Freuds Theory of Dreams and Psychoanalysis - Assignment Example

Freud’s theory of dreams and psychoanalysis Name: Institution: Date: Introduction Freud’s theory of dream is famous and revered for putting forth a foundation for psychoanalysis that even psychiatrics use to deal with their patients. The theory supported the notion that normal and neurotic cannot be sharply contrasted, and therefore, building a foundation for psychoanalysis as a general theory of the mind that applied to everyone. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), is considered as the founder of psychoanalysis and he penned his thoughts in his work The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud 1894). He revolutionized the study of dreams. Nothing in any one’s life happens by mere chance. Every thought and action is motivated by a person’s unconscious at some level. For the purpose of living in a society that is civilized, there is a tendency to hold back personal urges and suppress impulses. However, these impulses and urges have to be released in some way and they come up in forms that are disguised. Dreams happen to be some of these forms. The content of the unconscious can be extremely disturbing or even harmful hence the tendency of the unconscious to express itself using symbolic language (Blechner, 2001). This essay explores the concepts of Freud’s dream theory and how it is a basis for psychoanalysis where it is general theory of mind applied to anyone. Discussion Modern research has continuously proven that dreams contain information that is fundamentally meaningful. Freud rejuvenated the controversy about dreams at a time when society had discounted them as meaningless. In the beginning of 19th century the interpretation of dreams had fallen out of fashion, and people did not practice this art with any seriousness. At this time ‘rational’ was given credence over other abilities and dreams remained meaningless and thought to be a result of a heavy meal. In the course of the 19th Century, Freud reenergized realm of interpretation of dreams with his radical perspective that incorporated dreams with fears and desires from the childhood (Hollan, 2009). In Freud’s perspective, dreams are forms of wish fulfillment or attempts by the unconscious to resolve a conflict whether from recent time or in the past. Freud demonstrated that, save for few cases; dreams are disguised, hallucinatory fulfillments of wishes that are repressed. He also affirmed that apart from representing current wishes, dreams were also expressions of fulfillments of wishes since early childhood. Freud considered dreams as if they were symptoms of neurotic. Neurotic and normal cannot be sharply distinguished as described by Freud’s theory of dreams, and created a path for establishment of psychoanalysis as a general theory of the mind that applied to every person. Dreams gave indirect expression to infantile wishes about sex that had been repressed and which, if manifested in a form that is not disguised, would disturb the dreamer intensely to the point that he would be awakened (Storr, 2001). It is an observation by Feud that dreams concerns wishes with their origin at infancy as the crucial motive force for dreams formation. Since these wishes at the time were potentially disturbing, they are disguised and censored. The resultant dream, just like a neurotic symptom, is a balance between direct expression and censorship. The process through which the underlying wish is transformed into the manifest content is known as the dream-work. The goal of the dream work is translate prohibited wish into form that is non-threatening hence leading to minimization of anxiety and allowing the person to continue with his sleep. Psychological theories are based on the perspective that people dream for the purpose of exercising various neural connections that affect certain types of learning (McLeod, 2009). Dreams allow human kind to sort through problems and mental illness patients can be helped through the psychoanalysis process. The previous day’s events that often are injected into dream are relevant only because they resonate with and eventually activate the infantile impulse that is repressed. Freud detailed the mental processes through which the dream is modified and made to be less disturbing. Some of these processes include condensation, the fusion of various images and ideas into one image; displacement, whereby a potentially disturbing idea or image is replaced by something close to it but which is less disturbing; representation, the process whereby thoughts changed into visual images; and symbolization whereby neutral object represent some elements of sexual life or those people associated with it that the dreamer would like not to recognize (Friedman & Schustack, 2011). Moreover, Freud looked at secondary revision; a process through which dreams are made intelligible through conversion into a story that is coherent and probably distorts it further. Anxiety dreams sometimes resulting into nightmares seem to contradict Freud perspective of wish fulfillment. He supposed that anxiety pertained to demonstrate content only. Research would demonstrate that the latent content had a wish fulfillment. Sometimes repression and dream work failed hence allowing anxiety related to forbidden impulses to be manifested. Freud’s dream theory demonstrates his inclination to generalization and his single-mindedness. He was certain that he was right in stating that infantile sexual wishes were the cause for neurosis. According to Freud’s perspective, dreams were primitive and irrational mental processes that ignored syntax, logic, and the consciously accepted procedure defining the space and time (McLeod, 2009). Freud stated that the interpretation of dreams is the royal path to a knowledge of the activities of the mind that are unconscious. Dreams, consequently, do not have to be basically concerned with infantile sexuality, the single crucial organic foundation of psychoanalytic theory, even where initially they were concerned with quite other matters. His technique of interpretation of dreams is ingenious but he had to consent that some types of dream did not fit into his theory (Marinelli & Andreas, 2003). A thirsty person is likely to dream about drinks or drinking while a hungry person