Different Theories and Explanations of Dreams - Essay Example

? Dreams: A Bridge between Conscious & Unconscious Dreams: A Bridge between Conscious & Unconscious Dreams have always been a topic that has remained controversial. Different theories and explanations have deduced dreams depending upon the institution of the theory it belongs too. Such as religious scholars provide a different explanation than those who belong to the world of psychology. Although, it is interesting that few psychologists also believe in the religious theories such as the theory of Carl Jung. It is imperative to mention that although Freud’s work has faced immense criticism yet his theory’s statement that dreams bridge the gap between the conscious and the unconscious remains true to some extent. It is imperative to mention that in psychology dreams are viewed with different perspectives. Those who believe in dreams and its interpretations provide a knowledge in to the unconscious are those who belong to the classification of Freudian psychoanalysis; whereas, those who refute the theories of Freud are the ones known as Neo-Freudian’s. The following paper will consider both the classes of psychology in order to give critique to “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to knowledge of the unconscious." The paper will comprise of authentic and scholarly articles providing an insight in to the topic with a help of a study. Freud’s Theory Dreams hold an integral part in psychology today as a part of psychoanalytic practice and theory that has attracted many researchers. However, it is essential to highlight that the dream interpretations in psychiatric treatment remains unclear. Freud recognized the connection between dreams and the unconscious mind during his psychoanalysis sessions, where his patients narrated their dreams to him during the session. He from his practice concluded that the dreams held a significant place in the patients mind. Dreams revealed the unconscious mind of every individual, depicting their wish that they desired to be fulfilled. Thus, it can be said that dreams were represents the imaginary fulfillment of the wish or the element of impulse present during the childhood. These dreams fulfill the wishes of the individuals before the wishes are repressed eventually with the conditioning of the mind (Doyle, 2001; Petocz, 1999). Moreover, Freud explained that images in the dreams depict the unconscious wish in the mind of every individual in a disguised manner. He further explained that these images use symbolizations that come forth in the conscious mind form the unconscious mind during the person’s sleep. This transformation of a wish in the dream acts as a censor in order to ward off any guilt feelings that may be attached with the content of the dream (Doyle, 2001; Petocz, 1999). It was further revealed that the censor is basically the ego that shuns the wishes of the unconscious while in the state of consciousness; and it is the ego that disguises the wishes of the unconscious in to symbolization in order to satisfy the human mind and yet do not feel guilty. With the development in the understanding of the human mind it was also highlight by Freud that along with ego there exists a superego as well. These he said existed without the consciousness of an individual. Therefore, this concept gave birth to the idea of repression and symbolism (Psychologist world, 2006). Thus, Sigmund Freud through said that dreams gives access in to the realms of the unconscious. One of his cases that stands as strong bases to his believe is a case of little Hans. Hans was a 5 year old boy who was introduced to Freud to cure his phobia of horses. This case was a clinical case. Nevertheless, Freud’s primary purpose was to explore the extenuating factors that led to the phobia and secondary factors remained to provide therapy. Although it is considered a clinical case but it is imperative to highlight here that Freud had never met Han’s in person, instead Han’s father corresponded with Freud through letters (McLeod, 2008).. The initial reports regarding Han’s were revealed to Freud when he was 3 years old. The initial brushes with his problem were that he excessively touched his widdler (penis) and would ask his mother if she had one as well. During this time, his dreams and fantasies were themed around widdlers and widdling. Han’s mother in order to teach her son that it was inappropriate told him that if he continued to do so she will call the doctor and he would castrate his widdler. Nonetheless, his father wrote to Freud that Han’s was afraid that a horse will bite him in the street and this fear seemed to be the underlying cause of being frightened by a large penis. Similarly the father of the child continued to question and ask Han’s and reported after conversing to Freud in order to find out the factors that were causing his little son problems (McLeod, 2008).. With the help of continuous reporting’s from the father, Freud concluded that the phobia of the horses had erupted in Hans because he lived at a busy place and whenever he went out he saw innumerable horses passing by some carrying carriages while others were laden with luggage. He also concluded that Han’s had once seen a horse being crushed under the load that it was carrying. Thus, this initiated little Hans to develop the phobia (McLeod, 2008).. Nevertheless, Hans dreams about a giraffe were narrated to Freud. This content of the dream involved a crumpled giraffe and a big giraffe. Hans said that there was a big giraffe in the room at night. When