On Dreams by Sigmund Freud - Essay Example

On Dreams – Sigmund Freud “On Dreams” by Sigmund Freud is the of review for the paper, which aims at exploring various dimensions of the interpretation of our dreams. Sigmund Freud was a neurologist from Austrian origin, and later made striking investigations on Psychoanalysis (Krul & Kulikov 2006). He was a qualified medical doctor, and later carried out various researches on neurology. On treatment of a patient, he developed psychoanalytical techniques based on which he recorded some observations which made huge breakthroughs in the subject of psychology (Freud 1938). The book under consideration, on dreams, is also the product of one of his psychoanalytical investigations. In this book, Freud systematically places the dreams into various steps explaining the entire process. Firstly, he points out that the latent dream is condensed and thus, remains hidden deep inside. Secondly, he implies that the focus of the content of the dream is shifted which distorts it`s real meanings. Lastly, he emphasizes that the dreamer interprets the dream in a biased manner which further distorts it`s meanings. Freud is of the view that the dreamers repress the real meanings of the dream in their sub-conscious to escape from their phobias or rather painful realities. To prove his point, Freud references his own dream where he sees his wife at the dinner table and even feeds him with spinach. Via his own dream he explains how the latent content has deeper meanings, otherwise repressed by the sub-conscious. Chapter 1 of the book highlights the historic perspectives of the dreams, where Freud explains that dreams have existed from the beginning of time. However, he argues that in earlier times dreams were associated with God and the supernatural, and dreams were rather believed to be deities from a higher power on to the dreamers. In the second Chapter, Freud argues that the closest to reality a dream comes is while its analysis in public opinion. Similarly, he explains that a sub-conscious phobia or repression a person is facing is as different from how he is in real life, as a dream is from a living reality. Moreover, he expresses that since psychoanalysis has helped him earlier in analyzing and diagnosing diseases like phobias and delusion, he is hoping that the same technique will help him understand the dynamics of dreams as well. Further on in the chapter, Freud goes on and explains the entire process of conducting the psychoanalysis to relate it to dreams analysis. Chapter 3, being one of the building blocks of the entire theory, is one of the most important chapters of the book. In this Chapter, Freud explains the process by which the Latent dream is transformed into manifest content explaining the basis behind the dream. Furthermore, Freud categorizes the dreams into three groups. The first category being for those dreams which may make some sense but are rather intelligible, secondly, those dreams which make sense per se, however seems completely bizarre when related to real life. Third category incorporates those dreams which are neither sensible nor intelligible, these are rather disconnected dreams with no apparent meanings and most of the dreams fall into this particular category usually. Moreover, he asserts that the dreams of children must not be ignored as they contain a special message which must be understood in order to understand his state of mind. Chapter 4 presents some interesting insights on dreams analysis, as in this chapter Freud continues to explain that the dreams may also undergo a transformation whereby suppressed wishes may seem to be coming true. For instance, Freud saw a dream where his wife was giving him much attention and serving her dinner. However, in reality, on the dinner table on the night he saw the dream, his wife wasn’t giving him much attention and he wished for her to do so which was reflected in the dream. Thus, Freud concludes via this observation alongside many others that dreams are the condensation of the unfulfilled wishes. However, at the same time, Freud also signifies that dreams are complicated and difficult to understand because they aren’t usually a product of many different experiences and not just one. Chapter 5 further continues to explain other dimensions of dreams. Here, he argues that the dreams where unfulfilled wishes are being fulfilled are the ones which aren’t displaced. Otherwise, most of the dreams are displaced by the dreamer himself, for instance a dreamer may find one aspect of the dream quite significant while ignore the other. However, in reality, it may be the case that the indistinct part of the dream is rather the most important one. Chapter 6 again focuses on the complexity of the dreams, and explains that the dreams have their own language of expression. Instead of a clear language, metaphorical language may be the form of expression which may be reflecting the everyday instances being witnessed by the dreamed. Alongside dream displacement and suppression, the meanings may be complicated. Chapter 7 moves further and explains the transformation of dream thoughts into dream content. According to Freud, dream consists of condensation, displacement, reproduction and lastly revision. Due to complications, the dream work may be altered into something meaningless; however Freud doesn’t want to put too much focus into this part. Chapter 8 further asserts that dreams may also be reflections of other obsessions or phobia and even delusions, and the sole problem in dream analysis is the process displacement as mentioned above as well. Also, another issue Freud raises here is that if he presents a specimen dream in front of others, it may turn out to be embarrassing for people as they will start assessing their psychological issues which may be inappropriate. In chapter 9, Freud expresses that though dreams are complicated, yet they can be understood in context to the dreamer`s wishes and repressed needs. He further goes on to say that dreams are also said to predict and assess the future, mainly because the dream is reflecting the thought process of the dreamer, precisely on