Freud's Interpretation Of Dreams Research Paper

Freud’s Theory of Dream Interpretation
In the preface to his famous book !e Interpretation of Dreams,
Freud (1900) wrote, “This book contains, even according to my present-day judgment, the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one’s lot but once in a lifetime.” Before 1900, psychologists believed that dreams were meaningless and bizarre images.
However, Freud’s theory changed all that when he said dreams were a way (“the royal road”) to reach our unconscious thoughts and desires.
Freud’s theory of dreams says that we have a “censor” that protects us from realizing threatening and unconscious desires or wishes, especially those involving sex or aggression. To protect us from

Freud made two main points no one had made before: Dreams contained symbols that had meaning, and dreams could be interpreted.
For example, Freud (1900) said male sex symbols are long objects, such as sticks, umbrellas, and pencils; female sex symbols are hollow things, such as caves, jars, and keyholes. Freud believed a psychoanalyst’s (Freudian therapist’s) task was to interpret dream symbols, which were “the royal road” to uncover a client’s threatening but unconscious desires, needs, and emotions (B. Bower, 2001).
Current psychoanalysts agree with Freud that dreams have meaning and can represent past, present, or future concerns, fears, or worries (R. Greenberg & Perlman, 1999). However, as you’ll see next, many non-Freudian therapists disagree with Freud’s idea that a dream’s contents are necessarily symbols or disguised thoughts for threatening, unconscious wishes and desires (Domhoff, 2003).
2 Extensions of Waking Life
Many therapists believe that dreams are extensions of waking life
(Kramer, 2006b; Pesant & Zadra, 2006).
The theory that dreams are extensions of waking life means that our dreams reflect the same thoughts, fears, concerns, problems, and emotions that we have when

But dreams collected from a single night in the sleep lab read like chapters in a book. They illuminate current concerns and the feelings attached to them” (p. 36).
Cartwright believes that patients suffering from depression or marital problems cope by repeating their fears and concerns in their dreams. She advises that as soon as you awaken from a reoccurring bad dream, you should figure out why the dream is upsetting and then visualize how you would like the dream to end the next time it occurs. With practice, people can gain control over reoccurring bad dreams. Cartwright concludes there is little reason to pay attention to dreams unless they keep you from sleeping or cause you to wake up in a panic
(Cartwright, 2002). In these cases, therapists find dream interpretation a useful tool in helping clients better understand the personal and emotional problems that are contributing to their bad dreams.
Other researchers believe that dreams have a variety of uses, ranging from dealing with threatening situations, resolving personal and emotional problems, sparking artistic creativity, to even solving scientific, mathematical, or other kinds of puzzles (B. Bower, 2001).
!e next theory looks at dreams as reflecting neural