Hans tried to take the crumpled giraffe the big giraffe called out and took the crumpled giraffe away. He further explained that the big giraffe stopped calling and Hans sat on the crumpled giraffe. Freud interpreted this dream saying that the since Hans liked to get in to his parents bed in the morning, the father usually objected Hans invasion. Thus, in the dream the crumpled giraffe signified Hans mother and the big giraffe symbolized Hans father. Moreover, Freud and the father were of the view that the long neck of the giraffe was a disguise for the large adult penis (McLeod, 2008).. Therefore, Freud concluded that Hans phobia was due to the Oedipus complex. Horses particularly the ones with black harness seemed depict as Hans father to him. Horses to Hans seemed like an appropriate symbol to depict his father mainly due to the large penises that adult men have. The fear took its toll due to the oedipal conflict that ignited because Hans was allowed in to his parental bed. He fantasized that he had a big penis like his father and was married to his mother, however, he saw his father as his grandfather (McLeod, 2008). Nevertheless, this was over come after Hans was reassured that his penis would not be castrated. Freud demonstrated that Hans fear of horses was correlated to his Oedipus Complex. He further explained that when the male child is in the phallic stage that is at the age of 3 to 6 he is develops strong sexual love for his mother ; at this stage he finds his father as a rival and thinks that he wants to get rid of him. This conflict worsens if the child is threatened or feels threatened in any way, in this case of little Hans, he was told that his penis would be castrated. It became the underlying reason for the conflict to worsen. For Hans who found his father as a threat needed to cope with the anxiety and used his defense mechanism known as the identification with the aggressor. By doing so a Hans emphasized in every way possible that he was similar to his father therefore, a child in general tries to adopt the mannerisms and actions like that of his father. Thus, child assumes that this way his father will know that he is strong and would stop being hostile to him (McLeod, 2008). Nevertheless, when Hans grew up and reached the age of 19 he met Freud revealing that he does not recollect any such conversations with his father and that this part of his childhood was something unknown to him. Although, this case presents a strong bases for Freud’s theory for Oedipus complex but it lacks in a few ways. Firstly, the cases were not dealt with in person when Hans was a child. That is all the reporting’s were in direct through Hans father and not Hans himself. Moreover, Hans’s father was already familiar with the concept of Oedipus complex and presented Hans case in the light of Oedipus complex. It can be argued that since Hans father had no skills of questioning, he might have provided Hans with leading questions or may have influenced the child to answer in a certain way that led to the diagnoses of Oedipal complex. However, it is crucial mention to that Oedipus complex exists but not as commonly as Freud believed it to exist. It must be taken in to consideration that Freud believed that Oedipus complex was universal, that is every child goes through it and that it is a part of growing up (McLeod, 2008). Neo-Freudians Freud after publishing his book in 1900’s The Interpretation of dreams was soon considered baseless and Freud was ridiculed for his idea that sexuality was not the bases to dreams. However, some of the men believed that the Freud’s theory was not altogether a wasted effort in fact Freud’s emphasis of the unconscious on the conscious behavior was imperative to the discipline of psychology. Nevertheless, Adler and Jung refuted Freud’s insistence on sexuality being the underlying reason. They soon developed their own theories and separated themselves from the dream analysis of Freud. Those who were in disagreement with certain ideas of Freud were known as the neo-Freudians (Psychologist world, 2006). Adler’s Theory Adler was one of those who initially worked with Freud and contributed to the theory of Dreams and psychoanalysis. Despite being a great supporter initially, Adler also becomes a strong protestor to Freud’s theory. Adler was the first among the lot to refute the concept of Freud who based and shrank everything to sexual sense. Adler argued that it sexuality was not the underlying element that made and individuals dream; in fact, it was the insecurities in the human mind of an individual that became apparent while in the state of dream. Although, after the separation with Freud Adler did believed that dreams acted as a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious mind; however, what seemed indigestible was the continuous linkage and mention of sex as the underlying to the state of dreaming (Chiriac, 2003). Adler believed that dreams were a medium to address our insecurities. He emphasized that dreams were a place where individuals could face their insecurities which while in the state of consciousness had no strength to face. Thus, to Adler dreams represented inferiorities that may exist in an individual’s mind. During psychosis, Adler considered dreams as a link to inferiorities in the minds of the patients. Adler’s concept of dreams led to the coining of the word inferiority complex. Nevertheless, Adler believed that usually these inferiorities are based in the infancy that continues to exist until these are dealt with. Therefore, dreams are one way to face the