what he would wish to occur. Here, he presents three kinds of wish fulfillments. Firstly, Freud presumes that the wish that is undisguised is actually also unrepressed which is quite rare for most adults. Secondly, majority of the dreams which the adults have are those which are repressed and thus, disguised. Lastly, there are also repressed wished which aren’t disguised, usually come to those with anxiety. Further on, in Chapter 10, Freud explains that there are two processes working at the same time during dreams, i.e. the unconscious and the one where dreams are being repressed. In other words, there are certain things inappropriate for the dreamer which are eliminated and the dream in transformed. Also, once the dreamer is awake, there is further repression of details from the dream, and that is why during analysis bits and pieces of the dream are forgotten. Chapter 10 sheds light on the dreams formation in children and distinguishes it from that of the adults. Freud argues that when children are dreaming, it is more like their guardian of sleep. Mostly, parents force their children into sleeping or the mother of a child kisses them to bed. The child sleeps with the expectation that the attention will also continue the other day, which is also contingent on the child`s sleep. Also, children can`t distinguish between reality and dreams as well, and thus as opposed to adults their dreams aren’t as repressed which is why it is easier to analyze their dreams. However, in Chapter 12, the focus of the book is shifted along another subject. In this chapter, Freud implies that most of the dreams in adults reflect their erotic wishes i.e. these dreams may rather be perversions. The dreams in themselves may not be erotic, however, the interpretation may turn out to be perverted. Also, he explains that the best way to distinguish between an erotic dream from the non-erotic one is to understand the symbols in one`s dreams. Chapter 13 is the last chapter of the book, where Freud points out the short-coming of his book. He narrates that his work has not yet been able to address all the issues related to reams. Also, he accepts the fact that investigating and understanding the phenomenon of dreams has only opened up a whole new chapter of further issues related to dreams for him. In my view, Freud has quite accurately explained various dimension of a very complicated subject of dreams. The categories which he has presented in different chapters, alongside a systematic series of progressions which he has added to his study are quite interesting to study. Not only do they help in psychoanalysis of a dream for those on the field, but also it paved way for further research as a starting point for research in the field of Psychology. For years, people have been assigning different kinds of meaning to the dreams, ranging from superstitions to intuitions. However, Freud accurately applied the techniques of his own invention, i.e. psychoanalysis to the dreams projection patterns which helps other make sense of why people see the kinds of dreams they do. For instance, it is quite complex to understand why bits and pieces of a dream are lost once we break up, and why are there specifics that we are able to remember. As an experiment, when I recorded the details of my dreams to analyze the hidden meanings behind them, I was able to assess a pattern which was in compliance with the observations which Freud posed. Moreover, the remarkable perspective about the book was the presentation of all the tools and techniques by Freud which can accurately be used. Though there are a few things which seem to work in theory don’t really fit into the real scenario, yet the tools can be applied to still make sense out of the complicated pattern. For instance, dreams which are so bizarre and effective with repeated patterns sometimes don’t express either the repressions and neither project the erotic nature posed by Freud. Yet once you bring the dream into manifest context and identify the symbols, a connection can somehow be found with some aspect of your life. Thus, in my view, Freud`s work presented in this book was quite remarkable in the sense that it was a huge breakthrough for the practitioners in the subject, since no other technique could have provided as accurate of an information. Conclusively, “On Dreams” published in 1900 and authored by Sigmund Freud presents an interesting yet logically sound analysis of dreams, alongside provides a set of tools and techniques helpful I interpreting one`s dream in context to the real life scenarios. Prior to his work, very little was known on this subject yet Freud tries to explain the dimensions of dreams using the techniques of psychoanalysis. Also, there are proponents who imply that dreams are meaningless, and so Sigmund Freud proves his point via practical experimentation. The dilemma lies in the complex nature of dreams since most of the dreams don`t make much sense and are very difficult to understand. Freud is of the view that various steps must be put forth to understand the language of the dream. He further explains that there is a latent aspect to the dream which remains hidden for the dreamer. Secondly, the dreamer has certain episodes going on in his life owing to which certain contents of the dream are eliminated. Further, the dream goes through revision which implies that the contents of the dream are re-organized into a different pattern. Moreover, sometimes it is also possible that certain wishes which aren’t fulfilled in real life are being fulfilled for the dreamer via his dreams. Also, a few of the phobias or other mental illnesses may distort the dreams. However, certain symbols may be identified in order to accurately understand the dreams. Thus, the author has put together many interesting insights of the study to help the readers seek advantage of the tools and techniques to under the phenomenon better, which can be utilized to reap maximum benefits. References: Freud, S., In Brill, A. A.,(1938). The basic writings of Sigmund Freud. New York: Modern Library. Krull, K., & Kulikov, B. (2006). Sigmund Freud. New York: Viking. Read More