Essay Sigmund Freud as a Dream Analyst

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

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:

The point of view of which Freud interprets and examines the manifest of dreams content to obtain their latent meaning is of a professional psychologist and clinical observer who looked for a way to explain how our minds work and how the individual psychology functions. He based his work on clinical experiences and clinical neurosis of the matter of his own interpretations to be able to confirm his theories as a proven fact. The result Freud gets from the patients he observes and interpretation of their dreams are stereotyped to the complete human condition.

Freud presented his theory about dreams in the book The Interpretation of Dreams in 1899. In it he sets out to prove "there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams" and that

Freud also listed the following results from his studies, dreams can have multiple layers of meaning, nearly all dreams are wish-fulfilling, and all dreams have a unifying motive that accounts for all random images and events. Freud concluded that dreams are the way an individual 's unconscious mind tries to express itself and that dreams “may only have a chance of reaching our consciousness if they are somewhat disguised”. Which explains the sometimes absurd and bizarre dreams that someone can get. Sigmund Freud uses the following analogy to explain his theory, “a political writer may criticize a ruler, but in doing so may endanger himself. The writer therefore has to fear the ruler’s censorship, and in doing so “moderates and distorts the expression of his opinion”. The writer serves to represent the unconscious mind, while the ruler is the conscious mind that stops an individual from doing certain things. Dreams and daydreams are practically synonymous, except dreams occur when an individual sleeps, and daydreams are when the person is awake, but both allow for the mind to wander, so the theory can apply to both, but Freud mainly focuses on the aspects of dreams.

He believed by examining dreams he can understand how the unconscious mind works and what it is trying to hide from conscious awareness. Freud broke down dreams into two different types, the manifest content of the dream and the latent content. The manifest content of the dream contains all the images, events, and thoughts contained in the dream, this is fundamentally what the dreamer remembers upon waking. The latent content is all the hidden and symbolic meanings within the dream. Freud believed that dreams were essentially a form of wish fulfillment, by taking those unconscious thoughts and desires and making them into less unacceptable behavior in society

Despite the poverty, Freud proves to be an excellent student who graduated with honors. He had intended on studying law, but instead decided on joining the medical faculty at the University of Vienna. There he studied under the Darwinist Professor Karl Claus. At the age of 24 Freud received his doctorate in medicine. He spent four months at the Salpêtrière clinic in Paris, France, studying under the neurologist Jean Martin Charcot. It was under Charcot's tutelage that Freud became interested in hysteria and its psychological origins. After studying with Charcot, Freud returned to Vienna and established a private neurology practice. He began treating hysterical patients by the use of hypnosis, a technique he learned under Charcot. Along with Joseph Breuer he became successful in hypnosis and together they published a book entitled Studies on Hysteria. Soon after this Freud began self analysis, the act of studying one’s own self, called psycho self-analysis, mainly through his dreams. He authored the book The Interpretation of Dreams, which became a worldwide phenomenon and classic in psychoanalytical studies.

By studying the ideas of other psychologists and philosophers to support his own ideas, Freud was able to take the parts he agreed with and disprove the parts he did not agree with. He explores the ideas of Aristotle, Hildebrandt and Strumpell to name just a few. He agreed strongly with Aristotle’s belief that dreams are not divine in

“Dreams are a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.” This is the true definition of what dreams are according to Free Dictionary.com. Although many people are unaware of how dreams actually work there are two psychologists that have been able to pinpoint the true meaning of dreams. These two men are Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. There are many different perceptions on how people dream, what dreams mean, and why people dream.

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

to bourgeois Western civil society. During Freuds time he experienced the journey of seeking social

Freud brought his idea of infantile sexuality to be the mainstream of all dreams and neurosis. However, not all dreams followed his accusations and theories because simple dreams or traumatic dreams did not need to be interpreted. Anxiety dreams and sexual dreams also fall into this category. Therefore, the dreams up for interpretation contained ‘Freudian symbols’ representing genitals. Storr explained, “Thus, hollow containers, like caves or handbags, may symbolize the female genitals; while swords, umbrellas, or pencils may be taken as indicating the penis” (Storr, 1989, p. 36). These symbols are projected into dreams as more acceptable versions of genitalia. Not a lot of Freud’s works on dreams are accepted today because theorists have done

Freud considered a career in law but found legal affairs dull, and so, though he later admitted to "no particular predilection for the career of a physician" he chose a medical career. In 1873 he entered the University of Vienna but did not graduate until 1881.

Freud believed that dreams represent repressed desires, dears and conflicts. He distinguished two aspects of dreams: the manifest content (Actual event) and the latent content (symbolic meaning of the event). In Freud’s latent content all of the symbolic meanings had a sexual background. He viewed dreams as revealing conflicts in a condensed and intensified form.

Freud was particularly interested in the psychoanalytic school of thought and the founder of psychoanalysis. He believed that our unconscious minds are responsible for many of our behaviors. According to Freud, he thought that there was a significant relationship between slips of the tongue and what we are actually thinking. Today these are called Freudian slips. Similarly he believed that we get information, like our fears and wishes, out by just merely saying what comes to mind. He was able to tell a lot about people, including their past experiences, how they were feeling, and what they wished and feared, just by simply encouraging them to speak whatever came to mind.