insecurities that develop in individuals during their childhood in order to gain perfection (Here Be Dreams, 2012; Dream Research, 2013). He further emphasized that an individuals are more conscious than unconscious. Therefore, blaming the realms of unconscious would not be appropriate. Furthermore, Adler said that meeting with the inferiorities in a dream aids in overcoming the insecurities. For example, if a person is falling off a cliff it may represent that a person has a phobia of heights or fear of falling. Similarly, in Hans’s case it could be argued that Hans was developed the phobia of horses for he had seen a horse being crushed under the load laden on its back; rather correlating Hans’s phobia to something that can only come out as an assumption (Here Be Dreams, 2012; Dream Research, 2013). Jung’s Theory Carl Jung has closely worked with Freud; nevertheless, Jung somehow did not fully believe in the theories deduced by Freud. It is essential to mention that Jung and his series of dreams made him analyze and deduce a dream theory of his own. Jung emphasized that before the World War I, he dreamt of a monstrous flood surrounding the whole of Europe and lapping at his native land, Switzerland. He further describes that he saw civilizations crumbling and thousands of people drowning in the waters that eventually turned in to blood. While experiencing theses dreams he felt that he was turning in to a psycho, until the First World War broke out the same year. This led Jung to conclude that conscious was by nature separated from the unconscious. However, the unconscious was closer to god than the conscious mind. Therefore, it was wiser. Thus, Jung shrank everything down to religion and the value of dreams to mystical importance (Boeree, 19997; Domhoff, 2000). It can be said that the main schism that demarcated the line between the Freudian and the Jungainian concept of the unconscious was religion. Freud believed that religion was an escape and a misleading notion that should not be professed. Nevertheless, for Jung religion was a cushion for the individuals as they began the process of individuation, where individuals explore different parts of the self. Thus, he emphasized that religion was a form of medium between people to communicate regardless of which religion they belonged to; the archetypes and the symbols continued to be the same (Boeree, 19997; Domhoff, 2000). Freud has presented his view that the unconscious as aspects that eventually led to neuroses; whereas, Jung believed that every individual possessed a set of archetypes and symbols that reside in the collective conscious. Thus, he believed interpretation of dreams was imperative and can only be done by understanding the symbolic reference that have a link with the shared symbols. Jung took the approach that was more closely related to the occult (Boeree, 19997; Domhoff, 2000). Nevertheless, in the above mentioned case of Hans, if considered from the perspective of Jung it may provide a totally different perspective. According to the theory Jung Hans seems dreams seems to be carrying encapsulated information that may hold significance otherwise. Thus, in order to decipher the dreams of Hans it is important to understand the significance of a horse in terms of religion. Thus, according to Jung every function has a certain process that needs to be followed example, hearing has a certain process, seeing, talking ect. Similarly, when an individual is in his or her younger years they are willing to explore the self; however, while coming in terms with the self is what causes the individuals to dream. Nevertheless, it is crucial to mention most of the conscious understanding of Jung was developed on the bases of Freud. Nevertheless, the two disagreed on the bases of religion (Boeree, 19997; Domhoff, 2000). Freud Refuted With the advent of John Bowlby, the critique to Freud’s theory surfaced largely. Bowlby, suggested that although the Freud was in correct in saying that dreams were the hidden wishes of the unconscious mind that mainly surfaced due to the formation of infantile sexuality. Nevertheless, to Bowlby it was more of a relation to child’s reality than sexuality. He emphasized that it could be that sexual dreams could also mean a sexual trauma to a child rather than the way it was described by Freud. However, in recent years Freud’s theory has faced an immense criticism for there have been numerous sessions and cases that revealed sexual abuse. Two different groups oppose the theory of Freud, where one emphasizes that Freud was correct to some extent while the other totally consider Freud’s theory as baseless. Latter, critics argue that usually it is the sexual trauma that led to such dreams, nevertheless, Freud had argued that the dreams revealed sexual fantasies and emphasized that memory was unreliable for while reconstructing the memory meant addition and subtractions of the original information (Andrews & Brewin, 2000). Critics argued that dreams depicted no signs of wish fulfillment. Freud argued that the dreams depicted the unconscious mind giving glimpses in to the personality structure of the individuals. Nevertheless, Freud realized this after the World War I ended, that there were dreams that did not fit well with his theory of the dreams and the unconscious mind. Those dreams pointed in the direction of the reality one has faced or lived in. these dreams were referred to as the Post Traumatic Disorder. Nonetheless, he argued that this particular concept did not over throw the rule wholly; however, he accepted that although