What Did Sigmund Freud Think About Dreams

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The reason behind dreaming is still one of the most questioned action within the behavioral science community. Dreams are undisputedly one of the most fascinating things to study and understand why they happen. In the history of different cultures, they used dreams for stories, prophecies, or a way to explain obscure happenings. These ancient peoples thought dreaming as a divine communication tool, receiving the messages of a higher power. Today dream analysis grows in an exciting direction due to current technological advancement, but what did early 20th century psychologist Sigmund Freud think about dreams? Freud having many theories interlocked together, had strong feelings towards dream interpretation. He felt dreams were more than just …show more content…
Psychoanalysis is the process of treating a mental illness through the process of investigating the connection between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. Psychoanalysis relies on techniques such as dream interpretation and free association to bring repressed fears and thoughts to the conscious mind to relieve numerous conditions. The first part of psychoanalysis is that our behavior and feelings are part of our unconscious mind. Behavior is the result of interactions among three component parts of the mind: id, ego and superego. Freud’s theory argues that the personality of an adult is developed during childhood during the five psychosexual stages. These stages have specific traits, but all present a conflict between biological, sexual drives and social expectations. Freud indicates that emotions and behavior of adults may be deeply rooted in the id, or unconscious part of the brain during the five stages. These parts of psychoanalysis help Freud develop and use his dream interpretation …show more content…
Latent content is the meaning of the dream or the unfulfilled wish the dream represents. Freud’s dream theory proposes that the dream rarely presents its true meaning without some sort of decoding or interpretation. The unconscious mind selects symbols for different objects or meanings. The mind then arranges these symbols in a story-like structure. Freud explored the possibility of universal symbols. Much of the objects Freud proposed correlated to a sexual counterpart. Freud stated that one should take a higher consideration of personal experiences to explain symbols rather than a one size fits all