Understanding of

Dreams.

Understanding of

Dreams.

According to Freud, dreams were disguised, hallucinatory fulfilment of repressed wishes.

He also asserted that dreams not only represented current wishes,

but were also invariably expressions of wish-fulfilments dating from early childhood.

Dreams, he

believed, gave

indirect

expressions to

infantile sexual

wishes which had

been repressed and

which,…

if expressed in

undisguised

form, would so

disturb the

dreamer that he

would wake up.

Because these wishes are unacceptable and potentially disturbing, they are censored and disguised.

Freud described the mental

processes, or “dream-

work”, by which the dream

was modified and rendered

less disturbing.

These processes included;

Condensation, the fusing

together of different ideas

and images into a single

image;

Displacement, in

which a potentially

disturbing image or

idea is replaced by

something

connected but less

disturbing;

Representation, the

process by which

thoughts are converted

into visual

images;

Symbolization, in

which some neutral

object stands for some

aspect of sexual life or

those persons

connected with it

which the dreamer

would prefer not to

recognize.

Freud introduced the

term “manifest

content” to describe

what the dreamer

recalled.

In contrast, the “latent

content” was the

hidden, true meaning

of the dream.

This latent content could be

ascertained only when the

dreamer’s associations to the

images in the dream had been

subjected to psychoanalytical

scrutiny and interpretation.

There were many

other forms of

dreams e.g. traumatic

dreams, anxiety

dreams etc.

They did not seem to fit

into Freud’s theory of

dreams which was

primarily concerned with

infantile sexuality.

There are many reasons for

thinking that what is unconscious

is not exclusively the

consequence of repression,

including the fact that some

dreams are clearly creative or

provide answers to problems.

Although everything

which was repressed

was unconscious, not

everything unconscious

was repressed.

Jung does not

distinguish

between manifest

and latent dream

content in the

same manner that

Freud does.

According to Jung, dream

is spontaneous self

portrayal in symbolic form

of the actual situation in

the unconscious.

According to the Talmud,

the dream is its own

interpretation. Any dream

which is not interpreted,

is like a book which is not

opened.

It shows the inner truth and

reality of the patient as it

really is; not as the

interpretation of the analyst

and not as the patient would

like it to be, but as it is.

The dream does not censor or

distort, although there are dreams

which on the surface do look like

disguised wish-fulfillment, a more

profound understanding will

invariably be gained if these dreams

are approached with the hypothesis

that dreams do not hide but reveal.

They invariably point to

something as yet unknown

which they express in the

vocabulary of the known, rather

than merely disguising or

censoring what one already

presumes to know.

Dreams are not

symptomatic, but symbolic.

The deeper layers speak in

images.

These images are to be

viewed as if they presented

us with description of

ourselves, or our

unconscious situations.

We must translate the

dream statements by

putting the dreamer’s

association and explanation

into the context of the

images.

Associations are the

contents which happen to

come to mind when the

dream image is considered,

whether they be rational or

irrational.

If I have dreamed of a

particular object, I might

recall that I always become

angry when a certain person

uses this object: this is an

association.

An explanation is a

more rational

description of what

the dream image

means to me.

The first step in understanding a dream is to establish its context. This means unravelling its network of relationships with the dreamer and his or her life, and discovering the significance of various images it presents;

So Jung does not have a

fixed method of dream

interpretation, for each

dream is taken as a direct

expression of the dreamer’s

unconscious, and only to be

understood in this light.

Every dream

interpretation may

pertain either to what we

call the object level or

the subject level.

Dreams on an objective level are

related to what is going on in the

environment; the people

appearing in it are taken as real,

and their relationship to, and

possible influence on the

dreamer are analysed.

In dreams on a subjective

level the dream-figures are

taken as representing

aspects of the dreamer’s

personality.

A fairly common belief is that dreams reproduce the events of the day before, especially if these were significant or striking.

Dreams sometimes express hidden wishes. The wish fulfilment dream is usually easy to spot;

when, for instance, the hungry man dreams he is eating a wonderful meal, or the thirsty that they see sparkling water.