Freud believed that dreams had the function of providing latent content that could not be easily discovered by the individual. He believed that the best way for an individual to discover the underlying meaning of dreams was to ignore the natural reaction of censoring thoughts and allow oneself to focus on the associations that can be inferred from the dream. According to Freud, in order to interpret dreams one must be able to think and remember in a visual manner and to understand the unconscious symbols that present themselves in dreams. Interpretation of dreams requires translating the visual imagery of the dream into linguistic symbols. The technique most often employed by Freud in dream analysis was free association, which seeks to uncover the underlying meaning in the dream. Freud utilized free association as a manner by which latent dreams could be manifested. In this method the client is encouraged to look at the thoughts and emotions generate by the dream and to allow the mind to continue to make associations to other thoughts and emotions or whatever appears in the consciousness (Weitz, 1976).
Free associations can be developed from any point in a dream. The individual is asked to describe their dream thoroughly and they are then directed by the analyst to focus on specific aspects and build associations from there (Weitz, 1976). This process continues until all manifest content has been explored and the analyst believes that latent is also fully discovered (Weitz, 1976). The analyst records each chain of associations and help the client develop an understanding of their experiences with the goal of exploring and organizing unknown aspects of the unconscious (Weitz, 1976). This process can be quite lengthy as after the recording is completed the information needs to be analyzed.
Freud utilized his own dream as an example of how interpretation works. He was able to separate the critical elements in the dream and utilize the free association to draw connections between the individual aspects (Weitz, 1976). This is common for Freud as much of his work was the direct result of his interpretation of his personal experiences and thought processes. He believed that the level of activity that...
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.
Dreams in Sigmund Freud and Franz Kafka Dreams, the Unconscious, and the Real Self in the Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud and the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka In 19th -20th century societies, the prevailing philosophical discipline and way of living among people is centering one's attention to the 'Self.' The concept of the Self is influenced by the individualist society prevalent in Western societies. Indeed, individualism through introspection is evident in
" (Flanagan: 38) Theorists, scientists and thinkers have come up with their own views on dreaming. Dreams are considered "warnings," "premonitions," "announcer of good" and "indicators of future" as well. Many feel that dreams come from a divine power that warns people about the consequences of their actions or tries to put them on a better path by sending messages in the form of dreams. Initially it was believed that
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
Dreaming For centuries, people have sought to explain not only what people dream about, but also why humans dream. In older times, dreams were used for prophecy. Later, they were used in the growing field of psychology. But, until fairly recently, people only theorized about what dreams mean, and not why people themselves have evolved the capacity to dream. This paper examines various theories that explain why human beings dream. The first part
This means that other aspects which could be affecting the mood of the individual (such as: a chemical imbalance) are overlooked. This is when the chances rise of some kind of misdiagnosis taking place. As a result, the strengths of this theory will provide everyone with a basic background. However, it cannot be applied to every situation involving patients. Instead, only select elements will offer a better understanding of
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now