Since the beginning of their occurrence, dreams have fascinated people and have often been described as a “window into one’s soul”. However, the accuracy of dreams is a topic of great scientific debate among psychologists. Theories about dream interpretation and their supposed value are widely conflicting. Supporters of Freudian theories or psychodynamic therapy see great value in the practice of dream interpretation, whereas most psychologists today see the actual content of dreams as irrelevant. Yet, the continuing popularity of “dream interpretation” plays far too large a role in popular culture today to leave the practice entirely neglected.
Sigmund Freud argued that abnormal psychological functioning has its roots in unconscious thought patterns which control our behavior (Comer 63). Dreams, a primarily unconscious phenomenon, are thus a natural platform for Freudian analysis. In particular,…show more content… David Myers cites a few key psychological explanations for why we dream: the information-processing model (we dream to help commit information to memory), the psychological function model (dreaming helps develop/preserve the brain), or the activation-synthesis model (REM sleep causes neural activity which is interpreted as dreams by the brain). But in reality, these valid psychological explanations for dreaming are not accessible by the average person. Dream interpretation is both appealing from an entertainment standpoint, as well as serves as a valuable way to express ourselves through a biased interpretation of our own dreams. Throughout history, dream interpretation has served a powerful role in religion and cultural rituals, showing the practice is not isolated to just modern times. In reality, most people today are not serious about interpreting their dreams within Western society, and do it for reasons of
