Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Sigmund freud dream analysis theory
Sigmund Freud influence on current practice
Sigmund Freud influence on current practice
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Sigmund freud dream analysis theory
Why do people dream? What do dreams mean? What relevance do dreams have? What relevance, if any, even if nothing more than chemical activity while asleep? Are dreams a mystical message from a greater source? Are dreams merely biological work? Why are some dreams and fragments remembered while others are forgotten? How does one understand dreams? All of these questions and more have been raised by people for as long as human beings have been around on the Earth (Springett, 2000). The proceeding is just a partial listing of the questions that may be asked by people even today, as dreams continue to remain a great mystery.
In this paper, two traditions in psychology that still have quite a bit of influence, especially in Euro-American cultures will be looked at. This will be out of the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, two people who had a major part in the studies of dreams and psychology. Here, some legacies that came out of their traditions will be looked at in regard to dreams. In conclusion this paper will be joined with a critical sociological and anthropological perspective, primarily from the Aborigines and Shamans.
Freud started as a physiologist. The traditions of his day dealt with a mechanical approach to the human body and mind. Most conditions, such as "neurosis," were considered to be based on a biological base in the sense that symptoms sprung from a biological origin. Over time as Freud began to study matters like hypnotism on patients declared neurotic or psychotic, he began to broaden his practice of medicine and theory of how he understood the practice. Freud went beyond a neurological basis and developed a more distinctive psychological theory that was both normal and ab...
... middle of paper ...
...s represent a signal need of retrieval of a larger awareness of human identity. In that sense, dreams become part of an ability to imagine something different than what people are or have been trained in conscious waking life.
References
Armstrong, K. (2005). A short history of myth. NY: Canongate
Campbell, J. & Moyers,B. (1991). The power f myth. Anchor
Eliade, M. (1987). The sacred and the profane. Harcourt Brace Jonanovich
Houston, S. (1994). The illustrated world's religions. CA: Wordsworth
Jung, C.G. (2011). Dreams. NY: Princeton
Jung, C. (1989). Memories, dreams, reflections. NY: Vintage
Rozak, Gomes, Kanner (1995). Ecopsychology. CA: Sierra Club Books
Sigmund, F. (1990). The interpretation of dreams. VA: Wordsworth
Springett, B. (2000) Philosophy of dreaming. Retrieved from http://www.iep.edu
Thorton, S.P. Sigmund freud. Retrieved from http://www.iep.edu
A common definition of dreams according to “Patterns for College Writing” is “the symbolic representation of mental states”, but this sparse definition does not begin to encompass the complex mechanisms behind dreams and its effects on human culture around the globe. Dreams have long been the topics of folklore and urban legends. Since human beginnings, people have sought to uncover the origin of dreams. The ancient Greeks believed dreams came from the God Oneiroi. The Chinese believes that dreams happened when the hun or spirit leaves the body for the land of the dead. The Ishi Indians believed that dreams were sacred messages from the Gods. Yet even now, with the current technological and intellectual advancements, scientists and psychoanalysts have still to find the true reasons and meanings of these dreams. Some argue that dreams are the products of overactive subconscious minds while others argue that dreams are solely randomized emotions from the limbic system during sleep. Despite these contrasting theories, the truth of the matter is that the topic of dreams and the reasons behind them remain a mystery.
Dreams can be defined in two ways. Firstly, dreams are the desire to strive for and accomplish something that has always been in a dreamer’s heart. For example, these dreams can be anything from being a professional athlete to a chef. Another way it can be defined is the mental visions one has when sleeping. The Corr’s song Dreams and Paulo Coelho’s novel
The average person spends over one-third of their life sleeping, and over this period of time he or she can have over 1,825 dreams (Wicklinski). By definition, dreams are mental images, thoughts, or emotions that are experienced while sleeping. In the beginning, dreams were thought to be messages sent from the gods or spirit world. Researchers now have many theories explaining why people dream. Many of these theories explain that dreams can resemble an individual’s sensory experiences or even secret wishes. All people dream, but only 42% of people can recall their dreams from the night before (“Dreams”). The study of dreams is a topic that is constantly being debated by researchers for many reasons. Dreaming is important because it can impact people’s health, provide insight into what they are feeling, and reveal information about their behavior.