will dream about food. The convenience dreams express whishes but for only the present state of the dreamer as opposed to his infancy. Furthermore, there are some traumatic dreams that repeat in undisguised form, like unprovoked attack such as rape, a bomb incident or a fatal car accident. Freud consented that such types of dreams could not be considered as fulfilling wishes of people. He was of the opinion that the dreams happened when the trauma had been very sudden to an extent that the individual’s mind had no chance to shield itself against shock using anxious preparation. He stated that the dreams endeavored to master the stimulus in retrospective, through development of the anxiety whose omission was the reason for the traumatic neurosis. When someone is awake, the desires and impulses of the id are controlled by the superego (McLeod, 2009). Dreams make it possible for someone to have a glance into his unconscious or the id. This is because one’s guards are low during dream state hence the unconscious has the chance to act out and manifest the hidden desires of the id. The desires of the id can at some point be psychologically harmful or very disturbing hence the censor translating the disturbing content by the id into a symbolic form that is more acceptable. This assist in the process of preserving sleep and preventing an individual from waking up shocked at the sight of the images in the dream (Fisher & Greenberg, 1996). Consequently, cryptic and confusing dream images come into being. Freud categorized the mind into the Id, the ego and superego. The id revolved around primal pleasures, impulses, desires, unchecked urges, as well as wish fulfillment. The ego was the rational, conscious, moral and self-aware part of the mind. The superego acted as the censor for the id and enforced the moral codes of the ego. The reason why someone will struggle to remember his dreams is because the superego is at work surprising the disturbing images. In the psychoanalysis process the physician helps the patient to recall the surprised events and images and help him to deal with them (Marinelli & Andreas, 2003). The superego makes one feel guilty if ethical codes and rules are not followed. There should always be a balance between the id and the superego for morality and ethical decisions to prevail. Things are different in psychoanalysis. Within psychoanalysis nothing happens save for the interchange of words between the physician and the patient. The patient expresses himself, talks about his past experiences and current complaints and impressions, confesses his emotions and wishes. The physician listen keenly and tries directing the patient’s thought process, forces his attention to particular channels, reminds him of things, offers him explanation and examines the reactions of denial or understanding which he calls in the patient (Friedman & Schustack, 2011). The conversation through which psychoanalysis treatment comprises brooks not auditor, it is impossible to demonstrate it. Communications that are prerequisite for the analysis are made only under the conditions of a special affective association to the physician; the patient would not be able to express himself once he realizes the presence of single witness. These communications relate to intimate part of the patient’s psychic life and he has to conceal everything to remain socially independent. These communications deal with everything which he cannot admit to even himself. Freud is one of the founders of psychoanalysis and his views about interpretation of dreams are widely used to help patients recollect their memory and deal with unfulfilled desires and suppressed images that are torturing their minds (Storr, 2001). Without Sigmund Freud’s dreams theory there could be little research or narrow understanding of in the psychoanalysis field. Research is still ongoing but Freud findings and his dream’s theory continue to elicit controversy and prompt the need for further study. Healing can be found if physicians use psychoanalysis in the right manner for patients with mental challenges. Suppressed impulses can be a reason of mental disturbance. Conclusion Sigmund Freud studied the human mind more than any other scholar of his time. His contribution to psychology is enormous. His study of dreams and its relation to the unconscious human being is the foundation of psychoanalysis process. Neurotic and normal cannon be sharply be distinguish. Some of the things that happen in dreams reveal suppressed desires and impulses that have to be dealt with by the superego if they are unacceptable in a civilized society. However, some dreams just relate to an individual’s surrounding circumstances and do not project a deeper understanding of a suppressed desire during childhood or later in life. Hunger and thirty can trigger dreams about food and drinking that do not have any disturbing images to be dealt with by the superego. A Psychiatric help patients recover from traumatizing events applying psychoanalysis that has its foundation in Freud’s dream theory. Without suppression of some images the individual can wake up amidst the dream and cut short his sleep. Psychoanalysis process for mental illness treatment would not be possible without the discovery or development of Freud’s dream theory. Freud’s work demonstrates that dreams are disguised fulfillment of whishes that have been repressed. References Blechner, M. The Dream Frontier. New York: Routledge, 2001.  Fisher, S., & Greenberg, R. P. Freud scientifically reappraised: Testing the theories and therapy. John Wiley & Sons, 1996.  Friedman, Howard & Schustack, Miriam. Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research. (5th edition). Boston. Allyn & Bacon. 2011. Freud, S. The neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3: (1894). 41-61. Hollan, Douglass. “The Influence of Culture on the Experience and Interpretation of Disturbing Dreams”. Culture, Medicine, & Psychiatry, 33. (2009): 313-322. Marinelli, Lydia and Andreas Mayer A. Dreaming by the Book: Freud's 'The Interpretation of Dreams' and the History of the Psychoanalytic Movement, New York: Other Press, 2003. McLeod, Saul. “Freud-Dream Interpretation”. Simplypsychology.com. 2009. Storr, Antony, Freud: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001 Read More