapter Five of The Interpretation of Dreams addresses the material and sources of dreams. Freud discusses the latent contents of dreams that are common in his experiences and interactions with patients. Recent and indifferent impressions lead to the transformation of a trivial experience into dream content. This process is called displacement. The source of a dream may be a recent and psychologically significant experience, several recent experiences woven together into a whole, significant experiences experienced indifferently, and subjective and significant experiences. There are no indifferent dream stimuli, according to Freud. This is the chapter in which Freud explores the Oedipus myth as providing a framework for understanding neuroses that develop in infancy, in particular the trend toward hostility toward the parent, which is seen in the Oedipus complex.

Chapter Six comprises the "dream work," which is the solving of the dream puzzles. Condensation work refers to the fact that a dream is a condensed lesson from which a person can learn. Displacement creates eccentric content in dreams. There are different means of representation in dreams. Freud explores verbalizations and unique aspects of how dream….....

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