Freud originally attempted to explain the workings of the mind in terms of physiology and neurology ...(but)... quite early on in his treatment of patients with neurological disorders, Freud realised that symptoms which had no organic or bodily basis could imitate the real thing and that they were as real for the patient as if they had been neurologically caused. So he began to search for psychological explanations of these symptoms and ways of treating them.
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 with understandable contents, is a substitute-formation that hides latent dream-thoughts, which are the abstract ideas in dreams. This translation of latent dream-thoughts to the manifest dream-content is defined by Freud as “dream-work”. Dream-work consists of certain types of transformation.
During prescientific days, dreams were interpreted as ‘manifestations’ of a ‘higher power’. Since the introduction of psychology, dreams have had 4 distinct interpretations. The first interprets dreams as a “liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature”. The second interprets dreams as “accidental disturbances from ‘internal organs’. The third interprets dreams as a foretelling of the future. The last interpretation is Freud’s. He interprets dream as an expression of subconscious desires.
Along with tradition, there are also many theories about dreams. Sigmund Freud, the first psychologist to study dreams in-depth, hypothesized that dreams were just subconscious thoughts. He believed that dreams show wants and thoughts in symbolic form that aren’t acceptable on a conscious level. He used the term manifest content to describe the contents of dreams, and the term latent content as the concealed meanings behind symbolic dreams.
During the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, a psychologist named Sigmund Freud welcomed the new age with his socially unacceptable yet undoubtedly intriguing ideologies; one of many was his Psychoanalytic Theory of Dreams. Freud believed that dreams are the gateway into a person’s unconscious mind and repressed desires. He was also determined to prove his theory and the structure, mechanism, and symbolism behind it through a study of his patients’ as well as his own dreams. He contended that all dreams had meaning and were the representation of a person’s repressed wish. While the weaknesses of his theory allowed many people to deem it as merely wishful thinking, he was a brilliant man, and his theory on dreams also had many strengths. Freud’s theories of the unconscious mind enabled him to go down in history as the prominent creator of Psychoanalysis.
Freud also was a medical doctor that specialized in the treatment of nervous disorder also known as neuroses. His main focus was that of psychoanalysis. He was also the first person to map out the entire subconscious geography of the human psych. Through his studies, he concluded that disordered thinking was the result of fears experienced in childhood. These disorders can range from hysteria, anxiety, depression, and obsession. Through his studies, he argued that neurotic behaviors had to be treated by bringing childhood experiences to the surface and confront them.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, dream is defined by a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring involuntarily in a person’s mind during certain stages of sleep. Dreams have fascinated humans since the beginning of time. The recorded history of dream interpretation dates back to 3000-4000 B.C. with the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. They documented their dreams on clay tablets. People back then saw the dream world as an extension of reality, but that it was a more powerful realm. Furthermore, they believed that when they dream, their souls would leave their body during sleep and travel to the dream world.
Freud also discusses the beliefs of early man, as dreams were connected to demons, gods and mythical deities. Dreams were perceived to be of a supernatural nature in primitive times and dreams were believed to portend the future.
A variety of dream theories will be analysed after which a number of benefits to dreaming will be explored. It will implicate different possible dream applications drawing information from dream-themed books and movies. The ethical concerns of such innovations will be scrutinised. • Limitations The report is limited to a scientific perspective mainly due to the word count.
Despite the large amount of time we spend asleep, surprisingly little is actually known about sleeping and dreaming. Much has been imagined, however. Over history, sleep has been conceived as the space of the soul, as a state of absence akin to death, as a virtual or alternate reality, and more recently, as a form of (sub)consciousness in which memories are built and erased. The significance attributed to dreams has varied widely as well. The Ancient Greeks had surprise dream encounters with their gods. Native Americans turned to their dreams for guidance in life. Shamans dreamed in order to gather information from the spirits.
This is the manifestation of physical causes. He became convinced that unconscious mental causes were responsible not just abnormality but also normality. Freud developed Psychoanalysis. This is a set of techniques for treating the unconscious causes of mental disorders and built up a psychoanalytic theory of how human personality and abnormality develop from childhood. His psychoanalytic approach had a great impact on psychology and psychiatry and was developed by other psychodynamic theorists.
Dreams are series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Dreams occur during a certain stage of sleep known as REM. Several different psychologists, including Freud and Hobson, have studied dreams. Psychologists have provided many theories as to what dreams are and the meanings behind them.