The Interpretation of Dreams

I. Outline

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is universally considered the “father” of psychoanalysis, and many date the birth of psychoanalytic theory from the 1899 publication of The Interpretation of Dreams (copyright 1900). Although Freudian theory, since its inception, has been relentlessly attacked from all sides, critics and proponents alike agree that Freud's ideas have exerted a profound influence on twentieth-century thought and culture.

Throughout The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud analyzes his own dreams as examples to prove his new theory of the psychology of dreams. Freud makes a distinction between the “manifest,” or surface-level, dream content and the “latent,” or unconscious, “dream thoughts” expressed through the special “language” of dreams. He posits that all dreams represent the fulfillment of a wish on the part of the dreamer and maintains that even anxiety dreams and nightmares are expressions of unconscious desires.

II. Introduction

Freud explains that the process of “censorship” in dreams causes a “distortion” of the dream content; thus, what appears to be trivial nonsense in a dream, can, through the process of analysis, be shown to express a coherent set of ideas. The “dream work” is the process by which the mind condenses, distorts, and translates “dream thoughts” into dream content. Freud proposes that the ultimate value of dream analysis may be in revealing the hidden workings of the unconscious mind.

The Interpretation of Dreams presents Freud's early theories in regard to the nature of the unconscious dream psychology, the significance of childhood experiences, the psychic process of “censorship,” the “hieroglyphic” language of dreams, and the method he called “psychoanalysis.”

Freud opens The Interpretation of Dreams by stating the nature of his theoretical accomplishment in writing the book:

In the following pages I shall provide proof that there is a psychological technique which allows us to interpret dreams, and that when this procedure is applied, every dream turns out to be a meaningful, psychical formation which can be given an identifiable place in what goes on within our waking life.

III. Philosophical/Religious/Scientific Importance

Freud provides an overview of the scientific and theoretical findings on the interpretation of dreams up to that point in history. He notes that the first written work on dream psychology dates back to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle's tract On Dreams and Dream Interpretation. However, he claims that no convincing theory of dream interpretation has yet been formulated; he asserts, “In spite of being concerned with the subject over many thousands of years, scientific understanding of the dream has not got very far.” He laments that “little or nothing touching the essential nature of the dream or offering a definitive solution to any of its riddles” has been accomplished.

Freud observes that, while scientific opinion has come to dismiss the idea that dreams can be interpreted, “popular opinion” has “stubbornly” held on to the notion that dreams do indeed have meaning. He asserts that, contrary to the reigning scientific opinion, he will prove that it is possible to interpret dreams using a scientific method.

He explains that dreams have an “ulterior motive” whereby their meaning ...