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Method of dream interpretation
Method of dream interpretation
The interpretation of dreams
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The theory of wish-fulfillment states that dreams could symbolize varying internal conflicts a person has, but be represented through some other event or object. There could be a deeper meaning of a person’s dream because their true and possibly inappropriate emotions may be replaced by a different scenario that would be considered appropriate. This creates the thought that an object in a dream could actually be meant to convey something else. Some people believe dreams allow an understanding of what is occurring in their personal life but there are multiple reasons a person could come up with for what it meant. There is also another possibility that there is no deeper meaning to a dream, and what is happening in it is exactly what it is with no hidden message. …show more content…
Some believe there should be no diagnosis or breakdown of a dream and they hold no meaning with what is happening in someone’s life.
According to the information-processing theory, the people, phrases or events that a person encountered throughout a day appear in our dreams. The REM stage of sleep correlates with a person’s performance and memory. It is shown that getting a better night’s sleep increases the performance of a person and their ability to remember and understand more. Enough sleep is necessary to help a person store information and be able to remember it. The neutral activation theory concerns that a person’s memories get compiled together in a dream with the attempt to make it all fit together and make sense. The part of the brain associated with emotions is active while a person is asleep and the act of dreaming comes from that activity along with
memories.
My ideas resemble a mixture of Rosalind Cartwright and Sigmund Freud’s theories on dreams. Freud believed that the purpose of our dreams is to attain a
In 1977, Drs. Allen Hobson and Robert McCarley of Harvard University presented a neurophysiological model of the dream process called: The Activation- synthesis Model of Dreaming. This paper published in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggested that the occurrence of dreaming sleep is physiologically determined by a "dream state generator" located in the brain stem. The main emphasis of the Activation-synthesis theory is dreaming is not psychological but physiological. This totally contradicts all that Freud preached, however he was absolutely correct about one aspect of dreaming, which is every stage involves sexual arousal. Hobson/ McCarley's extensive research proves dreaming to be physiological on the basis of the predictability of dreaming sleep. The duration of dreaming sleep is also constant, which suggests the dreaming process as not only automatic and periodic but metabolically determined. This find contradicts the classic Freudian theory of a driving force behind all dreams. Hobson and McCarley see our poor ability to recall our dreams as reflecting "a state-dependent amnesia, since a carefully effected state change, to waking, may produce abundant recall even of highly charged dream material." So with that logic in mind if you are rapidly awakened out of REM sleep, you are likely to remember dreams that you would otherwise forget.
The interpretation of dreams by Sigmund Freud holds a ton of information, mostly about what our dreams mean and how they can influence our daily lives. He expresses on page 310, that dreams can be wishes, fears,
Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2008). Reactivation and consolidation of memory during sleep. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 188-192. doi: 10.1111/j.14678721.2008.00572.x
...heory, reverse learning theory, and activation synthesis model, others focus on the mental exercise and simulations that dreams bring to us in the evolutionary theory of sleep. While many of the theories agree that dreams are a representation of ideas and thoughts from the unconscious mind, no single theory has been formed as the single primary authority on the matter of dreams despite more support for some of the theories. The fact of the matter is that despite the rampant research and discourse on the concept behind dreaming, these theories are merely speculations. But these speculations feed the curiosity on dreams and will hopefully lead to the expansion of dream analysis to not only better develop the current understanding of dreams, but also to help people around the world by possibly expanding dream analysis to become an early identifier of mental illness.
According to Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, dreams are a gateway to the unconscious mind and an individual’s deepest desires (scientificamerican.com 1). The American Dream is about gaining a large success through hard work. Deep down every individual wants to strive to achieve the best at what they acquire. However, not everyone will attain their life long goals. This is evident in The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and There Will Be Blood written by Paul Thomas Anderson. Between these two texts the destruction of hopes and dreams can derive from smaller issues such as the lack of money, the anger and jealousy of others and the disappointment of impossibly high goals.
