Analysis Of The Unconscious Mind And Self-Development

The Unconscious Mind and Self-Development Make your dreams come true, go follow your heart, be the true you; these are sayings heard on a regular basis. However, what does making one's dreams come true really mean, and besides what are those dreams? The inner self of humans is a confusing and intriguing place, the unconscious mind reigns supreme here controlling the flow of information and selectively filtering it (Kluners 2014) as it becomes a conscious thought, a deeper understanding of the unconscious mind, its defenses, and a mechanisms such as a dream by which we can peer into the unconscious mind will help one to grow personally, (Newirth 2014) and to unlock the immense creativity (Perera 2013) and potential waiting to be unleashed.

These three themes combine to support a compelling argument of how truly important it is to gain a greater grasp of one’s subconscious and inner self. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and synthesize the articles discussing the various aspects of the unconscious mind, its defenses, and dreams as a means to gain a look inside. The synthesis argues that gaining a better understanding of one's unconscious mind, its defenses, and the tools to look inside, can allow an individual to grow personally and professionally and to become a better a complete, well-rounded individual.

Unconscious Mind The unconscious mind is the lense though which all information is passed to the brain. Often decisions are made based off of an individual’s gut or instinct, the more academic definition of this concept is the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind process information and draws conclusions that often are not available to an individual’s conscious thought. However, this unconscious mind has

Freud argued that dreams are a disguised expression of the inner repressed self that is manifesting itself in a visual context (Summers 2006) A good understanding of dreams how dreams work would be to think of a photograph. Hebbrecht (2013) suggests that dreams are like a photo of the inner workings of a patient in that it does not give the entire story, but rather a snapshot of the turmoil inside at one particular point. In the case of dramatic trauma, a dream often can give therapists a look at what happened in the past, which may be causing negative effects on the patient. Habbrecht (2013) suggests that in working through trauma, dreams can be a vital tool in therapy. Habbrecht (2013) however, does not articulate that dreams are fully truthful; instead arguing rather that the difference between Freud and Meltzer leaves room for debate. Perara (2013) disagrees with Hebbrecht suggesting that dreams not be necessarily truthful, rather Perara (2013) argues that dreams should be treated similarly to one conscious experience. The articles also argue that dreams themselves are interwoven through our memories and experiences.(Perera 2013) Dreams also give therapists the opportunity to cause positive change in our unconscious mind. Hebbrect