dreams were a way to the unconscious mind yet they were not always pleasurable (Burger, 2010). Thus, with this came the acceptance of the fact that dreams were not always about the sexuality that the society has forbade the individual for; instead, it is something every individual is stuck on, it can be said that usually dreams are about unfinished business. Moreover, another criticism is that Freud’s theory is not clinically testable, that is it can be tested in a clinic. This particular reason seems to be the major setback in proving the theory of Freud. However, it will not be appropriate to say that the Freud’s statement that declared that dreams are a royal road to the unconscious in not true. Although, his analysis of the dreams and Hans case seems to be true to some extent for the reasons that eventually Hans was cured of the phobia; however, what remains questionable is that the new theories suggest and prove that dreams are not just a road to the unconscious but they reveal more than that (Burger, 2010). Like previously mentioned in this paper that there Freud himself eventually reconsidered his theory of dreams after the world War I ended. This particular thing may lead one to consider the theories presented by Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. Although, there are certain short comings in the theory presented by Freud, there still remains some strong roots of the theory that exists and seems to be true to what it suggests (Burger, 2010). Contemporary Suggestions Today the contemporary theorists are divided among the two competing theories. One theory suggests that dreams have meanings and dreams have its own linguistics that is based upon archetype symbols among people. However, on the contrary other theorists emphasized that dreams have no significant meanings. It is in reality the effect of random nerve firings during the REM or rapid eye movement while sleeping –a stage of sleeping where usually individuals reach. The latter theory is the modern view in psychology today and is widely researched and believed upon; Freud may even agree to the theory to some extent since the second theory states that dreams are a way to release that builds up in the entire day through dreams. To Freud dreams were not just a meaningful but also a way to rid oneself of something. Thus the new theorists today say that ‘something’ is stress (Freud Meusem London, 2013). Nevertheless, it is necessary to mention that modern theorists also emphasize that the science has been incapable to discover the neurological basis for Freud’s dream work; however, recent research by Mark Solms and others has revealed that dreams may be complex than they were initially viewed as. Theses reveal that whil in a state of dreaming most of the parts of the brain are involved such as the visual perception, instinctual behavior, emotion, and long-term memory. Tests reveal that the brains center is involved in the process of dreaming which relates to the instinctual and emotional mechanisms, just as Freud had envisioned. Thus, two brain structures seem very important in this process that is the center of the brain and the back of the brain. If these two are damaged a person will not dream at all. The systems that are used while dreaming are visuospatial perception and second are the system that initiates the behavior of goal seeking. Nevertheless, the second the theory about dream may totally refute the concept of Freud. It states that dreams do not let an individual to go in to deep sleep. Whereas, Freud emphasized that the dreams help the individual to sleep. In order to conclude it is essential to high light that Freud may not be accurate in most of his findings, but his theories of the dreams and its linkage to the unconscious seems to be true. Many of the other theorists who oppose the dream theory of Freud may be correct in saying that dreams occur for various reasons and that sexuality has nothing to do with dreaming as described by Freud; nonetheless, the dreams do happen to reveal what has been repressed or is stored in the subconscious or the unconscious mind. Therefore, there is no denying to the fact that dreams are a bridge to the gap between the conscious and the unconscious mind (Freud Meusem London, 2013). List of References Andrews, B. & Brewin, C., 2000. What Did Freud Get Right? The Psychologist, 13(12), pp.605-07. Boeree, G., 19997. Carl Jung. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 January 2013]. Burger, G., 2010. Personality. Singapore: Cengage Learning. Chiriac, J., 2003. Freud vs. Adler. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 January 2013]. Domhoff, W., 2000. Moving Dream Theory Beyond Freud and Jung. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 January 2013]. Doyle, T., 2001. Theory of Dreams According to Freud. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 3 January 2012]. Dream Research, 2013. Adler's Dream Theory. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 January 2013]. Freud Meusem London, 2013. Theory: Freud & Dreams 9. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 January 2013]. Here Be Dreams, 2012. Alfred Adler Psychological Theories. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 January 2013]. McLeod, S., 2008. Little Hans - Freud (1909). [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 January 2013]. Petocz, A., 1999. Freud, Psychoanalysis and Symbolism. London: Cambridge University Press. Psychologist world, 2006. The Neo-Freudians. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 3 January 2012]. . Read More