There are many facts that are unknown about dreams and their meanings. For centuries, philosophers and scientists have tried to understand the meaning of dreams. They have all been fascinated by the fact that the content of dreams may have meanings relating to one's life. Are dreams just thoughts in people's minds, or are dreams in fact representations of different areas in people's lives? Dreams represent many different areas of one's life in physical, emotional, and mental ways. Dreams can relay to people facts about their lives that they are not even aware of. There are also many ways that dreams can help cure different physical, emotional, and mental problems in one's life. This paper will discuss dreams and their meanings, and ways of interpreting a dream using such methods as hypnotherapy and psychoanalysis therapy that can help a person in physical, mental, and emotional ways. The first fact that will be discussed is what dreams are and how they work for people in allowing the person to discover more about himself. Dreams can be defined as "a conscious series of images that occur during sleep" (Collier's, vol. 8). Dreams are usually very vivid in color and imagery. They reveal to the dreamer different wishes, concerns, and worries that he or she has. Dreams usually reflect every part of who the dreamer is. The content of the person's dream is usually made up according to how old the dreamer is and how educated the he or she is (Collier's, vol. 8). Dreams are not planned out or thought up. The unconscious part of the mind brings out bits and pieces of information in the dreamer's mind and places them together. According to Encarta, dreams are almost always visual. Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses (Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into his mind and himself in a quest for self-discovery. Dreams can be used to solve all different types of problems. In Sigmund Freud's book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud states: "As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping state […]" (Freud 113). They relay things about a person that the person may not be able to see.
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.
... one sleeps, but nevertheless experiences the removing of a wish. Freud spent a lot of time in the analysis of children’s dreams. Since the content of children’s dreams are more obvious, Freud drew conclusions on the essential nature of dreams from it. Based on what he observed and collected from children’s dreams, he concluded that the dreams are undisguised wish fulfillments. He then applied this conclusion to all the dreams. Children’s dreams give a most feasible approach to understanding the function of dreams. Their dreams are usually the experience of the previous day without any dream-distortion. The manifest contents and the latent dream-thoughts coincide. The content is direct and simple. Freud assumed that the fulfillment of the wish is the content of the dream, while what instigates a dream is a wish. This is one of the chief characteristics of dreams.
The human psyche has a vital role in psychology, including the way humans interpret dreams and their sequence. Humans do not want to remember the truth of reality so we try and hide it in order to forget about it through the process of dreaming. Except, while trying to forget about the past, it leads to
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.
Dreams have been thought to contain significant messages throughout many cultures. A dream is an unfolding sequence of perceptions, thoughts, and emotions that is experienced as a series of real-life events during sleep. The definitions of dreams are different among studies, which can also lead to quite different results. Perhaps, the dream interpretation has becoming increasingly popular. In this paper, I will talk about what I have learned about three different views of dream interpretations. One theory made by Sigmund Freud who believed that dreams are triggered by unacceptable repressed wishes, often of a sexual nature. He argued that because dreams we experience are merely disguised versions of people real dreams. The other theory called activation–synthesis theory, made by Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley, based on the observation that during REM sleep, many brain-stem circuits become active and bombard the cerebral cortex with neural signals. The last theory, proposed by William Domhoff, is called the neurocognitive theory of dreaming, which demonstrates that dream content in general is continuous with waking conceptions and emotional preoccupations. Thus, dreaming is best understood as a developmental cognitive achievement that depends upon the maintenance of a specific network of forebrain structures. While each theory has different belief system and approach method, it is a great opportunity to know how former psychologists contributed to the field of dream interpretation.
In this Forum on Sleep and Dreams, we will see how the diversity of academic disciplines can help to answer important questions about sleep and dreaming—questions that may touch the basis of human intellect. The Forum is fortunate in...
The Psychodynamic view of dreaming suggests that the content in our dream is symbolic of something. Also, that the content in our dreams are based on unconscious desires as well as internal conflict.
What is a dream? Why do we have dreams? Do dreams have deeper meaning in our lives? The answers to these questions have eluded and intrigued many psychologists throughout history and have sparked my interest as well. As an avid and vivid dreamer I have often found myself wondering what the true meanings to my dreams were. So what are dreams? “Strictly speaking, dreams are images and imagery, thoughts, sounds and voices, and subjective sensations experienced when we sleep.”1 Even after thousands of years of research, psychologists have still not come to an agreed answer on why we dream. There are as many opinions out there as there are individual dreams. Some psychologists believe dreaming is simply the minds way of distracting itself from outside information during sleep to allow people to get deep rest. Others such as Dr. Eric Hartman suggest dreams serve almost as a psychotherapy in which the brain can make connections between different emotions and thoughts in a safe protected environment. Do dreams have any direct correlation to everyday events and experiences? Are they meant to aid individuals in understanding and interpreting their world around them?