Dream Therapy Paper

It is universally known that dreams are full of meanings and emotions. In Freud’s theory, all dreams are wish fulfillments or at least attempts at wish fulfillment. The dreams are usually presented in an unrecognizable form because the wishes are repressed. Freud proposes there are two levels in the structure of dreams, the manifest contents and the latent dream-thoughts. The manifest dream, a dream

Psychoanalysis is a therapy of psychological theory that aims to treat mental illnesses based on the concepts of Sigmund Freud, who emphasized the importance of free association and dream analysis. The model of psychoanalysis aim is to release repressed emotion and experiences, by making unconscious thoughts, conscious. The fundamental principles of psychoanalysis are practiced by putting an emphasis on the patient to gain insight into the origins of their respective problems like a patient presenting symptoms of anxiety would be encouraged by a licensed professional to explore their past, in hopes of discovering problems that manifested the anxiety. The anxiety created may be a defense mechanism directed towards displacement in their world.

Dreams have long fascinated the human race. This alternate reality, separate from the conscious world we see around us, has captured the interest of many people throughout history. In fact, mankind has been studying dreams since the invention of the written word. Perhaps the lure of dreams is that there seems to be some significance behind them. Most reject the idea that dreams are just random meaningless fragments of data. The vivid sensations that dreams create are just too powerful to ignore. The world of dreams is filled with peculiar phenomenon and unexpected events that beg our attention. Consider the following example of a dream:

I wrote this paper to get a better understanding of Sigmund Freud’s method and theory of dream analysis. The purpose of the paper will be to show the principals of Freud’s dream related theory that focuses on the physiology, interpretation, and psychology of dreams and to explain concepts such as latent and manifest content of dreams, the part of unconscious process, and the nature of dreams role in the determination of dream content. I would like to explore Sigmund Freud’s explanations of psycho-analytic and psychological theory and method to reveal whether Freud’s continuous revising to sexually based conclusions are able to support his own arguments. One of his themes was the amount of activity that goes on in our brains without us even

The humankind throughout history has tried to learn and figure out the meaning of dreaming. The interpretations and true meanings of dreams has expanded and has varied over centuries and cultures. Many of the earlier studies were based on culture’s and the interpretation of dreams, but also used as a form of prophecy, inspiration, and guidance. Many people still believe this such, people today beliefs and theories have opened up to a more vast interpretation, they are made up of; dreams are rare brain activity, dreams allow people to reflect on themselves, or that dreams are too massive to be correctly interpret. Although, not a single theory has been proven to this day, science as of why dreams occur is still a mystery.

To many people, dreams are the thoughts that occur while sleeping, having almost mystic qualities. For millennia the significance of dreams has escaped even the brightest of philosophers and intellectuals. Many people have speculated about why people dream and what meanings the dreams have but in recent times two theories have gained credibility in answering those questions. The first theory is Sigmund Freuds and the other is known as the cognitive theory of dreams also known as biological determinism.

Everyone in the world has had at least one dream in their lifetime. Most people do not think much about the dreams that they have, unless they are recurring. Dreaming is “a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during REM sleep.” Most people today wake up from a dream or nightmare saying, “thank god that was a dream,” or “too bad that was just a dream.” Many times these dreams or nightmares have more meaning than we may think. If people took more time to consider the meaning behind the dreams they have, then dream interpretation could be used as a means to help resolve issues in our awaken lives, including helping to

Both Freud and Jung provided important and interesting theories on dreams; encompassing their functions, their roots, and their meanings. Freud looked at dreams as a result of repressed memories, particularly repressed sexual memories from our childhood. Jung however, believed that dreams delved beyond sexual repression during younger years, to other problems, be it trauma, anxiety etc. Jung also believed dreams changed predominately through middle adult years, while Freud believed the opposite. There is little empirical evidence to reinforce either Freud or Jung’s theories, however, their contributions to the study of dreams in psychology cannot be lessened or denied.

Close your eyes and think of the last dream you had, do you remember it? Maybe you had the ability to fly or you were falling down. For some, you may have woken up gasping for air due to a scary dream. If any of you are like me you experience seemingly realistic dreams.

     An individual’s unconscious mind combines bits and pieces of information and places them together. Dreams are almost always visual. “Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses”(Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into their mind in a quest for self-discovery. In ancient Greece dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Hippocrates and Aristotle believed that dreams contained physiological information that may be cause of future illnesses. Dreams can be used to solve a number of different types of problems. In The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud he states “As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping

After a friend told me about some weird dreams he had been having I decided to research the meaning of dreams. I will focus on Sigmund Freud’s idea that understanding our dreams can help us to understand ourselves, and live a much happier and fulfilled life. Freud was known as “the father of psychoanalysis” and in 1899 he wrote his most famous work, The Interpretation of Dreams, and

Freud’s theory is that dreaming is meaningful, unlike the activation synthesis theory. He believed that the mind had three sections, represented in a shape of an iceberg; the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious. The conscious is the tip of the iceberg above the water involves everything we are aware of right now such as our thoughts. The

Dreams have been considered and debated since people have existed. Research on dreams began in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, nothing has proven why dreams happen or what they do. Freud suggested that dreams are an expression of subconscious desires, from which all sorts of strange animal impulses come. He believed that he would be able to find out what bothered people by analyzing their dreams. While dreams reveal troubles much older than Freud, he was the first to try and rationalize dream therapy (Dreaming of a better life).

In his book, Modern Man In Search Of A Soul, C.G. Jung gives a layperson insight into his ideas on dream analysis. Jung's primary objective in this book is to educate the reader as to what a psychoanalyst does when analyzing a patient's dreams. The principal message in the section of the book centered on dream analysis is that dreams should never stand alone. Dreams are meaningless in a vacuum, but on the other hand when put against a strict set of rules, they are oftentimes misunderstood. The unconscious is a fluid entity and cannot be handled either in isolation or with a static set of guidelines. Dreams are reflections of the unconscious and can represent many different things inside of

Every session must be exactly fifty minutes and the therapist meets with the client multiple times a week for many years. This is important as psychoanalytic theory maintains that irregularity might have a disruptive effect on the therapeutic results (Hough, 2012). Moreover, the physical environment of the therapy is also very important. During the session, the client should not be able to look the therapist straight in the face as not to see the therapist’s reaction to what he or she is saying. Ideally, the client is lying down on a couch and the therapist is sitting in a manner that he or she can see the client but the client cannot see him or her (Williams, 2016). This is important for transference and will be explained later. However, free association and dream analysis will be discussed first.