Dream Interpretation of Sigmund Freud

Everyone in the world has had at least one dream in their lifetime. Most people don’t think much about the dreams they have, unless they are recurring. Most people today wake up from a dream or nightmare saying, “thank heaven that was a dream,” or “too bad that was just a dream.” Many times these dreams or nightmares have more meaning than we think.

After a friend told me about some weird dreams he had been having I decided to research the meaning of dreams. I will focus on Sigmund Freud’s idea that understanding our dreams can help us to understand ourselves, and live a much happier and fulfilled life. Freud was known as “the father of psychoanalysis” and in 1899 he wrote his most famous work, The Interpretation of Dreams, and switched his main focus to analyzing dreams. Sigmund Freud was very aware of the importance of our dreams, and always referred to them as a “royal road” to interpreting the unconscious state of mind. He considered dreams to be a window into our unconscious. He believed “dreams as manifestations of our deepest desires and anxieties often relating to repressed childhood memories or obsessions”

Although people have been fascinated by dreams since time began, it is a very difficult subject to study because people are unreliable and there are so many variables. Because of this Freud used three different sources; the dreams and thoughts of his patients, his own dreams and the concepts of philosophers and psychologists who had studied dreams throughout time. Freud felt that using the different sources would give a greater collection of less biased examples.

Using the dreams of his patients who were undergoing psychoanalytical treatment was problematic because he felt that the patients he worked with were em...

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...t or colored lights while sleeping could make the dream think they are outside on a sunshiny day. Sounds can affect dreams in any number of ways.

Sometimes the sleeping mind will gravitate towards things that the waking mind finds insignificant. Many dreams are based on events that bother or stress the individual; often exaggerating or magnifying insignificant problems or incidences. Everyday occurrences, events and external stimuli affect what and how people dream. If people took more time to consider the meaning behind the dreams they have, then dream interpretation could be used as a means to help resolve issues in our awaken lives, including helping to treat many psychiatric disorders, phobias, and more, therefore helping people to lead happier and healthier lives’.

Works Cited

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York: Modern Library, 1950.