Freud

DREAM THEORY ACCORDING TO FREUD

I DREAM THEORY AS THE CENTER OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

A. The three main features of dreams
1) The meaningfulness
a) Beyond its superficial manifest facade
2) Role of dreams
a) The dream is the carrier of hidden repressed wishes
3) The "guardian of sleep" (before the discovery of REM sleep in 1953 by Kleitman and Aserinsky which proved the opposite, that sleep is the protector of dreams).
B. What all dreams have in common
1) Dreams are expressed and remembered in a verbal account
a) Dreams are an internal manifestation that are not dependent on external stimuli
b) The dreams assume the form of a narrative with transitions between scenes
c) In every dream it is possible to determine a point of contact with the experiences of the previous day (day residue)
2) Every psychological process recognized and used in human culture becomes material for the dream
a) The material is a communication of an event or process that:
1) Is presently occurring
2) Is based in the past
3) Is a future expectation, desire, or goal

II DREAM FORMATION

A. Freud's theory of dreams was a theory of dream formation
B. Dream are structurally determined using two concepts:
1) Residues of the previous day's activities
2) Unconscious wishes
C. The residues mesh with one's unconscious wishes which causes a "distortion", i.e., the dream
D. The dream follows a path from unconscious scenes or fantasies to the preconscious, through censorship, to perception

III FREUDIAN DREAM THEORY

A. Dreams occur in a state of "ego collapse" when the demands of the Id (imperative bodily needs) and Superego (conscience ego ideals) converge upon the Ego (personal desires and
mediator between the Id and the Superego)
1) Realms of the Phyche
a) Conscious..... Ego
b) Preconscious.. Superego
c) Unconscious... Id
2) Dreams occur when the unconscious wish is bound to the preconscious instead of just being discharged
B. The resulting dreams are a production from the unconscious - disguised fulfillment of a suppressed or repressed wish
C. Freud believed the dream was an attempt to directly portray an ongoing wish
D. Dreams may represent wishes that have been alive in the individual from earliest childhood to the present
E. Every dream is partially motivated by a childhood wish
F. The connection of the subconscious wish to the waking state may be directly evident or disguised due to censorship
G. The entire dream is a reconstruction of previous meaningful experiences
H. Nothing new is introduced into the content of the dream: the dream creates nothing
I. Dreams are biologically determined, derived completely from instinctual needs and personal experiences
J. Dream distortion is not a part of the essential nature of dreams
K. Dreams will turn a conscious experience into its opposite for the purpose of wish fulfillment
L. Sometimes, the most insignificant aspect of the dream is the most important aspect of the dream simply because it is the most repressed area
M. Dreams are nothing other than a particular form of thinking made possible by the condition of the dream state

IV THE INTERPRETIVE PROCESS

A. Freud led science in the development of a systematic and organized technique for analyzing a realm of the psyche
B. Freud's interpretive process was to reformulate the manifest dream-content back to the latent (deep) thoughts from which it was assumed, and which provoked the dream originally, (undoing the distortion)
1) The latent content of a dream is unconscious in the descriptive sense that it is not, and cannot of itself become conscious
2) The manifest content of a dream is conscious (because it is remembered) but is the product of the unconscious)

V FREUD'S SEARCH FOR THE MEANING OF THE DREAM

A. How dreams differ from the waking state:
1) A dream can fulfill or express something not attained in waking life
2) Through dreams, one's waking images, moods, feelings, etc., are altered in intensity, distorted from reality or transformed into the opposite
B. There is an essential congruity and continuity between dream and waking life
1) Underlying the continuity between the waking and sleeping states is the multiplicity of the ego
a) Dreams are completely egotistical
b) The ego may be represented in the dream several times over in different forms
2) In the context of continuity, a dream can represent an intention, warning, etc,. that will attempt at the solving of problems
C. A dream experience has meaning only in the context of the individual waking life
1) The dream reflects waking tensions, attitudes, people, events, and feelings
2) The dream is an attempt to resolve, satisfy, fulfill, advance, or in some way carry forward these waking experiences
3) One can search into the immediate past for the source of the meaning of the dream

VI DEFENSE MECHANISMS

A. Defense mechanisms include rationalization, denial, reaction formation, fixation, regression, displacement, and repression
B. The defense mechanisms cause an internal conflict to take place
C. Prevention of repressed wishes are given periodic opportunities for partial fulfillment in the safety of sleep, thus preventing them from building up intolerable states of psychological tension in waking life
1) The normal correct method for an unconscious wish to manifest is through the conscious apparatus - a normal discharge of energy
2) The unexpressed energy can turn inward causing psychosomatic illnesses

VII SEXUAL CONTENT IN DREAMS

A. Freud states that dreams and dreams symbols may not be phallic
B. Most of Freud's interpretations and writings were sexually oriented

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Return to Theories Home Page To submit comments or suggestions contact CrushTheExam@gmail.com