The Interpretation Of Dreams : Sigmund Schlomo Freud

If I had the ability to travel through space and time in order to meet a famous psychologist, my first choice would be Sigmund Freud. As the father of modern psychology, he truly left a lasting impact on the field. Specifically, I would love to her more about his ideas on dreams and sleep: since there are so many interpretations as to both the meanings behind dreams and the purpose of dreaming in general, I think that hearing his perspective would truly be enlightening. I personally believe that dreams are the result of unconscious forces and thoughts; even though my ideas somewhat align with those of Freud, I would like to hear how he came to his conclusions on dreaming. How does he know that within dreams, latent and manifest content both exist? What empirical data, if any, exists to substantiate his claim? How does one go about interpreting a dream? And, just for fun, can he interpret some of my dreams?

Sigmund Freud is thought to be the founder of psychoanalysis and he embarked on conducting a study to analyse and interpret dreams as a means of determining their relation to the human psyche. Starting off his career as a neurologist he was already very familiar with the brain and it’s inner workings. However his study was specifically conducted to explore the more celestial attributes of the mind and apply scientific theory and neurological practice. Freud said that, "The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind." He meant that because dreams are such an unconscious activity they give an almost direct insight into the workings of the unconscious mind. In "The Interpretation of Dreams" he was the first person to look at the mind and to develop a theory about its basis and creation. By identifying which parts of the mind are unconscious and conscious he was able to fix scientific labels on celestial areas of the brain. In effect, Freud is responsible for giving the study of the mind it’s serious and scientific attributes. Something that had only previously associated with the physical study of the brain. In order to prove his theory he analyzed his dreams, his childhood memories, screen memories, slips of the tongue, and episodes of forgetfulness. His theory was that by analyzing dreams and memories they will aid in trying to understand how events from the past, including childhood, continue to actively influence

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 felt that he must rely upon his own dreams because of the difficulties of studying other people’s dreams. This was also a problem because he felt that he would then have to reveal his own private thoughts to the world. Freud states, “But if I was to report my own dreams, it inevitably followed that I should have to reveal to the public gaze more of the intimacies of my mental life than I liked, or that is normally necessary for any writer who is a man of science and not a poet. “ Having decided that he would willingly share his dreams and feelings for his studies he then expresses, “I can only express the hope that the readers of this book will put themselves in my difficult situation and treat me with indulgence”.

Sigmund Freud is known as the father of psychoanalysis, along with a psychologist, physiologist, and medical doctor. Freud worked with Joseph Breuer to develop the theory of how the mind is a complex energy system.Throughout Freud’s life he

The second evidence we can find is the action or losing or mislaying objects, according to

Sigmund Freud’s On Dream was a very interesting read because it taught a lot about his views and ideas on how dreams work. Throughout the book, Freud is analysing a dream he has where a woman who was not his wife is having dinner with him. She tells him that he has pretty eyes and put her hand on his knee. Later on, she tries to feed him spinach. By the end, Freud has explained what he believes to be the meaning behind the dream. Freud believes that the dream meant that he wants to find love but not having to work to find it.

Freud considered human beings to be instinctively violent creatures, believing that we have a “fundamental hostility … to one another.” He thought that humans were initially motivated by the pleasure principle, which seeks gratification and is obeyed by the unconscious id. However, the pleasure principle is restricted by the reality principle, which is developed by the ego in early infancy. Without the reality principle, civilization could not function, as it enables us to postpone satisfaction. As well as this, if the id remained unchecked and the pleasure principle always obeyed, the pleasure we feel upon receipt of our desires would be lessened. As Freud asserts, “what we call happiness … arises from the fairly sudden satisfaction of pent-up needs [therefore,] it can be no more than an episodic

In Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents, he presents the reader with the paradoxical question of happiness. Freud questions ‘What is called happiness in its narrowest sense comes from the satisfaction - most often instantaneous - of pent-up needs which have reached great intensity, and by its very nature can only be a transitory experience.’ (Freud, Civilization and its Discontents pg. 41) Freud points to this innate desire for happiness. Individuals are ruled by a paramount ‘pleasure principle’ which is strong enough to influence desires, thoughts, and urges. Man’s Ego is the driver, so to speak, of these inherent desires. While thoroughly defining happiness, Freud also defines the things that lead to man’s suffering, and the ways in which man can circumvent that unhappiness. Freud’s discursive prose on the topic of happiness serves more as a

There are a lot of theories as to why we dream and what dreams mean, if there is a meaning to it at all. From the beginning of time, there have been records and cultural beliefs influenced by dreams. Some may see dreams as connection to another world, while others use dreams to understand our deeper inner selves or conscious. One of the first people to look at dreams from a scientific perspective was Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century. He believed that dreams had psychoanalytic importance, and wrote a book titled The Interpretations of Dreams in 1900 (Lavie 66).

In the article, “The Interpretation of dreams, and of jokes” by Mathew Hugh Erdelyi, it discusses many points in the relations of cognitive ability on how dreams are interpreted in our waking lives. There is many debated theories among psychologist as to the many problematic restricting research and lack of research on how to study and evaluate a conclusive answer, whether or not dreams are actively continuously impacting our awake state. To briefly conclude what the article talks about, is that there is newly found information despite that dream research have been neglected for several decades because of the widely held view that dreams are random mental events(Solms, 1991, 2003). Neuropsychologist Mark Solms showed from his analysis of REM-dreaming

Freud proposes the Principle of Satisfaction when aiming to be happy, in other words "a problem of satisfying a person's instinctual wishes (Freud 263)." Consequently, he concludes that because our "appetite" can never be fulfilled, the attainment of happiness will be nothing else than pessimistic. Also, he notes, that not all pleasures or wishes can be satisfied as soon as they are conceived. Freud presents the example of a baby, who, initially, believes that all his/her wishes should be gratified, and only later learns, form the Reality Principle, the harsh truth, that the wishes can not be satisfied instantaneously. More than that, life teaches men that in order to experience happiness one must sacrifice the instant gratification of his/her desires in order to achieve happiness in future. A simple example would be when a businessman decides to work overtime in order to receive more money and, thus, receive more pleasure, of course temporary and in future.

Dreams are series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Most of the time, they depart dramatically from reality. Dreams that reflect the day’s experience tend to single out sensory experiences or objects from walking life and mix them together. The content of dreams takes snapshots from the day rather than retelling the stories of what you have done or seen.

Freud introduced the concept of using dream interpretation to understand the unconscious mind. He was convicted that the way 'to understanding and treating neurosis' (Kahn, 2002. Pg. 155) was through dreams. Dream interpretation is another technique used by psychoanalyst to assist the client in understanding and helping them gain insight into their unconscious mind. Freud suggested that dreams, both day and night, represent a wish that the client could like fulfilled (Kahn, 2002).

There are various components of a dream. The dreaming process is very complicated and is still, even today, difficult to understand. One leading contributor to the comprehension of our dreams was Sigmund Freud. He believed there were four aspects to the interpretation of dreams and they are manifest content, latent-dream thoughts, wish-fulfillment, and dream work. The manifest content can be defined as the pre-interpretation of the dream. It’s what you actually see in the dream. The latent-dream thought is what’s disguised in the manifest content. It is the symbols found in the dream. The latent-dream thought is the literal meaning of the dream. The dream work is the work by which the manifest content is converted into latent-dream thought. The manifest content then becomes symbolic. Lastly, the wish fulfillment stage is when unconscious wishes or wishes that have become frustrated become manifested into the dream. Adult’s dreams become distorted because they repress things. Repression clouds the images and we have to disguise wishes from ourselves because we are ashamed of them.